Due to the lack of research between the inner layers in the structure of colonic mucous and the metabolism of fatty acid in the constipation model, we aim to determine the changes in the mucous phenotype of the colonic glycocalyx and the microbial community structure following treatment with Rhubarb extract in our research. The constipation and treatment models are generated using adult male C57BL/6N mice. We perform light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to detect a Muc2-rich inner mucus layer attached to mice colon under different conditions. In addition, 16S rDNA sequencing is performed to examine the intestinal flora. According to TEM images, we demonstrate that Rhubarb can promote mucin secretion and find direct evidence of dendritic structure-linked mucus structures with its assembly into a lamellar network in a pore size distribution in the isolated colon section. Moreover, the diversity of intestinal flora has noticeable changes in constipated mice. The present study characterizes a dendritic structure and persistent cross-links have significant changes accompanied by the alteration of intestinal flora in feces in models of constipation and pretreatment with Rhubarb extract.

Characteristics and research collaboration of registered systematic reviews (SRs) on treatment modalities for coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) remain unclear. This study analysed research collaboration, interventions and outcome measures in registered SRs on COVID-19 treatments and pointed out the relevant problems. PROSPERO (international prospective register of systematic reviews) was searched for SRs on COVID-19 treatments as of 2 June 2020. Excel 2016 was used for descriptive analyses of the extracted data. VOSviewer 1.6.14 software was used to generate network maps for collaborations between countries and institutions. A total of 189 SRs were included, which were registered by 301 institutions from 39 countries. China (69, 36.50%) exhibited the highest output. Cooperation between countries was not close enough. As an institution, the Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (7, 3.70%) had the highest output. There was close cooperation between institutions. Interventions included antiviral therapy (81, 42.86%), respiratory support (16, 8.47%), circulatory support (11, 5.82%), plasma therapy for convalescent patients (11, 5.82%), immunotherapy (9, 4.76%), TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) treatment (9, 4.76%), rehabilitation treatment (5, 2.65%), anti-inflammatory treatment (16, 8.47%) and other treatments (31, 16.40%). Concerning antiviral therapy (81, 42.86%), the most commonly used antiviral agents were chloroquine/hydroxychloroquine (26, 13.76%), followed by remdesivir (12, 6.35%), lobinavir/ritonavir (11, 5.82%), favipiravir (5, 2.65%), ribavirin (5, 2.65%), interferon (5, 2.65%), abiron (4, 2.12%) and abidor (4, 2.12%). The most frequently used primary and secondary outcomes were the mortality rate (92, 48.68%) and hospital stay length (48, 25.40%), respectively. The expression of the outcomes was not standardised. Many COVID-19 SRs on treatment modalities have been registered, with a low completion rate. Although there was some collaboration between countries and institutions in the currently registered SRs on treatment modalities for COVID-19 on PROSPERO, cooperation between countries should be further enhanced. More attention should be directed towards identifying deficiencies of outcome measures, and the standardisation of results should be maximised.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global pandemic. Previous studies showed that comorbidities in patients with COVID-19 are risk factors for adverse outcomes. This study aimed to clarify the association between nervous system diseases and severity or mortality in patients with COVID-19. We performed a systematic literature search of four electronic databases and included studies reporting the prevalence of nervous system diseases in COVID-19 patients with severe and non-severe disease or among survivors and non-survivors. The included studies were pooled into a meta-analysis to calculate the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). We included 69 studies involving 17 879 patients. The nervous system diseases were associated with COVID-19 severity (OR = 3.19, 95%CI: 2.37 to 4.30, P < 0.001) and mortality (OR = 3.75, 95%CI: 2.68 to 5.25, P < 0.001). Specifically, compared with the patients without cerebrovascular disease, patients with cerebrovascular disease infected with COVID-19 had a higher risk of severity (OR = 3.10, 95%CI: 2.21 to 4.36, P < 0.001) and mortality (OR = 3.45, 95% CI: 2.46 to 4.84, P < 0.001). Stroke was associated with severe COVID-19 disease (OR = 1.95, 95%CI: 1.11 to 3.42, P = 0.020). No significant differences were found for the prevalence of epilepsy (OR = 1.00, 95%CI: 0.42 to 2.35, P = 0.994) and dementia (OR = 2.39, 95%CI: 0.55 to 10.48, P = 0.247) between non-severe and severe COVID-19 patients. There was no significant association between stroke (OR = 1.79, 95%CI: 0.76 to 4.23, P = 0.185), epilepsy (OR = 2.08, 95%CI: 0.08 to 50.91, P = 0.654) and COVID-19 mortality. In conclusion, nervous system diseases and cerebrovascular disease were associated with severity and mortality of patients with COVID-19. There might be confounding factors that influence the relationship between nervous system diseases and COVID-19 severity as well as mortality.

The effects of macronutrient intake on obesity are controversial. This research aims to investigate the associations between macronutrient intake and new-onset overweight/obesity. The relationship between the consumption of carbohydrate and total fat and obesity was assessed by the multivariable Cox model in this 11-year cohort, which included 6612 adults (3291 men and 3321 women) who were free of overweight and obesity at baseline. The dietary intake was recorded using a 24-h recall method for three consecutive days. Moreover, substitution models were developed to distinguish the effects of macronutrient composition alteration from energy intake modification. During 7·5 person years (interquartile range 4·3, 10·8) of follow-up, 1807 participants became overweight or obese. After adjusting for risk factors, the hazard ratio (HR) of overweight/obesity in extreme quintiles of fat was 1·48 (quintile 5 v. quintile 1, 95 % CI 1·16, 1·89; Ptrend = 0·02) in women. Additionally, replacing 5 % of energy from carbohydrate with equivalent energy from fat was associated with an estimated 4·3 % (HR 1·043, 95 % CI 1·007, 1·081) increase in overweight/obesity in women. Moreover, dietary carbohydrate was inversely associated with overweight/obesity (quintile 5 v. quintile 1, HR 0·70, 95 % CI 0·55, 0·89; Ptrend = 0·02) in women. Total fat was related to a higher risk of overweight/obesity, whereas high carbohydrate intake was related to a lower risk of overweight/obesity in women, which was not observed in men.

The in vivo effects of administering free and microencapsulated Lactobacillus plantarum LIP-1 cells (2·0×109 colony-forming units/d) were evaluated in high-fat-diet-induced hyperlipidaemic rats. Results from real-time quantitative PCR targeting to LIP-1 cells showed a higher colon colonisation count of LIP-1 in the rats receiving microencapsulated cells compared with free cells (P<0·05). Moreover, the microencapsulated LIP-1 treatment resulted in a more obvious lipid-lowering effect (P<0·05). Meanwhile, their faecal samples had significantly less lipopolysaccharide-producing bacteria (especially Bilophila, Sutterella and Oscillibacter) and mucosa-damaging bacteria (Bilophila and Akkermansia muciniphila), whereas significantly more SCFA-producing bacteria (P<0·05) (namely Lactobacillus, Alloprevotella, Coprococcus, Eubacterium and Ruminococcus) and bacteria that potentially possessed bile salt hydrolase activity (Bacteroides, Clostridium, Eubacterium and Lactobacillus), and other beneficial bacteria (Alistipes and Turicibacter). Further, Spearman’s correlation analysis showed significant correlations between some of the modulated gut bacteria and the serum lipid levels. These results together confirm that microcapsulation enhanced the colon colonisation of LIP-1 cells, which subsequently exhibited more pronounced effects in improving the gut microbiota composition of hyperlipidaemic rats and lipid reduction.

This research communication describes the profile of gene expression related to the synthesis of yak milk as determined via quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Significant up-regulation during lactation were observed in genes related to fatty acid (FA) uptake from blood (LPL, CD36), intracellular FA transport (FABP3), intracellular FA activation of long- and short-chain FAs (ACSS1, ACSS2, ACSL1), de novo synthesis (ACACA), desaturation (SCD), triacyglycerol (TAG) synthesis (AGPAT6, GPAM, LPIN1), lipid droplet formation (PLIN2, BTN1A1, XDH), ketone body utilisation (BDH1, OXCT1), and transcription regulation (THRSP, PPARGC1A). In particular, intracellular de novo FA synthesis (ACSS2, ACACA, and FABP3) and TAG synthesis (GPAM, AGPAT6, and LPIN1), whose regulation might be orchestrated as part of the gene network under the control of SERBF1 in the milk fat synthesis process, were more activated compared to levels in dairy cows. However, the genes involved in lipid droplet formation (PLIN2, XDH, and BTN1A1) were expressed at lower levels compared to those in dairy cows, where these genes are mainly controlled by the PPARG regulator.

Industry-generated trans-fatty acids (TFA) are detrimental to risk of CHD, but ruminant-originated TFA have been reported as neutral or equivocal. Therefore, the total TFA amount should not be the only factor considered when measuring the effects of TFA. In the present study, we addressed whether a version of the TFA index that unifies the effects of different TFA isomers into one equation could be used to reflect CHD risk probability (RP). The present cross-sectional study involved 2713 individuals divided into four groups that represented different pathological severities and potential risks of CHD: acute coronary syndrome (ACS, n 581); chronic coronary artery disease (CCAD, n 631); high-risk population (HRP, n 659); healthy volunteers (HV, n 842). A 10-year CHD RP was calculated. Meanwhile, the equation of the TFA index was derived using five TFA isomers (trans-16 : 1n-7, trans-16 : 1n-9, trans-18 : 1n-7, trans-18 : 1n-9 and trans-18 : 2n-6n-9), which were detected in the whole blood, serum and erythrocyte membranes of each subject. The TFA index and the 10-year CHD RP were compared by linear models. It was shown that only in the erythrocyte membrane, the TFA isomers were significantly different between the groups. In the ACS group, industry-generated TFA (trans-16 : 1n-9, trans-18 : 1n-9 and trans-18 : 2n-6n-9) were the highest, whereas ruminant-originated TFA (trans-16 : 1n-7 and trans-18 : 1n-7), which manifested an inverse relationship with CHD, were the lowest, and vice versa in the HV group. The TFA index decreased progressively from 7·12 to 5·06, 3·11 and 1·92 in the ACS, CCAD, HRP and HV groups, respectively. The erythrocyte membrane TFA index was positively associated with the 10-year CHD RP (R2 0·9981) and manifested a strong linear correlation, which might reflect the true pathological severity of CHD.