Diversity and antimicrobial potential of culturable heterotrophic bacteria associated with the endemic marine sponge Arenosclera brasiliensis

Marine sponges are the oldest Metazoa, very often presenting a complex microbial consortium. Such is the case of the marine sponge Arenosclera brasiliensis, endemic to Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. In this investigation we characterized the diversity of some of the culturable heterotrophic bacteria living in association with A. brasiliensis and determined their antimicrobial activity. The genera Endozoicomonas (N = 32), Bacillus (N = 26), Shewanella (N = 17), Pseudovibrio (N = 12), and Ruegeria (N = 8) were dominant among the recovered isolates, corresponding to 97% of all isolates. Approximately one third of the isolates living in association with A. brasiliensis produced antibiotics that inhibited the growth of Bacillus subtilis, suggesting that bacteria associated with this sponge play a role in its health

Effects of the mu-opioid receptor antagonist GSK1521498 on hedonic and consummatory eating behaviour: a proof of mechanism study in binge-eating obese subjects.

The opioid system is implicated in the hedonic and motivational processing of food, and in binge eating, a behaviour strongly linked to obesity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of 4 weeks of treatment with the mu-opioid receptor antagonist GSK1521498 on eating behaviour in binge-eating obese subjects. Adults with body mass index ⩾30 kg m−2 and binge eating scale scores ⩾19 received 1-week single-blind placebo run-in, and were then randomized to 28 days with either 2 mg day−1 GSK1521498, 5 mg day−1 GSK1521498 or placebo (N=21 per arm) in a double-blind parallel group design. The outcome measures were body weight, fat mass, hedonic and consummatory eating behaviour during inpatient food challenges, safety and pharmacokinetics. The primary analysis was the comparison of change scores in the higher-dose treatment group versus placebo using analysis of covariance at each relevant time point. GSK1521498 (2 mg and 5 mg) was not different from placebo in its effects on weight, fat mass and binge eating scores. However, compared with placebo, GSK1521498 5 mg day−1 caused a significant reduction in hedonic responses to sweetened dairy products and reduced calorific intake, particularly of high-fat foods during ad libitum buffet meals, with some of these effects correlating with systemic exposure of GSK1521498. There were no significant effects of GSK1521498 2 mg day−1 on eating behaviour, indicating dose dependency of pharmacodynamics. GSK1521498 was generally well tolerated and no previously unidentified safety signals were detected. The potential for these findings to translate into clinically significant effects in the context of binge eating and weight regain prevention requires further investigation

Binge eating disorder: A 5-year retrospective study on experimental drugs

Binge eating disorder (BED) affects a significant rate of the general population causing a negative impact on their quality of life, weight, and self-esteem. Besides psycho-logical treatments that compose the majority of the studies, pharmaceuticals have contributed to improve a host of clinical parameters, thus being an important component of the treatment. We opted to target the latest results by performing a review of the literature on the pharmacology for BED from the last 5 years. To achieve this goal, the terms: “binge eating disorder” and “treatment” were added to the PubMed database and the website clinicaltrials. gov. At least five drugs were either being tested or had already been recognized to improve BED symptoms – although only lisdexamfetamine is currently approved by the FDA to treat this condition. However, due to a better understanding of BED psychopathology in the last decade, it is notorious that improvement of eating-related symptoms is not the only desired target. Due to the significant comorbidity percentage (30%), weight loss is highly pursued, as well as the amelioration of clinical parameters which highlights the importance of having new agents combining both objectives