Efficacy and safety of the compound Chinese medicine SaiLuoTong in vascular dementia: A randomized clinical trial

Introduction: No licensed medications are available to treat vascular dementia (VaD). Methods: Patients were randomly assigned to experimental groups (SaiLuoTong [SLT] 360 or 240 mg for groups A and B for 52 weeks, respectively) or placebo group (SLT 360 mg and 240 mg for group C only from weeks 27 to 52, respectively). Results: Three hundred twenty-five patients were included in final analysis. At week 26, the difference in VaD Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale scores was 2.67 (95% confidence interval, 1.54 to 3.81) for groups A versus C, and 2.48 (1.34 to 3.62) for groups B versus C (both Discussion: This study suggests that SLT is effective for treatment of VaD, and this compound Chinese medicine may represent a better choice to treat VaD

Multi-scenario simulation of spatial structure and carbon sequestration evaluation in residential green space

As an important component of urban green space, residential green space is crucial in improving the carbon sequestration performance of urban ecosystem. At present, there is a lack of spatial analysis on the carbon sequestration performance of residential green space. Taking the main urban area of Nanjing as an example, the study firstly adopted ENVI-met, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and net primary productivity (NPP) remote sensing estimation model to calculate the carbon sequestration performance of residential green space, and then carried out the coupling analysis on the results with the spatial characteristics of green space. Results showed that the residential green space with scattered layout present higher carbon sequestration performance; the ratio of trees and shrubs was the most critical factor affecting the carbon sequestration performance of residential green space; a suitable microclimate environment was a prerequisite to ensure high carbon sequestration performance of green space. The study revealed the spatial characteristics of residential green space that affected carbon sequestration performance, and provided a new method to calculate carbon sequestration performance of green space at microclimate scales, which pointed out a new direction for future sustainable urban development

Carbon Sink Performance Evaluation and Socioeconomic Effect of Urban Aggregated Green Infrastructure Based on Sentinel-2A Satellite

Aggregated green infrastructure is the only element that has a relatively concentrated and well-functioning carbon sink in the city. It plays an important role in achieving carbon neutrality in urban areas with dense functions and scarce carbon sink resources. However, in contrast to other regions, aggregated green infrastructure carbon sink performance is more influenced by socioeconomic activities in urban centres. There is a lack of research on the impact between carbon sink performance and socioeconomic activities at the urban scale. In this study, we evaluated the carbon sink performance (i.e., carbon sink and location entropy) of aggregated green infrastructure and its interaction with socioeconomic activities at the urban scale based on Sentinel-2A satellite. The results showed that: (1) Aggregate green infrastructures with high carbon sink performance have significant aggregation characteristics in urban areas. (2) Aggregated green infrastructure with poor carbon sink performance tended to be surrounded by dense socioeconomic activities. Our study provides a new approach to the assessment of carbon sink performance of aggregated green infrastructure at the urban scale. More importantly, we make a new attempt to assess the association between carbon sink performance and socioeconomic activities of urban aggregated green infrastructure. These results point to a new direction for the realization of carbon neutrality in cities

Table_1_Causal relationship of genetically predicted gut microbiota with thyroid cancer: a bidirectional two-sample mendelian randomization study.xls

BackgroundPrevious investigations have demonstrated a correlation between the composition of gut microbiota and the development of thyroid cancer (TC). Nonetheless, there was no consensus on the causal effect of gut microbiota composition on TC risk. Therefore, the present study aimed to perform a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to explore potential causal associations between gut microbiota and TC risk.MethodsUtilizing data from the MiBioGen consortium’s genome-wide association studies (GWAS) meta-analysis involving a sample size of 18,340, we identified instrumental variables for 211 gut microbiota taxa. The summary statistics for TC was from relevant large-scale GWAS conducted by the FinnGen consortium. In the first stage, the Inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was used as the primary estimate method, and the stability of estimations was tested by a battery of sensitivity analyses. In the second stage, a reverse MR analysis was applied to determine whether reverse causality existed.ResultsAccording to the IVW method, we identified 9 genetically predicted gut microbiota that were causally correlated with TC risk. Among them, we observed a positive causal effect of Family Christensenellaceae (OR = 1.664, 95% CI: 1.103–2.511, P = 0.015), Family Victivallaceae (OR = 1.268, 95% CI: 1.009–1.594, P = 0.042), Genus Methanobrevibacter (OR = 1.505, 95% CI: 1.049–2.159, P = 0.027), Genus Ruminococcus2 (OR = 1.846, 95% CI: 1.261–2.704, P = 0.002), Genus Subdoligranulum (OR = 1.907, 95% CI: 1.165–3.121, P = 0.010), Phylum Verrucomicrobia (OR = 1.309, 95% CI: 1.027–1.668, P = 0.029) on TC risk, while Class Betaproteobacteria (OR = 0.522, 95% CI: 0.310–0.879, P = 0.015), Family Family XI (OR = 0.753, 95% CI: 0.577–0.983, P = 0.037), Genus Sutterella (OR = 0.596, 95% CI: 0.381–0.933, P = 0.024) might be correlated with a decreased risk of TC. Subsequently, various sensitivity analyses indicated no heterogeneity, directional pleiotropy or outliers. In addition, reverse analysis demonstrated a negative causal effect of TC risk on the abundance of the gut microbiota (Genus Ruminococcus2, OR = 0.947, 95% CI: 0.907–0.989, P = 0.014).ConclusionGenetic evidence suggested that bidirectional causal associations of specific bacteria taxa and the risk of TC, highlighting the association of the “gut-thyroid” axis. Further exploration of the potential microbiota-related mechanisms might have profound implications for public health in terms of the early prevention and treatment of TC.</p

Anti-Proliferation Activity of a Decapeptide from <i>Perinereies aibuhitensis</i> toward Human Lung Cancer H1299 Cells

Perinereis aibuhitensis peptide (PAP) is a decapeptide (Ile-Glu-Pro-Gly-Thr-Val-Gly-Met-Met-Phe, IEPGTVGMMF) with anticancer activity that was purified from an enzymatic hydrolysate of Perinereis aibuhitensis. In the present study, the anticancer effect of PAP on H1299 cell proliferation was investigated. Our results showed that PAP promoted apoptosis and inhibited the proliferation of H1299 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. When the PAP concentration reached 0.92 mM, more than 95% of treated cells died after 72 h of treatment. Changes in cell morphology were further analyzed using an inverted microscope and AO/EB staining and flow cytometry was adopted for detecting apoptosis and cell cycle phase. The results showed that the early and late apoptosis rates of H1299 cells increased significantly after treatment with PAP and the total apoptosis rate was significantly higher than that of the control group. Moreover, after treatment with PAP, the number of cells in the S phase of cells was significantly reduced and the ability for the cells to proliferate was also reduced. H1299 cells were arrested in the G2/M phase and cell cycle progression was inhibited. Furthermore, the results of western blotting showed that nm23-H1 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) protein levels decreased in a dose-dependent manner, while the pro-apoptotic protein and anti-apoptotic protein ratios and the level of apoptosis-related caspase protein increased in a dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, our results indicated that PAP, as a natural marine bioactive substance, inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis of human lung cancer H1299 cells. PAP is likely to be exploited as the functional food or adjuvant that may be used for prevention or treatment of human non-small cell lung cancer in the future