Diabetic nephropathy, primarily caused by advanced glycation end products (AGEs), is a serious complication resulting from type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Reportedly, theaflavins (TFs) can improve diabetic nephropathy; however, the underlying molecular mechanism is not fully clear. In this study, T2DM mice were treated with different concentrations of TFs by gavage for 10 weeks to investigate the effect of TFs on diabetic nephropathy and their potential molecular mechanism of action. Biochemical and pathological analysis showed that the TFs effectively improved blood glucose, insulin resistance, kidney function, and other symptoms in diabetic mice. The mechanism studies indicated that TFs inhibited the formation of AGEs, thereby inhibiting the activation of the MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathway. Therefore, our study suggested that TFs improved diabetic nephropathy by inhibiting the formation of AGEs.

Background: Associations between irregular diet and the risk of esophageal cancer remain unclear. The current meta-analysis was performed to determine whether the presence of irregular diet increases the risk of esophageal cancer.Methods: The data from PubMed, Cochrane Libraries, and Embase up to 23 January 2022 were included in our analysis to identify studies that investigated associations between irregular diet and the risk of esophageal cancer. Summary relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effects model.Results: Five cohort studies and one case-control study investigating associations between irregular diet and the risk of esophageal cancer were included. None of the articles demonstrated publication bias. The summary RR was 4.181 (95% CI 2.196–7.960, I2 = 66.1%, p = 0.011). In the subgroup analysis, we found significant heterogeneity in the Non-disease-causing group, nurse group and Asian group. The above three that produce heterogeneity may be the source of heterogeneity in the results of this study.Conclusion: The current meta-analysis indicates that irregular diet increase the risk of esophageal cancer.Trial registration: (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/), (PROSPERO, CRD42022306407)

Background The benefits of surgery in patients with metastatic gastric cancer remain unclear. A nomogram may predict overall survival (OS) time of patients with metastatic gastric cancer who undergo surgery. Methods The development set consisted of 1300 patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program who were diagnosed with metastatic gastric cancer and underwent surgery in 2004–2015, whereas the validation set consisted of 555 patients diagnosed in 2004–2015. Variables were incorporated into a Cox proportional hazards model to identify independent risk factors for survival. Nomograms predicting 1-, 2-, and 3-year OS probabilities were designed using the development dataset. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and calibration curves were plotted to determine the accuracy of the nomograms. The net benefit of prediction models was evaluated using decision curve analysis (DCA). Results Age, primary tumor site, T stage, and N stage were risk factors for OS, whereas chemotherapy and radiotherapy were protective factors of OS. A nomogram including all of these variables had areas under the ROC curves (AUC) predicting 1-, 2-, and 3-year OS of 0.684, 0.676, and 0.685, respectively, for the development dataset and 0.689, 0.642, and 0.665, respectively, for the validation dataset. A calibration curve showed that the OS probability predicted by the nomogram was in good agreement with the actual OS probability. The DCA curves suggested that the nomogram provides a superior net benefit. Conclusions This nomogram can help predict the OS of patients with metastatic gastric cancer who underwent surgery. This nomogram can help clinicians make correct clinical decisions to prolong the OS of these patients.