The Role of Gut Flora

Malaria is an infectious disease of humans and other animals including birds, reptiles and most mammals. It is transmitted via the inoculation of Plasmodium sporozoites into the skin through the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. Although every year, around 700.000 lives are perished, mainly children under the age of 3-5 years old, to Plasmodium infection this deadly parasite has a relatively low efficiency of transmission from mosquitoes into humans.(...)Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi

THE IMPORTANCE OF COLLABORATION AMONG BALKAN STUDIES IN TURKEY AND EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES

The Balkans connect the two old continents and different civilizations. So it is aplace of mixed melting pot of different peoples and cultures throughout history.After the World War II disintegration of the former Soviet bloc gained momentum with the phenomenon of globalization, along with the need to build relations with other states in the Balkan countries. They started to hear. This situation is commonground brings together around the region and other European countries. European Universities and Universities of Turkey were founded research centers for theunique structure of Balkans. These centers have investigated, historical relations with each other countries, trying to establish new relationships in different areas. If they cooperation with together, they will improve its effectiveness and efficiency

Benchmarking microbial DNA enrichment protocols from human intestinal biopsies.

Shotgun metagenomic sequencing is a powerful tool for studying bacterial communities in their natural habitats or sites of infection, without the need for cultivation. However, low microbial signals in metagenomic sequencing can be overwhelmed by host DNA contamination, resulting in decreased sensitivity for microbial read detection. Several commercial kits and other methods have been developed to enrich bacterial sequences; however, these assays have not been tested extensively for human intestinal tissues yet. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of various wet-lab and software-based approaches for depleting host DNA from microbiome samples. Four different microbiome DNA enrichment methods, namely the NEBNext Microbiome DNA Enrichment kit, Molzym Ultra-Deep Microbiome Prep, QIAamp DNA Microbiome kit, and Zymo HostZERO microbial DNA kit, were evaluated, along with a software-controlled adaptive sampling (AS) approach by Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) providing microbial signal enrichment by aborting unwanted host DNA sequencing. The NEBNext and QIAamp kits proved to be effective in shotgun metagenomic sequencing studies, as they efficiently reduced host DNA contamination, resulting in 24% and 28% bacterial DNA sequences, respectively, compared to <1% in the AllPrep controls. Additional optimization steps using further detergents and bead-beating steps improved the efficacy of less efficient protocols but not of the QIAamp kit. In contrast, ONT AS increased the overall number of bacterial reads resulting in a better bacterial metagenomic assembly with more bacterial contigs with greater completeness compared to non-AS approaches. Additionally, AS also allowed for the recovery of antimicrobial resistance markers and the identification of plasmids, demonstrating the potential utility of AS for targeted sequencing of microbial signals in complex samples with high amounts of host DNA. However, ONT AS resulted in relevant shifts in the observed bacterial abundance, including 2 to 5 times more Escherichia coli reads. Furthermore, a modest enrichment of Bacteroides fragilis and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron was also observed with AS. Overall, this study provides insight into the efficacy and limitations of various methods for reducing host DNA contamination in human intestinal samples to improve the utility of metagenomic sequencing

Dysbiotic microbiota interactions in Crohn's disease.

Crohn's disease (CD) is a major form of inflammatory bowel disease characterized by transmural inflammation along the alimentary tract. Changes in the microbial composition and reduction in species diversity are recognized as pivotal hallmarks in disease dynamics, challenging the gut barrier function and shaping a pathological immune response in genetically influenced subjects. The purpose of this review is to delve into the modification of the gut microbiota cluster network during CD progression and to discuss how this shift compromises the gut barrier integrity, granting the translocation of microbes and their products. We then complete the scope of the review by retracing gut microbiota dysbiosis interactions with the main pathophysiologic factors of CD, starting from the host's genetic background to the immune inflammatory and fibrotic processes, providing a standpoint on the lifestyle/exogenous factors and the potential benefits of targeting a specific gut microbiota

Innate lymphoid cell characterization in the rat and their correlation to gut commensal microbes.

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are important for tissue immune homeostasis, and are thoroughly characterized in mice and humans. Here, we have performed in-depth characterization of rat ILCs. Rat ILCs were identified based on differential expression of transcription factors and lack of lineage markers. ILC3s represented the major ILC population of the small intestine, while ILC2s were infrequent but most prominent in liver and adipose tissue. Two major subsets of group 1 ILCs were defined. Lineage- T-bet+ Eomes+ cells were identified as conventional NK cells, while lineage- T-bet+ Eomes- cells were identified as the probable rat counterpart of ILC1s based on their selective expression of the ILC marker CD200R. Rat ILC1s were particularly abundant in liver and intestinal tissues, and were functionally similar to NK cells. Single-cell transcriptomics of spleen and liver cells confirmed the main division of NK cells and ILC1-like cells, and demonstrated Granzyme A as an additional ILC1 marker. We further report differential distributions of NK cells and ILCs along the small and large intestines, and the association of certain bacterial taxa to frequencies of ILCs. In conclusion, we provide a framework for future studies of ILCs in diverse rat experimental models, and novel data on the potential interplay between commensals and intestinal ILCs

Antenatal and postpartum immunological markers levels in women with HIV infection and malnutrition in a low resource setting: A pilot study

Supplemental Material for Antenatal and postpartum immunological markers levels in women with HIV infection and malnutrition in a low resource setting: A pilot study by Panashe Chandiwana , Privilege T Munjoma, Arthur J Mazhandu, Lovemore R Mazengera, Benjamin Misselwitz, Sebastian Jordi, Bahtiyar Yilmaz and Kerina Duri in European Journal of Inflammation</p

Antenatal gut microbiome profiles and effect on pregnancy outcome in HIV infected and HIV uninfected women in a resource limited setting.

BACKGROUND Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) severely damages the epithelial cells of the gut lining leading to an inflamed leaky gut, translocation of microbial products, and dysbiosis resulting in systemic immune activation. Also, microbiota composition and maternal gut function can be altered in pregnancy through changes in the immune system and intestinal physiology. The aim of this study was to investigate the gut microbiota in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected pregnant women and to compare and identify the association between gut microbial composition and adverse birth outcomes. RESULTS A total of 94 pregnant women (35 HIV-infected and 59 HIV-uninfected controls) were recruited in Harare from 4 polyclinics serving populations with relatively poor socioeconomic status. Women were of a median age of 28 years (interquartile range, IQR: 22.3-32.0) and 55% of women were 35 weeks gestational age at enrolment (median 35.0 weeks, IQR: 32.5-37.2). Microbiota profiling in these participants showed that species richness was significantly lower in the HIV-infected pregnant women compared to their HIV-uninfected peers and significant differences in β-diversity using Bray-Curtis dissimilarity were observed. In contrast, there was no significant difference in α-diversity between immune-compromised (CD4+  < 350 cells/µL) and immune-competent HIV-infected women (CD4+  ≥ 350 cells/µL) even after stratification by viral load suppression. HIV infection was significantly associated with a reduced abundance of Clostridium, Turicibacter, Ruminococcus, Parabacteroides, Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, Treponema, Oscillospira, and Faecalibacterium and a higher abundance of Actinomyces, and Succinivibrio. Low infant birth weight (< 2500 g) was significantly associated with high abundances of the phylum Spirochaetes, the families Spirochaeteceae, Veillonellaceae, and the genus Treponema. CONCLUSION The results reported here show that the species richness and taxonomy composition of the gut microbiota is altered in HIV-infected pregnant women, possibly reflecting intestinal dysbiosis. Some of these taxa were also associated with low infant birth weight

The personality traits activity, self-reproach, and negative affect jointly predict clinical recurrence, depressive symptoms, and low quality of life in inflammatory bowel disease patients.

BACKGROUND The bidirectional "gut-brain axis" has been implicated in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). While the influence of stress and depressive symptoms on IBD is well-characterized, the role of personality remains insufficiently investigated. METHODS Personality was assessed in 1154 Swiss IBD cohort study (SIBDCS) patients via the NEO-Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) as well as in 2600 participants of the population-based CoLaus¦PsyCoLaus cohort study (NEO-FFI-revised). The NEO-FFI subcomponents activity, self-reproach and negative affect were associated with higher IBD disease activity and were combined to a NEO-FFI risk score. This risk score was validated and its effect on clinical IBD course and psychological endpoints was analysed in time-to-event and cumulative incidence analyses. RESULTS In time-to-event analyses, a high NEO-FFI risk score was predictive for the clinical endpoints of new extraintestinal manifestation [EIM, adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) = 1.64, corrected p value (q) = 0.036] and two established composite flare endpoints (aHR = 1.53-1.63, q = 0.003-0.006) as well as for the psychological endpoints depressive symptoms (aHR = 7.06, q < 0.001) and low quality of life (aHR = 3.06, q < 0.001). Furthermore, cumulative incidence analyses showed that patients at high NEO-FFI risk experienced significantly more episodes of active disease, new EIMs, one of the flare endpoints, depressive episodes and low disease-related quality of life. Personalities of IBD patients showed only minor differences from the general population sample (Pearson's r = 0.03-0.14). CONCLUSIONS Personality assessed by the NEO-FFI contained considerable predictive power for disease recurrence, depressive symptoms and low quality of life in IBD patients. Nevertheless, the personalities of IBD patients did not substantially differ from the general population

Muc2-dependent microbial colonization of the jejunal mucus layer is diet sensitive and confers local resistance to enteric pathogen infection.

Intestinal mucus barriers normally prevent microbial infections but are sensitive to diet-dependent changes in the luminal environment. Here we demonstrate that mice fed a Western-style diet (WSD) suffer regiospecific failure of the mucus barrier in the small intestinal jejunum caused by diet-induced mucus aggregation. Mucus barrier disruption due to either WSD exposure or chromosomal Muc2 deletion results in collapse of the commensal jejunal microbiota, which in turn sensitizes mice to atypical jejunal colonization by the enteric pathogen Citrobacter rodentium. We illustrate the jejunal mucus layer as a microbial habitat, and link the regiospecific mucus dependency of the microbiota to distinctive properties of the jejunal niche. Together, our data demonstrate a symbiotic mucus-microbiota relationship that normally prevents jejunal pathogen colonization, but is highly sensitive to disruption by exposure to a WSD