Sugar-sweetened beverages, artificially sweetened beverages and natural juices and risk of inflammatory bowel disease: a cohort study of 121,490 participants

Background: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) have been related to high-sugar dietary patterns, but the associations of different types of beverages with IBD risk are largely unknown. Aims: To examine the associations of intake of sugar-sweetened beverages, artificially sweetened beverages and natural juices with IBD risk. Methods: This cohort study included 121,490 participants in the UK Biobank who were free of IBD at recruitment. Intake of beverages was obtained from repeated 24-h diet recalls in 2009–2012. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations of beverage intake with IBD risk. Results: During a mean (standard deviation) follow-up of 10.2 (1.5) years, we documented 510 incident IBD cases, (143 Crohn's disease (CD) and 367 ulcerative colitis (UC)). Compared to non-consumers, participants consuming >1 unit per day of sugar-sweetened beverages were at significantly higher risk of IBD (HR 1.51, 95% CI 1.11–2.05), but the trend was non-significant (p-trend = 0.170). This association was significant for CD (HR 2.05, 95% CI 1.22–3.46), but not for UC (HR 1.31, 95% CI 0.89–1.92). We did not observe significant associations for the consumption of artificially sweetened beverages or natural juices. Conclusions: Our findings suggest an association between consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, rather than artificially sweetened beverages or natural juices, and IBD risk

Fatty acids and lipid mediators in inflammatory bowel disease: from mechanism to treatment

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a chronic, relapsing inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract. Though the pathogenesis of IBD remains unclear, diet is increasingly recognized as a pivotal factor influencing its onset and progression. Fatty acids, essential components of dietary lipids, play diverse roles in IBD, ranging from anti-inflammatory and immune-regulatory functions to gut-microbiota modulation and barrier maintenance. Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), products of indigestible dietary fiber fermentation by gut microbiota, have strong anti-inflammatory properties and are seen as key protective factors against IBD. Among long-chain fatty acids, saturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids, and ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids exhibit pro-inflammatory effects, while oleic acid and ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids display anti-inflammatory actions. Lipid mediators derived from polyunsaturated fatty acids serve as bioactive molecules, influencing immune cell functions and offering both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory benefits. Recent research has also highlighted the potential of medium- and very long-chain fatty acids in modulating inflammation, mucosal barriers, and gut microbiota in IBD. Given these insights, dietary intervention and supplementation with short-chain fatty acids are emerging as potential therapeutic strategies for IBD. This review elucidates the impact of various fatty acids and lipid mediators on IBD and delves into potential therapeutic avenues stemming from these compounds

Antioxidants, Minerals, and Vitamins in Relation to Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis:A Mendelian Randomization Study

Background Evidence for antioxidants, minerals and vitamins in relation to the risk of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) is limited and inconsistent. This mendelian randomization (MR) study aimed to examine the causal associations of circulating levels of antioxidants, minerals and vitamins with CD and UC. Methods Single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with antioxidants (beta-carotene, lycopene and uric acid), minerals (copper, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium), and vitamins (folate, vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, E and K1) were employed as instrumental variables. Genetic associations with CD and UC were extracted from the UK Biobank, the FinnGen study and the International Inflammatory Bowel Disease Genetics Consortium. The inverse variance weighted method and sensitivity analyses were performed. Results Genetically predicted higher lycopene (OR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.91–0.97), vitamins D (OR = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.54–0.79) and K1 (OR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.90–0.97) levels were inversely associated with CD risk, whereas genetically predicted higher magnesium (OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.23–1.90) levels were positively associated with CD risk. Higher levels of genetically predicted lycopene (OR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.88–0.95), phosphorus (OR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.58–0.82), selenium (OR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.85–0.97), zinc (OR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.89–0.94), folate (OR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.56–0.92) and vitamin E (OR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.69–0.88) were associated with reduced UC risk, whereas genetically predicted high levels of calcium (OR = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.22–1.76) and magnesium (OR = 1.24, 95% CI: 1.03–1.49) were associated with increased risk of UC. Conclusions Our study provided evidence that circulating levels of antioxidants, minerals and vitamins might be causally linked to the development of IBD

In-Orbit Instrument Performance Study and Calibration for POLAR Polarization Measurements

POLAR is a compact space-borne detector designed to perform reliable measurements of the polarization for transient sources like Gamma-Ray Bursts in the energy range 50-500keV. The instrument works based on the Compton Scattering principle with the plastic scintillators as the main detection material along with the multi-anode photomultiplier tube. POLAR has been launched successfully onboard the Chinese space laboratory TG-2 on 15th September, 2016. In order to reliably reconstruct the polarization information a highly detailed understanding of the instrument is required for both data analysis and Monte Carlo studies. For this purpose a full study of the in-orbit performance was performed in order to obtain the instrument calibration parameters such as noise, pedestal, gain nonlinearity of the electronics, threshold, crosstalk and gain, as well as the effect of temperature on the above parameters. Furthermore the relationship between gain and high voltage of the multi-anode photomultiplier tube has been studied and the errors on all measurement values are presented. Finally the typical systematic error on polarization measurements of Gamma-Ray Bursts due to the measurement error of the calibration parameters are estimated using Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 43 pages, 30 figures, 1 table; Preprint accepted by NIM

Improved protein arrays for quantitative systems analysis of the dynamics of signaling pathway interactions

An improved version of quantitative protein array platform utilizing linear Quantum dot signaling for systematically measuring protein levels and phosphorylation states is presented. The signals are amplified linearly by a confocal laser Quantum dot scanner resulting in ~1000-fold more sensitivity than traditional Western blots, but are not linear by the enzyme-based amplification. Software is developed to facilitate the quantitative readouts of signaling network activities. Kinetics of EGFRvIII mutant signaling was analyzed to quantify cross-talks between EGFR and other signaling pathways

Bacteroides vulgatus alleviates dextran sodium sulfate-induced colitis and depression-like behaviour by facilitating gut-brain axis balance

BackgroundPatients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have a higher prevalence of depression. Gut microbiota dysbiosis plays an important role in IBD and depression. However, few studies have explored the characteristic microbiota of patients with IBD and depression (IBDD), or their role in IBDD.MethodsWe performed deep metagenomic sequencing and 16S rDNA quantitative PCR to characterise the gut microbial communities of patients with IBDD and patients with IBD without depression (IBDND). We then assessed the effect of the microbiota on colitis and depression in mouse models of dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS)-induced colitis and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced depression. Furthermore, liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry was used to analyse the microbiota-derived metabolites involved in gut–brain communication. Evans Blue tracer dye was used to assess blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability.ResultsOur results showed that the faecal abundance of Bacteroides vulgatus (B. vulgatus) was lower in patients with IBDD than in those with IBDND. In the DSS-induced colitis mouse model, the B. vulgatus group showed a significantly lower disease activity index score, lesser weight loss, and longer colon length than the DSS group. Moreover, B. vulgatus relieved depression-like behaviour in the DSS-induced colitis mouse model and in the LPS-induced depression mouse model. Furthermore, the key metabolite of B. vulgatus was p-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (4-HPAA), which was found to relieve intestinal inflammation and alleviate depression-like behaviours in mouse models. By increasing the expression of the tight junction protein claudin-5 in the vascular endothelium of the BBB, B. vulgatus and 4-HPAA play critical roles in gut–brain communication.ConclusionB. vulgatus and B. vulgatus-derived 4-HPAA ameliorated intestinal inflammation and relieved depressive symptoms through the gut–brain axis. Thus, administration of B. vulgatus or 4-HPAA supplementation is a promising therapeutic strategy for treating IBD, particularly IBDD

Monitoring and Prediction of Wetland Dynamics in Dongting Lake area, China

Wetland, which contains about 20 - 30% of global soil carbon pool (Lal, 2008), is one of the world’s most important environmental resources for long-term carbon storage, and plays a vital role in global carbon cycling, especially in mitigating carbon concentration in the atmosphere. However, it is also the ecosystem that has been most seriously abused and suffering from continuous degradation and loss across the world. During the past few centuries, about 50% of the world’s wetland has been lost due to increasing anthropogenic disturbances and global warming (Mitsch & Gosselink, 2007; Gibbs, 2000; Dugan, 1993; Zedler and Kercher, 2005). One typical example is the wetland in Dongting Lake area of China, which was once China’s largest freshwater wetland and now has become the second one. During the past few decades, the Lake has experienced many significant changes causing the rapid degradation, shrinkage and fragmentation of its wetland. Therefore, monitoring the changes of the Lake wetland in spatial distribution and temporal trend and predicting its potential dynamics under climate change and human induced disturbances are becoming increasingly important for linking policy decision-making with regulatory actions and subsequent land-use activities. The overall objective of this project is to monitor the wetland changes in the Lake area and predict its dynamics in the future using proposed land use and land cover (LULC) classification, change detection and modelling approaches. To start with, this study examined the spatiotemporal dynamics of the Lake wetland patterns during the past half century through analyzing remotely sensed images acquired on six time points, including 1978, 1984, 1994, 2001, 2004, 2009, and 2013. A hybrid knowledge-based classification method which combines supervised and expert classification systems was first applied to conduct image classifications with special attention to the classification accuracy of the wetland categories including water, paddy field, reed and marsh categories. After that, a post-classification based change detection technique was carried out to monitor the dynamics of the Lake wetland. The error matrices and Kappa coefficients were than used to assess the classification accuracy. The classification results demonstrated that the proposed hybrid classification approach could discriminate the wetland categories from others with the high accuracy of 96.9%, 93.7%, 82.6%, and 82.4% for water, paddy field, reed, and marsh categories, respectively. The LULC analysis based on the classification showed that wetland area (reed and marsh) in the Lake area has decreased with a dramatic decrease trend after the Three Gorges Dam being fully operated in 2003. To predict future wetland changes and allocate the changes effectively, an integrated model incorporating the logistic, the Markov, and the Conversion of Land use and its Effects (CLUE-S) models has been developed and utilized to 1) produce the LULC probability surface maps; 2) to simulate the LULC change demand in 2013 and 2025 of which the demand for 2013 was then used for validating the results of this integrated model by comparing with the actual LULC maps of the same year; 3) to allocate the simulated changes of 2013 and 2025 based on the obtained LULC probability surface maps and some user-defined rules including land use conversion rules and conversion elasticity. The results from the model validation indicated that the integrated model performed very well with an overall modelling accuracy and Kappa statistic of 80.2% and 74.9%, respectively. The results also suggested that the wetland area is likely to undergo further decrease of another 256.3 km2 by 2025. In summary, this study focused on the development of a unique and integrated approach for the LULC image classification, change detection and prediction of the wetland area – Dongting Lake region in which the landscape was complex and experiencing fast and dramatic changes due to the construction of the TGD. The approach can be easily extended to other wetland associated studies. By providing the information of the long-term wetland dynamics and simulation of its future changes in the Lake area, this research will also enhance our understanding of wetland resources, their dynamics and relationships with human activity induced disturbances and thus promote our ability to make informed use and wise restoration regulations of wetlands