This study evaluated the association between inflammatory diets as measured by the dietary inflammatory index (DII), and inflammation biomarkers, and the development of preeclampsia among the Chinese population. We followed the reporting guidelines of the STROBE statement for observational studies. A total of 466 preeclampsia cases aged over 18 years were recruited between March 2016 and June 2019, and 466 healthy controls were 1:1 ratio matched by age (± 3 years), week of gestation (± 1 week), and gestational diabetes mellitus. The energy-adjusted DII (E-DII) was computed based on dietary intake assessed using a 79-item semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Inflammatory biomarkers were analyzed by ELISA kits. The mean E-DII scores were -0.65 ± 1.58 for cases and -1.19 ± 1.47 for controls (P value <0.001). E-DII scores positively correlated with IFN-γ (rs = 0.194, P value = 0.001) and IL-4 (rs = 0.135, P value = 0.021). After multivariable adjustment, E-DII scores were positively related to preeclampsia risk (P trend <0.001). The highest tertile of E-DII was 2.18 times the lowest tertiles (95% CI = 1.52, 3.13). The odds of preeclampsia increased by 30% (95% CI= 18%, 43%, P value <0.001) for each E-DII score increase. The preeclampsia risk was positively associated with IL-2 (OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.11), IL-4 (OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.03, 1.54) and TGF-β (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.06, 1.29). Therefore, proinflammatory diets, corresponding to higher IL-2, IL-4 and TGF-β levels, were associated with increased preeclampsia risk.

This study was aimed to investigate whether EPA and arachidonic acid (ARA), the representative n-3 or n-6 PUFA, could alleviate enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) K88-induced inflammation and injury of intestinal porcine epithelial cells 1 (IPEC-1) by modulating pyroptosis and necroptosis signalling pathways. IPEC-1 cells were cultured with or without EPA or ARA in the presence or absence of ETEC K88. EPA and ARA reduced ETEC K88 adhesion and endotoxin content in the supernatant. EPA and ARA increased transepithelial electrical resistance, decreased permeability of fluorescein isothiocyanate-labelled dextran, increased membrane protein expression of occludin, ZO-1 and claudin-1 and relieved disturbed distribution of these proteins. EPA and ARA also reduced cell necrosis ratio. EPA or ARA reduced mRNA and concentration of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8 and decreased mRNA abundances of intestinal toll-like receptors 4 and its downstream signals. Moreover, EPA and ARA downregulated mRNA expression of nod-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), caspase 1 and IL-18 and inhibited protein expression of NLRP3, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC), gasdermin D and caspase-1. Finally, EPA and ARA reduced mRNA expression of fas-associated death domain protein, caspase 8, receptor-interacting protein kinase (RIP) 1, mixed lineage kinase-like protein (MLKL), phosphoglycerate mutase 5 (PGAM5), motility-related protein 1 (Drp1) and high mobility protein 1 (HMGB1) and inhibited protein expression of phosphorylated-RIP1, p-RIP3, p-MLKL and HMGB1. These data demonstrate that EPA and ARA prevent ETEC K88-induced cell inflammation and injury, which is partly through inhibiting pyroptosis and necroptosis signalling pathways.

Chronic inflammation exerts pleiotropic effects in the aetiology and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Glucosamine is widely used in many countries and may have anti-inflammatory properties. We aimed to prospectively evaluate the association of regular glucosamine use with incident COPD risk and explore whether such association could be modified by smoking in the UK Biobank cohort, which recruited more than half a million participants aged 40–69 years from across the UK between 2006 and 2010. Cox proportional hazards models with adjustment for potential confounding factors were used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) as well as 95 % CI for the risk of incident COPD. During a median follow-up of 8·96 years (interquartile range 8·29–9·53 years), 9016 new-onset events of COPD were documented. We found that the regular use of glucosamine was associated with a significantly lower risk of incident COPD with multivariable adjusted HR of 0·80 (95 % CI, 0·75, 0·85; P < 0·001). When subgroup analyses were performed by smoking status, the adjusted HR for the association of regular glucosamine use with incident COPD were 0·84 (0·73, 0·96), 0·84 (0·77, 0·92) and 0·71 (0·62, 0·80) among never smokers, former smokers and current smokers, respectively. No significant interaction was observed between glucosamine use and smoking status (Pfor interaction = 0·078). Incident COPD could be reduced by 14 % to 84 % through a combination of regular glucosamine use and smoking cessation.

The effect of vitamin D (VD) on the risk of preeclampsia (PE) is uncertain. Few of previous studies focused on the relationship between dietary VD intake and PE risk. Therefore, we conducted this 1:1 matched case–control study to explore the association of dietary VD intake and serum VD concentrations with PE risk in Chinese pregnant women. A total of 440 pairs of participants were recruited during March 2016 to June 2019. Dietary information was obtained using a seventy-eight-item semi-quantitative FFQ. Serum concentrations of 25(OH)D2 and 25(OH)D3 were measured by liquid chromatography–tandem MS. Multivariate conditional logistic regression was used to estimate OR and 95 % CI. Restricted cubic splines (RCS) were plotted to evaluate the dose–response relationship of dietary VD intake and serum VD concentrations with PE risk. Compared with the lowest quartile, the OR of the highest quartile were 0·45 (95 % CI 0·29, 0·71, Ptrend = 0·001) for VD dietary intake and 0·26 (95 % CI 0·11, 0·60, Ptrend = 0·003) for serum levels after adjusting for confounders. In addition, the RCS analysis suggested a reverse J-shaped relationship between dietary VD intake and PE risk (P-nonlinearity = 0·02). A similar association was also found between serum concentrations of total 25(OH)D and PE risk (P-nonlinearity = 0·02). In conclusion, this study provides evidence that higher dietary intake and serum levels of VD are associated with the lower risk of PE in Chinese pregnant women.

The present study evaluated effects of dietary supplementation with tryptophan (Trp) on muscle growth, protein synthesis and antioxidant capacity in hybrid catfish Pelteobagrus vachelli♀ × Leiocassis longirostris♂. Fish were fed six different diets containing 2·6 (control), 3·1, 3·7, 4·2, 4·7 and 5·6 g Trp/kg diet for 56 d, respectively. Results showed that dietary Trp significantly (1) improved muscle protein content, fibre density and frequency of fibre diameter; (2) up-regulated the mRNA levels of PCNA, myf5, MyoD1, MyoG, MRF4, IGF-I, IGF-II, IGF-IR, PIK3Ca, TOR, 4EBP1 and S6K1; (3) increased phosphorylation levels of AKT, TOR and S6K1; (4) decreased contents of MDA and PC, and increased activities of CAT, GST, GR, ASA and AHR; (5) up-regulated mRNA levels of CuZnSOD, CAT, GST, GPx, GCLC and Nrf2, and decreased Keap1 mRNA level; (6) increased nuclear Nrf2 protein level and the intranuclear antioxidant response element-binding ability, and reduced Keap1 protein level. These results indicated that dietary Trp improved muscle growth, protein synthesis as well as antioxidant capacity, which might be partly related to myogenic regulatory factors, IGF/PIK3Ca/AKT/TOR and Keap1/Nrf2 signalling pathways. Finally, based on the quadratic regression analysis of muscle protein and MDA contents, the optimal Trp requirements of hybrid catfish (21·82–39·64 g) were estimated to be 3·94 and 3·93 g Trp/kg diet (9·57 and 9·54 g/kg of dietary protein), respectively.

Intestinal stem cells, which are capable of both self-renewal and differentiation to mature cell types, are responsible for maintaining intestinal epithelial homeostasis. Recent evidence indicates that these processes are mediated, in part, through nutritional status in response to diet. Diverse dietary patterns including caloric restriction, fasting, high-fat diets, ketogenic diets and high-carbohydrate diets as well as other nutrients control intestinal stem cell self-renewal and differentiation through nutrient-sensing pathways such as mammalian target of rapamycin and AMP-activated kinase. Herein, we summarise the current understanding of how intestinal stem cells contribute to intestinal epithelial homeostasis and diseases. We also discuss the effects of diet and nutrient-sensing pathways on intestinal stem cell self-renewal and differentiation, as well as their potential application in the prevention and treatment of intestinal diseases.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) has been confirmed as the causative agent for cervical cancer. In this study, a total of 301 880 women were recruited from four different regions of Western China, with 301 880 exfoliated cervical cell samples collected from women for DNA isolation and purification. The HPV genotype was tested by polymerase chain reaction. The overall HPV prevalence rate, high-risk (HR) HPV infection rate, low-risk (LR) HPV infection rate and mixed HPV infection rate was 18.24%, 79.14%, 12.56% and 8.30%, respectively. The four most common HR HPV subtypes were HPV-52, 16, 58 and 53, which accounted for 20.49%, 19.93%, 14.54% and 10.01%, respectively. In LR HPV genotype, HPV-6 ranked the highest (28.17%), followed by HPV-81 (9.09%) and HPV-11 (3.78%). HPV genotype subgroup analysis also showed that single-type infection was the most common (77.26%) among HPV-positive individuals. Among multi-infection genotypes, double infection was the most common with frequencies of 76.04%. The overall prevalence of HPV is high in Western China, whose distribution demonstrates different patterns across different ages and regions. Viral genotypes HPV 53, 6 were frequently detected in this population, which is worth of significant clinical attention.

X-ray powder diffraction data, unit-cell parameters, and space group for N,N-dimethyl-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-amine, C9H11N3, are reported [a = 11.379(3) Å, b = 10.227(5) Å, c = 7.151(1) Å, α = 90°, β = 90°, γ = 90°, unit-cell volume V = 832.318 Å3, Z = 4, ρcal = 1.286 g cm−3, and space group P21212]. All measured lines were indexed and were consistent with the P21212 space group. No detectable impurities were observed.

A data association algorithm for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) based on central difference joint compatibility (CDJC) criterion and clustering is proposed to obtain the data association results. Firstly, CDJC criterion is designed to calculate joint Mahalanobis distance. Secondly, ordering points to identify the clustering structure is used to divide all observed features into several groups. Thirdly, CDJC branch and bound method is designed to be performed in each group. The results based on simulation data and benchmark dataset show that the proposed algorithm has low computational complexity and provide accurate association results for SLAM of mobile robot.

In the current research, a 60-d experiment was conducted with the purpose of exploring the impacts of methionine (Met) on growth performance, muscle nutritive deposition, muscle fibre growth and type I collagen synthesis as well as the related signalling pathway. Six diets (iso-nitrogenous) differing in Met concentrations (2·54, 4·85, 7·43, 10·12, 12·40 and 15·11 g/kg diets) were fed to 540 grass carp (178·47 (SD 0·36) g). Results showed (P < 0·05) that compared with Met deficiency, optimal level of dietary Met (1) increased feed intake, feed efficiency, specific growth rate and percentage weight gain (PWG); (2) increased fish muscle protein, lipid and free amino acid contents and improved fish muscle fatty acid profile as well as increased protein content in part associated with the target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1)/S6K1 signalling pathway; (3) increased the frequency distribution of muscle fibre with >50 µm of diameter; (4) increased type I collagen synthesis partly related to the transforming growth factor-β1/Smads and CK2/TORC1 signalling pathways. In conclusion, dietary Met improved muscle growth, which might be due to the regulation of muscle nutritive deposition, muscle fibre growth and type I collagen synthesis-related signal molecules. Finally, according to PWG and muscle collagen content, the Met requirements for on-growing grass carp (178–626 g) were estimated to be 9·56 g/kg diet (33·26 g/kg protein of diet) and 9·28 g/kg diet (32·29 g/kg of dietary protein), respectively.

Fluorescent quantum dots (QDs) modified with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and albumin bovine serum (BSA) have profound application in the detection and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. In the present study, the effects and mechanism of PEG and BSA modification on the cytotoxicity of QDs have been explored. It was found that the diameter of the as-prepared QDs, PEG@QDs, BSA@QDs is 3–5 nm, 4–5 nm, and 4–6 nm, respectively. With increase of the treatment time from 0 to 24 h, the HCC cell viability treated with QDs, PEG@QDs, and BSA@QDs obviously decreases, showing a certain time-dependent manner. When the concentration of several nanomaterials is increased from 10 to 90 nM, the cell viability decreases accordingly, exhibiting a certain concentration-dependent manner. Under the same concentration change conditions, the reactive oxygen species contents of cells treated by QDs, PEG@QDs, and BSA@QDs also rise from 7.9 × 103, 6.7 × 103, and 4.7 × 103 to 13.2 × 103, 14.3 × 103, and 12.3 × 103, respectively. In these processes, superoxide dismutase does not play a major role. This study provides strong foundation and useful guidance for QD applications in the diagnosis and treatment of HCC.

Emerging evidence has been revealed that high fat diet (HFD) correlate with insulin resistance (IR) which could be induced by endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS). Recently, obesity or HFD induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) could promote alteration of iron metabolism. Disorder of iron metabolism have been linked to unnormal metabolism of glucose and lipid. Herein, we investigated the effect of impaired iron homeostasis on hepatic IR, focusing on ferritinophagy. Male C57/6J mice were administered with HFD (60% energy from fat) or LFD (10% energy from fat) for 10 weeks (n = 10), and Palmitic acid (PA)-insulin treated HepG2 cells were also established. Hepatic IR as evidenced by increased hepatic steatosis and decreased of p-AKT (48%, p < 0.0005), p-GSK-3β (34%, p < 0.05) in the liver of HFD mice. In addition, decreased iron level and expression NCOA4, as well as increased up-regulation of IRE1α and EIF2α were observed in HFD liver. By using desferrioxamine (DFO) and ferric ammonium citrate (FAC), we examined iron level on IRE1α and EIF2α. And glucose uptake assay shown that FAC supplementation, and ERS inhibitors of 4-PBA and STF could improve the glucose uptake of HepG2 cells in the presence of PA. Furthermore, we evaluated the glucose uptake of HepG2 cells incubated with adenovirus which mediated overexpression of NCOA4, FAC, 4-PBA (ERS inhibitor) or STF (IRE1 inhibitor). Taken together, deficiency of iron induced by impaired ferritinophagy induced hepatic IR, partly by aggravating hepatic ERS, especially IRE1 signal pathway in vivo and vitro. These findings provide evidence and new insight for therapeutic strategy of iron deficiency in NAFLD.

The experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary threonine (Thr) on growth performance and muscle growth, protein synthesis and antioxidant-related signalling pathways of hybrid catfish Pelteobagrus vachelli♀ × Leiocassis longirostris♂. A total of 1200 fish (14·19 (se 0·13) g) were randomly distributed into six groups with four replicates each, fed six diets with graded level of Thr (9·5, 11·5, 13·5, 15·4, 17·4 and 19·3 g/kg diets) for 56 d. Results showed (P < 0·05) that dietary Thr (1) increased percentage weight gain, specific growth rate, feed efficiency and protein efficiency ratio; (2) up-regulated growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), proliferating cell nuclear antigen, myogenic regulation factors (MyoD, Myf5, MyoG and Mrf4) and myosin heavy chain (MyHC) mRNA levels; (3) increased muscle protein content via regulating the protein kinase B/target of rapamycin signalling pathway and (4) decreased malondialdehyde and protein carbonyl contents, increased catalase, glutathione-S-transferase, glutathione reductase and GSH activities, up-regulated mRNA levels of antioxidant enzymes related to NFE2-related factor 2 and γ-glutamylcysteine ligase catalytic subunit. These results suggest that Thr has a potential role to improve muscle growth and protein synthesis, which might be due to the regulation of GH-IGF system, muscle growth-related gene, antioxidative capacity and protein synthesis-related signalling pathways. Based on the quadratic regression analysis of specific growth rate, the Thr requirement of hybrid catfish (14·19–25·77 g) was estimated to be 13·77 g/kg of the diet (33·40 g/kg of dietary protein).

The present study investigated the effects of condensed tannins (CT) on intestinal immune function in on-growing grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). A total of 540 healthy grass carp were fed six diets containing different levels of CT (0, 10·00, 20·00, 30·00, 40·00 and 50·00 g/kg diet) for 70 d and then challenged with Aeromonas hydrophila for 14 d. The results showed that, compared with the control group, dietary CT (1) induced intestinal histopathological lesions and aggravated enteritis; (2) decreased lysozyme and acid phosphatase activities, complement 3 (C3), C4 and IgM contents and down-regulated the Hepcidin, liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide (LEAP)-2A, LEAP-2B, Mucin2 and β-defensin-1 mRNA levels in the proximal intestine (PI), mid intestine (MI) and distal intestine (DI) (P < 0·05); (3) down-regulated the mRNA levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, TGF-β2 (not in MI and DI), IL-4/13A (not IL-4/13B), IL-10 and IL-11 partly correlated with target of rapamycin (TOR) signalling; and (4) up-regulated the mRNA levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines interferon-γ2, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 (not in PI), IL-12p35, IL-12p40, IL-15 and IL-17D partly related to NF-κB signalling in the intestine of on-growing grass carp. Overall, the results indicated that CT could impair the intestinal immune function, and its potential regulation mechanisms were partly associated with the TOR and NF-κB signalling pathways. Finally, based on the percentage weight gain and enteritis morbidity, the maximum allowable levels of CT for on-growing grass carp (232·22–890·11 g) were estimated to be 18·6 and 17·4 g/kg diet, respectively.

Laboratory experiments have shown that thermal gradients in silicate melts can lead to isotopic fractionation; this is known as the Richter effect. However, it is perplexing that the Richter effect has not been documented in natural samples as thermal gradients commonly exist within natural igneous systems. To resolve this discrepancy, theoretical analysis and calculations were undertaken. We found that the Richter effect, commonly seen in experiments with wholly molten silicates, cannot be applied to natural systems because natural igneous samples are more likely to be formed out of partially molten magma and the presence of minerals adds complexity to the behaviour of the isotope. In this study, we consider two related diffusion-rate kinetic isotope effects that originate from chemical diffusion, which are absent from experiments with wholly molten samples. We performed detailed calculations for magnesium isotopes, and the results indicated that the Richter effect for magnesium isotopes is buffered by kinetic isotope effects and the total value of magnesium isotope fractionation can be zero or even undetectable. Our study provides a new understanding of isotopic behaviour during the processes of cooling and solidification in natural magmatic systems.