Gut microbiota and colorectal cancer Gao, R.; Gao, Z.; Huang, L. ...
European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases,
05/2017, Volume:
36, Issue:
5
Journal Article, Book Review
Peer reviewed
Open access
The gut microbiota is considered as a forgotten organ in human health and disease. It maintains gut homeostasis by various complex mechanisms. However, disruption of the gut microbiota has been ...confirmed to be related to gastrointestinal diseases such as colorectal cancer, as well as remote organs in many studies. Colorectal cancer is a multi-factorial and multi-stage involved disorder. The role for microorganisms that initiate and facilitate the process of colorectal cancer has become clear. The candidate pathogens have been identified by culture and next sequencing technology. Persuasive models have also been proposed to illustrate the complicated and dynamic time and spatial change in the carcinogenesis. Related key molecules have also been investigated to demonstrate the pathways crucial for the development of colorectal cancer. In addition, risk factors that contribute to the tumorigenesis can also be modulated to decrease the susceptibility for certain population. In addition, the results of basic studies have also translated to clinical application, which displayed a critical value for the diagnosis and therapy of colorectal cancer. In this review, we not only emphasize the exploration of the mechanisms, but also potential clinical practice implication in this microbiota era.
Stability of active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) is analysed in the presence of unknown, nonlinear, and time-varying dynamics. In the framework of singular perturbations, the closed-loop ...error dynamics are semi-decoupled into a relatively slow subsystem (the feedback loop) and a relatively fast subsystem (the extended state observer), respectively. It is shown, analytically and geometrically, that there exists a unique exponential stable solution if the size of the initial observer error is sufficiently small, i.e. in the same order of the inverse of the observer bandwidth. The process of developing the uniformly asymptotic solution of the system reveals the condition on the stability of the ADRC and the relationship between the rate of change in the total disturbance and the size of the estimation error. The differentiability of the total disturbance is the only assumption made.
This meta‐analysis synthesizes current literature concerning the effects of active video games (AVGs) on children/adolescents’ health‐related outcomes. A total of 512 published studies on AVGs were ...located, and 35 articles were included based on the following criteria: (i) data‐based research articles published in English between 1985 and 2015; (ii) studied some types of AVGs and related outcomes among children/adolescents and (iii) had at least one comparison within each study. Data were extracted to conduct comparisons for outcome measures in three separate categories: AVGs and sedentary behaviours, AVGs and laboratory‐based exercise, and AVGs and field‐based physical activity. Effect size for each entry was calculated with the Comprehensive Meta‐Analysis software in 2015. Mean effect size (Hedge's g) and standard deviation were calculated for each comparison. Compared with sedentary behaviours, AVGs had a large effect on health outcomes. The effect sizes for physiological outcomes were marginal when comparing AVGs with laboratory‐based exercises. The comparison between AVGs and field‐based physical activity had null to moderate effect sizes. AVGs could yield equivalent health benefits to children/adolescents as laboratory‐based exercise or field‐based physical activity. Therefore, AVGs can be a good alternative for sedentary behaviour and addition to traditional physical activity and sports in children/adolescents.
Exergames have started to find their way into field‐based settings, such as schools, communities and homes, as a possible solution to curbing physical inactivity and childhood obesity. However, a ...clear view of the effects of field‐based exergaming on children's obesity‐related outcomes is lacking. Hence, a systematic review on this topic is warranted. This review synthesizes the impact of field‐based exergames on children's physical and psychosocial outcomes. A total of 34 articles conducted in field‐based settings were identified from 104 peer‐reviewed publications that investigated the effects of exergames. Upon screening, these articles met the inclusion criteria and a high inter‐rater agreement for inclusion was reached between the authors. The effects of field‐based exergames on children's habitual physical activity (PA) and obesity‐related outcomes (e.g. weight loss, body composition) remain unclear due to design problems, measurement issues and other methodology concerns. In addition, exergame is appealing to children, although strategies are warranted to sustain their interests. In summary, exergames are desirable as a promising addition to promote PA and health. Professionals may integrate exergames at field settings to promote a physically active lifestyle among children with the goal of curbing childhood obesity.
Wearable and skin electronics benefit from mechanically soft and stretchable materials to conform to curved and dynamic surfaces, thereby enabling seamless integration with the human body. However, ...such materials are challenging to process using traditional microelectronics techniques. Here, stretchable transistor arrays are patterned exclusively from solution by inkjet printing of polymers and carbon nanotubes. The additive, non-contact and maskless nature of inkjet printing provides a simple, inexpensive and scalable route for stacking and patterning these chemically-sensitive materials over large areas. The transistors, which are stable at ambient conditions, display mobilities as high as 30 cm
V
s
and currents per channel width of 0.2 mA cm
at operation voltages as low as 1 V, owing to the ionic character of their printed gate dielectric. Furthermore, these transistors with double-layer capacitive dielectric can mimic the synaptic behavior of neurons, making them interesting for conformal brain-machine interfaces and other wearable bioelectronics.
Bacteria switch only intermittently to motile planktonic lifestyles under favorable conditions. Under chronic nutrient deprivation, however, bacteria orchestrate a switch to stationary phase, ...conserving energy by altering metabolism and stopping motility. About two-thirds of bacteria use flagella to swim, but how bacteria deactivate this large molecular machine remains unclear. Here, we describe the previously unreported ejection of polar motors by γ-proteobacteria. We show that these bacteria eject their flagella at the base of the flagellar hook when nutrients are depleted, leaving a relic of a former flagellar motor in the outer membrane. Subtomogram averages of the full motor and relic reveal that this is an active process, as a plug protein appears in the relic, likely to prevent leakage across their outer membrane; furthermore, we show that ejection is triggered only under nutritional depletion and is independent of the filament as a possible mechanosensor. We show that filament ejection is a widespread phenomenon demonstrated by the appearance of relic structures in diverse γ-proteobacteria including Plesiomonas shigelloides, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio fischeri, Shewanella putrefaciens, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. While the molecular details remain to be determined, our results demonstrate a novel mechanism for bacteria to halt costly motility when nutrients become scarce.
The smooth muscle cell directly drives the contraction of the vascular wall and hence regulates the size of the blood vessel lumen. We review here the current understanding of the molecular ...mechanisms by which agonists, therapeutics, and diseases regulate contractility of the vascular smooth muscle cell and we place this within the context of whole body function. We also discuss the implications for personalized medicine and highlight specific potential target molecules that may provide opportunities for the future development of new therapeutics to regulate vascular function.
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