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With the improvement of living standards and the change of dietary habits, metabolic syndrome has become a major global public health problem. The gut microbiota is one of the research hotspots in recent years. More and more studies have shown that the gut microbiota can conduct bidirectional signal transduction with different body tissues and organs such as the brain, liver and heart through various pathways, which is closely related to body health. Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) exist in coconut oil, palm kernel oil and dairy products mainly in the form of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). MCFAs can be rapidly metabolized for energy in the body, and has good regulatory effects on glucose and lipid metabolism. This article reviews the effects of MCTs on gut microbes and their positive effects on metabolic syndrome in order to provide a reference for future research.

Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), a natural polyphenol derived from propolis, has a good regulatory effect on lipid metabolism, but its molecular mechanism is not clear. In the present study, the ameliorative effect of CAPE on lipid metabolism in oleic acid-induced HepG2 human liver cancer cells and its mechanism at the cellular level were investigated. The results showed that compared with the high fat group, lipid accumulation in the cells was significantly improved after CAPE intervention, and a total of 3 270 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were selected at the transcriptomic level; 1 351 of them were up-regulated and the rest were down-regulated. The functional annotation analysis using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database showed that the DEGs caused by CAPE intervention were significantly annotated to lipid metabolism-related pathways. The KEGG signaling pathway enrichment analysis showed that the HIF-1α pathway and the fatty acid catabolism pathway were significantly enriched. The expression levels of gene HIF-1α, PPARα, CPT1A and FABP5 were 1.326, 1.661, 2.039 and 2.598 times higher in the CAPE group than the high fat group. It is suggested that CAPE can improve lipid metabolism disorder in oleic acid-induced cells possibly by reducing oxidative stress and regulating the PPARα and fatty acid oxidative catabolic pathways. This study provides a theoretical reference for future research on the molecular mechanism of lipid metabolism regulation by CAPE and the regulation of lipid metabolism disorder induced by a high-fat diet.

As main health service providers in primary care, general practitioners (GPs) undertake the responsibility of gatekeepers for residents' health. Vigorously training GPs will contribute to the transformation of the healthcare delivery model, and the addressing of the issue related to difficult and high cost of getting medical treatment in China. However, the number of qualified GPs is insufficient in China, and low income is a major factor associated with the willingness of medical students to work as a GP. How to take actions to recruit, retain and appropriately employ GPs in primary care is a problem that needs to be addressed urgently in the development of China's primary care workforce. To provide evidence for the improvement of China's payment system for GPs, we collected the information related to the payment for GPs in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and China by reviewing relevant studies and relevant official websites of the four countries, and performed an inter-county comparative analysis of the information in terms of income source, income level, payment methods, payment composition, and performance appraisal. We found that the four countries have the following aspects in common: all of them own a payment system for GPs and an assessment system for service quality and effectiveness of GPs, adopt a mixed payment method for GPs, and use financial incentives to promote GPs to improve the quality of their performance. In addition, the United States and China have explored methods to decentralize the management of medical insurance funds, so that the primary healthcare institutions can independently redistribute the surplus funds which has improved the proactivity of GPs at work. And Australia has set up the "coefficient of difference" and scholarships/subsidies for GPs, and carried out free trainings for improving the service capacities of GPs working in remote areas, to increase the attractiveness of working as a GP.

Simple Summary: Glycerol monolaurate, known for its strong antimicrobial properties, is a chemical compound formed by the combination of lauric acid and glycerol. This research focused on how glycerol monolaurate affects the growth, digestive enzyme activity, immune system, blood antioxidant level, and intestinal structure of black sea bream. This research could contribute to raising healthier aquatic animals, potentially reducing both the costs and environmental impact associated with aquaculture. These findings suggest that glycerol monolaurate may be the most suitable dietary supplement for fish; however, further research on its effect on the gut microbiota and gene expression is still required. An eight-week feeding trial was conducted to examine the impact of dietary supplementation with glycerol monolaurate (GML) on juvenile black sea bream. A basal diet was formulated containing 24% fish meal, while five additional diets were prepared, each supplemented with varying levels of GML: GML1 (0.01%), GML2 (0.02%), GML3 (0.04%), GML4 (0.08%), and GML5 (0.16%). Triplicate tanks were randomly allocated to each diet, each containing 20 fish with an initial weight of 1.55 ± 0.05 g. By the trial's end, the GML3 group displayed a notably higher final body weight (FBW), weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), and protein efficiency ratio (PER) compared to the other groups (p < 0.05), but the FCR was significantly higher in the control group. However, no significant differences were observed in the MFI, PPV, CF, HSI, IPF, VSI, or SR among the groups (p > 0.05). Regarding the proximate compositions of the dorsal muscle and whole body, no substantial differences were observed across the groups (p > 0.05). Additionally, there were no significant variations in digestive enzyme activity (p > 0.05), serum immune, or biochemical parameters in the midgut and hindgut among the treatment groups. But in the serum immune response IgM, C3 and C4 were significantly higher in the GML3 group as compared to the other groups (p < 0.05). However, the GML3 group exhibited significantly greater fore-intestinal villus height, crypt depth, villus height per crypt depth, and the number of goblet cells per villus compared to the other groups (p < 0.05). Overall, GML supplementation, particularly GML3, significantly improved growth indicators like the final body weight and intestinal morphology. While certain parameters remained unaffected, these findings suggest GML's potential as a beneficial dietary supplement in fish diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]