OBJECTIVETo examine the effect of dapagliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, on the major components of renal glucose reabsorption (decreased maximum renal glucose reabsorptive capacity [TmG], increased splay, and reduced threshold), using the pancreatic/stepped hyperglycemic clamp (SHC) technique.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSSubjects with type 2 diabetes (n = 12) and matched healthy subjects (n = 12) underwent pancreatic/SHC (plasma glucose range 5.5–30.5 mmol/L) at baseline and after 7 days of dapagliflozin treatment. A pharmacodynamic model was developed to describe the major components of renal glucose reabsorption for both groups and then used to estimate these parameters from individual glucose titration curves.RESULTSAt baseline, type 2 diabetic subjects had elevated TmG, splay, and threshold compared with controls. Dapagliflozin treatment reduced the TmG and splay in both groups. However, the most significant effect of dapagliflozin was a reduction of the renal threshold for glucose excretion in type 2 diabetic and control subjects.CONCLUSIONSThe SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin improves glycemic control in diabetic patients by reducing the TmG and threshold at which glucose is excreted in the urine.

Highly sensitive flexible tactile sensors that can be fabricated in a low cost and efficient way are in great demand for intelligent soft robotics and friendly human–machine interaction. Herein, a highly sensitive flexible tactile sensor is developed by using bionic micropatterned polydimethylsiloxane (m‐PDMS) replicated from lotus leaf. The m‐PDMS substrate consists of high‐aspect‐ratio and low‐density microtowers, and is covered by ultrathin silver nanowires as a bottom electrode. The capacitive sensing device is constructed by sandwiching the bottom electrode, a colorless polyimides dielectric layer, and a top electrode, and exhibits a high sensitivity of ≈1.2 k Pa−1, a ultralow limit of detection <0.8 Pa, and a fast response time of 36 ms. The finite‐elemental analysis indicates that the sparse and high‐aspect‐ratio microtowers are critical to achieve high sensitivity, low limit of detection, and fast response to external stimulus. The flexible tactile sensor also exhibits high robustness: it can be tested for at least 100 000 cycles without showing fatigue. More importantly, the flexible tactile sensors are potentially useful in intelligent soft robots, health monitoring, and motion detection. Besides, the fabrication strategy may offer a guideline to design other microstructures for improving the performance of flexible tactile sensors.

The emerging evidence supports the use of prebiotics like herb-derived polysaccharides for treating nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by modulating gut microbiome. The present study was initiated on the microbiota-dependent anti-NAFLD effect of Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) extracted from Astragalus mongholicus Bunge in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. However, the exact mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of APS on NAFLD formation remain poorly understood.Co-housing experiment was used to assess the microbiota dependent anti-NAFLD effect of APS. Then, targeted metabolomics and metagenomics were adopted for determining short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and bacteria that were specifically enriched by APS. Further in vitro experiment was carried out to test the capacity of SCFAs-producing of identified bacterium. Finally, the anti-NAFLD efficacy of identified bacterium was tested in HFD-fed mice.Our results first demonstrated the anti-NAFLD effect of APS in HFD-fed mice and the contribution of gut microbiota. Moreover, our results indicated that SCFAs, predominantly acetic acid were elevated in APS-supplemented mice and ex vivo experiment. Metagenomics revealed that D. vulgaris from Desulfovibrio genus was not only enriched by APS, but also a potent generator of acetic acid, which showed significant anti-NAFLD effects in HFD-fed mice. In addition, D. vulgaris modulated the hepatic gene expression pattern of lipids metabolism, particularly suppressed hepatic fatty acid synthase (FASN) and CD36 protein expression.Our results demonstrate that APS enriched D. vulgaris is effective on attenuating hepatic steatosis possibly through producing acetic acid, and modulation on hepatic lipids metabolism in mice. Further studies are warranted to explore the long-term impacts of D. vulgaris on host metabolism and the underlying mechanism.

Wearable thermal management materials have attracted increasing attention because of the potential in energy conservation and the possibility to meet the need of smart clothes. An ideal cloth for cold areas has to be lightweight, warm, waterproof but breathable, and antibacterial. Herein, we present a multifunctional cloth starting from a cotton fabric, for which one side is modified to be superhydrophobic by introducing a silica nanoparticle/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer, while the other side is coated with a nanoporous cellulose acetate layer followed by depositing a thin silver film. The porosity allows the fabric to be breathable, and the silver film plays three important roles as a perfect infrared reflector, a flexible heater, and an antibacterial layer. Such a multifunctional fabric might be potentially useful in outdoor coats and other facilities.