Berberine is effective and safe in the treatment of type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia.

No abstract

Telehealth intervention delivered cardiac rehabilitation does not have significantly inferior outcomes compared to center-based supervised program in low to moderate risk CAD patients. Telehealth intervention offers an alternative deliver model of CR for individuals less able to access center-based cardiac rehabilitation. Choices should reflect preferences, anticipation, risk profile, funding, and accessibility to health service.

Context: Maternal thyroid disorders during early pregnancy can influence pregnancy outcome and fetal development. The recent Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline recommends a casefinding approach in which pregnant women who are at high risk for developing thyroid disease are tested. Objective: The purpose of this study was to use the first trimester-specific reference intervals of thyroidrelated hormones to explore the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction during early pregnancy and to analyze effectiveness of different screening strategies. Design: A multicenter cohort study. Method: A total of 2899 pregnant women were enrolled in this study during their first trimester of gestation. Levels of TSH, free thyroxine, free triiodothyronine, and thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) were measured and thyroid disorders of pregnant women were diagnosed based on the first trimester-specific reference intervals. Results: The prevalence of hypothyroidism was significantly higher in the high-risk group than in the non-high-risk group (10.9 vs 7.0%, c 2 Z7.1, PZ0.008). The prevalence of hyperthyroidism was not significantly different between the high-risk group and the non-high-risk group (2.7 vs 1.6%, c 2 Z2.27, PZ0.13). Elevated levels of TPOAb and a personal history of thyroid disease increased the risk of thyroid dysfunction. Conclusions: A case-finding strategy for screening thyroid function in the high-risk group would miss about 81.6% pregnant women with hypothyroidism and 80.4% pregnant women with hyperthyroidism.

Lychee is an exotic tropical fruit with a distinct flavor. The genome of cultivar ‘Feizixiao’ was assembled into 15 pseudochromosomes, totaling ~470 Mb. High heterozygosity (2.27%) resulted in two complete haplotypic assemblies. A total of 13,517 allelic genes (42.4%) were differentially expressed in diverse tissues. Analyses of 72 resequenced lychee accessions revealed two independent domestication events. The extremely early maturing cultivars preferentially aligned to one haplotype were domesticated from a wild population in Yunnan, whereas the late-maturing cultivars that mapped mostly to the second haplotype were domesticated independently from a wild population in Hainan. Early maturing cultivars were probably developed in Guangdong via hybridization between extremely early maturing cultivar and late-maturing cultivar individuals. Variable deletions of a 3.7 kb region encompassed by a pair of CONSTANS-like genes probably regulate fruit maturation differences among lychee cultivars. These genomic resources provide insights into the natural history of lychee domestication and will accelerate the improvement of lychee and related crops.