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The association between subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been widely discussed. This study aimed to conduct an update and comprehensive meta-analysis to reveal the risk of MetS and its components in SCH. PubMed, Embase and ISI Web of Knowledge were searched to identify relevant studies through February 20 th , 2020. Review Manager 5.3 and Stata 14.0 were used to conduct the meta-analysis. Both fixed-effects and random-effects models were used. In total, 18 articles (19 studies) incorporating 79,727 participants were included. The pooled OR for MetS comparing subjects with SCH with euthyroid subjects was 1.28 (95% CI: 1.19 to 1.39, p = 0.04, I 2 = 40%). Subgroup analysis results showed significant associations of SCH and MetS in the adult subgroup (OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.18-1.40), Asian population subgroup (OR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.19-1.42) and cross-sectional study design subgroup (OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.16-1.47). Significant associations of SCH and MetS also existed in all MetS definition criteria subgroups except the Chinese Diabetes Society (CDS) subgroup. SCH was correlated with MetS and was not affected by the subgroup analysis stratified by the proportion of females in the total population, the TSH cutoff value in SCH diagnostic criteria, or the adjustment for confounding factors. SCH was identified to be associated with an increased risk of obesity, hypertension, high triglyceride (TG) levels and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. In conclusion, SCH is significantly associated with an increased risk of MetS and four out of five components of MetS.

Objective Graves' disease is the most common autoimmune thyroid disease and its prevalence and clinical manifestations are disparate between females and males. Costimulatory molecules play an essential role in regulating autoimmune responses. The objective of this study was to determine if expression of inhibitory molecules was correlated with treatment by dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in an in vivo BALB/c mouse model of experimental autoimmune Graves' disease.Methods Female BALB/c mice were immunized three times with thyroid stimulating hormone receptor A-subunit encoded by adenovirus to establish a Graves' disease model. Three different doses of DHT or a matching placebo were administered by implantation of slow-release pellets a week before the first immunization. Four weeks after the third immunization, the mice were euthanatized, and then the spleen and thymus were removed. Total thyroxine and free thyroxine levels in serum of mice were detected using a radioimmunoassay kit. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to estimate the expression of costimulatory molecules in lymphocytes from the spleen and thymus. Flow cytometry was used to analyze the percentage of CD4 + T cells in splenic lymphocytes. Quantitative data were compared with unpaired t -tests. Correlation between two variables was analyzed using Analysis of Variance.Results Treatment with DHT can dramatically reduce total thyroxine and free thyroxine levels. Higher expression of programmed death-1 was found in the spleen of Graves' disease mice receiving 5 mg of DHT treatment (0.635±0.296 vs . 0.327±0.212; t =2.714, P =0.014), similarly, T-cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin domain 3 (TIM-3) in both the spleen (1.004±0.338 vs . 0.646±0.314; t =2.205, P =0.022) and the thymus (0.263±0.127 vs . 0.120±0.076; t =3.221, P =0.004) also increased after 5 mg of DHT treatment compared with the parallel placebo model mice. Moreover, the percentage of CD4 + T cells declined in the splenic lymphocytes of Graves' disease mice treated with 5 mg of DHT (19.90%±3.985% vs . 24.05%±2.587%; t =2.804, P =0.012). A significant negative association was observed between expression of TIM-3 in the spleen and serum levels of total thyroxine ( r =-0.7106, P =0.014) as well as free thyroxine ( r =-0.6542, P =0.029).Conclusion This study demonstrates that DHT can ameliorate experimental autoimmune Graves' disease, which may occur by up-regulating expression of programmed death-1 and TIM-3 and inhibiting development of CD4 + T cells.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related fatalities worldwide, and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the main pathological type. MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs, which are involved in tumor initiation and progression. miR‑223 is a tumor suppressor miRNA that has been reported in various types of cancer, including lung cancer. In the present study, to characterize the biological behavior of miR‑223 in NSCLC, we established an miR‑223 overexpression model in erlotinib-resistant PC‑9 (PC‑9/ER) cells by infection with lentivirus to induce the overexpression of miR‑223. As a result, miR‑223 enhanced the sensitivity of the PC‑9/ER cells to erlotinib by inducing apoptosis in vitro. Additionally, in vivo experiments were performed using nude mice which were injected with the cancer cells [either the PC‑9 (not resistant), PC‑9/ER, or the PC‑9/ER cells infected with miR‑223)]. We found that the tumor volumes were reduced in the rats injected with the cells infected with miR‑223. To further explore the underlying mechanisms, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and western blot analysis were used to identify the target molecules of miR‑223. miR‑223 was demonstrated to act as a local regulator of insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) in the acquired resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Notably, the οverexpression of IGF-1R in NSCLC was downregulated by miR‑223, and the activation of Akt/S6, the downstream pathway, was also inhibited. The inhibition of IGF-1R by miR‑223 was attenuated by exogenous IGF-1 expression. Therefore, miR‑223 may regulate the acquired resistance of PC‑9/ER cells to erlotinib by targeting the IGF-1R/Akt/S6 signaling pathway. The overexpression of miR‑223 may partially reverse the acquired resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor-TKIs, thus, providing a potential therapeutic strategy for TKI-resistant NSCLC.

In this study, the essential oil from mustard seed was isolated by simultaneous steam distillation and extraction (SDE) and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Fourteen components were identified in the mustard seed essential oil with allyl isothiocyanate being the main component (71.06%). The essential oil has a broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity with inhibition zones and MIC values in the range of 9.68-15.57 mm and 128-512 μg/mL respectively. The essential oil was subsequently encapsulated in complex coacervation microcapsules with genipin, a natural water-soluble cross-linker. The optimum parameters for the hardening effectiveness of the genipin-hardened essential oil microcapsules were 8h at 40°C and pH 10.0 with a genipin concentration of 0.075 g/g gelatin. The genipin-hardened microcapsules had a particle size of mainly 5-10 μm and strong chemistry stability which is potential for its application in food preservation., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)