Postbiotics in rheumatoid arthritis: emerging mechanisms and intervention perspectives

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a prevalent chronic autoimmune disease that affects individuals of all age groups. Recently, the association between RA and the gut microbiome has led to the investigation of postbiotics as potential therapeutic strategies. Postbiotics refer to inactivated microbial cells, cellular components, or their metabolites that are specifically intended for the microbiota. Postbiotics not only profoundly influence the occurrence and development of RA, but they also mediate various inflammatory pathways, immune processes, and bone metabolism. Although they offer a variety of mechanisms and may even be superior to more conventional "biotics" such as probiotics and prebiotics, research on their efficacy and clinical significance in RA with disruptions to the intestinal microbiota remains limited. In this review, we provide an overview of the concept of postbiotics and summarize the current knowledge regarding postbiotics and their potential use in RA therapy. Postbiotics show potential as a viable adjunctive therapy option for RA.

[Neuroendoscopic treatment for 372 cases of intracranial lesions]

OBJECTIVE

To explore the application of neuroendoscopic treatment for intracranial lesions.

METHODS

The clinic data of 372 patients with intracranial lesions, who underwent neuroendoscopic treatment at our department from May 1998 to May 2010, were reviewed retrospectively. Representative endoscopic treatments included endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) (n = 198), ETV & endoscopic biopsy (n = 69), neuroendoscopic ostomy for septum pellucidum fenestration (n = 55) (for septum pellucidum cysts, n = 37) and endoscopic cystoventriculostomy for ventricular cysts (n = 50). Their surgical indications and clinical outcomes were summarized for analysis.

RESULTS

ETV was performed successfully in 369 cases. Among them, 2 failed cases underwent other operations and endoscopic biopsy failed in 1 case. Within a short post-operative period, the symptoms were resolved in 347 cases (93.3%), showed no improvement in 23 cases (6.2%) and 2 died (0.5%). At Month 6 post-operation, a failure of ETV was detected in 22 cases (9.5%), a failure of neuroendoscopic ostomy for septum pellucidum cysts in 23 (69.7%) and for ventricular cysts in 12 cases (26.7%).

CONCLUSION

ETV is effective in the treatment of obstructive hydrocephalus, but its indication should be strictly controlled for children. Effective rate of neuroendoscopic treatment for intracranial septum pellucidum cysts remains unsatisfactory so that its operative indication should be strictly controlled.

Detection of urine and blood clenbuterol following short-term oral administration in the horse

BACKGROUND AND AIM

The pharmacokinetics of clenbuterol in equine urine and blood was investigated.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Urine and blood samples were collected following 3-day multiple oral administrations. The samples were examined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and further confirmed by solid phase extraction and capillary electrophoresis.

RESULTS

Urinary clenbuterol was detectable until day 14 after the last dose. The urinary excretion of clenbuterol was characterized by a biphasic pattern. The half-lives of the bi-exponential elimination (t(1/2alpha) and t(1/2beta)) for urinary clenbuterol were about 12.1 and 48 hours. After a single oral administration (4 microg/kg) of clenbuterol, the half-life of serum clenbuterol was approximately 11.4 hours.

Diagnosis and genetic analysis of Japanese encephalitis virus infected in horses

Nervous disorders were found in two horses and verified as aseptic encephalitis by necropsy in the summer of 2000. To investigate agents that affected the horses, diagnostic procedures involving virus isolation, neutralization test and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were performed. We intracranially inoculated litters of suckling mice with tissues suspected of containing aseptic encephalitis, including cerebrum, cerebellum, brain stem, thalamus, and cerebrospinal fluids; the mice were then observed for 14 days. Neutralizing antibodies against Japanese encephalitis (JE) viruses were present in the cerebrospinal fluid of the horses in titers of 10. Sequences of 500 nucleotides of the premembrane gene of JE virus, synthesized by RT-PCR, from both the cerebrum and cerebellum were determined. The phylogenetic analysis based on sequences of the premembrane gene revealed a relationship with the JE virus. The divergences at the nucleotide level of 1.2-5.7% and at the amino acid level of 0-4.3% were conserved with other JE strains. The results demonstrated that the pathogens causing equine encephalitis were JE viruses. The strains were closely related to Taiwanese isolates.