Dynamics alteration of the gut microbiota and faecal metabolomes in very low or extremely low birth weight infants: a Chinese single-center, prospective cohort study.

Objective: The aim of this study is to comprehensively investigate the temporal dynamics of faecal gut microbiota and metabonomics in early postnatal with a focus on very low or extremely low birth weight (VLBW/ELBW) infants.

Methods: We collected faecal samples from 157 VLBW/ELBW infants at three time points: days 1, 14, and 28 in a prospective cohort study. The faecal microbial diversity, abundance, composition, and metabolomic analyses were determined using 16S rRNA sequencing and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

Assessing the sustainability and competitiveness of tourism economies in China's Chengdu-Chongqing metropolitan area.

As the competition of tourism industry becomes increasingly white-hot, the sustainability and competitiveness of tourism economies inside a zone gradually gets people's attentions. Based on data of 16 cities from 2010 to 2019, this paper aims to investigate the sustainability and competitiveness of tourism economies in the Chengdu-Chongqing metropolitan area, by constructing a niche evaluation index and four niche models (niche ecostate-ecorole model, niche expansion model, niche breadth model, and niche overlap degree model). The results show that (1) during the sample period, the niche values of tourism competitiveness in most cities of the Chengdu-Chongqing metropolitan area have shown a sustained increasing trend, indicating that the status of these cities in resources, market, environment, social economy, and other dimensions is rising steadily, and their competitive advantages are gradually increasing; (2) the niche values of tourism competitiveness in the core cities of Chengdu-Chongqing metropolitan area (Chengdu and Chongqing) remain stable, while the niche values of tourism competitiveness in the remaining cities vary greatly; the comprehensive niche values of tourism industry competitiveness of the cities in the central area are significantly lower than those of the cities in the peripheral area; (3) the niche overlap of tourism competitiveness in the Chengdu-Chongqing metropolitan area is relatedly high, indicating that the homogenization of tourism in these cities is more serious.

Diosmetin prevents TGF-β1-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition via ROS/MAPK signaling pathways.

Aims: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a critical role in airway repair and remodeling in many respiratory diseases such as asthma and pulmonary fibrosis. The flavone aglycone, diosmetin, possesses anti-remodeling activity in a murine model of chronic asthma, but little is known about its effects on EMT. Herein, we investigated whether diosmetin inhibits transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)-induced EMT with underlying mechanisms in human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells.