Adjunct therapy with probiotics for chronic urticaria in children: randomised placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUNDS: Chronic urticaria is a common disorder of the skin, characterised by recurrent skin wheals and angioedema. Recent reports have shown that altered diversity and composition of the gut microbiota may lead to imbalances in immune regulation, a causal factor in the occurrence of chronic urticaria. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the Yimingjia® probiotic formula in the adjuvant treatment of chronic urticaria in children. METHODS: We enrolled 206 children with confirmed diagnoses of chronic urticaria and randomly assigned them to the treatment (n = 104) or placebo group (n = 102). The children in each group were treated with desloratadine dry suspension, and those in the treatment group also received Yimingjia®. Clinical efficacy was evaluated at 1, 2 and 4 weeks. RESULTS: Clinical symptom scores did not differ significantly at weeks 1 and 2 (p > 0.05), but at 4 weeks, wheal size and attack frequency were significantly reduced in the treatment group (p = 0.049 and 0.03, respectively). The overall response rate (significant improvement + complete response) significantly differed between the treatment (80.8%) and placebo groups (62.5%) (χ2 = 4.20, p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Adjunct therapy with Yimingjia® was safe and effective at 4 weeks in the treatment of chronic urticaria in children. The study was registered under trial number NCT03328897.

An empirical study on energy utilization efficiency, economic development, and sustainable management.

Based on the premise of sustainable development of the environment, how to achieve the balance of energy utilization, economic development, and sustainable management of the environment is becoming increasingly important in the process of stable economic development. This paper analyzes the concept of environmental Kuznets curve, taking 35 European countries as the research objects, first discusses the trend of energy utilization efficiency from 1990 to 2013, and then analyzes the relationship between energy efficiency and economic development. Empirical results show that labor has a significant negative impact on energy efficiency and the increase in labor input will reduce energy efficiency. If the added value of national manufacturing accounts for a higher percentage in GDP, it will have a negative impact on the effectiveness of energy utilization. In addition, when the national price level is high, price fluctuation will increase the price of energy utilization, or the cost of energy input in economic activities, which will further reduce the country's energy efficiency performance. Lastly, the empirical study also found that energy efficiency and economic development showed a quadratic U-shaped relationship, indicating that the long-term energy efficiency of the country will first decline and then rise during economic activities.

Downregulation of CD44v6 Enhances Chemosensitivity by Promoting Apoptosis and Inhibiting Autophagy in Colorectal Cancer HT29 Cells.

BACKGROUND: Chemotherapy resistance reduces the effectiveness of chemotherapeutic drugs greatly, resulting in treatment failure. Therefore, exploring chemoresistance-related genes and the corresponding mechanism is extremely important. The central role of CD44v6 in colorectal cancer has been previously reported. However, the effects of CD44v6 gene knockdown on the chemosensitivity of colorectal cancer cells are not conclusive. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A stable CD44v6 knockdown cell model in HT29 cells (HT29-KD) was established via lentiviral transduction. A quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out to confirm the knockdown efficiency. The chemosensitivity of cells to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) was determined by a cell counting kit (CCK)-8 assay. Cell apoptosis and the cell cycle were assessed by flow cytometry. RESULTS: The CD44v6 knockdown cell model was successfully constructed by using lentiviral transduction. Upon treatment with 5-FU, the inhibitory rate for cell activity of HT29-KD cells was significantly higher than that of the control group (HT29-NC). CD44v6 gene knockdown did not significantly affect HT-29 cell proliferation, according to the CCK-8 assay and cell cycle analysis. The cell apoptosis assay revealed that CD44v6 gene knockdown promoted HT-29 cell apoptosis. Without 5-FU treatment, there was no significant difference in terms of the relative expression level of the autophagy-related gene BECN1 between the two groups. However, with 5-FU treatment, the relative expression level of BECN1 in HT29-KD cells was much lower than that in HT29-NC cells. CONCLUSION: Our study confirms that CD44v6 gene knockdown can enhance chemosensitivity in HT29 cells by promoting apoptosis and inhibiting autophagy, thus affirming the effects of CD44v6 on the chemosensitivity of colorectal cancer.

Characterization and immunomodulatory activity of polysaccharides from the stems and leaves of Abelmoschus manihot and a sulfated derivative.

BACKGROUND: Abelmoschus manihot (Linn.) Medicus is a traditional herbal medicine whose flowers, stems and leaves exhibit widely pharmacological activities. However, only the flowers have long been used as medicine while the stems and leaves were mainly discarded and burned, which undoubtedly caused enormous waste of these resources and serious environment pollution. Many researches have indicated that bioactivities of polysaccharides were significantly improved after sulfation. The aim of this study was to investigate the characterization and immunomodulatory activity of polysaccharides from stems and leaves of A. manihot and a sulfated derivative. RESULTS: A mixed neutral polysaccharide (SLAMP-a) and two acidic polysaccharides (SLAMP-c and SLAMP-d) were obtained from stems and leaves of A. manihot by DEAE-cellulose chromatography. SLAMP-a was a water-insoluble mixture while its sulfated derivative (S-SLAMP-a3), prepared with aminosulfonic acid, was a homogeneous polysaccharide with excellent solubility. The average molecular weights of S-SLAMP-a3, SLAMP-c and SLAMP-d were 1044.2kDa, 477.8kDa and 264.2kDa respectively. SLAMP-a and its sulfate mainly contained glucose, and SLAMP-c and SLAMP-d were both composed of mannose, rhamnose, glucuronic acid, glucose, galactose, and arabinose. In vitro study indicated that S-SLAMP-a3, SLAMP-c and SLAMP-d exhibited significant immunomodulatory activity, while SLAMP-a showed little effects. CONCLUSION: SLAMP-c and SLAMP-d from A. manihot stems and leaves could be explored as immunomodulatory agents, which would provide a way to utilize these enormously discarded resources and avoid massive waste. Additionally, the neutral polysaccharide, SLAMP-a, could also be developed after sulfation, suggesting that these disused resources would be further used effectively.