1.In-silico annotation of the chemical composition of Tibetan tea and its mechanism on antioxidant and lipidlowering in mice
Ning WANG ; Linman LI ; Puyu ZHANG ; Muhammad Aamer MEHMOOD ; Chaohua LAN ; Tian GAN ; Zaixin LI ; Zhi ZHANG ; Kewei XU ; Shan MO ; Gang XIA ; Tao WU ; Hui ZHU
Nutrition Research and Practice 2023;17(4):682-697
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES:
Tibetan tea is a kind of dark tea, due to the inherent complexity of natural products, the chemical composition and beneficial effects of Tibetan tea are not fully understood. The objective of this study was to unravel the composition of Tibetan tea using knowledge-guided multilayer network (KGMN) techniques and explore its potential antioxidant and hypolipidemic mechanisms in mice.MATERIALS/METHODS: The C57BL/6J mice were continuously gavaged with Tibetan tea extract (T group), green tea extract (G group) and ddH 2 O (H group) for 15 days. The activity of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in mice was detected.Transcriptome sequencing technology was used to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the antioxidant and lipid-lowering effects of Tibetan tea in mice. Furthermore, the expression levels of liver antioxidant and lipid metabolism related genes in various groups were detected by the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) method.
RESULTS:
The results showed that a total of 42 flavonoids are provisionally annotated in Tibetan tea using KGMN strategies. Tibetan tea significantly reduced body weight gain and increased T-AOC and SOD activities in mice compared with the H group. Based on the results of transcriptome and qPCR, it was confirmed that Tibetan tea could play a key role in antioxidant and lipid lowering by regulating oxidative stress and lipid metabolism related pathways such as insulin resistance, P53 signaling pathway, insulin signaling pathway, fatty acid elongation and fatty acid metabolism.
CONCLUSIONS
This study was the first to use computational tools to deeply explore the composition of Tibetan tea and revealed its potential antioxidant and hypolipidemic mechanisms, and it provides new insights into the composition and bioactivity of Tibetan tea.
2.Effects of early essential newborn care on breastfeeding and health outcomes of infants within 3 months of age
Xiayun LI ; Lin ZHANG ; Linman WU ; Ling TAN ; Fei YUAN ; Yao GUO ; Xin LIU ; Tao XU
Chinese Journal of Neonatology 2022;37(1):40-44
Objective:To study the effects of early essential newborn care (EENC) on breastfeeding and health outcomes of infants within 3 months of age.Methods:From September 2017 to September 2018, a prospective non-randomized controlled experimental study were carried out in 8 Women & Children's Hospital in Sichuan Province, including 1 municipal hospital and 3 county (district) hospitals as the intervention group and the other 1 municipal hospital and 3 county (district) hospitals as the control group. The intervention group received EENC and the control group received routine newborn care. Clinical data were collected after delivery and at the age of 1- and 3-month, including breastfeeding method, umbilical cord separation time, pneumonia, sepsis and diarrhea. Health outcome of the two groups were compared. The data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0.Results:There are 91.1% (278/305) of the newborns in the intervention group completed their first breastfeeding before their first mother-baby skin contact, compared with 33.3% (36/108) in the control group ( P<0.001). Exclusive breastfeeding rate before discharge in the intervention group was higher than the control group [(74.5% (228/306) vs. 55.0% (177/322), P<0.001]. The incidences of re-hospitalization and referred to other hospitals due to illness was lower in intervention group than the control group within 1 month of age [7.0% (19/272) vs. 13.3% (37/278), P=0.014]; Umbilical cord separation time in the intervention group was earlier than the control group [(8.3±2.9) d vs. (10.5±3.3) d, P<0.001]; No significant differences existed in the incidences of umbilical cord infection, pneumonia and diarrhea between the two groups ( P>0.05). The incidence of diarrhea in intervention group was higher than that the control group at 3 months of age ( P<0.05); No significant differences existed in the incidences of pneumonia and re-hospitalization and referred to other hospitals due to illness between the two groups ( P>0.05). There was no sepsis case in the two groups. Conclusions:EENC may improve exclusive breastfeeding rate before discharge, reduce the incidences of referral/hospitalization within 1 month and shorten the umbilical cord separation time without causing more infections.