Unveiling early stage autoimmune gastritis: novel endoscopic insights from two case reports.

The predominant characteristic of autoimmune gastritis (AIG) is corpus-dominant advanced atrophy, which is mostly observed in the middle to late stages. More reports are needed on the endoscopic features of the early stage. In this report, we present two cases of early-stage AIG in which endoscopic examinations showed no atrophy of the gastric mucosa but displayed a transition of collecting venules from a regular to an irregular arrangement. In addition, yellowish-white cobblestone-like elevations were observed in the fundic gland region. Histologically, the observed manifestations included pseudohypertrophy and protrusion of parietal cells into the lumen, possibly along with hyperplasia of G cells, lymphocytic infiltration and potentially pseudopyloric gland metaplasia. Serologically, the anti-parietal cell antibody returned positive results, whereas the anti-intrinsic factor antibody yielded negative results. In this study, we summarized some endoscopic features of two patients, aiming to provide clues for endoscopists to detect early-stage AIG.

Effect of Cluster-Zone Leaf Removal at Different Stages on Cabernet Sauvignon and Marselan (Vitis vinifera L.) Grape Phenolic and Volatile Profiles.

This study investigated the effect of leaf removal at three stages of grape development on the phenolic and volatile profiles of Cabernet Sauvignon and Marselan grapevines for two consecutive years in the Jieshi Mountain region, an area of eastern China with high summer rainfall. The results indicated that cluster-zone leaf removal generally reduced the titratable acidity of both varieties, but did not affect the total soluble solids of grape berries. Leaf-removal treatments increased the anthocyanin and flavonol content of berries in both varieties. However, in Cabernet Sauvignon, leaf removal negatively affected the norisoprenoid compounds, with a more pronounced impact observed when the leaf removal was conducted at an early stage. This negative effect may be related to a decrease in the levels of violaxanthin and neoxanthin, potential precursors of vitisprine and ß-damascenone. In contrast, the removal of leaves had no effect on the norisoprenoid aroma of Marselan grapes.

Differences in Aroma Profile of Cabernet Sauvignon Grapes and Wines from Four Plots in Jieshi Mountain Region of Eastern China.

The Bohai Bay region is a famous wine-growing area in China, where the rainfall is concentrated in the summer due to the influence of the temperate semi-humid monsoon climate. As such, the vineyard terrain has a significant impact on the flavor quality of the grapes and the resulting wines. To explore the relationship between the 'Cabernet Sauvignon' wine style and terrain, this study takes four different plots in the Jieshi Mountain region to investigate the differences in the aroma profile of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and wines of two consecutive vintages. Based on two-way ANOVA, there were 25 free and 8 glycosylated aroma compounds in the grapes and 21 and 10 aroma compounds with an odor activity value greater than 0.1 in the wines at the end of alcohol fermentation (AF) and malolactic fermentation (MLF), respectively, that varied among the four plots. Wines from the four plots showed a significant difference in floral and fruity aroma attributes, which were mainly related to esters with high odor activity values. The difference in concentration of these compounds between plots was more pronounced in 2021 than in 2020, and a similar result was shown on the Shannon-Wiener index, which represents wine aroma diversity. It has been suggested that high rainfall makes the plot effect more pronounced. Pearson's correlation analysis indicated that concentrations of (E)-3-hexen-1-ol in grapes and ethyl 3-methylbutanoate, ethyl hexanoate, isoamyl acetate, isopentanoic acid, and phenethyl acetate in wines were strongly positively correlated with the concentrations of N, P, K, Fe, and electrical conductivity in soil but negatively correlated with soil pH. This study laid a theoretical foundation for further improving the level of vineyard management and grape and wine quality in the Jieshi Mountain region.

Cordycepin Decreases Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Diabetic Hearts via Upregulating AMPK/Mfn2-dependent Mitochondrial Fusion.

Diabetes mellitus is considered to be a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the most common cause of death in diabetes. However, therapeutic strategies for myocardial protection in patients with diabetes are still limited. Cordycepin is a traditional Tibetan medicine with a long history of widespread use, and exerts a wide range of anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidative effects. In recent years, although the therapeutic potential of cordycepin has attracted the attention of researchers, it remains unknown whether cordycepin plays a protective role in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MI/R) injury in diabetic patients. Here, using a diabetic mouse model, we found that cordycepin protected diabetic hearts from MI/R injury by promoting mitochondrial fusion and Mfn2 expression. Our in vitro results showed that cordycepin enhanced Mfn2-medicated mitochondrial fusion, improved mitochondrial function, and reduced cardiomyocyte apoptosis in high-glucose/high-fat cultured simulated ischemia/reperfusion cardiomyocytes. Furthermore, we found that knockout of Mfn2 significantly blocked the cardioprotective effects of cordycepin in diabetic mice. Finally, an AMPK-dependent pathway was found to upregulate Mfn2 expression upon cordycepin treatment, indicating that cordycepin protected diabetic hearts via AMPK/Mfn2-dependent mitochondrial fusion. Collectively, our study firstly demonstrated that cordycepin could be a potential cardioprotective agent for MI/R injury, and we established a novel mechanism by which upregulated AMPK/Mfn2-dependent mitochondrial fusion contributes to the cardioprotective role of cordycepin.

Adverse outcomes of proton pump inhibitors in chronic liver disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are among the most commonly prescribed medications in the US, but their safety in cirrhosis has recently been questioned. We performed a meta-analysis of observational studies to evaluate the impact of PPIs on adverse clinical outcomes in the setting of chronic liver disease (CLD). METHODS: We searched several databases from inception to 26 May 2019 to identify comparative studies evaluating the effect of PPIs in CLD. Outcomes of interest were the associations between PPIs use and the occurrence of hepatic encephalopathy, hepatocellular carcinoma, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, bacterial infections, and mortality in CLD. We performed a meta-analysis in accordance to the PRISMA guidelines. RESULTS: Of 14,662 papers evaluated, 47 studies with 169,806 participants were identified. Of these, 35 were cohort studies and 12 were case-control studies. The pooled odds ratio (OR) for hepatic encephalopathy in individuals with PPI users, compared with those without, was 2.31 (95% CI 1.63-3.28). The pooled OR for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis in individuals with PPI users was significantly higher compared with non-PPI users (OR = 1.72, 95% CI 1.42-2.09). Results were also consistent with a higher risk of the bacterial infections and mortality in PPI users compared with non-PPI users. For hepatocellular carcinoma, the final conclusion cannot be drawn because of the limited number of studies. CONCLUSIONS: This study identifies a significant relationship between PPIs therapies and several specific adverse clinical outcomes in CLD. However, these results should be carefully considered given the potential selection bias and unmeasured confounding variables in observational studies, it may be reasonable to re-evaluate the need for PPIs in patients with CLD.

Is it feasible for China to enhance its air quality in terms of the efficiency and the regulatory cost of air pollution?

Northeast Asia is the most dynamic region in the world owing to its steady economic development and resultant air pollution. The Chinese government has expended much effort in addressing environmental issues. An important question for China is how much air pollution it can reduce and at what cost. Using streaming city-level data, this paper examines the feasibility of the Chinese government's policies to regulate its efficiency and promotion using its shadow price for three major urban agglomerations, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), and Pearl River Delta (PRD), from 2013 to 2016. The non-radial direction distance function and its dual model show that the average atmospheric environmental efficiencies of the BTH, YRD and PRD are 0.2673, 0.3312 and 0.4711, respectively. The efficiencies tend to increase over time, which is promising, but the absolute annual growth rate is relatively low, implying the need for stronger regulations. We also find that the three regions achieve improved air quality through different technologies. The BTH takes stronger environmental action at a lower cost for pollutant emission reduction compared to the other districts. The shadow prices of the three main air pollutants, that is, PM2.5, SO2, and NO2, present an upward trend in the BTH, YRD, and PRD agglomerations, but with a large difference, implying the need for customized regulation and/or promotion by region. More specifically, a reduction of PM2.5 by 1 mg/m3 would cost BTH 2.717 million yuan, whereas the cost for PRD would be 7.31 million. Therefore, policymakers must implement different policies depending on the regional heterogeneity when trying to enhance air quality. High-efficiency regions such as PRD should have a smaller emission reduction target, whereas low-efficiency regions such as BTH should gradually increase their emission reduction targets.

[Mechanisms of musk and olibanum regulating inflammatory cascade reaction triggered by chemotactic and activated monocytes].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of drug plasma of musk and olibanum (DP-M&O) on the release of inflammatory cytokines from monocytes and the expressions of the proteins associated with inflammation of prostatic or endothelial cells induced by prostate antigen (PAg) stimulation. METHODS: We prepared DP-M&O using SD rats and monocytes and PAgs using BALB/c mice. We pre-treated the monocytes with DP-M&O at the gradient concentrations of 0, 2.5, 5, 10, and 20% for 1 hour, activated them with PAgs, and then cultured them for 96 hours, followed by detection of the release of inflammatory cytokines. We co-cultured the prostate RWPE-1 cells with the endothelial EA. hy926 cells, pre-treated them with the same gradient concentrations of DP-M&O as above for 1 hour, activated with PAgs, and cultured for 96 hours. Then we determined the expression levels of the proteins associated with inflammation of RWPE-1 and EA. hy926 cells by Western blot. RESULTS: DP-M&O decreased the levels of TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6, and IL-8 and increased that of IL-10 in a concentration-dependent manner. Significant differences were found between the 20% P-M&O and PAg groups in the release of the inflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha (70.8 +/- 22.3 vs. 277.1 +/- 65.5, P < 0.01) , IL-113 (277.5 +/- 22.6 vs. 630.4 +/- 89.7, P <0.01), IL-6 (232.7 +/- 62.7 vs. 994.2 vs. 182.3, P < 0.01), IL-8 (227.3 +/- 79.2 vs. 769.3 +/- 284.1, P < 0.01), and IL-10 (640.2 +/- 201.2 vs. 271.1 +/- 55.8, P < 0.01). Compared with the PAg group, the 10 and 20% P-M&O groups showed remarkable decreases in the protein expression of MCP-1/CCL2 in the RWPE-1 cells (1.12 +/- 0.34 vs. 0.56 +/- 0.11 and 0.34 +/- 0.08) and that of VCAM-1 in the EA. hy926 cells (0.94 +/- 0.22 vs. 0.52 +/- 0.17 and 0.38 +/- 0.12) (P < 0.05 or 0.01). CONCLUSION: The compatibility of musk and olibanum can decrease the expression of MCP-1/CCL2 in prostate cells and VCAM-1 in vascular endothelial cells, blocking the adhesion of leucocytes and suppressing inflammatory response.

[Effects of the combination of musk and olibanum on the expressions of tight junction proteins in the prostate epithelial cells of rats].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of the combination of musk and olibanum on the tight junction protein expressions in prostatic epithelial cells of normal and chronic prostatitis (CP) rats. METHODS: Eighty male SD rats were randomly divided into 8 groups of equal number: normal control, normal musk, normal olibanum, normal musk + olibanum, CP model control, CP model musk, CP model olibanum, and CP model musk + olibanum. At 60 days after modeling, the rats in the control, musk, olibanum, and musk + olibanum groups were treated intragastrically with normal saline, musk (0.021 g per kg body weight per day), olibanum (1.05 g per kg body weight per day), or musk + olibanum respectively, all for 3 days. Then, all the rats were sacrificed and their prostate tissues harvested for detection of the expressions of the tight junction proteins Claudin-1, Claudin-3, Occludin, and ZO-1 in the prostatic epithelial cells by immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: In the CP models, only the expression of Claudin-1 was significantly increased. In the normal rats, the expression of Claudin-1 was remarkably upregulated after treated with musk (824.6 ± 393.3, P < 0.05), olibanum (982.0 ± 334.0, P < 0.05), and musk + olibanum (1088.1 ± 640.2, P < 0.01); that of Claudin-3 was elevated markedly by olibanum (1 009.5 ± 243.6, P < 0.05) and insignificantly by musk (597.5 ± 80.7), but the increasing effect of olibanum was reduced by musk + olibanum (678.4 ± 255.1). No statistically significant differences were found in the expression of Occludin among the rats treated with musk (693.0 ± 424.8), olibanum (732.1 ± 302.0), and musk + olibanum (560.2 ± 202.3), or in that of ZO-1 in the animals treated with musk (290.0 ± 166.8) and olibanum (419.7 ± 108.1), but the latter was markedly decreased in the musk + olibanum group (197.7 ± 98.2, P < 0.05). In the CP rat models, both the expressions of Claudin-1 (823.0 ± 100.1, P < 0.01) and Occludin (1160.0 ± 32.2, P < 0.05) were significantly increased. The expression of Claudin-1 was remarkably down-regulated by musk (764.9 ± 179.0), olibanum (468.4 ± 220.4), and musk + olibanum (335.1 ± 204.0) (all P < 0.05), but that of Claudin-3 up-regulated by musk (744.6 ± 94.5) and olibanum (700.1 ± 223.7) (both P < 0.05). The expression of Occludin was reduced by musk (615.0 ± 221.0), olibanum (749.6 ± 321.7), and musk + olibanum (505.8 ± 523.7), while that of ZO-1 increased by olibaum (443.2 ± 44.9) and decreased by musk + olibanum (213.5 ± 24.9, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In physiological and pathological conditions, the combination of musk and olibanum acts on the expressions of tight junction proteins in prostate epithelial cells in a selective and dual-targeting manner, promoting their permeability by down-regulating the expression of ZO-1 and maintaining their structural stability by regulating the expressions of Claudin-1, Claudin-3, and Occludin.