Lipids,including fats(triglycerides)and lipoids(phospholipids and sterols),not only serve as an energy source for the body but also play a pivotal role throughout the reproductive process,particularly in the establishment and maintenance of early pregnancy.This encompasses the regulate of early embryonic development and uterine tolerance,and the facilitation of embryo implantation.Given the diversity of lipids,this review focuses on extensively studied lipid mediators such as polyunsaturated fatty acids,endocannabinoids,prostaglandins,lysophosphatidic acid,sphingolipids and steroid hormones.It systematically elaborates on the regulatory effects of fatty acid,phospholipid,and cholesterol metabolism on the formation of endometrial receptivity and embryo implantation,as well as the potential underlying mechanisms.The review aims to provide new insights and feasible intervention approaches for predicting and improving the outcomes of natural pregnancy and/or assisted reproductive technology.

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a progressive and irreversible fibroinflammatory disorder, accompanied by pancreatic exocrine insufficiency and dysregulated gut microbiota. Recently, accumulating evidence has supported a correlation between gut dysbiosis and CP development. However, whether gut microbiota dysbiosis contributes to CP pathogenesis remains unclear. Herein, an experimental CP was induced by repeated high-dose caerulein injections. The broad-spectrum antibiotics (ABX) and ABX targeting Gram-positive (G⁺) or Gram-negative bacteria (G^-) were applied to explore the specific roles of these bacteria. Gut dysbiosis was observed in both mice and in CP patients, which was accompanied by a sharply reduced abundance for short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)-producers, especially G⁺ bacteria. Broad-spectrum ABX exacerbated the severity of CP, as evidenced by aggravated pancreatic fibrosis and gut dysbiosis, especially the depletion of SCFAs-producing G⁺ bacteria. Additionally, depletion of SCFAs-producing G⁺ bacteria rather than G^- bacteria intensified CP progression independent of TLR4, which was attenuated by supplementation with exogenous SCFAs. Finally, SCFAs modulated pancreatic fibrosis through inhibition of macrophage infiltration and M2 phenotype switching. The study supports a critical role for SCFAs-producing G⁺ bacteria in CP. Therefore, modulation of dietary-derived SCFAs or G⁺ SCFAs-producing bacteria may be considered a novel interventive approach for the management of CP.

Objective: To investigate the association between the urinary arsenic level and serum total testosterone in Chinese men aged 18 to 79 years. Methods: A total of 5 048 male participants aged 18 to 79 years were recruited from the China National Human Biomonitoring (CNHBM) from 2017 to 2018. Questionnaires and physical examinations were used to collect information on demographic characteristics, lifestyle, food intake frequency and health status. Venous blood and urine samples were collected to detect the level of serum total testosterone, urinary arsenic and urinary creatinine. Participants were divided into three groups (low, middle, and high) based on the tertiles of creatinine-adjusted urinary arsenic concentration. Weighted multiple linear regression was fitted to analyze the association of urinary arsenic with serum total testosterone. Results: The weighted average age of 5 048 Chinese men was (46.72±0.40) years. Geometric mean concentration (95%CI) of urinary arsenic, creatinine-adjusted urinary arsenic and serum testosterone was 22.46 (20.08, 25.12) μg/L, 19.36 (16.92, 22.15) μg/g·Cr and 18.13 (17.42, 18.85) nmol/L, respectively. After controlling for covariates, compared with the low-level urinary arsenic group, the testosterone level of the participants in the middle-level group and the high-level group decreased gradually. The percentile ratio (95%CI) was -5.17% (-13.14%, 3.54%) and -10.33% (-15.68%, -4.63). The subgroup analysis showed that the association between the urinary arsenic level and testosterone level was more obvious in the group with BMI<24 kg/m² group (P_interaction=0.023). Conclusion: There is a negative association between the urinary arsenic level and serum total testosterone in Chinese men aged 18 to 79 years.
Humans ; Male ; Arsenic/urine* ; Creatinine ; East Asian People ; Testosterone/blood* ; Urinalysis ; Adolescent ; Young Adult ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Aged

Objective: To explore whether the cytoreductive surgery combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS+HIPEC) can improve the survival rate of colorectal cancer patients with peritoneal metastasis. Methods: The relevant studies were systematically retrieved from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP database, and the study of French Elias' team on peritoneal metastasis was retrieved manually. Inclusion criteria: (1) The patients were colorectal cancer peritoneal metastasis. (2) There were CRS+HIPEC treatments (treatment group) and other treatments (control group). (3) Survival analysis data of treatment group and control group were available. (4) Types of studies were randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, or case-control studies. (5) The literature was in Chinese or English. Exclusion criteria: (1) studies without full-text; (2) studies without complete data. The literature screening and data extraction were carried out by two people independently, and the third person decided on the literature with differences. The extracted data included authors, year of publication, number of patients, time of enrollment, time of follow-up, studies design, treatment regimen, hazard ratio (HR) and 95% CI of treatment group and control groups. If the HR and 95% CI of the treatment group and control group were not provided in the literature, Engauge Digitizer 11.1 software was used to extract the time of follow-up and the survival rate at the corresponding time point from the survival curves of both groups, and the HR and 95% CI of both groups were calculated by combining the number of both groups. The quality of study was evaluated by Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS) or Cochrane collaboration's tool for assessing risk bias. STATA 15.1 software was used for statistical analysis. HR and 95% CI of both groups were pooled and analyzed. Inter-trial heterogeneity was assessed by Q test and I(2) statistics. When there was no significant heterogeneity (Q test: P≥0.10), fixed-effect model was used for pooled analysis. When significant heterogeneity existed (Q test: P<0.10), random effect model was used for pooled analysis, and subgroup analysis was used to find out the source of heterogeneity. Sensitivity analysis was used to evaluate the stability of the pooled results. Publication bias was assessed by Egger's test and Begg's test (P<0.05 indicated publication bias) and it is reflected by the visual symmetry of Begg's funnel plot on the natural logarithm of HR. Results: A total of 10 studies were enrolled in the meta-analysis, including 1 randomized controlled trial and 9 cohort studies. The risk of bias in 1 randomized controlled trial was uncertain, and 9 cohort studies were all higher than 7 points, indicating high quality literatures. There were 781 patients in treatment group receiving CRS+HIPEC and 2452 patients in control group receiving other treatment, including tumor cytoreductive surgery (CRS), palliative chemotherapy (PC) and intraperitoneal chemotherapy (IPC). The results of pooled analysis by random effect model showed that the OS rate in treatment group was significantly higher than that in control group (HR=0.43, 95% CI: 0.34-0.54), but the heterogeneity of the study was high (P=0.024, I(2)=52.9%). The subgroup analysis of different control treatments showed that the OS rate in treatment group was significantly higher than that in CRS control group (HR=0.63, 95% CI: 0.44-0.90), in PC control group (HR=0.37, 95% CI: 0.32-0.43), in CRS+ IPC control group (HR=0.60, 95% CI: 0.37-0.96), and the heterogeneity of each subgroup was low (CRS control group: P=0.255, I(2)=22.9%; PC control group: P=0.222, I(2)=29.9%; CRS+IPC control group: P=0.947, I(2)=0). Due to the low heterogeneity of subgroups, fixed-effect models were used to pool and analysis. The results of sensitivity analysis revealed that there was little difference between the pooled analysis results after each study was deleted, suggesting that the pooled analysis results were more reliable. Publication bias detection of each study showed Begg's test (P=0.088) >0.05 and Egger's test (P=0.138)>0.05. According to the Begg's funnel plot, the scatter point distribution was basically symmetric, indicating that there was no publication bias in the included study. Conclusion: CRS+HIPEC can improve the OS of patients with colorectal cancer peritoneal metastasis.
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use* ; Chemotherapy, Cancer, Regional Perfusion ; Colorectal Neoplasms/therapy* ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Cytoreduction Surgical Procedures ; Humans ; Hyperthermia, Induced ; Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy ; Peritoneal Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Prognosis ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Survival Rate

BACKGROUND: Norepinephrine infusion decreases hypotension after spinal anesthesia during cesarean section. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of norepinephrine infusion and ephedrine bolus against post-spinal hypotension in parturients. METHODS: In this double-blinded, randomized controlled clinical trial, parturients scheduled for elective cesarean section were randomly allocated to receive norepinephrine infusion (0.05 μg·kg-1·min-1) just before spinal anesthesia continuing for 30 min or ephedrine bolus (0.15 mg/kg) just before spinal anesthesia. A rescue bolus (5 μg norepinephrine for the norepinephrine group, and 5 mg ephedrine for the ephedrine group) was administered whenever hypotension occurred. Our primary outcome was the incidence of hypotension within 30 min of spinal anesthesia administration. Secondary outcomes included maternal and neonatal outcomes 30 min after spinal block, and neonatal cerebral oxygenation 10 min after birth. RESULTS: In total, 190 patients were enrolled; of these patients, 177 were included in the final analysis. Fewer patients suffered hypotension in the norepinephrine group than in the ephedrine group (29.5% vs. 44.9%, odds ratio [OR]: 0.51, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.28-0.95, P = 0.034). Moreover, the tachycardia frequency was lower in the norepinephrine group than in the ephedrine group (OR: 0.22, 95% CI: 0.11-0.44, P < 0.001), and patients suffered less nausea and vomiting (OR: 0.28, 95% CI: 0.11-0.70, P = 0.004). There was no difference in Apgar scores and umbilical arterial blood gas analysis between the two groups. However, neonatal cerebral regional saturations were significantly higher after birth in the norepinephrine group than in the ephedrine group (mean difference: 2.0%, 95% CI: 0.55%-3.45%, P = 0.008). CONCLUSION: In patients undergoing elective cesarean section with spinal anesthesia, norepinephrine infusion compared to ephedrine bolus resulted in less hypotension and tachycardia, and exhibited potential neonatal benefits. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02542748; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT02542748.
Anesthesia, Spinal/adverse effects* ; Cesarean Section/adverse effects* ; Double-Blind Method ; Female ; Humans ; Hypotension/prevention & control* ; Infant, Newborn ; Phenylephrine ; Pregnancy ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Vasoconstrictor Agents/therapeutic use*

In the present study, two new acetylene conjugate compounds, dibutyl (2Z, 6Z)-octa-2, 6-dien-4-yne dioate (1), and dibutyl (2E, 6E)- octa-2, 6-dien-4-yne dioate (2), were isolated from the dry stem leaves of Viscum album, along with nine known compounds (3 - 11). Their structures were confirmed on the basis of spectroscopic data. Compounds 1 and 8 showed antioxidant activity against xanthine oxidase (XOD) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-(2,4,6-trinitrophenyl) hydroxyl (DPPH), with the IC of 1.22 and 1.33 μmol·L, and the SC of 4.34 and 8.22 μmol·L, respectively.
Acetylene ; chemistry ; Antioxidants ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Biphenyl Compounds ; chemistry ; Molecular Structure ; Picrates ; chemistry ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; Viscum album ; chemistry ; Xanthine Oxidase ; chemistry

Objective:A novel four-degree-of-freedom upper limb rehabilitation robot was designed to overcome the shortcomings of the structure of the most of serial robots. Methods:The shoulder and elbow joint drive system and the information detection system were placed in the base. The synchronous belt drive system and the spiral bevel gear transmission system were designed to transmit power from the base to the shoulder and elbow joint of the arm. The cubic polynomial trajectory planning method based on the joint space was selected to accomplish the trajectory planning of the recovery movements of taking objects and drawing quadrilaterals, and the single-degree-of-freedom motion control experiment and multi-degree-of-freedom trajectory planning experiment were designed to verify the rationality and feasibility of the design. Results:Each joint of the rehabilitation robot reached the designed range of motion at the designed speed, and well completed the planned rehabilitation training movements. Conclusion:This robot can effectively reduce the volume and mass of the mechanical arm, overcome the influence of motor noise and radiation on patients' rehabilitation training, and assist patients to complete a variety of rehabilitation exercises.

Objective To construct small RNA deletion and overexpression strains with a length of less than 100 nt in Yersinia pestis.Methods Deletion mutants of the target sRNAs were constructed by increasing the length of homologous regions.Meanwhile, the high copy plasmid pBAD/HisA was modified into an inducible transcriptional vector as an sRNA-overexpression plasmid by using QuikChange lightning site-directed mutagenesis kit .The presence , size, and transcription-al initiation sites of the indicated sRNA were predicted by transcriptome sequencing , primer extension , and previous stud-ies.The full-length DNA fragments of target sRNAs were transformed into the transcriptional vector .The overexpressing strains of sRNAs were identified by Northern Blot .Results and Conclusion Four sRNAs deletion mutants of sR01, sR02, sR03 and HmsA and three sRNAs overexpression mutants MicF , HmsA and CpxQ were successfully constructed .A method of construction of sRNA deficient and overexpressing strains of Y.pestis has been quickly and efficiently established by λ-Red homologous recombination technology and QuikChange ? lightning site-directed mutagenesis kit.

ObjectiveTo explore the expression of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) LINC01358 in prostate cancer (PCa) and its effect on the proliferation and migration of PCa cells.

METHODSThe lncRNA array was used to screen differentially expressed lncRNAs in PCa and the corresponding carcinoma-adjacent normal tissues from 3 patients. The expressions of LINC01358 in the primary PCa, metastatic PCa, and carcinoma-adjacent tissues were compared using the PCa dataset of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). The data obtained were validated by determining the expression of LINC01358 in the PCa and carcinoma-adjacent tissues of another 10 patients by quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR). The effects of lncRNA LINC01358 on the proliferation of DU145 cells and migration of PCa cells were detected by MTT and Transwell assay, respectively.

RESULTSTotally, 79 differentially expressed lncRNAs in the lncRNA array, 36 highly and the other 43 lowly expressed in the PCa tissue. LINC01358 was up-regulated in the cancerous tissue. According to the MSKCC data, the LINC01358 expression was markedly higher in metastatic PCa (5.81±0.19, n = 19) and primary PCa (5.47±0.04, n = 131) than in the PCa-adjacent tissue (5.15±0.07, n = 29) and significantly correlated with postoperative biochemical relapse of the malignancy (P<0.05). qRT-PCR indicated a remarkably higher expression of LINC01358 in the PCa than in the carcinoma-adjacent tissue (6.02±1.12 vs 3.21±0.21, P<0.05). Transfection of the DU145 cells with siRNA significantly decreased the level of LINC01358 and inhibited the proliferation and migration of the PCa cells.

CONCLUSIONSLINC01358 is highly expressed in the PCa tissue and knockdown of LINC01358 may inhibit the proliferation and migration of PCa cells. LncRNA LINC01358 may be involved in the development and progression of PCa and become an index for the early diagnosis as well as a new target for the gene therapy of the malignancy.

OBJECTIVETo purify a low-temperature hydroxylamine oxidase (HAO) from a heterotrophic nitrifying bacterium Acinetobacter sp. Y16 and investigate the enzyme property.

METHODSA HAO was purified by an anion-exchange and gel-filtration chromatography from strain Y16. The purity and molecular mass were determined by RP-HPLC and SDS-PAGE. The HAO activity was detected by monitoring the reduction of potassium ferricyanide using hydroxylamine as substrate and ferricyanide as electron acceptor. The partial amino acid sequence was determined by mass spectrometry.

RESULTSThe low-temperature HAO with a molecular mass of 61 kDa was purified from strain Y16 by an anion-exchange and gel-filtration chromatography. The enzyme exhibited an ability to oxidize hydroxylamine in wide temperature range (4-40 °C) in vitro using hydroxylamine as substrate and ferricyanide as electron acceptor. It was stable in the temperature range of 4 to 15 °C and pH range of 6.0 to 8.5 with less than 30% change in its activity. The optimal temperature and pH were 15 °C and 7.5, respectively. Three peptides were determined by mass spectrometry which were shown to be not identical to other reported HAOs.

CONCLUSIONThis is the first study to purify a low-temperature HAO from a heterotrophic nitrifier Acinetobacter sp. It differs from other reported HAOs in molecular mass and enzyme properties. The findings of the present study have suggested that the strain Y16 passes through a hydroxylamine-oxidizing process catalyzed by a low-temperature HAO for ammonium removal.

Acinetobacter ; enzymology ; genetics ; metabolism ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Cold Temperature ; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial ; physiology ; Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic ; physiology ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Oxidoreductases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Substrate Specificity