Influence of Vitamin D3 Supplementation on Infliximab Effectiveness in Chinese Patients With Crohn's Disease: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: It remains uncertain whether vitamin D3 (vitD3) supplementation is beneficial for remission of Crohn's disease (CD). The influence of vitD3 supplementation on Infliximab (IFX) effectiveness was analyzed in Chinese CD patients. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, moderate-to-severe CD patients, who were bio-naïve and prescribed with IFX treatment for at least 54 weeks, were recorded from January 2014 to December 2019. VitD3 supplementation was defined as patients additionally took oral vitD3 (125 IU/d) within 3 days after the first infusion and persisted in the whole follow-up period. Disease activity was assessed using Harvey-Bradshaw Index (HBI). Serum cytokine profiles (IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, and IFN-γ) were quantitatively analyzed in a subset of all patients at baseline and 54-week after intervention. Results: Among 73 enrolled patients, 37 took vitD3 regularly (D3-patients), the others (non-D3-patients) did not. At 54-week, the mean 25-hydroxyvitaminD level increased in D3-patients (20.33 vs. 15.07 ng/mL, P < 0.001). The clinical remission rate was higher in D3-patients compared to non-D3-patients (83.8 vs. 61.6%, P = 0.030). The decrease of HBI from baseline to 54-week was more in D3-patients than non-D3-patients (7.41 ± 3.0 vs. 6.28 ± 2.75, P = 0.023). Furthermore, vitD3 supplementation was independently related to the increase of remission rate at 54-week in D3-patients (ß = -1.667, P = 0.015). The benefit of vitD3 supplementation was significant only in patients with deficient vitD3 (all P < 0.05), but not in non-deficient vitD3. A total of nine patients (four non-D3-patients and five D3-patients) were selected to determine serum cytokine profiles after 54-week IFX treatment. In non-D3-patients, the decreases of TNF-α and IL-6 at 54-week were more obvious than at baseline (P = 0.032, 0.022, respectively). In D3-patients, however, only IL-10 increased at 54-week compared with its baseline value (P = 0.037). Conclusions: VitD3 supplementation could improve IFX effectiveness in CD patients, especially for patients with vitD3 deficiency. This beneficial effect of vitD3 supplementation probably arose from the up-regulation of IL-10. Trial Registration: NCT04606017.

[Epidemiology survey of gastrointestinal stromal tumor in Shanxi Province in 2011].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the incidence and distribution of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) in Shanxi Province. METHODS: Newly diagnosed and suspected GIST cases of Shanxi Province on January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011 were collected from medical insurance records and hospital surveys. All specimens were sent to the Department of Pathology at Shanxi Provincial Tumor Hospital for examinations. And the data were analyzed by SPSS statistical analysis software. RESULTS: There were 153 newly discovered cases of GIST in Shanxi Province in 2011. And its distribution was scattered in different regions. The incidence was 4.3 per million (153/35 932 786) . The high-risk areas were Taiyuan (n = 25) and Changzhi (n = 25). There were 83 (54.2%) males and 70 (45.8%) females. And the incidence of males was not different from that of females ( (4.5 vs 4.0 )per million, P > 0.05). The median onset age was 59 (24-79) years. A high incidence of GIST occurred at an age range of 50-59 years (n = 33). Among the 139 patients, the tumor locations were stomach (n = 88, 63.3%), small intestine (n = 21, 15.1%), colon (n = 7, 5.0%), duodenum (n = 6, 4.3%), esophagus (n = 3, 2.2%) and extra-gastrointestinal (n = 14, 10.1%). And 113 cases had a record of tumor size. The median diameter was 5.78 (0.3-25.0) cm. The largest diameter was ≤ 2 cm (n = 30, 26.5%), > 2-5 cm (n = 33, 29.2%), > 5-10 cm (n = 36, 31.9%) and >10 cm (n = 14, 12.4%). The cell types of 141 cases were spindle cell (n = 112, 79.4%), epithelial (n = 11, 7.8%) and mixed (n = 18, 12.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Shanxi Province has a low incidence of GIST. And no statistically significant difference exists in the incidence between males and females. Taiyuan and Changzhi are relatively more prevalent.

[Molecular phylogeny of the gayal inferred from the analysis of cytochrome b gene entire sequences].

The gayal (Bos frontalis) is a very rare, semi-wild and semi-domestic bovine species. There still exist remarkable divergences on the gayal's origin and phylogenetic status. The cytochrome b (Cyt b) gene entire sequences (1,140 bp) of 11 gayals were sequenced and analyzed. Combined with other bovine Cyt b entire sequences cited in GenBank, the phylogenetic trees of genus Bos were reconstructed by neighbor-joining (NJ) and maximum parsimony (MP) methods with Bubalus bubalis as outgroup. Sequence analysis showed that, among 1,140 sites of Cyt b gene entire sequences of 11 gayals, 95 variable sites (8.33% of all sites) and 6 haplotypes were found, showing abundant genetic diversity in mitochondrial Cyt b gene of the gayals. Both NJ and MP trees demonstrated that the gayals in this study were markedly divided into three embranchments: one embranchment clustering with Bos taurus, another clustering with Bos indicus, and the third clustering with Bos gaurus. The result of phylogenetic analysis suggested that the gayal might be the domesticated form of the gaur (Bos gaurus), and a great proportion of the gayal bloodline was invaded by other bovine species.