The intestinal epithelial layer forms a barrier through cell–cell tight junctions and breaking or even slightly disrupting this barrier can lead to serious pathological consequences, including infection and inflammation.

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BackgroundThe aim of this study was to systematically assess the efficacy and safety of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) for patients with heart failure (HF) and diabetes mellitus (DM).MethodsWe conducted a comprehensive search for controlled studies that evaluated the efficacy and safety of MRAs in patients with DM and HF. Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases were searched. Two reviewers independently identified citations, extracted data and evaluated quality. Risk estimations were abstracted and pooled where appropriate.ResultsFour observational studies were included. MRAs use was associated with reduced mortality compared with controls (RR = 0.78; 95 % CI: 0.69–0.88; I 2 = 0 %; P < 0.001). Increased risk of developing hyperkalaemia was observed in those patients taking MRAs (RR = 1.74; 95 % CI: 1.27–2.38; I 2 = 0 %; P = 0.0005).ConclusionsThe current cumulative evidence suggests that MRAs can improve clinical outcomes but increase the risk of hyperkalaemia in patients with DM and HF.Trial registrationPROSPERO CRD42015025690.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12872-016-0198-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The solute carrier family 30 member 8 (SLC30A8) gene may be involved in the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) through disrupting β-cell function. The aim of this study was to assess the association between SLC30A8 rs13266634 polymorphism and susceptibility to T2DM. We searched all reports regarding the association between SLC30A8 rs13266634 polymorphism and T2DM risk through Pubmed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for English language reports and Chongqing VIP database, Wanfang data, CBMDisc, and CNKI for Chinese language studies. Allelic and genotype comparisons between cases and controls were evaluated, and odds ratios with 95 % confidence intervals were used to assess the strength of their association. A random effects model was selected. Publication bias was estimated using Begg's test. Forty-six studies were included in the analysis with a total of 71,890 cases and 96,753 controls. This meta-analysis suggests that SLC30A8 (rs13266634) polymorphism was associated with T2DM risk. Although previous meta-analyses have shown that this association was only found in Asian and European groups, and not in African populations, our analysis revealed the deleterious effect of SLC30A8 rs13266634 on T2DM in an African population when stratified by ethnicity under additive model even with a small number of studies.

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