Correlation between intestinal permeability and expression of E-cadherin protein in intestinal mucosa in rats with intraperitoneal infection

AIM: To observe the correlation between intestinal permeability and the expression levels of E-cadherin protein in the intestinal mucosa in rats with intraperitoneal infection.

METHODS: Forty healthy adult Wistar rats were randomly divided into control group (n = 8) and abdominal infection group (n = 32). The control group underwent celiotomy only, while the abdominal infection group was further equally divided into four subgroups and underwent cecal ligation and puncture to induce abdominal infection at 12, 24, 36, and 48 h after celiotomy. All the rats were sacrificed, and ileum tissue 10 cm away from the ileocecal junction was sampled for histological examination and evaluation of mucosal damage. Plasma D-lactate was measured at various time points. The expression of E-cadherin protein in the intestinal mucosa was detected using Western blot.

RESULTS: Intestinal barrier began to show significant changes 12 h after induction of infection. At 12 h, the abdominal infection group had lower villous thickness, higher mucosal damage index and plasma levels of D-lactat (all P < 0.01) than the control group. The damage reached the peak at 24 h, and lowest villus height, maximum mucosal injury score, and highest lever of D-lactate were observed at this time point (all P < 0.05). The level of D-lactate began to fall at 36 h but remained higher than that in the control group (P < 0.01). The expression level of E-cadherin protein was lowest at 24 h (P < 0.05), and began to rise at 36 and 48 h but remained lower than those in the control group (both P < 0.01). D-lactate levels had a significant correlation with the expression levels of E-cadherin protein (r = -0.605, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION: There is a significant correlation between intestinal permeability and the expression levels of E-cadherin protein in the intestinal mucosa in rats with intraperitoneal infection.

Lower intake of vegetables and legumes associated with cognitive decline among illiterate elderly Chinese: a 3-year cohort study

BACKGROUND

Despite many studies on cognitive function and its influential factors among old population, relatively little research has been designed to study the relationship between dietary intake and cognitive function in elderly.

OBJECTIVE

We conducted a population-based, prospective nested case-control study to investigate the association between dietary habits and declines in cognitive function over three years among Chinese illiterate elderly.

DESIGN AND METHODS

This study was part of the Chinese Longitudinal Health Longevity Study (CLHLS). Six thousand nine hundred and eleven illiterate residents aged 65 or older were investigated. Socio-demographic and dietary habits data were collected at baseline. The cognitive function of illiterate elderly persons was assessed using Chinese revised Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE-r) in 2002 and 2005. Cognitive decline was defined as MMSE-r score dropped to less than 18 at follow-up among those with normal cognitive function (MMSE-r≥18 at baseline). Odds ratios (OR) were calculated via logistic regression models.

RESULTS

Five thousand six hundred and ninety one elderly were included in the current analysis. In bivariate analysis, cognitive decline was associated with gender, marital status ,financial status, smoking, drinking alcohol, drinking tea, eating fruits, vegetables, legumes, fishes, meat, egg and sugar. Multivariate logistic regression analysis found that always eating vegetable (Adjusted OR: 0.66; 95% confidence intervals, CI: 0.58, 0.75), always consuming legumes (AOR:0.78; 95% CI: 0.64, 0.96) were inversely associated with cognitive decline.

CONCLUSIONS

Lower intakes of vegetables and legumes were associated with cognitive decline among illiterate elderly Chinese. Dietary factors may be important for prevention cognitive decline.

First-principles calculations: half-metallic Au-V(Cr) quantum wires as spin filters

The half-metallic behavior of Au-V(Cr) quantum wires adsorbed on an armchair (5, 5) boron nitride nanotube is obtained by performing spin-polarized density functional calculations. The density of states shows a metallic property at the Fermi level for the majority spin channel and a semiconductor gap in the minority spin channel. The half-metallic behavior of the quantum wire/nanotube complex originates from the half-metallic behavior of the free-standing Au-V(Cr) quantum wires. The calculations of spin-polarized transport indicate that such a one-dimensional half-metallic magnet can be used as a spin filter.