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Okadaic acid (OA), one of the most important phycotoxins, is widely distributed around the world, concerning diarrheic shellfish poisoning (DSP), and even colorectal cancer. Here, we found that long-term exposure of OA at a low dose (80 μg kg−1 body weight) had certain effects on colonic microbiotas and tract in rat. In the OA-exposed rat, colonic epithelium layer was damaged, and relative abundance of some microbiotas were significantly changed, especially genera in Clostridiales. However, no intestinal inflammation or significant disease was observed. Combined with the increase in relative abundance of some genera in Clostridiales induced by OA in the fermentation experiment, we proposed that OA could cause damage to the intestinal epithelium and increase the relative abundance of pathogenic bacteria, thereby increasing the probability of contact between intestinal epithelium and pathogenic bacteria and leading to an easier pathogenicity.

Objective To explore the potential reporter gene assay for the detection of sodium channel-specific toxins in shellfish as an alternative for screening harmful algal bloom (HAB) toxins, considering the fact that the existing methods including HPLC and bioassay are inappropriate for identifying HAB toxins which poses a serious problem on human health and shellfish industry. Methods A reporter plasmid pEGFP-c-fos containing c-fos promoter and EGFP was constructed and transfected into T24 cells using LipofectAMINE 2000. Positive transfectants were screened by G418 to produce a pEGFP-c-fos-T24 cell line. After addition of increasing neurotoxic shellfish poison (NSP) or GTX2,3, primary components of paralytic shellfish poison (PSP), changes in expression of EGFP in the cell line were observed under a laser scanning confocal microscope and quantified with Image-pro Plus software. Results Dose-dependent changes in the intensity of green fluorescence were observed for NSP in a range from 0 to 10 ng/mL and for GTX2,3 from 0 to 16 ng/mL. Conclusion pEGFP-c-fos-T24 can be applied in detecting HAB toxins, and cell-based assay can be used as an alternative for screening sodium channel-specific HAB toxins.

To understand the status on care and nutrition of children living in the rural areas (so called 'left-behind' children) while their parents were seeking for jobs in the urban areas.Cross-sectional study was employed in this investigation. The group of 'left-behind' children (n = 774) and the comparison group (n = 774) were identified. The ascertainment methods mainly included questionnaire, anthropometrics measurements, food-frequency, and laboratory examination.Data from this study revealed that the guardians of the 'left-behind' children had less ability to ensure daily food that the children demanded than the control group and the 'left-behind' children were more likely to be poorly attended (chi2 = 6.671, P = 0.036; xhi2 = 15.053, P = 0.001). Mothers who chose to work outside of their households would tend to choose bottle-feeding or decrease the duration of breastfeeding for their infants (chi2 = 5. 051, P = 0.031; t = -7.201, P = 0.001). The intake of milk and bean products in children younger than 2 years old and cereal intake in children aged 2 to 4 in the group of 'left-behind' children were obviously lower than that seen in the control group (t = -2.150, P = 0.032; t = -2.054, P = 0.040 respectively). The 'left-behind' children were in high prevalence of anemia, and showed significant difference when comparing with the control group (chi2 = 4.560, P = 0.033).Children under 'left-behind' situation were in poor nutrition. Recognition of this situation by the communities, parents and extended families would facilitate more attention and effective intervention programs to improve the situation.