Long-term use of antibiotics and risk of type 2 diabetes in women:a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence suggested that long-term antibiotic use may alter the gut microbiome, which has, in turn, been linked to type 2 diabetes. We undertook this study to investigate whether antibiotic use was associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes. METHODS: This prospective cohort study included women free of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS 2008–2014) and NHS II (2009–2017). We evaluated the overall duration of antibiotics use in the past 4 years and subsequent diabetes risk with Cox proportional-hazards regression adjusting for demography, family history of diabetes and lifestyle factors. RESULTS: Pooled analyses of NHS and NHS II (2837 cases, 703 934 person-years) revealed that a longer duration of antibiotic use in the past 4 years was associated with higher risk of diabetes [Trend-coefficient = 0.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.04 to 0.13]. Participants who received antibiotics treatment for a medium duration of 15 days to 2 months [hazard ratio (HR) 1.23, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.39] or long duration of >2 months (HR 1.20, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.38) had higher risk of type 2 diabetes as compared with non-users. Subgroup analyses suggested that the associations were unlikely to be modified by age, family history of diabetes, obesity, smoking, alcohol drinking, physical activity and overall diet quality. CONCLUSIONS: A longer duration of antibiotic use in recent years was associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes in women. Physicians should exercise caution when prescribing antibiotics, particularly for long-term use

Establishment of a Novel Baculovirus–Silkworm Expression System

The baculovirus vector expression system is a well-established tool for foreign protein production and gene delivery. In this study, we constructed a recombinant baculovirus vector system. The UAS promotor region and Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) polyhedrin coding region were ligated into a pFastBac Dual vector to obtain a BmBac-UPS recombinant bacmid. The recombinant bacmid BmBac-Gal4 was generated by the same strategy which has a Gal4 coding region controlled by the IE2 promoter. BmBac-UPS and BmBac-IGal4 were co-infected into silkworm BmN cells to confirm the ability of the UAS/Gal4 system to form polyhedrons in B. mori cells. Furthermore, the recombinant viruses were tested for infection efficiency and the ability to generate polyhedra in transgenic B. mori cell line BmE. The results showed that recombinant viruses have the ability to form polyhedrons and gain raised pathogenicity when orally infected B. mori larvae and are applied as the preferred tool for foreign gene delivery and expressio

Utilization of Recombinant Baculovirus Expression System to Produce the RBD Domain of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein

Continuous outbreaks of viral diseases in humans facilitates a need for the rapid development of viral test kits and vaccines. These require expression systems to produce a pure and high yield of target viral proteins. We utilized a baculovirus–silkworm expression system to produce the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. First, we had to develop a strategy for constructing a recombinant baculovirus for RBD expression. For this, the coding region of the Bombyx mori cypovirus (BmCPV) polyhedron was assembled with the Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus (BmNPV) promoter. We demonstrated that the recombinant baculovirus has the ability to form polyhedrons within host silkworm cells. In addition, the encapsulated BVs are able to infect silkworms by ingestion and induce foreign protein expression. In this way, we utilized this novel system to obtain a high yield of the target foreign protein, the RBD of the SARS-CoV-2 S protein. However, the viral infection rate of our recombinant BV needs to be improved. Our study shed light on developing a highly efficient expression system for the production of antigens and subsequent immunoassays and vaccines

Coordinated configuration strategy of multi-energy systems based on capacity-energy-information sharing

Multi-energy systems (MESs) integrate multiple energy vectors and contribute to energy efficient utilization, which have received considerable attention in the energy research field. However, regarding a MES with multi communities, the coordination among the communities has not been fully considered in its planning and configuration. Therefore, this paper proposes a coordinated configuration strategy for MES planning based on capacity-energy-information sharing. First, analysing the capacity, energy and information sharing mechanisms among communities, an improved energy hub (EH) model and hierarchical planning framework for MES is built. Moreover, a bilevel configuration model that coordinates the planning and operation stages is developed to design a MES, which is guided by the information sharing of communities. While the upper level model makes the optimal quantity and capacity configuration plan of communities with consideration of capacity sharing, the lower level model optimizes the best operation economy considering energy interactions in MES scheduling. Finally, a case study is carried out and simulation results show that, compared with the planning approaches in the reference cases, the proposed strategy contributes to a decrease in the MES planning costs and exhibits better performances in jointly considering the planning economy, robustness, carbon emissions and user benefits

Long-term use of antibiotics and risk of type 2 diabetes in women: a prospective cohort study

Background: accumulating evidence suggested that long-term antibiotic use may alter the gut microbiome, which has, in turn, been linked to type 2 diabetes. We undertook this study to investigate whether antibiotic use was associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Methods: this prospective cohort study included women free of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS 2008-2014) and NHS II (2009-2017). We evaluated the overall duration of antibiotics use in the past 4 years and subsequent diabetes risk with Cox proportional-hazards regression adjusting for demography, family history of diabetes and lifestyle factors. Results: pooled analyses of NHS and NHS II (2837 cases, 703 934 person-years) revealed that a longer duration of antibiotic use in the past 4 years was associated with higher risk of diabetes [Trend-coefficient = 0.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.04 to 0.13]. Participants who received antibiotics treatment for a medium duration of 15 days to 2 months [hazard ratio (HR) 1.23, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.39] or long duration of &gt;2 months (HR 1.20, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.38) had higher risk of type 2 diabetes as compared with non-users. Subgroup analyses suggested that the associations were unlikely to be modified by age, family history of diabetes, obesity, smoking, alcohol drinking, physical activity and overall diet quality. Conclusions: a longer duration of antibiotic use in recent years was associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes in women. Physicians should exercise caution when prescribing antibiotics, particularly for long-term use.</p