Effects of galactooligosaccharides on maternal gut microbiota, glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism and inflammation in pregnancy: A randomized controlled pilot study

BackgroundGut microbiota of pregnant women change with the gestational week. On the one hand, they participate in the metabolic adaptation of pregnant women. On the other hand, the abnormal composition of gut microbiota of pregnant women is more likely to suffer from gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Therefore, gut microbiota targeted treatment through dietary supplements is particularly important for prevention or treatment. Prebiotic supplements containing galactooligosaccharides (GOS) may be an intervention method, but the effect is still unclear.ObjectiveThis study aims to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of prebiotic intervention in healthy pregnant women during pregnancy, and to explore the possible effects of intervention on pregnant women and the influence on gut microbiota as preliminaries.MethodsAfter recruitment in first trimester, 52 pregnant women were randomly assigned to receive GOS intervention or placebo containing fructooligosaccharides. 16S rRNA sequencing technology was used to detect the composition, diversity and differential flora of gut microbiota. Lipid metabolism, glucose metabolism and inflammatory factors during pregnancy were also analyzed.ResultsThe adverse symptoms of GOS intervention are mild and relatively safe. For pregnant women, there was no significant difference in the GDM incidence rates and gestational weight gain (GWG) in the GOS group compared with placebo (P > 0.05). Compared with the placebo group, the levels of FPG, TG, TC, HDL-C LDL-C, and IL-6 had no significant difference in GOS group (P > 0.05). For newborns, there was no significant difference between GOS group and placebo group in the following variables including gestational week, birth weight, birth length, head circumference, chest circumference, sex, and delivery mode (P > 0.05). And compared with the placebo group, the GOS group had a higher abundance of Paraprevotella and Dorea, but lower abundance of LachnospiraceaeUCG_001.ConclusionsGOS prebiotics appear to be safe and acceptable for the enrolled pregnancies. Although GOS intervention did not show the robust benefits on glucose and lipid metabolism. However, the intervention had a certain impact on the compostion of gut microbiota. GOS can be considered as a dietary supplement during pregnancy, and further clinical studies are needed to explore this in the future

Molybdenum disulfide nanoflowers mediated anti-inflammation macrophage modulation for spinal cord injury treatment

Spinal cord injury (SCI) can cause locomotor dysfunctions and sensory deficits. Evidence shows that functional nanodrugs can regulate macrophage polarization and promote anti-inflammatory cytokine expression, which is feasible in SCI immunotherapeutic treatments. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanomaterials have garnered great attention as potential carriers for therapeutic payload. Herein, we synthesize MoS2@PEG (MoS2 = molybdenum disulfide, PEG = poly (ethylene glycol)) nanoflowers as an effective carrier for loading etanercept (ET) to treat SCI. We characterize drug loading and release properties of MoS2@PEG in vitro and demonstrate that ET-loading MoS2@PEG obviously inhibits the expression of M1-related pro-inflammatory markers (TNF-α, CD86 and iNOS), while promoting M2-related anti-inflammatory markers (Agr1, CD206 and IL-10) levels. In vivo, the mouse model of SCI shows that long-circulating ET-MoS2@PEG nanodrugs can effectively extravasate into the injured spinal cord up to 96 h after SCI, and promote macrophages towards M2 type polarization. As a result, the ET-loading MoS2@PEG administration in mice can protect survival motor neurons, thus, reducing injured areas at central lesion sites, and significantly improving locomotor recovery. This study demonstrates the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective activities of ET-MoS2@PEG and promising utility of MoS2 nanomaterial-mediated drug delivery

Varied Signature Splitting Phenomena in Odd Proton Nuclei

Varied signature splitting phenomena in odd proton rare earth nuclei are investigated. Signature splitting as functions of $K$ and $j$ in the angular momentum projection theory is explicitly shown and compared with those of the particle rotor model. The observed deviations from these rules are due to the band mixings. The recently measured $^{169}$Ta high spin data are taken as a typical example where fruitful information about signature effects can be extracted. Six bands, two of which have not yet been observed, were calculated and discussed in detail in this paper. The experimentally unknown band head energies are given

Interactions Between Light Intensity and Phosphorus Nutrition Affect the P Uptake Capacity of Maize and Soybean Seedling in a Low Light Intensity Area

To capture more nutrients, root systems of maize (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max L.) exhibit morphological and physiological plasticity to a localized supply of phosphorus (P). However, the mechanisms of the interaction between light intensity and P affecting root morphological and physiological alterations remain unclear. In the present study, the regulation of P uptake capacity of maize and soybean by light intensity and localized P supply was investigated in a low solar radiation area. The plants were grown under continual and disrupted light conditions with homogeneous and heterogeneous P supply. Light capture of maize and soybean increased under the disrupted light condition. Plant dry weight and P uptake were increased by more light capture, particularly when plants were grown in soil with heterogeneous P supply. Similarly, both localized P supply and disrupted light treatment increased the production of fine roots and specific root length in maize. Both homogeneous P supply and disrupted light treatment increased the malate and citrate exudation in the root of soybean. Across all of the experimental treatments, high root morphological plasticity of maize and root physiological plasticity of soybean were associated with lower P concentrations in leaves and greater sucrose concentrations in roots. It is suggested that the carbon (C), exceeded shoot growth capabilities and was transferred to roots as sucrose, which may serve as both a nutritional signal and a C-substrate for root morphological and physiological changes

Anomalous Crossing Frequency in Odd Proton Nuclei

A generic explanation for the recently observed anomalous crossing frequencies in odd proton rare earth nuclei is given. As an example, the proton ${1\over 2} [541]$ band in $^{175}$Ta is discussed in detail by using the angular momentum projection theory. It is shown that the quadrupole pairing interaction is decisive in delaying the crossing point and the changes in crossing frequency along the isotope chain are due to the different neutron shell fillings

The Perturbation of Infant Gut Microbiota Caused by Cesarean Delivery Is Partially Restored by Exclusive Breastfeeding

Early establishment of the infant gut microbiome has been attributed to various environmental factors that may influence long-term health. The aim of this study was to determine the single and combined impacts of the delivery mode, feeding pattern and postnatal antibiotic exposure on the initial establishment of infant gut microbiome at 6 weeks postpartum. A cross-sectional study was conducted at a single center in China. Fecal samples were collected from 120 infants at 6 weeks postpartum. The V3-V4 regions of 16S rRNA gene were analyzed by Illumina sequencing, and clinical information was obtained from medical records and questionnaire survey. Compared with vaginally delivered infants, the gut microbial community structure of cesarean delivered infants were significantly different (P = 0.044), in parallel with the decreased relative abundance of Bifidobacterium (P = 0.028), which contrasts with the normal gut microbial establishment. Using the vaginally delivered and exclusively breastfed (VB) infants as a reference, the comparative analysis of cesarean delivered and exclusively breastfed (CB) infants with cesarean delivered and mixed-fed (CM) infants showed that both within- and between-group UniFrac distance were significantly smaller in CB infants (P < 0.001, P < 0.001). LEfSe analysis showed that the relative abundances of Enterococcus, Veillonella, and Faecalibacterium were significantly different between CB and CM infants, whereas the relative abundances of those genera in VB infants were close to those of CB infants, and distinct from those of CM infants. Additionally, no significant difference of microbial composition, alpha diversity, or community structure was observed between postnatal antibiotics exposed infants and unexposed infants. In summary, delivery mode had a significant impact on the infant gut microbial community structure and composition, and the gut microbiota was disturbed in infants delivered by cesarean section. However, our study showed that this disturbance of gut microbiota in cesarean delivered infants was partially restored by exclusive breastfeeding in comparison with mixed feeding. No distinct impact of postnatal antibiotic exposure on infant gut microbiome was found at 6 weeks of age

The Chinese Open Science Network (COSN): Building an Open Science Community From Scratch

Open Science is becoming a mainstream scientific ideology in psychology and related fields. However, researchers, especially early-career researchers (ECRs) in developing countries, are facing significant hurdles in engaging in Open Science and moving it forward. In China, various societal and cultural factors discourage ECRs from participating in Open Science, such as the lack of dedicated communication channels and the norm of modesty. To make the voice of Open Science heard by Chinese-speaking ECRs and scholars at large, the Chinese Open Science Network (COSN) was initiated in 2016. With its core values being grassroots-oriented, diversity, and inclusivity, COSN has grown from a small Open Science interest group to a recognized network both in the Chinese-speaking research community and the international Open Science community. So far, COSN has organized three in-person workshops, 12 tutorials, 48 talks, and 55 journal club sessions and translated 15 Open Science-related articles and blogs from English to Chinese. Currently, the main social media account of COSN (i.e., the WeChat Official Account) has more than 23,000 subscribers, and more than 1,000 researchers/students actively participate in the discussions on Open Science. In this article, we share our experience in building such a network to encourage ECRs in developing countries to start their own Open Science initiatives and engage in the global Open Science movement. We foresee great collaborative efforts of COSN together with all other local and international networks to further accelerate the Open Science movement

Machine learning-based early diagnosis of autism according to eye movements of real and artificial faces scanning

BackgroundStudies on eye movements found that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) had abnormal gaze behavior to social stimuli. The current study aimed to investigate whether their eye movement patterns in relation to cartoon characters or real people could be useful in identifying ASD children.MethodsEye-tracking tests based on videos of cartoon characters and real people were performed for ASD and typically developing (TD) children aged between 12 and 60 months. A three-level hierarchical structure including participants, events, and areas of interest was used to arrange the data obtained from eye-tracking tests. Random forest was adopted as the feature selection tool and classifier, and the flattened vectors and diagnostic information were used as features and labels. A logistic regression was used to evaluate the impact of the most important features.ResultsA total of 161 children (117 ASD and 44 TD) with a mean age of 39.70 ± 12.27 months were recruited. The overall accuracy, precision, and recall of the model were 0.73, 0.73, and 0.75, respectively. Attention to human-related elements was positively related to the diagnosis of ASD, while fixation time for cartoons was negatively related to the diagnosis.ConclusionUsing eye-tracking techniques with machine learning algorithms might be promising for identifying ASD. The value of artificial faces, such as cartoon characters, in the field of ASD diagnosis and intervention is worth further exploring

Streptococcus suis 2 Transcriptional Regulator TstS Stimulates Cytokine Production and Bacteremia to Promote Streptococcal Toxic Shock-Like Syndrome

Two large-scale outbreaks of streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome (STSLS) have revealed Streptococcus suis 2 to be a severe and evolving human pathogen. We investigated the mechanism by which S. suis 2 causes STSLS. The transcript abundance of the transcriptional regulator gene tstS was found to be upregulated during experimental infection. Compared with the wild-type 05ZY strain, a tstS deletion mutant (ΔtstS) elicited reduced cytokine secretion in macrophages. In a murine infection model, tstS deletion resulted in decreased virulence and bacterial load, and affected cytokine production. Moreover, TstS expression in the P1/7 strain of S. suis led to the induction of STSLS in the infected mice. This is noteworthy because, although it is virulent, the P1/7 strain does not normally induce STSLS. Through a microarray-based comparative transcriptomics analysis, we found that TstS regulates multiple metabolism-related genes and several virulence-related genes associated with immune evasion