BackgroundNeurogenic bowel dysfunction (NBD) is a major physical and psychological problem in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI), and gut dysbiosis is commonly occurs in SCI. Here, we document neurogenic bowel management of male patients with chronic traumatic complete SCI in our centre and perform comparative analysis of the gut microbiota between our patients and healthy males.MethodsA total of 43 male patients with chronic traumatic complete SCI (20 with quadriplegia and 23 with paraplegia) and 23 healthy male adults were enrolled. Clinical data and fresh stool specimens were collected from all participants. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to survey the neurogenic bowel management of 43 patients with SCI. Gut microbiomes were analysed by sequencing of the V3–V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene.ResultsNBD was common in adult male patients with chronic traumatic complete SCI. Patients with quadriplegia exhibited a longer time to defecate than did those with paraplegia and had higher NBD scores and heavier neurogenic bowel symptoms. The diversity of the gut microbiota in the SCI group was reduced, and the structural composition was different from that of the healthy adult male group. The abundance of Veillonellaceae and Prevotellaceae increased, while Bacteroidaceae and Bacteroides decreased in the SCI group. The abundance of Bacteroidaceae and Bacteroides in the quadriplegia group and Acidaminococcaceae, Blautia, Porphyromonadaceae, and Lachnoclostridium in the paraplegia group were significantly higher than those in the healthy male group. Serum biomarkers (GLU, HDL, CR, and CRP), NBD defecation time and COURSE had significant correlations with microbial community structure. Microbial community structure was significantly associated with serum biomarkers (GLU, HDL, CR, and CRP), NBD defecation time, and COURSE.ConclusionsThis study presents a comprehensive landscape of the gut microbiota in adult male patients with chronic traumatic complete SCI and documents their neurogenic bowel management. Gut microbiota dysbiosis in SCI patients was correlated with serum biomarkers and NBD symptoms.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12967-018-1735-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Spinal cord injury (SCI) patients display disruption of gut microbiome, and gut dysbiosis exacerbate neurological impairment in SCI models. Cumulative data support an important role of gut microbiome in SCI. Here, we investigated the hypothesis that fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from healthy uninjured mice into SCI mice may exert a neuroprotective effect. Results FMT facilitated functional recovery, promoted neuronal axonal regeneration, improved animal weight gain and metabolic profiling, and enhanced intestinal barrier integrity and GI motility in SCI mice. High-throughput sequencing revealed that levels of phylum Firmicutes, family Christensenellaceae, and genus Butyricimonas were reduced in fecal samples of SCI mice, and FMT remarkably reshaped gut microbiome. Also, FMT-treated SCI mice showed increased amount of fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which correlated with alteration of intestinal permeability and locomotor recovery. Furthermore, FMT downregulated IL-1β/NF-κB signaling in spinal cord and NF-κB signaling in gut following SCI. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that reprogramming of gut microbiota by FMT improves locomotor and GI functions in SCI mice, possibly through the anti-inflammatory functions of SCFAs.

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Greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural ecosystem account for 7%-20% of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions, while approximately 17% of China's carbon emissions are from agriculture. In this study, based on the scientific calculation system of carbon emissions in agriculture, we calculated the carbon emissions of agriculture in the Hotan prefecture between 1999 and 2013 and analyzed their spatial-temporal characteristics; next, we used the LMDI model to study the driving factors of agricultural carbon emissions. The results demonstrated the following: (1) in time series, the agricultural carbon emissions showed three stages of change, i.e., "decline, continued to rise and decline", during the period of 1999 to 2013 in the Hotan prefecture; (2) In space, the carbon emissions from agricultural land use, paddy fields, enteric fermentation, and manure management were different due to the different sizes of cities and counties. The intensity of agricultural carbon emissions was varied and high, but the agricultural production structure, agricultural carbon emissions structure and other aspects had a high degree of consistency and homogeneity in the cities and counties of the Hotan prefecture; (3) Regarding the driving mechanism, the labor factor, agricultural labor productivity, and planting-animal husbandry carbon intensity are the main factors that increase agricultural carbon emissions in the Hotan prefecture. Compared with 1999, three major factors cumulatively achieved a 199.68% carbon emission increment from 2000 to 2013, of which the labor factor cumulatively increased by 120.04%, the agricultural labor productivity factor cumulatively increased by 54.94% and the planting-animal husbandry carbon intensity factor cumulatively increased by 24.70%. The agricultural production structure factor largely inhibited agricultural carbon emissions of the Hotan prefecture, which cut 99.74% of the carbon emissions from 2000 to 2013. Finally, we proposed policy recommendations, including the acceleration of labor transfer, the innovation and promotion of science and technology, the scientific breeding and rational disposal of livestock waste, and the adjustment and optimization of the agricultural industry structure.

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Dendritic cell (DC) based vaccines have emerged as a promising immunotherapy for cancers. However, most DC vaccines so far have achieved only limited success in cancer treatment. Photodynamic therapy (PDT), an established cancer treatment strategy, can cause immunogenic apoptosis to induce an effective antitumor immune response. In this study, we developed a DC-based cancer vaccine using immunogenic apoptotic tumor cells induced by 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) mediated PDT. The maturation of DCs induced by PDT-treated apoptotic cells was evaluated using electron microscopy, FACS, and ELISA. The anti-tumor immunity of ALA-PDT-DC vaccine was tested with a mouse model. We observed the maturations of DCs potentiated by ALA-PDT treated tumor cells, including morphology maturation (enlargement of dendrites and increase of lysosomes), phenotypic maturation (upregulation of surface expression of MHC-II, DC80, and CD86), and functional maturation (enhanced capability to secrete IFN-γ and IL-12, and to induce T cell proliferation). Most interestingly, PDT-induced apoptotic tumor cells are more capable of potentiating maturation of DCs than PDT-treated or freeze/thaw treated necrotic tumor cells. ALA-PDT-DC vaccine mediated by apoptotic cells provided protection against tumors in mice, far stronger than that of DC vaccine obtained from freeze/thaw treated tumor cells. Our results indicate that immunogenic apoptotic tumor cells can be more effective in enhancing a DC-based cancer vaccine, which could improve the clinical application of PDT-DC vaccines.

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Xinjiang’s agricultural carbon emissions showed three stages of change, i.e., continued to rise, declined and continued to rise, during 1991–2014. The agriculture belonged to the “low emissions and high efficiency” agriculture category, with a lower agricultural carbon emission intensity. By using the logarithmic mean divisia index decomposition method, agricultural carbon emissions were decomposed into an efficiency factor, a structure factor, an economy factor, and a labour factor. We divided the study period into five stages based on the changes in efficiency factor and economy factor. Xinjiang showed different agricultural carbon emission characteristics at different stages. The degree of impact on agricultural carbon emissions at these stages depended on the combined effect of planting-animal husbandry carbon intensity and agricultural labour productivity. The economy factor was the critical factor to promote the increase in agricultural carbon emissions, while the main inhibiting factor for agricultural carbon emissions was the efficiency factor. The labour factor became more and more obvious in increasing agricultural carbon emissions. Finally, we discuss policy recommendations in terms of the main factors, including the development of agricultural science and technology (S&T), the establishment of three major mechanisms and transfer of rural labour in ethnic areas.