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1.
Gut microbiome and serum amino acid metabolome alterations in autism spectrum disorder.
Chang, X, Zhang, Y, Chen, X, Li, S, Mei, H, Xiao, H, Ma, X, Liu, Z, Li, R
Scientific reports. 2024;(1):4037
Abstract
Gut microbiota and their metabolic products might play important roles in regulating the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The purpose of this study was to characterize gut microbiota and serum amino acid metabolome profiles in children with ASD. A non-randomized controlled study was carried out to analyze the alterations in the intestinal microbiota and their metabolites in patients with ASD (n = 30) compared with neurotypical controls (NC) (n = 30) by metagenomic sequencing to define the gut microbiota community and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analysis to characterize the metabolite profiles. Compared with children in the NC group, those in the ASD group showed lower richness, higher evenness, and an altered microbial community structure. At the class level, Deinococci and Holophagae were significantly lower in children with ASD compared with TD. At the phylum level, Deinococcus-Thermus was significantly lower in children with ASD compared with TD. In addition, the functional properties (such as galactose metabolism) displayed significant differences between the ASD and NC groups. Five dominant altered species were identified and analyzed (LDA score > 2.0, P < 0.05), including Subdoligranulum, Faecalibacterium_praushitzii, Faecalibacterium, Veillonellaceae, and Rumminococcaceae. The peptides/nickel transport system was the main metabolic pathway involved in the differential species in the ASD group. Decreased ornithine levels and elevated valine levels may increase the risk of ASD through a metabolic pathway known as the nickel transport system. The microbial metabolism in diverse environments was negatively correlated with phascolarctobacterium succinatutens. Our study provides novel insights into compositional and functional alterations in the gut microbiome and metabolite profiles in ASD and the underlying mechanisms between metabolite and ASD.
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2.
Efficacy of recombinant human interleukin-11 in preventing and treating oral mucositis after chemotherapy for patients with acute leukemia.
Zhang, Y, Li, Y, He, A, Wang, J, Zhang, P, Lei, B, Huang, Z, Zhang, L, Zhao, W, Ma, X
BMC oral health. 2023;(1):476
Abstract
OBJECTIVE This study aimed to investigate the clinical effects of recombinant human interleukin-11 (rhIL-11) gargle on preventing and treating oral mucositis (OM) after chemotherapy for acute leukemia. METHODS This single-site, prospective, observer-blinded, nonrandomized controlled trial was conducted on 74 patients with acute leukemia, who were divided into the experimental and control groups. The patients in the experimental group were treated with IL-11 gargle, and those in the control group were treated with sodium bicarbonate gargle. We examined the time and severity of oral mucositis, severity and duration of associated pain, healing time of mucositis, effects of OM on eating, and levels of T-cell subset indicators before and after treatment to evaluate the effects of IL-11 treatment. RESULTS The proportion of patients with severe OM was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group. Mucositis occurred later in the experimental group compared with the control group. The degree and duration of pain, ulcer healing time, and effects on eating were lower in the experimental group compared with the control group. Following treatment, the levels of all T-cell subset indicators improved in each of the two groups. However, the rate of improvement was significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group. These differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS IL-11 gargle reduced the severity of OM after chemotherapy for acute leukemia. Treatment with IL-11 relieved pain, promoted healing, and improved the curative effect of the condition, making it worthy of clinical promotion.
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Influence of calcium-based desensitizing toothpastes on the bonding performance of universal adhesive.
Wang, S, Meng, Y, Zhang, Y, Huang, F, Teng, R, Lu, Y, Li, A, Sun, J, Pei, D
Microscopy research and technique. 2023;(4):402-413
Abstract
The study evaluated the effect of calcium-based desensitizing toothpastes on the dentinal tubule occlusion and its influence on the dentin bond strength of universal adhesive. Mid-coronal dentin samples were prepared for hypersensitivity model and treated by the following calcium-based desensitizing toothpastes: no treatment (Control), Clinpro (fTCP), Pro-Relief (Pro-Argin), and Repair & Protect (Novamin). Single Bond Universal adhesive was applied in self-etch or etch-and-rinse mode. The dentinal tubule occlusion and adhesion interface were evaluated under scanning electron microscope (SEM). A double-fluorescence technique was used to examine interfacial permeability under confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The micro-tensile bond strength (μTBS) was employed, followed by the fracture interface observation. SEM showed the toothpastes occluded dentinal tubules, and the occlusion exhibited stability against acid and abrasion. Hindered resin infiltration was observed in the adhesion interface after desensitization. CLSM showed more water permeation within or under the adhesion interface in etch-and-rinse mode than self-etch mode. Desensitization decreased the μTBS in self-etch mode. When using etch-and-rinse mode, the desensitized samples presented similar μTBS to the control group. No difference in μTBS was found between the two bonding modes, except for the control group. Calcium-based desensitizing toothpastes can effectively occlude the exposed dentinal tubules with acid-resistant and abrasion-resistant stability. The desensitization reduced the dentin bond strength of the universal adhesive system in self-etch mode but did not affect the bond strength of etch-and-rinse mode.
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Supervised mHeath Exercise Improves Health Factors More Than Self-Directed mHealth Exercise: A Clinical Controlled Study.
Hu, Y, Zhang, Y, Qi, X, Xu, X, Rahmani, J, Bai, R, Mei, Y
Frontiers in public health. 2022;:895474
Abstract
Wearable physical activity trackers are getting popular for the self-management of weight despite limited evidence of their efficacy. Studies have proven that on-site supervised exercise is superior to unsupervised exercise for many health problems, there is no evidence comparing the effectiveness of remote supervision exercise with self-directed exercise based on mHealth. This study aims to compare the effects of mHealth-based supervised exercise to mHealth-based self-directed exercise on weight control in the overweight and obese population. A nonrandomized controlled clinical study was conducted. Overweight or obese volunteers were given personalized exercise prescriptions based on their HRR (Heart Rate Reserve), all patients were equipped with wearable heartbeat trackers to follow their exercise performance and additional remote supervisions were added to the intervention group. Exercise performances, weight losses, and health examinations were compared between 2 groups after 12 weeks of follow-up. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to determine any differences between study groups after intervention. Two groups had the same rate of attrition in 12 weeks of follow-up, but the exercising day, the effective exercising day and the rate of effective exercising day in the supervised group were higher than those in the control group. Weight loss was -2.7 ± 2.8 kg in the intervention group and -2.0 ± 2.9 kg in the control group (P = 0.23). Compared with the control group, participants in the intervention group improved their liver function, kidney function, fasting blood sugar, total cholesterol, and triglyceride. mHealth-based supervised exercise is more effective in health factors improvement than mHealth-based self-directed exercise among overweight and obesity participants.
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Application of myofascial induction therapy in the rehabilitation of patients with acute facial palsy: A nonrandomized controlled trial.
Bi, R, Zhang, Y, Liu, X, Zhang, S, Wang, R, Liang, B, Cui, F
NeuroRehabilitation. 2022;(1):143-149
Abstract
BACKGROUND In the healthy body, the fascial system maintains elasticity and coordination of movements. If these functions are destroyed, facial paraly appears. Myofascial induction therapy (MIT), a manual physical therapy method that focuses on restoring altered fascial tissue, is prevalently and widely used in clinical treatment. OBJECTIVE The study aimed to observe the application of MIT in the rehabilitation of patients with acute facial palsy. METHODS Sixty-eight patients with acute facial palsy were divided into control group and manual treatment group. The control group received drug treatments, such as prednisone, methylcobalamin, and vitamin B1, and instrumental physical therapy, such as semiconductor laser, shortwave therapy, and facial muscle training. In addition to these treatments, the manual treatment group received MIT. Both groups were treated for 4 weeks. The patients were assessed using the following methods: the House-Brackmann facial nerve function evaluation, Sunnybrook facial grading system, facial nerve electrophysiological examination compound muscle action potential (CMAP) amplitude, and blink reflex (BR) R1 latency. RESULTS House-Brackmann and Sunnybrook scores and CMAP amplitude and BRR1 latencies were significantly different between the two groups (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the manual treatment group showed greater improvement than the control group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Treatment with MIT promoted better recovery of acute facial palsy and thus may be considered a valid rehabilitation intervention that is worthy of clinical application.
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6.
Evaluating the Effect of Comprehensive Intervention on Cerebro-Vascular Function in Population at High Risk of Stroke.
Liu, X, Gu, Y, Zhang, Y, Zhang, Y, Tan, X
Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases : the official journal of National Stroke Association. 2019;(9):2543-2554
Abstract
BACKGROUND Today there exists few intervention researches on cerebro-vascular function in populations at high risk of stroke in China. METHODS Patients more than 40 years old, with at least 1 of stroke risk factors were recruited from outpatient department in 3 hospitals. A quasi-experimental design was performed by assigning participants into 3 groups: comprehensive intervention group, health education group, and control group. Participants in the control group received no intervention but were informed of risk factors of stroke. For health education group, a health education class was performed. Except to the health education program, participants in the comprehensive intervention group received an additional health life and behavior guidance. RESULTS After the intervention, the Cerebro-Vascular Function Scores (CVFS) had significant differences among 3 groups (F = 5.252, P < 0.05). There was a significant increase in CVFS compared to the control group (P = 0.003, 95%CI: 1.552-8.493). Significantly changes in obesity were observed in comprehensive intervention group before and after the intervention (χ2 = 9.0747, P = 0.0026). The results of logistic regression showed that comprehensive intervention group had a significant decrease in prevalence of obesity (OR = 0.482, 95% CI: 0.242-0.961) compared to the control group. CONCLUSION Health education on stroke in a high-risk population combined with guidance on proper health life and behavior can be effective in preventing stroke.
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The Glucose-Lowering Effect of Foxtail Millet in Subjects with Impaired Glucose Tolerance: A Self-Controlled Clinical Trial.
Ren, X, Yin, R, Hou, D, Xue, Y, Zhang, M, Diao, X, Zhang, Y, Wu, J, Hu, J, Hu, X, et al
Nutrients. 2018;(10)
Abstract
Foxtail millet has relatively low starch digestibility and moderate glycemic index compared to other grains. Since there are still no clinical researches regarding its long-term effect on blood glucose, this self-controlled study was conducted to investigate the glucose-lowering effect of foxtail millet in free-living subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Fifty g/day of foxtail millet was provided to enrolled subjects throughout 12 weeks and the related clinical parameters were investigated at week 0, 6 and 12, respectively. After 12 weeks of foxtail millet intervention, the mean fasting blood glucose of the subjects decreased from 5.7 ± 0.9 mmol/L to 5.3 ± 0.7 mmol/L (p < 0.001) and the mean 2 h-glucose decreased from 10.2 ± 2.6 mmol/L to 9.4 ± 2.3 mmol/L (p = 0.003). The intake of foxtail millet caused a significant increase of serum leptin (p = 0.012), decrease of insulin resistance (p = 0.007), and marginal reduction of inflammation. Furthermore, a sex-dependent difference in glucose-lowering effect of foxtail millet was observed in this study. Foxtail millet could improve the glycemic control in free-living subjects with IGT, suggesting that increasing the consumption of foxtail millet might be beneficial to individuals suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus.
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Applying amide proton transfer-weighted MRI to distinguish pseudoprogression from true progression in malignant gliomas.
Ma, B, Blakeley, JO, Hong, X, Zhang, H, Jiang, S, Blair, L, Zhang, Y, Heo, HY, Zhang, M, van Zijl, PC, et al
Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI. 2016;(2):456-62
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Abstract
PURPOSE To assess amide proton transfer-weighted (APTW) imaging features in patients with malignant gliomas after chemoradiation and the diagnostic performance of APT imaging for distinguishing true progression from pseudoprogression. MATERIALS AND METHODS After approval by the Institutional Review Board, 32 patients with clinically suspected tumor progression in the first 3 months after chemoradiation were enrolled and scanned at 3T. Longitudinal routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) changes and medical records were assessed to confirm true progression versus pseudoprogression. True progression was defined as lesions progressing on serial imaging over 6 months, and pseudoprogression was defined as lesions stabilizing or regressing without intervention. The APTWmean and APTWmax signals were obtained from three to five regions of interests for each patient and compared between the true progression and pseudoprogression groups. The diagnostic performance was assessed with receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. RESULTS The true progression was associated with APTW hyperintensity (APTWmean = 2.75% ± 0.42%), while pseudoprogression was associated with APTW isointensity to mild hyperintensity (APTWmean = 1.56% ± 0.42%). The APTW signal intensities were significantly higher in the true progression group (n = 20) than in the pseudoprogression group (P < 0.001; n = 12). The cutoff APTWmean and APTWmax intensity values to distinguish between true progression and pseudoprogression were 2.42% (with a sensitivity of 85.0% and a specificity of 100%) and 2.54% (with a sensitivity of 95.0% and a specificity of 91.7%), respectively. CONCLUSION The APTW-MRI signal is a valuable imaging biomarker for distinguishing pseudoprogression from true progression in glioma patients. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2016;44:456-462.
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Healthy Subjects Differentially Respond to Dietary Capsaicin Correlating with Specific Gut Enterotypes.
Kang, C, Zhang, Y, Zhu, X, Liu, K, Wang, X, Chen, M, Wang, J, Chen, H, Hui, S, Huang, L, et al
The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism. 2016;(12):4681-4689
Abstract
CONTEXT Previous population studies in evaluating the beneficial effects of capsaicin (CAP) have yielded inconclusive results, and the mechanisms responsible for possible benefit remain unclear. OBJECTIVE The objective was to assess the effect of dietary CAP on metabolic and immune profiles and its potential associations with gut microbial patterns in healthy adults. DESIGN In a 6-week controlled feeding trial, subjects were given the weight maintenance diet sequentially contained with 0, 5, 0, and 10 mg/d CAP from chili powder. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS The study was conducted in 12 healthy subjects enrolled in Third Military Medical University in Chongqing. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES At the end of each period, anthropometric and basal metabolism measures together with blood and fecal samples were collected. Plasma metabolic and inflammatory markers and gut microbial ecology of each subject were subsequently assessed. RESULT Dietary CAP increased the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and Faecalibacterium abundance, accompanied with increased plasma levels of glucagon-like peptide 1 and gastric inhibitory polypeptide and decreased plasma ghrelin level. Further enterotype analysis revealed that these subjects could be clustered into Bacteroides enterotype (E1) and Prevotella enterotype (E2), and the above beneficial effects were mainly obtained in E1 subjects. Moreover, E1 subjects had significantly higher fecal Faecalibacterium abundance and butyrate concentration after CAP interventions than those in E2 subjects. CONCLUSION Our study showed that gut enterotypes may influence the beneficial effects of dietary CAP, providing new evidence for the personalized nutrition guidance of CAP intervention on health promotion linking with gut microbiota patterns.
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Effectiveness of complementary food supplements and dietary counselling on anaemia and stunting in children aged 6-23 months in poor areas of Qinghai Province, China: a controlled interventional study.
Zhang, Y, Wu, Q, Wang, W, van Velthoven, MH, Chang, S, Han, H, Xing, M, Chen, L, Scherpbier, RW
BMJ open. 2016;(10):e011234
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To assess the effectiveness of dietary counselling and complementary food supplements on anaemia and stunting prevalence in children aged 6-23 months. DESIGN A controlled intervention study with measurements of height and haemoglobin levels, and cross-sectional surveys in August 2012 (baseline), 2013 (mid-term) and 2014 (end-line). SETTING One intervention county and one control county in rural Qinghai Province, China. INTERVENTION Complementary food supplements (containing protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamin A, B1, B2, B12, D3, folic acid, iron, zinc and calcium) and complementary feeding counselling were given in the intervention county. PARTICIPANTS Caregivers and their children aged 6-23 months. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES Effect of the interventions on the prevalence of anaemia (haemoglobin <110 g/L) and stunting (z-score of height-for-age <-2.0) (controlled for differences between the counties), and on infant feeding practices. RESULTS The surveys were conducted on 1804, 2187 and 2186 children aged 6-23 months in the intervention county in August 2012, 2013 and 2014, respectively, and 804, 680 and 790 children in the control county, respectively. Between the baseline and end-line surveys, anaemia prevalence decreased more in the intervention county than in the control county (71.1% to 47.8% vs 86.3% to 75.3%, respectively; p<0.0001). There was no difference in the decrease in stunting prevalence between the counties (9.7% to 7.1% vs 17.0% to 15.0%; p=0.7954). The proportions of children given iron-rich or iron-fortified food, introduced to (semi-) solid food at 6-8 months, and given food with minimum dietary diversity increased from 43.2% to 88.8% (p<0.0001), 81.4% to 96% (p=0.0470) and 53.0% to 59.8% (p<0.0001), respectively in the intervention county. CONCLUSIONS We found much higher anaemia prevalence in poor rural areas of Qinghai Province compared with the national data. Community-based complementary food supplements combined with dietary counselling can improve feeding practices and reduce anaemia prevalence. Future studies should use longer follow-up to assess the effects on stunting. STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS We included a large number of participants and assessed a combined complementary food supplements and dietary counselling intervention in a poor rural area in China with high anaemia prevalence. Although the study took place in only one intervention county and one control county, we conducted an analysis that controlled for differences between the two counties. Also, although we made significant efforts to train village doctors, their education was not systematically assessed after training and thus their delivery of the interventions may have been variable. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER ChiCTRPRC12002444; Pre-results.