The genus Alistipes is mailnly isolated from the human gut microbiome and belongs to the phylum Bacteroidetes. Various species of the genus Alistipes have been isolated from samples of human feces, patients with appendicitis, abdominal cavity and rectal abscesses. Currently, this genus includes species such as Alistipes finegoldii, Alistipes putredinis, Alistipes onderdonkii, Alistipes shahii and Alistipes timonensis. Some studies have shown that Alistipes has a protective effect against certain diseases, including pancreatic cancer, Alzheimer′s disease, liver fibrosis and cardiovascular disease. Conversely, other studies have shown that Alistipes is pathogenic in some diseases such as Parkinson′s disease, colorectal cancer and depression. In addition, Alistipes has also been proved to play a paradoxical role in colitis as it can promote the development of colitis and suppress inflammation. This article was to increase the understanding about the genus Alistipes and to further summarize the relationship between Alistipes and diseases.

The normal esophageal mucosa specific 1 gene(NMES1)is considered as a tumor suppressor gene which significantly reduces expression of various malignant tumors.The NMES1 can affect various cellular biological behaviors such as proliferation,apoptosis and migration of tumor cells.These findings provide new strategies for searching early biomarkers or therapeutic targets of malignant tumors and support the evaluation of disease progres-sion and prognosis.

Objective To evaluate the imaging features of nigrosome-1 in Parkinson's disease (PD) with a 3 T scanner by susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI),and to explore its clinical relevance.Methods Thirty-two patients with primary PD diagnosed by neurologists were collected.Healthy controls matched to their age and gender were recruited during the same period (n=20).All subjects underwent routine brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and sensitive weighted imaging (SWI).The SWI images of the subjects were evaluated to evaluate nigrosome-1 by blinded investigators.Then,the correlation between imaging features and clinical data was analyzed.Results In the PD group,21 cases of bilateral "absent swallow-tail sign",five cases of bilateral "indecisive swallow-tail sign",five cases of "absent swallow-tail sign" on one side and "indecisive swallow-tail sign" on the other side,and one case of bilateral "clear swallow-tail sign" were found.The course of the "absent swallow-tail sign" group (56 (54) months) was significantly longer than the "non-absent swallow-tail sign" group (18 (18) months;U=-2.47,P=0.01).The Hoehn-Yahr stage was significantly higher in the "absent swallow-tail sign" group (2.0 (0.5)) than in the "non-absent swallow-tail sign" group (1.5 (0.5),U=-2.21,P=0.03).There was also a statistically significant difference in the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale score (24 (8),13 (14)) between the two groups (U=-2.91,P=0.01).However,there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in the Hamilton Depression Scale score (5 (2) vs 5 (7),U=-0.10,P=0.94) and the Hamilton Anxiety Scale score (3.0 (2.5) vs 3.0 (3.0),U=-0.02,P=1.00).Conclusion The images of nigrosome-1 by SWI are closely related to the severity of the condition and motor symptoms of patients with PD,which can reflect the severity of the disease.

Objective:To analyze the clinical characteristics of gastrointestinal symptoms and liver function injury in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).Methods:From January 23, 2020 to February 29, 2020, the medical records of 251 patients with COVID-19 admitted to the West Campus of the Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, were collected. The proportion of the patients with gastrointestinal symptoms including anorexia, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain were analyzed respectively. The patients were divided into common type (76 cases), severe type (65 cases) and critical type (110 cases). The incidence of liver function injury and the changes of liver function parameters such as total bilirubin (TBil), direct bilirubin (DBil), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), albumin and globulin of the patients with different clinical types and with or without gastrointestinal symptoms were analyzed. Mann-Whitney U test, Chi square test and Fisher′s exact test were used for statistical analysis. Results:The main gastrointestinal symptoms of patients with COVID-19 were anorexia (33.9%, 85/251), diarrhea (12.0%, 30/251), nausea and vomiting (7.6%, 19/251) and abdominal pain (1.2%, 3/251). 143 patients (57.0%) had liver function injury, the rate of liver function injury in critical type patients was 75.5% (83/110), which was higher than that of common type patients (40.8%, 31/76) and severe type patients (44.6%, 29/65), and the differences were statistically significant ( χ2=22.765 and 16.865, both P<0.01). There was no significant difference in the proportion of patients with liver function injury between common type and severe type patients ( P>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of liver function injury between patients with gastrointestinal symptoms and those without gastrointestinal symptoms (57.8%(67/116) vs. 56.3%(76/135), P>0.05). The median values of TBil, DBil, ALT, AST, ALP, GGT, LDH and globulin level of critical type patients were 13.5 μmol/L, 4.9 μmol/L, 44.5 U/L, 50.0 U/L, 64.0 U/L, 41.0 U/L, 527.0 U/L and 33.6 g/L respectively. The proportions of critical type patients with TBil level >34.2 μmol/L, DBil level>13.6 μmol/L, ALT level>80 U/L and AST level>80 U/L were 7.3% (8/110), 7.3% (8/110), 17.3% (19/110) and 17.3% (19/110), respectively. These results were all higher than those of common type patients (9.5 μmol/L, 2.9 μmol/L, 28.5 U/L, 28.5 U/L, 54.0 U/L, 25.5 U/L, 225.5 U/L, 30.1 g/L, 0, 0, 6.6% (5/76) and 2.6% (2/76) ) and severe type patients (10.4 μmol/L, 3.4 μmol/L, 30.0 U/L, 31.0 U/L, 49.0 U/L, 25.0 U/L, 284.0 U/L, 30.7 g/L, 0, 0, 6.2% (4/65) and 1.5% (1/65)), and the differences were statistically significant ( Z=-4.264, -5.507, -4.000, -6.558, -3.112, -4.333, -4.858, -3.873, Fisher′s exact test, Fisher′s exact test, χ2=4.574, 9.620; Z=-3.060, -3.850, -3.923, -5.005, -9.495, -7.651, -3.853, -2.725, Fisher′s exact test, Fisher′s exact test, χ2=4.425, 10.169; all P<0.01). The median values of pre-albumin level, albumin level and the albumin to globulin ratio of critical type patients were 85.3 g/L, 28.2 g/L and 0.8, which were all lower than those of common type patients (157.3 g/L, 32.3 g/L and 1.1, respectively) and severe type patients (133.6 g/L, 31.6 g/L and 1.1, respectively), and the differences were statistically significant ( Z=-6.631, -3.647, -4.924, -4.503, -5.283 and -3.903, all P<0.01). The median albumin level of patients with diarrhea was lower than that of patients without diarrhea (28.2 g/L vs. 30.5 g/L), the proportion of diarrhea patients whose TBil level >20.0 to 34.2 μmol/L was higher than that of patients without diarrhea (70.0%, 21/30 vs. 10.9%, 24/221), and the differences were statistically significant ( Z=-2.182, χ2 =62.788; both P<0.05). Conclusions:Anorexia is the most common digestive symptom in COVID-19 patients, and the incidences of abdominal pain is low. The incidence of liver function injury of critical type patients is high. There is no significant correlation between gastrointestinal symptoms and liver function injury, and patients with diarrhea have lower albumin levels.