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The advent of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies marks a transformative moment for the scientific sphere, unlocking novel avenues to elevate scientific writing's efficiency and quality, expedite insight discovery, and enhance code development processes. Essential to leveraging these advancements is prompt engineering, a method that enhances AI interaction efficiency and quality. Despite its benefits, effective application requires blending researchers' expertise with AI, avoiding overreliance. A balanced strategy of integrating AI with independent critical thinking ensures the advancement and quality of scientific research, leveraging innovation while maintaining research integrity.

Dragon‐Horse Spirit: A metaphor for a person's vigorous and enterprising spirit and demeanor. Inspired by this spirit, iMeta and its sister journals have achieved a series of groundbreaking advancements in submission and impact over the past 4 years. As the Chinese Year of the Horse is coming, we extend our gratitude to all the editorial board members, associate editors, youth editors, and reviewers who have contributed to the development of iMeta series.

Social media platforms have revolutionized scientific communication by bridging gaps between researchers, academic journals, and global audiences. This article showcases iMeta, an open‐access journal that leverages a diversified social media framework to enhance bilingual dissemination, boost full‐text downloads, and amplify international influence. Since its editorial board founded, iMeta has achieved a series of milestones: integrating platforms like WeChat, Bilibili, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and BlueSky; launching iMeta‐branded journals iMetaOmics and iMetaMed; and being indexed in prominent databases including PubMed, SCIE, and ESI. As of August 2025, the journal has recorded 1,334,761 full‐text downloads and 10,560 total citations, with a 2024 impact factor of 33.2. A significant positive correlation between downloads and citations highlights how strategic social media integration and iMeta's growth drive visibility and influence, positioning it as a leading journal in its field.

Intermittent energy restriction (IER) is an effective weight loss strategy. However, little is known about the dynamic effects of IER on the brain-gut-microbiome axis. In this study, a total of 25 obese individuals successfully lost weight after a 2-month IER intervention. FMRI was used to determine the activity of brain regions. Metagenomic sequencing was performed to identify differentially abundant gut microbes and pathways in from fecal samples. Our results showed that IER longitudinally reduced the activity of obese-related brain regions at different timepoints, including the inferior frontal orbital gyrus in the cognitive control circuit, the putamen in the emotion and learning circuit, and the anterior cingulate cortex in the sensory circuit. IER longitudinally reduced abundance across multiple timepoints while elevating the abundance of obesity-related , and . Correlation analysis revealed longitudinally correlations between gut bacteria abundance alterations and brain activity changes. There was dynamical alteration of BGM axis (the communication of with specific brain regions) during the weight loss under the IER.

The 2025 CHINAGUT Conference has assembled a panel of 63 experts (30 scientists, 26 physicians, and 7 corporate R&D personnel) collaborated in three groups to present 30 scientific recommendations to advance probiotics, live biotherapeutic products, and fecal microbiota transplantation, addressing key issues on standardization, translation, supervision, regulation, and regulatory harmonization. These interdisciplinary guidelines aim to synthesize cutting‐edge knowledge and practical needs to transform microbiota‐based treatments from applications into precision‐driven medical solutions, and serve as reference by scientific researchers, medical educators, pharmaceutical enterprises, clinicians, food and drug administrations, policymakers, and patients.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many fatalities worldwide and continues to affect the health of the recovered patients in the form of long-COVID. In this study, we compared the gut microbiome of uninfected infants and children before the pandemic began (BEFORE cohort, n =906) to that of after the pandemic (AFTER cohort, n =220) to examine the potential impact of social distancing and life habit changes on infant/children gut microbiome. Based on 16S rRNA sequencing, we found a significant change in microbiome composition after the pandemic, with Bacteroides enterotype increasing to 35.45% from 30.46% before the pandemic. qPCR quantification indicated that the bacterial loads of seven keystone taxa decreased by 91.69%–19.58%. Quantitative microbiome profiling, used to enhance the resolution in detecting microbiome differences, revealed a greater explained variance of pandemic on microbiome compared to gender, as well as a significant decrease in bacterial loads in 15 of the 20 major genera. The random forest age-predictor indicated the gut microbiomes were less mature in the after-pandemic cohort than in the before-pandemic cohort in the children group (3–12 years old) and had features of a significantly younger age (average of 1.86 years). Lastly, body weight and height were significantly lower in the after-pandemic cohort than in the before-pandemic cohort in infants (<1 year of age), which was associated with a decrease in bacterial loads in the fecal microbiome.

Functional constipation is a gastrointestinal disorder that affects millions of people and is correlated with gut microbiome dysbiosis. The currently available treatments are ineffective; therefore, novel treatment schemes targeting the gut microbiome are desired. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of yogurt supplemented with seven probiotic strains and six types of dietary fibers on functional constipation. In the mouse study, mice with induced constipation were administered the yogurt once a day for 1 wk, with fecal parameters and intestinal transit rate measured. In the clinical study, participants with constipation (N = 86) were given the yogurt once daily (200 g) for 4 wk. Fecal and blood samples along with Patient Assessment of Constipation-symptoms and Patient Assessment of Constipation–Quality of Life Scale questionnaires were collected to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the yogurt. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing was performed to analyze fecal samples of both mice and humans. We found that constipated mice had different gut microbiomes compared with those in healthy controls; yogurt treatment significantly relieved constipation-related symptoms and resulted in shifts in the microbiome. Yogurt also relieved symptoms of antibiotic-induced constipation in mice and restored the gut microbiome to a certain extent. In the clinical trial with 86 patients, yogurt administration significantly improved constipation symptoms and showed no serious adverse effects (was generally considered safe). However, subsequent metagenomic profiling of the gut microbiome did not reveal significant changes in the microbial composition, in contrast to the results in mice. We hypothesize that the differences in dosage between mice and humans may attribute to such discrepancies, and microbiome changes may not be necessary for improvements of constipation symptoms in humans. Results from this study showed that yogurt can potentially be used for the treatment of constipation.

•The effects of a novel yogurt formulation on functional constipation were studied.•The yogurt was supplemented with diverse probiotic strains and dietary fibers.•The yogurt relieved constipation symptoms substantially in both mice and humans.•Metagenomic analysis revealed that yogurt treatment significantly shifted the gut microbiome in mice but not humans. Functional constipation is a gastrointestinal disorder that affects millions of people and is correlated with gut microbiome dysbiosis. The currently available treatments are ineffective; therefore, novel treatment schemes targeting the gut microbiome are desired. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of yogurt supplemented with seven probiotic strains and six types of dietary fibers on functional constipation. In the mouse study, mice with induced constipation were administered the yogurt once a day for 1 wk, with fecal parameters and intestinal transit rate measured. In the clinical study, participants with constipation (N = 86) were given the yogurt once daily (200 g) for 4 wk. Fecal and blood samples along with Patient Assessment of Constipation-symptoms and Patient Assessment of Constipation–Quality of Life Scale questionnaires were collected to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the yogurt. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing was performed to analyze fecal samples of both mice and humans. We found that constipated mice had different gut microbiomes compared with those in healthy controls; yogurt treatment significantly relieved constipation-related symptoms and resulted in shifts in the microbiome. Yogurt also relieved symptoms of antibiotic-induced constipation in mice and restored the gut microbiome to a certain extent. In the clinical trial with 86 patients, yogurt administration significantly improved constipation symptoms and showed no serious adverse effects (was generally considered safe). However, subsequent metagenomic profiling of the gut microbiome did not reveal significant changes in the microbial composition, in contrast to the results in mice. We hypothesize that the differences in dosage between mice and humans may attribute to such discrepancies, and microbiome changes may not be necessary for improvements of constipation symptoms in humans. Results from this study showed that yogurt can potentially be used for the treatment of constipation.