Correlation between stool form and diversity of intestinal flora among children and adolescents / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To investigate the differences and diversity changes in gut microbiota between children and adolescents with constipation and diarrhea, and healthy individuals, and to explore the correlation between changes in stool consistency and gut microbiota, in order to provide a scientific reference for the research on intestinal microecology among children and adolescents.@*Methods@#From October 2021 to March 2022, a total of 42 children and adolescents with constipation and 37 with diarrhea from a tertiary hospital in Hangzhou City, and 43 healthy individuals from 3 primary and secondary schools were included in this study. Fecal samples of children and adolescents were collected and then stool genomic DNA was extracted for 16S rRNA gene high throughput sequencing, and the sequencing results were analyzed. In the analysis of alpha diversity, the Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test was used to compare the differences between the three groups, and the FDR multiple testing correction was used for pairwise comparisons. In the analysis of beta diversity, the Adonis test was used to compare the overall differences between the three groups, and the ANOSIM test was used for pairwise comparisons. In the LEfSe analysis, the LDA scores obtained through LDA analysis (linear regression analysis).@*Results@#Alpha diversity analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in the Shannon index (4.01, 3.81, 4.19) and Simpson index (0.05, 0.06, 0.04) between the diarrhea group, constipation group, and healthy group ( H=6.05, 6.35, P <0.1). Further pairwise comparison showed that the Shannon index and Simpson index of the healthy group were higher than those of the constipation group ( P <0.1). Beta diversity analysis showed that the impact of grouping factors on inter group differences was statistically significant ( R 2=0.045, P <0.1). Community composition analysis showed that there were 234 species in total among the three groups, and 36 unique species in the healthy group, 36 species in the diarrhea group, and 48 species in the constipation group. Species difference analysis showed significant differences in species composition at the genus level among the three groups ( H=0.000 05, 0.000 16, 0.000 20, 0.000 21, 0.000 53, 0.001 39, P <0.1), including Lachnospiraceae of Firmicutes phylum, Eubacterium hallii, Veillonellaceae, Qscillospiraceae, Butyricicoccaceae and Staphylococcaceae, respectively. KEGG abundance statistics and COG functional analysis showed that there were no significant differences in gene expression abundance of the same function among the three groups ( P >0.1).@*Conclusions@#The different stool consistency of children and adolescents is related to changes in gut microbiota composition. Compared to the healthy group, children with constipation or diarrhea have disrupted gut microbiota balance, with a shift in dominant bacteria and a higher abundance of opportunistic pathogens.

Clinical observation of tocilizumab in patients with refractory active rheumatoid arthritis / 中华风湿病学杂志

Objective To explore the efficacy and safety of tocilizumab in combination with disease-modifying anti-rheumatoid drugs (DMARDs) for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with moderate to severe activity and inadequate response to DMARDs. Methods Thirty-two RA patients with inadequate response to DMARDs were treated with tocilizumab along with stable dose of DMARDs for 12 weeks, adverse reactions were recorded, clinical laboratory and physiological indices were recorded 4, 8, and 12 weeks after treatment. The routine blood, liver and kidney function tests, morning stiffness, rest pain, tender joint count, swollen joint count, overall evaluation of the patient and physician to disease and health assessment questionnaire, blood sedimentation, C-reactive protein (CRP), Disease activity score 28 (DAS28), simplified disease activity index (SDAI) score, clinical disease activity index (CDAI). Repetitive measure analysis of variance wase used for statistical analysis. Results The clinical laboratory indices and DAS28, SDAI, CDAI scores observed in all of the patients were significantly improved (P<0.05). After 8 and 12 weeks of treatment, disease activity was further improved with statistical significance (P<0.05). The levels of IL-6 were downregulated obvious compared with before [(26±14) pg/ml vs (76±39) pg/ml, t=-6.925, P<0.01], and no obvious adverse reactions were observed. Conclusion Tocilizumab can quickly improve the symptoms and the control disease activity of refractory active RA within a few weeks.

Effects of Lonicera Japonica flavone on immunomodulation in mice / 中国应用生理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study immunomodulating activity of Lonicera Japonica flavone by investigating immune enzymatic activity of serum and antoxidized activity of lymphoid organs in mice.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty KM mice were randomly divided into control group, model group, low dose group, middle dose group and high dose group(n = 10), respectively. And low dose group, middle dose group and high dose group were given Lonicera Japonica flavone with 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg every day, respectively, while control group and model group were administered with NS. After continuously giving drug 7 weeks, other groups were injected with Dexamethasome (Dex: 25 mg /kg) for 3 days by subcutaneous injection, but the control group were treated with NS. And after giving Lonicera Japonica flavone 1 week simultaneously, organ indexes , the activity of acid phosphatase (ACP), alkaline phosphatase (AKP) and lysozyme (LSZ) in serum , and the content of monoamine oxidase (MAO), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), total superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in lymphoid organs in mice were tested, respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Lonicera Japonica flavone could significantly improve the organ indexes, and significantly improve the activity of ACP, AKP and LSZ in serum, and significantly improve the contents of T-AOC and SOD, but reduce that of MAO and MDA in lymphoid organs in immunosuppressed mice.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Ionicera Japonica flavone can significantly improve the activity of immune enzyme in serum and the antioxidized activity of lymphoid organs in mice. It suggests that Ionicera Japonica flavone has a good immunomodulatory effects.</p>

Therapeutic Mechanism of Simvastatin on Collagen Induced Arthritis in Rats / 天津医药

Objective To evaluate therapeutic effects of simvastatin on serum expressions of cytokines and synovial tissue aspartic protease-3 (Caspase-3) in collagen induced arthritis (CIA) in rats, and the mechanism thereof. Methods The rat model of CIA was established by injecting bovine Ⅱ collagen. Sixteen model rats were randomly divided into two groups:CIA model group (sterile water 5 mL·kg-1·d-1 by gavage) and simvastatin group (2.0 mg·kg-1·d-1 by gavage). Seven normal rats were included in control group (sterile water 5 mL·kg-1·d-1 by gavage). The arthritis index (AI) and hind paw vol-umes were recorded once a week. The serum levels of cytokine, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-αand interleukin (IL)-6 were measured by ELISA 42 days after the initial immunization. The expression of Caspase-3 in ankle synovial tissue was detect-ed by immunohistochemical method, and pathological results of HE staining in rat ankle were compared between three groups. Results Values of AI were decreased on the 24-d of the initial immunization in simvastatin group and CIA model group, which was significantly decreased on the 35-d of the initial immunization in simvastatin group than that of CIA model group (P＜0.05). The values of hind paw volumes were decreased on the 14-d of the initial immunization in simvastatin group and CIA model group, which was still significantly higher than those of control group (P＜0.05). The values of hind paw volumes were decreased on the 35-d and 42-d of the initial immunization in simvastatin group than those of CIA model group (P＜0.05). The serum levels of TNF-αand IL-6 on the 42-d of the initial immunization were significantly lower in simvastatin group than those of CIA model group, but which were significantly higher than those of control group ( P＜0.05). There were more synovial hyperplasia in simvastatin group than those of CIA model group. Only a small amount of inflamma-tory cell infiltration was found in simvastatin group. The expression of Caspase-3 was significantly higher in simvastatin group than that of CIA model group. Conclusion Simvastatin can significantly inhibit the serum levels of TNF-αand IL-6 in CIA model rats, and can up-regulate the expression of Caspase-3 in ankle of model rats.

Dynamic modulations on intensity sensitivity evoked by weak noise in the inferior collicular neurons / 生理学报

In order to explore the possible mechanisms by which ethologically relevant sounds can be extracted from complex auditory environments, this study examined the effects of weak noise on the rate-intensity functions (RIFs) of neurons responding to tone burst in the inferior colliculus (IC) of nine mice (Mus musculus Km). Under free field stimuli conditions, a total of 112 IC neurons were recorded. RIFs with and without simultaneous presentation of weak noise, of which the intensity was relative to 5 dB below minimum threshold of tone burst, were measured in 44 IC neurons. By means of evaluating the changes of dynamic range (DR), slope of RIFs, and percent inhibition at different tone burst intensities evoked by the weak noise, three types of variations in RIFs were observed, i. e., inhibition (39/44, 88.6%), facilitation (2/44, 4.6%), and no effectiveness (3/44, 6.8%). Statistical analysis indicated that only inhibitory effect of weak noise was significant (P< 0.001, n = 39). The inhibitory effect of weak noise was greater at lower stimulus intensity of tone burst but decreased significantly with increased stimulus intensity (P< 0.0001, n = 39). In addition, the DR and slope of RIFs became narrower and steeper with weak noise presentation, respectively (P< 0.01, n = 31). The results from the present study suggest that weak noise exerts a dynamic modulatory action on acoustical intensity sensitivity of IC neurons, which possibly leads to a better understanding of neural mechanisms underlying the extraction of sound signals from natural auditory scenes.