Post-natal parental care in a Cretaceous diapsid from northeastern China

Post-natal parental care seems to have evolved numerous times in vertebrates. Among extant amniotes, it is present in crocodilians, birds, and mammals. However, evidence of this behavior is extremely rare in the fossil record and is only reported for two types of dinosaurs, and a varanopid ‘pelycosaur’. Here we report new evidence for post-natal parental care in Philydrosaurus, a choristodere, from the Yixian Formation of western Liaoning Province, China. We review the fossil record of reproduction in choristoderes, and this represents the oldest record of post-natal parental care in diapsids to our knowledge

A fucoidan plant drink reduces Helicobacter pylori load in the stomach: a real-world study

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection is highly prevalent globally and is predominantly managed by antibiotics. Recently, the anti-adhesive, antioxidant, antitoxin, immunomodulatory, anti-coagulant, and anti-infective activities of fucoidan, a polysaccharide extracted from brown seaweeds, have been widely studied, and the results showed promise. Fucoidan has the potential to be utilized in Hp eradication therapy. Our present clinical study was designed to evaluate the efficiency of Lewuyou®, a fucoidan plant drink (FPD) in eradicating Hp in humans. METHODS: This multi-center, clinical study was conducted between October 2020 and July 2021. Hp infection was confirmed by urea breath test (UBT). A total of 122 patients with confirmed Hp infection were enrolled; after exclusion of incomplete data, 85 eligible patients (37 males and 48 females aged 20–81 years) were included in the final analysis. FPD (50 mL per vial) was orally administered twice daily for a 4-week cycle, and 41 patients completed an 8-week cycle. RESULTS: No adverse event (AE) was reported in all 122 participants who had consumed FPD. The Hp eradication rate and clearance rate were 77.6% (66/85) and 20.0% (17/85), respectively, after 4 weeks of FPD consumption and 80.5% (33/41) and 26.8 (11/41) , respectively, after 8 weeks of consumption. CONCLUSIONS: The 4- and 8-week protocols of FPD consumption were safe and effective at reducing Hp load on the gastric mucosa, with Hp eradicated in the majority of participants