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Aim: To evaluate the suitability of serum osteocalcin (OC) as a marker to distinguish between rapidly and non‐rapidly progressive central precocious puberty (RP‐CPP and NRP‐CPP), as well as its potential to assess growth rates following treatment with gonadotropin‐releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa). Methods: Serum levels of OC were measured using enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays in girls diagnosed with either RP‐CPP or NRP‐CPP as well as in normal control subjects. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to determine the cut‐off value for OC. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to analyse the main influencing factors associated with OC. Results: Serum OC levels were higher in the CPP girls when compared to normal controls (110.76 ± 43.69 vs 55.97 ± 20.96 ng/mL, P < 0.001). The level in the RP‐CPP group was higher than the NRP‐CPP group (153.28 ± 33.89 vs 88.33 ± 29.26 ng/mL, P < 0.001). The cut‐off value of OC levels for distinguishing between RP‐CPP and NRP‐CPP was 107.05 ng/mL, the sensitivity was 94.7% and the specificity was 77.8%, which was superior to using the basal luteinising hormone (B‐LH) levels, and the area under ROC curve (AUC) were 0.933 versus 0.695, respectively. Following 1–2 years of treatment with GnRHa for girls with CPP, both OC levels and the growth rates decreased to pre‐pubertal values. B‐LH levels, bone age and body weight were also significant factors, which affected OC levels. Conclusions: Serum OC levels may be a useful marker for distinguishing RP‐CPP from NRP‐CPP. In addition, it was also found to be a useful predictor for growth rate during GnRHa treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Some recent observational studies have shown that gut microbiota composition is associated with puerperal sepsis (PS) and no causal effect have been attributed to this. The aim of this study was to determine a causal association between gut microbiota and PS by using a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Methods: This study performed MR analysis on the publicly accessible genomewide association study (GWAS) summary level data in order to explore the causal effects between gut microbiota and PS. Gut microbiota GWAS (n  =  18,340) were obtained from the MiBioGen study and GWAS-summary-level data for PS were obtained from the UK Biobank (PS, 3,940 cases; controls, 202,267 cases). Identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with each feature were identified based on a significance threshold of p  <  1.0  ×  10–5. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) parameter was used as the primary method for MR and it was supplemented by other methods. Additionally, a set of sensitivity analytical methods, including the MR-Egger intercept, Mendelian randomized polymorphism residual and outlier, Cochran’s Q and the leave-one-out tests were carried out to assess the robustness of our findings. Results: Our study found 3 species of gut microbiota, Lachnospiraceae FCS020, Lachnospiraceae NK4A136, and Ruminococcaceae NK4A214, to be associated with PS. The IVW method indicated an approximately 19% decreased risk of PS per standard deviation increase with Lachnospiraceae FCS020 (OR  =  0.81; 95% CI 0.66–1.00, p  =  0.047). A similar trend was also found with Lachnospiraceae NK4A136 (OR  =  0.80; 95% CI 0.66–0.97, p  =  0.024). However, Ruminococcaceae NK4A214 was positively associated with the risk of PS (OR  =  1.33, 95% CI: 1.07– 1.67, p  =  0.011). Conclusion: This two-sample MR study firstly found suggestive evidence of beneficial and detrimental causal associations of gut microbiota on the risk of PS. This may provide valuable insights into the pathogenesis of microbiotamediated PS and potential strategies for its prevention and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bletilla striata is the dried tuber of B. striata (Thund.) Reichb.f., which has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antioxidant and wound healing effects. Traditionally, it has been used for hemostasis therapy, as well as to treat sores, swelling and chapped skin. In this study, we used the ultraviolet (UV) absorbance rate of B. striata extracts as the index, and the extraction was varied with respect to the solid–liquid ratio, ethanol concentration, ultrasonic time and temperature in order to optimize the extraction process for its sunscreen components. The main compounds in the sunscreen ingredients of Baiji (B. striata) were analyzed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography combined with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry. The sunscreen properties were subsequently evaluated in vitro using the 3M tape method. The results show that the optimal extraction conditions for the sunscreen components of B. striata were a solid–liquid ratio of 1:40 (g/mL), an ethanol concentration of 50%, an ultrasonic time of 50 min and a temperature of 60 °C. A power of 100 W and an ultrasonic frequency of 40 Hz were used throughout the experiments. Under these optimized conditions, the UV absorption rate of the isolated sunscreen components in the UVB region reached 84.38%, and the RSD was 0.11%. Eighteen compounds were identified, including eleven 2-isobutyl malic acid glucose oxybenzyl esters, four phenanthrenes, two bibenzyl and one α-isobutylmalic acid. An evaluation of the sunscreen properties showed that the average UVB absorption values for the sunscreen samples from different batches of B. striata ranged from 0.727 to 1.201. The sunscreen ingredients of the extracts from B. striata had a good UV absorption capacity in the UVB area, and they were effective in their sunscreen effects under medium-intensity sunlight. Therefore, this study will be an experimental reference for the extraction of sunscreen ingredients from the B. striata plant, and it provides evidence for the future development of B. striata as a candidate cosmetic raw material with UVB protection properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cattle skeletal muscle development is a complex and highly coordinated biological process mediated by a series of myogenic regulators, which plays a critical role in beef yield and quality. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to regulate skeletal muscle development. However, the molecular mechanism by which lncRNAs regulate skeletal muscle development is largely unknown. We performed transcriptome analysis of muscle tissues of adult and embryo Angus cattle to investigate the mechanism by which lncRNA regulates skeletal muscle development between adult and embryo cattle. A total of 37,115 candidate lncRNAs were detected, and a total of 1,998 lncRNAs were differentially expressed between the muscle tissue libraries of adult and embryo cattle, including 1,229 up-regulated lncRNAs and 769 down-regulated lncRNAs (adult cattle were the control group). We verified the expression of 7 differentially expressed lncRNAs by quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR), and analysed the tissue expression profile of lnc000100, which is down-regulated in the longest dorsal muscle during foetal life and which is highly specifically expressed in muscle tissue. We found that the interference of lnc000100 significantly inhibited cell proliferation and promoted cell differentiation. Lnc000100 was located in the nucleus by RNA-FISH. Our research provides certain resources for the analysis of lncRNA regulating cattle skeletal muscle development, and may also provide new insights for improving beef production and breed selection. Highlight Identification of lncRNAs associated with muscle development and skeletal muscle disease that are differentially expressed between embryo and adult cattle. We identified 1,998 differentially expressed lncRNAs between the muscle tissue libraries of adult and embryo. GO analysis showed that these lncRNAs were involved in muscle development. Construction of co-expression networks and competitive endogenous networks related to muscle development. We constructed the co-expression networks and lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA interaction networks of four differentially expressed lncRNAs. A newly identified lncRNA lnc000100 promoted myoblast proliferation and inhibited myoblast differentiation during muscle development. GO analysis showed that lnc000100 was associated with muscle development (such as muscle structure development, etc.) and skeletal muscle diseases (such as muscle hypertrophy, etc.). FISH analysis suggests that lnc000100 is localized in the nucleus and may regulate muscle development at the transcriptional/post-transcriptional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buffalo holds an excellent potential for beef production, and circRNA plays an important role in regulating myogenesis. However, the regulatory mechanism of circRNAs during buffalo skeletal muscle development has not been fully explored. In this study, circRNA expression profiles during the proliferation and differentiation stages of buffalo myoblasts were analysed by RNA-seq. Here, a total of 3,142 circRNAs candidates were identified, and 110 of them were found to be differentially expressed in the proliferation and differentiation stages of buffalo myoblast libraries. We focused on a 347 nt circRNA subsequently named circCLTH. It consists of three exons and is expressed specifically in muscle tissues. It is a highly conserved non-coding RNA with about 95% homology to both the human and the mouse circRNAs. The results of cell experiments and RNA pull-down assays indicated that circCLTH may capture PLEC protein, promote the proliferation and differentiation of myoblasts as well as inhibit apoptosis. Overexpression of circCLTH in vivo suggests that circCLTH is involved in the stimulation of skeletal muscle regeneration. In conclusion, we identified a novel noncoding regulator, circCLTH, that promotes proliferation and differentiation of myoblasts and skeletal muscles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]