Recent evidence suggests that athletes have microbial features distinct from those of sedentary individuals. However, the characteristics of the gut microbiota in athletes competing at different levels have not been assessed. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the gut microbiome is significantly different between higher-level and lower-level athletes. Faecal microbiota communities were analysed with hypervariable tag sequencing of the V3–V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene among 28 professional martial arts athletes, including 12 higher-level and 16 lower-level athletes. The gut microbial richness and diversity (the Shannon diversity index (p = 0.019) and Simpson diversity index (p = 0.001)) were significantly higher in the higher-level athletes than in the lower-level athletes. Moreover, the genera Parabacteroides, Phascolarctobacterium, Oscillibacter and Bilophila were enriched in the higher-level athletes, whereas Megasphaera was abundant in the lower-level athletes. Interestingly, the abundance of the genus Parabacteroides was positively correlated with the amount of time participants exercised during an average week. Further analysis of the functional prediction revealed that histidine metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism pathways were markedly over-represented in the gut microbiota of the higher-level athletes. Collectively, this study provides the first insight into the gut microbiota characteristics of professional martial arts athletes. The higher-level athletes had increased diversity and higher metabolic capacity of the gut microbiome for it may positively influence athletic performance.

Background: Rhizoma Pinelliae is the dried tuber of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that Rhizoma Pinelliae has antitussive, antiemetic, glandular secretion inhibiting and antitumor effects. Objectives: To optimize the processing technology of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum, and to study its anti-tumor effect. Methods: Orthogonal design method was applied to analyze the effects of factors such as licorice concentration volume, soaking time and processing temperature on processing technology of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum; MTT assay and flow cytometry were used to determine the inhibitory effect of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum on Bel-7402 cells. Results: During the processing of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum, the size of influence of licorice concentration volume, soaking time and processing temperature on processing results of Rhizoma Pinelliae was: B>C>A in descending order, i.e. soaking time>processing temperature>licorice concentration volume, different concentrations of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum ethanol extracts could all exert inhibitory effect on the growth and proliferation of Bel-7402 cells, and with the increase of drug concentration and the extension of culture time, the cell proliferation inhibitory effect of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum ethanol extract became more and more evident. Apoptotic rate of 1.5 mg/ml Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum ethanol extract group reached 13.53%, the difference was extremely significant compared with the control group. In conclusion the factor most influential to the processing technology of Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum was soaking time, followed by processing temperature, the factor least influential was licorice concentration volume. Conclusion: Rhizoma Pinelliae Praeparatum has inhibitory effect on growth and proliferation of Bel-7402 cells.

Introduction: Leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor A3 (LILRA3) belongs to the LILR family with unique feature of a 6.7-kb deletion variation among individuals. Frequencies of the 6.7-kb deletion vary widely across populations, but so far it has not been carefully investigated among Han Chinese subpopulations. Furthermore, we previously identified the non-deleted (functional) LILRA3 as a novel genetic risk for multiple autoimmune diseases. The current study aimed to investigate (i) whether frequencies of the LILRA3 6.7-kb deletion differ within Han Chinese subpopulations and (ii) whether the functional LILRA3 is a novel genetic risk for ankylosing spondylitis (AS).Methods: The LILRA3 6.7-kb deletion was genotyped in two independent cohorts, including 1,567 subjects from Shenzhen Hospital and 2,507 subjects from People’s Hospital of Peking University. Frequencies of the 6.7-kb deletion were first investigated in combined healthy cohort according to the Chinese administrative district divisions. Association analyses were performed on whole dataset and subsets according to the geographic regions. Impact of the functional LILRA3 on AS disease activity was evaluated.Results: Frequencies of LILRA3 6.7-kb deletion were highly differentiated within Han Chinese subpopulations, being gradually decreased from Northeast (80.6%) to South (47.4%). Functional LILRA3 seemed to be a strong genetic risk in susceptibility to AS under almost all the alternative genetic models, if the study subjects were not geographically stratified. However, stratification analysis revealed that the functional LILRA3 was consistently associated with AS susceptibility mainly in Northern Han subgroup under the alternative genetic models, but not in Central and Southern Hans. Functional LILRA3 conferred an increased disease activity in AS patients (P < 0.0001 both for CRP and ESR, and P = 0.003 for BASDAI).Conclusions: The present study is the first to report that the frequencies of LILRA3 6.7-kb deletion vary among Chinese Hans across geographic regions. The functional LILRA3 is associated with AS susceptibility mainly in Northern Han, but not in Central and Southern Han subgroups. Our finding provides new evidence that LILRA3 is a common genetic risk for multiple autoimmune diseases and highlights the genetic differentiation among different ethnicities, even within the subpopulations of an ethnic group.

BackgroundBlood pressure levels are correlated with diabetes among middle-aged or older adults. However, longitudinal trajectories of blood pressure during young adulthood and their impact on diabetes have been insufficiently studied.MethodsThe longitudinal cohort consisted of 4,625 adults who had blood pressure and body mass index (BMI) repeatedly measured five to nine times during 18–60 years of age. Distinct systolic blood pressure (SBP) trajectories were identified by a group-based trajectory model. Logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the association between trajectory patterns or quartiles of area under the curve values of SBP trajectories and incident diabetes, respectively.ResultsFour distinct trajectory groups were identified for SBP: normotensive-stable (n = 761, 16.5%), prehypertension-stable (n = 2,381, 51.5%), stage I hypertension-increasing (n = 1,231, 26.6%), and stage II hypertension-increasing (n = 251, 5.4%). Compared with subjects who remained at SBP &lt;120 mmHg in the normotensive-stable group, individuals in the prehypertension-stable trajectory exhibited a normal SBP range (&lt;140 mmHg), and they still had a significantly higher risk of diabetes (adjusted OR = 1.82, p = 0.029). Individuals had a greater risk of diabetes in the stage I hypertension-increasing group (adjusted OR = 2.31, p = 0.006) and the highest risk in the stage II hypertension-increasing group (adjusted OR = 3.91, p &lt; 0.001) relative to the normotensive-stable group. Furthermore, compared with the first quartile, adjusted ORs (95% CIs) of the fourth quartile of SBP incremental and total AUC were 2.50 (1.61–3.97) and 1.82 (1.15–2.94), respectively.ConclusionsLong-term SBP trajectory is a significant predictor for incident diabetes, which is independent of baseline SBP and body weight, attaching importance to maintaining optimal blood pressure levels and controlling changing slopes of SBP for preventing diabetes.