Corticosteroids plus metformin versus corticosteroids as front-line treatment for patients with newly diagnosed ITP and pre-existing type 2 diabetes mellitus: A multicentre propensity score-matched study.

Corticosteroids are the standard first-line treatment for primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), with a high initial response but unsatisfactory sustained response (SR). Additionally, corticosteroids usually lead to hyperglycaemia especially in patients with pre-existing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Besides reducing the blood glucose levels, metformin was found to have immunomodulatory effects.

Effects of Ejiao peptide-iron chelates on intestinal inflammation and gut microbiota in iron deficiency anemic mice.

Iron deficiency is a global nutritional problem that adversely affects the functional regulation of the immune system. In the process of treatment through iron supplementation, the problem of excessive iron intake often occurs, which increases the level of inflammation in the body. Excessive iron can also lead to an increase in intestinal iron-requiring pathogenic bacteria and an imbalance of intestinal flora.

[Reponses of soil total organic carbon and dissolved organic carbon to simulated nitrogen deposition in temperate typical steppe in Inner Mongolia, China].

Based on a field manipulative nitrogen (N) addition experiment, the effects of atmospheric N deposition level change on the contents, inter-annual variation and profile distribution of soil total organic carbon (TOC) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were investigated from May, 2008 to October, 2011 in a temperate typical steppe in Inner Mongolia of China, and the relationship between TOC and DOC was also discussed. The treatments in the manipulative experiment included N additions at rates of 0, 5, 10, and 20 g x (m2 x a)(-1), representing the control (CK), low N (LN), medium N (MN), and high N (HN) treatment, respectively. The results indicated that the concentrations of soil TOC and DOC decreased progressively with soil depth in all cases except for the DOC at 10-20 cm depth in individual years.