These findings indicate that YY1 plays a crucial role in obesity-associated hepatosteatosis, through repression of FXR expression.

oronavirus disease 2019 , the pathogen of which is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a highly infectious disease that broke out in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and has spread to more than 200 countries. 1 COVID-19 has been proven to be transmitted mainly through droplets and contact. 2 The eye is also considered an important route of infection.According to reports published in recent years, the prevalence of myopia in China is now more than 80% of the population. Wearing of eyeglasses is common among Chinese individuals of all ages. 3 However, since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan in December 2019, we observed that few patients with eyeglasses were admitted in the hospital ward. There-fore, we collected information on the wearing of eyeglasses from all inpatients with COVID-19 as part of their medical history and used the data to examine the association between wearing eyeglasses and COVID-19 infection. MethodsThis cohort study was approved by the ethics committee of Suizhou Zengdu Hospital, Suizhou, China, and followed the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) reporting guideline. Patients signed written informed consent and were not provided with any IMPORTANCE The proportion of daily wearers of eyeglasses among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is small, and the association between daily wear of eyeglasses and COVID-19 susceptibility has not been reported.OBJECTIVE To study the association between the daily wearing of eyeglasses and the susceptibility to COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSThis cohort study enrolled all inpatients with COVID-19 in Suizhou Zengdu Hospital, Suizhou, China, a designated hospital for COVID-19 treatment in the area, from January 27 to March 13, 2020. COVID-19 was diagnosed according to the fifth edition of Chinese COVID-19 diagnostic guidelines. The proportion of persons with myopia who wore eyeglasses in Hubei province was based on data from a previous study.EXPOSURES Daily wearing of eyeglasses for more than 8 hours. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESThe main outcomes were the proportions of daily wearers of eyeglasses among patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 and among the local population. Data on exposure history, clinical symptoms, underlying diseases, duration of wearing glasses, and myopia status and the proportion of people with myopia who wore eyeglasses in Hubei province were collected. People who wore glasses for more than 8 hours a day were defined as long-term wearers.RESULTS A total of 276 patients with COVID-19 were enrolled. Of these, 155 (56.2%) were male, and the median age was 51 (interquartile range, 41-58) years. All those who wore glasses for more than 8 hours a day had myopia and included 16 of 276 patients (5.8%; 95% CI, 3.04%-8.55%). The proportion of people with myopia in Hubei province, based on a previous study, was 31.5%, which was much higher than the proportion of patients with COVID-19 who had myopia in this sample. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEIn this ...

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is a global epidemic disease that may progress to fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The role of the liver‐bile acid‐microbiota axis in CHB remains unclear. The aims of this study are to elucidate the alteration of the gut microbiota and its functions in bile acid homeostasis in CHB patients with different degrees of fibrosis. In the present study, we evaluated serum and faecal bile acid profiles in healthy controls and CHB patients with biopsy‐proven diagnosis: patients had stage 0‐1 fibrosis were classified as mild CHB and patients had stage 2‐4 fibrosis were classified as moderate/advanced CHB. The levels of serum total bile acids (BAs) and primary BAs were increased in CHB patients with moderate/advanced fibrosis, whereas faecal total and secondary BAs levels were significantly lower. Analyses of gut microbiota exhibited a trend of decreased abundance in bacteria genera responsible for BA metabolism in CHB patients with moderate/advanced fibrosis. CHB is associated with altered bile acid pool which is linked with the dysregulated gut microbiota. The higher level of FGF‐19 may act in a negative feedback loop for maintaining the bile acid homeostasis.