This review addresses recent advances in synthesis strategies of hierarchically porous materials and their structural design from micro-, meso- to macro-length scale.

Over the last decade, significant effort has been devoted to the applications of hierarchically structured porous materials owing to their outstanding properties such as high surface area, excellent accessibility to active sites, and enhanced mass transport and diffusion. The hierarchy of porosity, structural, morphological and component levels in these materials is key for their high performance in all kinds of applications. The introduction of hierarchical porosity into materials has led to a significant improvement in the performance of materials. Herein, recent progress in the applications of hierarchically structured porous materials from energy conversion and storage, catalysis, photocatalysis, adsorption, separation, and sensing to biomedicine is reviewed. Their potential future applications are also highlighted. We particularly dwell on the relationship between hierarchically porous structures and properties, with examples of each type of hierarchically structured porous material according to its chemical composition and physical characteristics. The present review aims to open up a new avenue to guide the readers to quickly obtain in-depth knowledge of applications of hierarchically porous materials and to have a good idea about selecting and designing suitable hierarchically porous materials for a specific application. In addition to focusing on the applications of hierarchically porous materials, this comprehensive review could stimulate researchers to synthesize new advanced hierarchically porous solids.

The relationship between gut microbiota and neurological diseases, including chronic pain, has received increasing attention. The gut microbiome is a crucial modulator of visceral pain, whereas recent evidence suggests that gut microbiota may also play a critical role in many other types of chronic pain, including inflammatory pain, headache, neuropathic pain, and opioid tolerance. We present a narrative review of the current understanding on the role of gut microbiota in pain regulation and discuss the possibility of targeting gut microbiota for the management of chronic pain. Numerous signalling molecules derived from gut microbiota, such as by-products of microbiota, metabolites, neurotransmitters, and neuromodulators, act on their receptors and remarkably regulate the peripheral and central sensitisation, which in turn mediate the development of chronic pain. Gut microbiota-derived mediators serve as critical modulators for the induction of peripheral sensitisation, directly or indirectly regulating the excitability of primary nociceptive neurones. In the central nervous system, gut microbiota-derived mediators may regulate neuroinflammation, which involves the activation of cells in the bloodebrain barrier, microglia, and infiltrating immune cells, to modulate induction and maintenance of central sensitisation. Thus, we propose that gut microbiota regulates pain in the peripheral and central nervous system, and targeting gut microbiota by diet and pharmabiotic intervention may represent a new therapeutic strategy for the management of chronic pain.

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OBJECTIVE-Genome-wide association studies have identified common variants in CDKAL1, CDKN2A/B, IGF2BP2, SLC30A8, HHEX/IDE, EXT2, and LOC387761 loci that significantly increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. We aimed to replicate these observations in a population-based cohort of Chinese Hans and examine the associations of these variants with type 2 diabetes and diabetes-related phenotypes. CDKAL1-rs9465871, CDKN2A/B-rs10811661, IGF2BP2-rs4402960, and SLC30A8-rs13266634 increased the risk for type 2 diabetes by 1.24-fold (P ϭ 2.85 ϫ 10 Ϫ7 ) or for combined IFG/type 2 diabetes by 1.21-fold (P ϭ 6.31 ϫ 10 Ϫ11 ). None of the SNPs in EXT2 or LOC387761 exhibited significant association with type 2 diabetes or IFG. Significant association was observed between the HHEX/IDE SNPs and type 2 diabetes in individuals from Shanghai only (P Ͻ 0.013) but not in those from Beijing (P Ͼ 0.33). The first GWAS, conducted in a French case-control cohort, confirmed TCF7L2 as a major type 2 diabetes susceptibility gene and identified four novel loci consistently associated with type 2 diabetes (7). These loci are located in chromosomal regions that harbor several genes involved in ␤-cell function or development, including a variant in the SLC30A8 (zinc transporter solute carrier family 30 member 8) gene, variants located in a linkage disequilibrium (LD) block that contains the IDE (insulindegrading enzyme), KIF11 (kinesin family member 11), and the HHEX (hematopoietically expressed homeobox) genes, as well as variants in another LD block that contains genes encoding EXT2 (exostosin 2). A fourth locus mapped to a hypothetical gene LOC387761 on chromosome 11. Four subsequent GWASs (8 -12) RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS-We CONCLUSIONS-Our results indicate that in Chinese Hans