Metabolic Alterations in Older Women With Low Bone Mineral Density Supplemented With Lactobacillus reuteri

JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. Osteoporosis and its associated fractures are highly prevalent in older women. Recent studies have shown that gut microbiota play important roles in regulating bone metabolism. A previous randomized controlled trial (RCT) found that supplementation with Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC PTA 6475 (L.reuteri) led to substantially reduced bone loss in older women with low BMD. However, the total metabolic effects of L. reuteri supplementation on older women are still not clear. In this study, a post hoc analysis (not predefined) of serum metabolomic profiles of older women from the previous RCT was performed to investigate the metabolic dynamics over 1 year and to evaluate the effects of L. reuteri supplementation on human metabolism. Distinct segregation of the L. reuteri and placebo groups in response to the treatment was revealed by partial least squares-discriminant analysis. Although no individual metabolite was differentially and significantly associated with treatment after correction for multiple testing, 97 metabolites responded differentially at any one time point between L. reuteri and placebo groups (variable importance in projection score >1 and p value <0.05). These metabolites were involved in multiple processes, including amino acid, peptide, and lipid metabolism. Butyrylcarnitine was particularly increased at all investigated time points in the L. reuteri group compared with placebo, indicating that the effects of L. reuteri on bone loss are mediated through butyrate signaling. Furthermore, the metabolomic profiles in a case (low BMD) and control population (high BMD) of elderly women were analyzed to confirm the associations between BMD and the identified metabolites regulated by L. reuteri supplementation. The amino acids, especially branched-chain amino acids, showed association with L. reuteri treatment and with low BMD in older women, and may serve as potential therapeutic targets. \ua9 2021 The Authors. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research

Treatment of Huge Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Cinobufacini Injection in Transarterial Chemoembolization: A Retrospective Study

The aim of this study is to examine the safety and efficacy of Cinobufacini injection in transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) for treatment of huge hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Clinical data of 56 consecutive patients with HCC larger than 10 cm who had been treated with TACE between December 2010 and August 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. Among these patients, 31 belonged to the Cinobufacini group and 25 belonged to the epirubicin group. The clinical efficacy, survival time, and adverse events in patients in the two groups were compared. The objective response rate in the Cinobufacini group was significantly higher than that in the epirubicin group (53.6% versus 23.1%, = 0.022). The median survival time (10.6 versus 14.1 months, 2 = 0.092, = 0.762) and the median time to progression (4.9 versus 5.7 months, 2 = 0.097, = 0.756) were similar between the groups. The incidence rate of adverse events was lower in the Cinobufacini group than in the epirubicin group ( < 0.05). The short-term clinical efficacy of Cinobufacini is better than that of epirubicin in TACE for treating huge HCC, while their long-term clinical efficacy is similar. However, lower incidence of adverse events was noted in TACE using Cinobufacini rather than epirubicin

Modified Sequential Therapy Regimen versus Conventional Triple Therapy for Helicobacter Pylori Eradication in Duodenal Ulcer Patients in China: A Multicenter Clinical Comparative Study

Objective. Antimicrobial resistance has decreased eradication rates for Helicobacter pylori infection worldwide. To observe the effect of eradicating Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and the treatment of duodenal ulcer by 2 kinds of modified sequential therapy through comparing with that of 10-day standard triple therapy. Methods. A total of 210 patients who were confirmed in duodenal ulcer active or heal period by gastroscopy and H. pylori positive confirmed by rapid urease test, serum anti-H. pylori antibody (ELASE), or histological examination enrolled in the study. All the patients were randomly divided into three groups: group A (70 cases) and group B (70 cases) were provided 10-day modified sequential therapy; group C (70 cases) was provided 10-day standard triple therapy. Patients of group A received 20 mg of Esomeprazole, 500 mg of Clarithromycin for the first 5 days, followed by 20 mg of Esomeprazole, 500 mg of Clarithromycin, and 1000 mg of Amoxicillin for the remaining 5 days. Group B received 20 mg of Esomeprazole, 1000 mg of Amoxicillin for the first 5 days, followed by 20 mg of Esomeprazole, 500 mg of Clarithromycin, and 1000 mg of Amoxicillin for the remaining 5 days. Group C received 20 mg of Esomeprazole, 500 mg of Clarithromycin, and 1000 mg of Amoxicillin for standard 10-day therapy. All drugs were given twice daily. H. pylori eradication rate was checked four to eight weeks after taking the medicine by using a 13C urea breath test. In the first, second, third, seventh, twenty-first, thirty-fifth days respectively, the symptoms of patients such as epigastric gnawing, burning pain, and acidity were evaluated simultaneously. Results. Overall, 210 patients accomplished all therapy schemes, 9 case patients were excluded. The examination result indicated that the H. pylori eradication rate of each group was as follows: group A 92.5% (62/67), group B 86.8% (59/68), and group C 78.8% (52/66). The H. pylori eradication rate of group A was slightly higher than group B (P < 0.05) and both of them were obviously higher than group C (P < 0.05). Modified sequential therapy was significantly more effective in patients with clarithromycin-resistant strains (80%/67% versus 31%; P = 0.02). Symptoms improvement: all the three groups could improve the symptoms such as epigastric gnawing, burning pain, and acidity since the first day. There was no significant difference in total score descending of symptoms between each group (P > 0.05). Conclusions. All the three therapy schemes could alleviate symptoms of duodenal ulcer patients in China efficiently. But as far as eradicating H. pylori is concerned, the modified sequential therapy was better than standard triple therapy, especially the therapy scheme used in group A

DNA barcoding of Scomberomorus (Scombridae, Actinopterygii) reveals cryptic diversity and misidentifications

The genus Scomberomorus is economically important; however, the taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationships in this genus are not clearly resolved, making it difficult to effectively protect and exploit fish resources. To clarify the taxonomic status of Scomberomorus species, mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene sequences of 150 samples were analyzed. The average genetic distance among 14 species was approximately 11 times greater than the distances within species, in accordance with the ‘10× rule’ of species identification. Five of the 14 species did not form monophyletic clades based on a Bayesian inference gene tree. The application of four DNA-based species delimitation methods (automatic barcode gap discovery, barcode index numbers, Poisson tree process, and the K/θ method) yielded several key results. (1) Cryptic species were detected within Scomberomorus commerson. (2) A Scomberomorus queenslandicus sample from Australia was misidentified as S. commerson in the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). (3) Specimens originally identified as Scomberomorus guttatus was differentiated into four OTUs or species, two in the Yellow, South China, and Java seas, and two in geographically distant areas, one each in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. (4) Six specimens from South Africa originally identified as S. plurilineatus most likely do not belong to the species. (5) Specimens identified as S. maculatus and S. regalis were conspecific; however, introgression cannot be ruled out. Our findings revealed cryptic diversity and difficulties in morphological identification of species in the genus Scomberomorus. This study provides scientifically based support for the conservation of germplasm resources of the genus Scomberomorus

Real-time Monitoring for the Next Core-Collapse Supernova in JUNO

Core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is one of the most energetic astrophysical events in the Universe. The early and prompt detection of neutrinos before (pre-SN) and during the SN burst is a unique opportunity to realize the multi-messenger observation of the CCSN events. In this work, we describe the monitoring concept and present the sensitivity of the system to the pre-SN and SN neutrinos at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), which is a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector under construction in South China. The real-time monitoring system is designed with both the prompt monitors on the electronic board and online monitors at the data acquisition stage, in order to ensure both the alert speed and alert coverage of progenitor stars. By assuming a false alert rate of 1 per year, this monitoring system can be sensitive to the pre-SN neutrinos up to the distance of about 1.6 (0.9) kpc and SN neutrinos up to about 370 (360) kpc for a progenitor mass of 30$M_{\odot}$ for the case of normal (inverted) mass ordering. The pointing ability of the CCSN is evaluated by using the accumulated event anisotropy of the inverse beta decay interactions from pre-SN or SN neutrinos, which, along with the early alert, can play important roles for the followup multi-messenger observations of the next Galactic or nearby extragalactic CCSN.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure

Potential of Core-Collapse Supernova Neutrino Detection at JUNO

JUNO is an underground neutrino observatory under construction in Jiangmen, China. It uses 20kton liquid scintillator as target, which enables it to detect supernova burst neutrinos of a large statistics for the next galactic core-collapse supernova (CCSN) and also pre-supernova neutrinos from the nearby CCSN progenitors. All flavors of supernova burst neutrinos can be detected by JUNO via several interaction channels, including inverse beta decay, elastic scattering on electron and proton, interactions on C12 nuclei, etc. This retains the possibility for JUNO to reconstruct the energy spectra of supernova burst neutrinos of all flavors. The real time monitoring systems based on FPGA and DAQ are under development in JUNO, which allow prompt alert and trigger-less data acquisition of CCSN events. The alert performances of both monitoring systems have been thoroughly studied using simulations. Moreover, once a CCSN is tagged, the system can give fast characterizations, such as directionality and light curve

Detection of the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background with JUNO

As an underground multi-purpose neutrino detector with 20 kton liquid scintillator, Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is competitive with and complementary to the water-Cherenkov detectors on the search for the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB). Typical supernova models predict 2-4 events per year within the optimal observation window in the JUNO detector. The dominant background is from the neutral-current (NC) interaction of atmospheric neutrinos with 12C nuclei, which surpasses the DSNB by more than one order of magnitude. We evaluated the systematic uncertainty of NC background from the spread of a variety of data-driven models and further developed a method to determine NC background within 15\% with {\it{in}} {\it{situ}} measurements after ten years of running. Besides, the NC-like backgrounds can be effectively suppressed by the intrinsic pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) capabilities of liquid scintillators. In this talk, I will present in detail the improvements on NC background uncertainty evaluation, PSD discriminator development, and finally, the potential of DSNB sensitivity in JUNO

Measurement of t(t)over-bar normalised multi-differential cross sections in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV, and simultaneous determination of the strong coupling strength, top quark pole mass, and parton distribution functions

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