Intestinal microbiota changes in Graves' disease: a prospective clinical study.

Graves' disease (GD) occurs due to an autoimmune dysfunction of thyroid gland cells, leading to manifestations consistent with hyperthyroidism. Various studies have confirmed the link between autoimmune conditions and changes in the composition of intestinal microbial organisms. However, few studies have assessed the relationship between the GD and the changes in intestinal microbiota. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate changes in intestinal flora that may occur in the setting of GD. Thirty-nine patients with GD and 17 healthy controls were enrolled for fecal sample collection. 16S rRNA sequencing was used to analyze the diversity and composition of the intestinal microbiota. High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes of intestinal flora was performed on Illumina Hiseq2500 platform. Comparing to healthy individuals, the number of Bacilli, Lactobacillales, Prevotella, Megamonas and Veillonella strains were increased, whereas the number of Ruminococcus, Rikenellaceae and Alistipes strains were decreased among patients with GD. Furthermore, patients with GD showed a decrease in intestinal microbial diversity. Therefore, it indicates that the diversity of microbial strains is significantly reduced in GD patients, and patients with GD will undergo significant changes in intestinal microbiota, by comparing the intestinal flora of GD and healthy controls. These conclusions are expected to provide a preliminary reference for further researches on the interaction mechanism between intestinal flora and GD.

[Physiological response of Xinjiang wild walnut germplasm to low temperature stress]. / æ–°ç–†é‡Žæ ¸æ¡ƒç§è´¨å¯¹ä½Žæ¸©èƒè¿«çš„ç”Ÿç†å“åº”.

We examined the physiological response of 1-year-old branches of 37 Xinjiang wild walnut germplasm resources in Gongliu wild walnut forest under cold temperatures (-20 ℃ and 4 ℃) for 12 hours, compared the responses with that of Juglans mandshurica. The relative conductivity (REC), free proline (PRO), soluble sugar (SS), malondialdehyde (MDA) content and peroxidase (POD) activity were measured in an artificial climate chamber by simulating spring low temperature. Subordinate function and principal component analysis were used to evaluate the physiological response of walnut germplasm to low temperature. The results showed that the REC, PRO, SS, MDA content and POD activity of Xinjiang wild walnut were increased. By evaluating the relationship between low temperature resistance and habitat, we found that cold tolerance level was middle valley > east valley > west valley > general valley. Xinjiang wild walnut showed stronger cold tolerance than J. mandshurica. Seven germplasm with cold resistance were selected from the total 37 wild walnut germplasm in Xinjiang, which provided a reference for improving walnut varieties and their responses to sudden weather change in late spring and other growing stages.