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•Moringa-Fu brick tea extract improved obesity in rats induced by high-fat diet.•Moringa-Fu brick tea extract reduced cholesterol accumulation by regulating bile acid ...metabolism.•Moringa-Fu brick tea extract effectively regulated the structure and relative abundance of microbioa associated with bile salt hydrolase (BSH) activity.
Obesity is regarded to be correlated with disorders of lipid metabolism, bile acid metabolism and dysbiosis of the gut microbiota. Moringa-Fu brick tea (MFBT), a functional food, has a significant anti-obesity effect. However, the effectiveness and mechanisms of MFBT in preventing obesity require further investigation. Here, our results show that moringa-Fu brick tea extract (MFTE) displays anti-obesity effects by reducing high-fat diet-induced weight gain and adipose tissue accumulation in rats, and attenuating visceral adiposity index, oxidative stress and inflammation. In addition, MFTE could regulate gut microbiota diversity, reduce the relative abundance of microbioa associated with bile salt hydrolase (BSH) activity, such as Blautia, Ruminococcaceae, Coprococcus and Roseburia. Moreover, MFTE could improve the expression of the main rate-limiting enzymes CYP7A1 and CYP27A1 in the process of bile acid synthesis, downregulate the expression of intestinal FXR protein, promote the serum bile acid level, and reduce the accumulation of cholesterol in serum and liver. Taken together, these results suggested that MFBT could serve as a functional food for prevention of obesity and hyperlipidemia in association with regulating bile acid metabolism and gut microbiota.
Background and Objectives
Blood services manage the increasingly tight balance between the supply and demand of blood products, and their role in health research is expanding. This review explores ...the themes that may define the future of blood banking.
Materials and Methods
We reviewed the PubMed database for articles on emerging/new blood‐derived products and the utilization of blood donors in health research.
Results
In high‐income countries (HICs), blood services may consider offering these products: whole blood, cold‐stored platelets, synthetic blood components, convalescent plasma, lyophilized plasma and cryopreserved/lyophilized platelets. Many low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) aim to establish a pool of volunteer, non‐remunerated blood donors and wean themselves off family replacement donors; and many HICs are relaxing the deferral criteria targeting racial and sexual minorities. Blood services in HICs could achieve plasma self‐sufficiency by building plasma‐dedicated centres, in collaboration with the private sector. Lastly, blood services should expand their involvement in health research by establishing donor cohorts, conducting serosurveys, studying non‐infectious diseases and participating in clinical trials.
Conclusion
This article provides a vision of the future for blood services. The introduction of some of these changes will be slower in LMICs, where addressing key operational challenges will likely be prioritized.
Objectives
Prospect theory categorizes message framing according to whether it emphasizes a possible loss or a possible gain. Promotions of blood donation worldwide mainly focus on gain‐framed ...appeal. The objective of the current study is to examine the effects of message framing on recruiting Rh‐D‐negative blood donors (RDNBDs) in an emergency situation.
Design
Two randomized trials.
Methods
In Study 1, 813 group O and 500 group B RDNBDs were randomly assigned to three groups receiving three different recruitment text messages: (1) gain‐framed, (2) loss‐framed, and (3) information messages. In addition, 613 group A and 148 group AB RDNBDs were marked as (4) no message group. In Study 2, 758 RDNBDs were randomly provided one of two versions of materials focusing on either the possible survival (gain‐framed) or the death (loss‐framed) of a Rh‐D‐negative patient needed a blood transfusion. These participants then completed a questionnaire to examine the possible mechanisms underlying the observed effects.
Results
Compared to not receiving any message, significantly more RDNBDs re‐donated within 14 days after they received a loss‐framed message. Study 2 found that RDNBDs who read the loss‐framed material expressed more willingness to donate immediately than those who read the gain‐framed material. RDNBDs with high‐risk perception expressed a greater blood donation intention in the loss‐framed group. The loss‐framed message made participants perceive others' needs more strongly, which generated more empathy, and thus increased blood donation intention.
Conclusions
The results suggested that recruiting RDNBDs using a loss‐framed message is suitable under an emergency.
Background
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) epidemic affected blood collection in Guangzhou, China.
Study Design and Methods
This paper includes three studies. The observational study reported ...the trends of blood collection during the epidemic in Guangzhou, China. The cross‐sectional survey investigated factors influencing blood donation during the COVID‐19 epidemic, and a self‐administered questionnaire was given to 1584 street whole blood donors (SWBDs) who donated during the epidemic. The randomized controlled trial involved 19 491 SWBDs who donated in 2019 but did not donate during the epidemic. Trial participants were randomly assigned to two intervention groups: Group 1 completed Questionnaire 1, which contained precautionary measures in response to COVID‐19 and other messages about blood donation during the epidemic; Group 2 completed Questionnaire 2, which did not include this information. A control group did not receive any questionnaire.
Results
As measures were implemented, the number of blood donors increased accordingly. Both first‐time and repeat SWBDs perceived the same level of blood need and donated blood because it would save lives. SWBDs who completed Questionnaire 1 expressed a greater intention to donate during the epidemic. Enabling blood donors to perceive a higher level of blood need and a lower level of COVID‐19 infection risk related to blood donation mobilized experienced SWBDs to donate within 3 weeks. Intention‐to‐treat analyses and average‐treatment‐effect‐on‐the‐treated estimations confirmed that Questionnaire 1 could motivate SWBDs to actually donate blood.
Conclusion
Various measures could ease blood shortage during the COVID‐19 epidemic. Administration of Questionnaire 1 could increase blood donations during the epidemic.
Recruiting of sufficient numbers of donors of blood products is vital worldwide. In this study we assessed the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of telephone calls and SMS reminders for re-recruitment ...of inactive blood donors.
This single-centre, non-blinded, parallel randomised controlled trial in Guangzhou, China included 11,880 inactive blood donors whose last donation was between January 1 and June 30, 2014. The donors were randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups (telephone call or short message service SMS communications) or to a control group without intervention. SMS messages with altruistic appeal were adopted in the SMS group; in addition to altruistic appeal, reasons for deferral of blood donation were also asked in the telephone group. All participants were followed up for 1 year. The primary outcome was re-donation rate, and rates in different groups were compared by intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis and estimation of the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT). Secondary outcomes were the self-reported deterrents. Other outcomes included the re-donation interval, and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of telephone calls and SMS reminders on re-recruitment.
ITT analysis revealed no significant differences in the re-donation rate among the three groups. ATT estimations indicated that among compliers, telephone calls significantly increased re-donation compared to both SMS reminders and no intervention. Donor return behaviour was positively associated with receiving reminders successfully, being male, older age, and previous donation history. The SMS reminder prompted donors to return sooner than no reminder within 6 months, and according to ICER calculations, SMS reminders were more cost-effective than telephone calls. Donors reported time constraints as the most main causes of self-deferral in the telephone group, and altruistic appeal had a positive effect on these donors.
Interventions to reactivate inactive blood donors can be effective, with telephone calls prompting more donors to return but at a greater cost than SMS messages. SMS reminder with altruistic appeal can urge donors to re-donate sooner within 6 months than no reminder.
NCT03366441 (Reactivation of Inactive Blood Donors). Retrospectively registered 4 December 2017.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Graphene, combined with plasmonic nanostructures, shows great promise for achieving desirable photodetection properties and functionalities. Here, we theoretically proposed and experimentally ...demonstrated a graphene photodetector based on the metamaterial absorber in the visible and near-infrared wavebands. The experimental results show that the metamaterial-based graphene photodetector (MGPD) has achieved up to 3751% of photocurrent enhancement relative to an antennasless graphene device at zero external bias. Furthermore, the polarization-independent of photoresponse has resulted from the polarization-insensitive absorption of symmetric square-ring antennas. Moreover, the spectral-dependent photocurrent enhancement, originated from the enhanced light-trapping effect, was experimentally confirmed and understood by the simulated electric field profiles. The design contributes to the development of high-performance graphene photodetectors and optoelectronic devices.
Abstract
Background
The innovative combination of all‐trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and arsenic trioxide (ATO) has established a new chapter of curative approach in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). ...The disease characteristics and prognostic influence of additional cytogenetic abnormalities (ACA) in APL with modern therapeutic strategy need to be elucidated.
Methods
In the present study, we retrospectively investigated disease features and prognostic power of ACA in 171 APL patients treated with ATRA‐ATO‐containing regimens.
Results
Patients with ACA had markedly decreased hemoglobin levels than that without ACA (
p
= 0.021). Risk stratification in the ACA group was significantly worse than that in the non‐ACA group (
p
= 0.032). With a median follow‐up period of 62.0 months, worse event‐free survival (EFS) was demonstrated in patients harboring ACA. Multivariate analysis showed that ACA was an independent adverse factor for EFS (
p
= 0.033). By further subgroup analysis, in CD34 and CD56 negative APL, patients harboring ACA had inferior EFS (
p
= 0.017;
p
= 0.037).
Conclusions
To sum up, ACA remains the independent prognostic value for EFS, we should build risk‐adapted therapeutic strategies in the long‐term management of APL when such abnormalities are detected.
This study aimed to summarize the effectiveness of rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) for the treatment of gait and motor function in Parkinson's disease (PD) through a systematic review and ...meta-analysis.
All studies were retrieved from eight databases. The effects of RAS on PD were determined using the following indicators: gait parameters including step length, stride width, step cadence, velocity, stride length; motor function including 6 min walk test (6MWT) and timed up-and-go test (TUGT); the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS); and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS). The risk map of bias of the quality of the studies and the meta-analysis results of the indicators was prepared with RevMan 5.2 software.
Twenty-one studies were included in the systematic review, and 14 studies were included in the meta-analysis. In the meta-analysis, the results of gait parameters, namely, velocity, step length, and stride length, were statistically significant (
< 0.05), whereas the results of cadence and stride width were not statistically significant (
≧ 0.05). The results of 6MWT and TUGT for motor function as well as UPDRS-II, UPDRS-III, and BBS were statistically significant (
< 0.05).
RAS could improve gait parameters, walking function, balance function, and daily living activities of individuals with PD. The application of RAS in conventional rehabilitation approaches can enhance motor performance in PD. Future studies should use a large sample size and a rigorous design to obtain strong conclusions about the advantages of RAS for the treatment of gait and motor function in PD.
The first complete chloroplast genome (cp) of Sinosenecio jishouensis D.G. Zhang, Ying Liu & Q. E. Yang (Asteraceae) was sequenced and assembled in this study. The cp genome was 151,257 bp in length, ...including a large single-copy(LSC) region of 83,373 bp, a small single-copy (SSC) region of 18,178 bp, and a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions of 24,853 bp each. These sequences encoded 134 genes, including 89 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. The phylogenetic analysis based on 18 complete cp sequences revealed that S. jishouensis was closely related to Eclipta prostrata.
Yellow tea, a rare type tea from China, has a rich breadth of functional ingredients and benefits the gastrointestinal tract. However, it is not clear whether the yellow tea extract can alleviate ...constipation. Therefore, we used loperamide-induced constipation in mice to evaluate the effects of yellow tea extract. Fifty Kunming mice were randomly divided into five groups: normal, model, low-dose yellow tea extract, low-dose yellow tea extract prevention group, and high-dose yellow tea extract prevention group. Mice were administered yellow tea extract for 5 weeks followed by loperamide-induced constipation for the final 2 weeks. The results showed that yellow tea extract alleviated constipation symptoms by improving the fecal water content, defecation weight, and gastrointestinal transit rate. Yellow tea extract intervention also protected colon tissue, regulated serum neurotransmitters, and decreased the vasoactive intestinal peptide level. Furthermore, qRT-PCR indicated that yellow tea extract regulated genes associated with the constipation state, raised
5-HT3
and
5-HT4
and reduced
AQP3
and
AQP4
mRNA expression. Moreover, we found that yellow tea extract changed the gut microbiota composition. Community diversity and richness were increased and principal co-ordinate analysis demonstrated that the yellow tea extract prophylaxis groups differed from the model group. Difference analysis indicated that yellow tea extract increased
Roseburia
,
Lachnospiraceae_UCG-006
, and
Bifidobacterium
and decreased
norank_f_Clostridiales_vadinBB60_group
,
unclassified_o_Bacteroidales
, and
Bacteroides
, which are correlated with constipation. Based on these results, we believe that regular yellow tea consumption can effectively alleviate constipation.
We evaluated the effects of yellow tea extract on relieving constipation induced by loperamide and evaluated the changes of gut microbiota based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing.
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