Bile acids and their receptors: Potential therapeutic targets in inflammatory bowel disease

Chronic and recurrent inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract caused by a complex interplay between genetics and intestinal dysbiosis are called inflammatory bowel disease.As a result of the interaction between the liver and the gut microbiota,bile acids are an atypical class of steroids produced in mammals and traditionally known for their function in food absorption.With the development of genomics and metabolomics,more and more data suggest that the pathophysiological mechanisms of inflammatory bowel disease are regulated by bile acids and their receptors.Bile acids operate as signalling molecules by activating a variety of bile acid receptors that impact intestinal flora,epithelial barrier function,and intestinal immunology.Inflammatory bowel disease can be treated in new ways by using these potential molecules.This paper mainly discusses the increasing function of bile acids and their receptors in inflammatory bowel disease and their prospective therapeutic applications.In addition,we explore bile acid metabolism and the interaction of bile acids and the gut microbiota.

Mechanisms of salt rejection at the ice-liquid interface during the freezing of pore fluids in the seasonal frozen soil area

Seasonal frozen soil accounts for about 53.50%of the land area in China.Frozen soil is a complex multiphase system where ice,water,soil,and air coexist.The distribution and migration of salts in frozen soil during soil freezing are notably different from those in unfrozen soil areas.However,little knowledge is available about the process and mechanisms of salt migration in frozen soil.This study explores the mechanisms of salt migration at the ice-liquid interface during the freezing of pore fluids through batch experiments.The results are as follows.The solute concentrations of liquid and solid phases at the ice-liquid interface(C*_(L),C*_(S))gradually increased at the initial stage of freezing and remained approximately constant at the middle stage.As the ice-liquid interface advanced toward the system boundary,the diffusion of the liquid phase was blocked but the ice phase continued rejecting salts.As a result,C*_(L)and C*_(S)rapidly increased at the final stage of freezing.The distribution characteristics of solutes in ice and the liquid phases before C*_(L)and C*_(S)became steady were mainly affected by the freezing temperature,initial concentrations,and particle-size distribution of media(quartz sand and kaolin).In detail,the lower the freezing temperature and the better the particle-size distribution of media,the higher the solute proportion in the ice phase at the initial stage of freezing.Meanwhile,the increase in concentration first promoted but then inhibited the increase of solutes in the ice phase.These results have insights and scientific significance for the tackling of climate change,the environmental protection of groundwater and soil,and infrastructure protection such as roads,among other things.

Prediction of anΩ_(bbb)Ω_(bbb)Dibaryon in the Extended One-Boson Exchange Model

Since Yukawa proposed that the pion is responsible for mediating the nucleon-nucleon interaction,meson exchanges have been widely used in understanding hadron-hadron interactions.The most studied mesons are theσ,π,ρ,andω,while other heavier mesons are often argued to be less relevant because they lead to short range interactions.However,whether the range of interactions is short or long should be judged with respect to the size of the system studied.We propose that one charmonium exchange is responsible for the formation of theΩ_(bbb)Ω_(bbb)dibaryon,recently predicted by lattice QCD simulations.The same approach can be extended to the strangeness and bottom sectors,leading to the prediction on the existence of??and?bbb dibaryons,while the former is consistent with the existing lattice QCD results,the latter remains to checked.In addition,we show that the Coulomb interaction may break up theΩ_(bbb)Ω_(bbb)pair but not theΩ_(bbb)Ω_(bbb)dibaryons.

Multi-hadron molecules:status and prospect

To understand the fundamental particles of which our universe is composed and the underlying forces governing their motion has long been pursued by generations of philosophers and scientists.Today,it is widely accepted that quarks and leptions are the most fundamental constituents of our visible universe,while the interactions among them are mediated by various force carriers,the photon for the electromagnetic interaction,the W and Z bosons for the weak interaction,and the gluons for the strong interaction.