Background & Aims: Epidemiological evidence linking fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prognosis lacked. We aimed to evaluate the associations between serum FGF21 levels and HCC survival in a large prospective cohort.Methods: 825 newly diagnosed, previously untreated HCC patients from the Guangdong Liver Cancer Cohort were enrolled between September 2013 and April 2017. Serum FGF21 levels were measured by ELISA. Liver cancer-specific survival (LCSS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were performed to calculate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results: Compared with patients in the lowest tertile of serum FGF21 levels, patients in the highest tertile had inferior survival outcomes. HRs in the fully adjusted models were 1.44 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.94; P -trend = .014) and 1.48 (95% CI: 1.12, 1.97; P -trend = .002) for LCSS and OS, respectively. The associations were not significantly modified by selected metabolic disorder diseases or state such as arterial hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, fatty liver, cirrhosis, and body mass index ≥25.0 kg/m 2 , except for that stronger associations were observed in patients co-occurred more than three metabolic disorder diseases (P -interaction = .046 for OS and .151 for LCSS),

Dietary intake of one-carbon metabolism-related nutrients has been linked to cancer-related outcomes, but their effects on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) mortality are still unknown. The objective was to assess whether pre-diagnostic...

Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) is a major common environmental pathogen which causes bovine mastitis. To investigate the epidemic of K. pneumoniae of China, 131 K. pneumoniae strains were isolated from 495 clinical mastitis milk samples from 14 provinces in China. The isolation rate of K. pneumoniae was 26.5%, and K57 was the dominant serotype (45.0%, 59/131). Nineteen (14.5%) isolates were identified as hypervirulent K. pneumoniae (hvKP) and nine of them belonged to the K57 serotype. The mrkA, entB, wabG and fimH genes were prevalent virulence genes while rmpA, magA and ycf were not found in K. pneumoniae. Furthermore, K. pneumoniae had serious drug resistance and multiple beta-lactamase genes were detected, including blaTEM, blaSHV, blaNDM, blaCTX-M, blaDHA and blaKPC. Biofilm was an important factor in bacterial resistance and persistent infection, and 77.1% isolates could form biofilm. Although acylated homoserine lactone (AHL, a Gram-negative bacterial quorum sensing signal molecule) was not confirmed among the K. pneumoniae isolates, exogenous AHLs could reduce the biofilm formation ability of the K. pneumoniae strains. In conclusion, the high rate of isolation and serious antibiotic resistance of K. pneumonia were found in this study and indicated a potential threat to public health from the food chain.

Purpose To test the hypothesis that daily supplementation with low-dose B vitamins plus betaine could significantly reduce plasma homocysteine concentrations in Chinese adults with hyperhomocysteinemia and free from background mandatory folic acid fortification. Methods One hundred apparently healthy adults aged 18–65 years with hyperhomocysteinemia were recruited in South China from July 2019 to June 2021. They were randomly assigned to either the supplement group (daily supplementation: 400 μg folic acid, 8 mg vitamin B 6 , 6.4 μg vitamin B 12 and 1 g betaine) or the placebo group for 12 weeks. Fasting venous blood was collected at baseline, week 4 and week 12 to determine the concentrations of homocysteine, folate, vitamin B 12 and betaine. Generalized estimation equations were used for statistical analysis. Results Statistically significant increments in blood concentrations of folate, vitamin B 12 and betaine after the intervention in the supplement group indicated good participant compliance. At baseline, there were no significant differences in plasma homocysteine concentration between the two groups ( P = 0.265). After 12-week supplementation, compared with the placebo group, there was a significant reduction in plasma homocysteine concentrations in the supplement group (mean group difference − 3.87; covariate-adjusted P = 0.012; reduction rate 10.1%; covariate-adjusted P < 0.001). In the supplement group, the decreased concentration of plasma homocysteine was associated with increments of blood concentrations of both folate ( β = –1.680, P = 0.004) and betaine ( β = –1.421, P = 0.020) after 12 weeks of supplementation. Conclusions Daily supplementation with low-dose B vitamins plus betaine for 12 weeks effectively decreased plasma homocysteine concentrations in Chinese adults with hyperhomocysteinemia. Trial registration This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03720249 on October 25, 2018. Website: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03720249 . Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00394-023-03087-y.