Role of the microbiome in human development.

The host-microbiome supraorganism appears to have coevolved and the unperturbed microbial component of the dyad renders host health sustainable. This coevolution has likely shaped evolving phenotypes in all life forms on this predominantly microbial planet. The microbiota seems to exert effects on the next generation from gestation, via maternal microbiota and immune responses. The microbiota ecosystems develop, restricted to their epithelial niches by the host immune system, concomitantly with the host chronological development, providing early modulation of physiological host development and functions for nutrition, immunity and resistance to pathogens at all ages. Here, we review the role of the microbiome in human development, including evolutionary considerations, and the maternal/fetal relationships, contributions to nutrition and growth. We also discuss what constitutes a healthy microbiota, how antimicrobial modern practices are impacting the human microbiota, the associations between microbiota perturbations, host responses and diseases rocketing in urban societies and potential for future restoration

Is the methanogenic community reflecting the methane emissions of river sediments?—comparison of two study sites

Studies on methanogenesis from freshwater sediments have so far primarily focused on lake sediments. To expand our knowledge on the community composition of methanogenic archaea in river sediments, we studied the abundance and diversity of methanogenic archaea at two localities along a vertical profile (top 50 cm) obtained from sediment samples from Sitka stream (the Czech Republic). In this study, we compare two sites which previously have been shown to have a 10‐fold different methane emission. Archaeal and methanogen abundance were analyzed by real‐time PCR and T‐RFLP. Our results show that the absolute numbers for the methanogenic community (qPCR) are relatively stable along a vertical profile as well as for both study sites. This was also true for the archaeal community and for the three major methanogenic orders in our samples (Methanosarcinales, Methanomicrobiales, and Methanobacteriales). However, the underlying community structure (T‐RFLP) reveals different community compositions of the methanogens for both locations as well as for different depth layers and over different sampling times. In general, our data confirm that Methanosarcinales together with Methanomicrobiales are the two dominant methanogenic orders in river sediments, while members of Methanobacteriales contribute a smaller community and Methanocellales are only rarely present in this sediment. Our results show that the previously observed 10‐fold difference in methane emission of the two sites could not be explained by molecular methods alone.We evaluated the abundance a composition of the methanogenic community at different depth of sediment cores of river Sitka, the Czech Republic for a low and a high methane‐emitting site. Our results show, that the methanogenic community is relatively stable while the underlying community structure reveals different community compositions of the methanogens for both locations as well as for different depth layers.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138205/1/mbo3454.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138205/2/mbo3454_am.pd

The Spin-Off of Scientific Services of Novartis into a New, Independent Technology Company Offering Services to the Pharmaceutical, Chemical, and Nutrition Industry

Starting on October 1, 1999, the three sections 'Central Analytics', 'Physics', and 'Catalysis Synthesis Services' of the Scientific Services of Novartis will operate as an independent company. The new company will have about 180 employees and will offer services to customers in the pharmaceutical, chemical, and nutrition industry as well as to authorities and service firms active in these fields. The focus of activities for the new company is the chemical and physical characterization (analytics), optimization of products and processes, and the development and application of special synthetic methods, in particular by utilizing catalysis. Support is offered via single services, comprehensive service packages, or by taking over assignments for entire areas. The combination of a high scientific and technical standard built up on an ISO 9001 quality-management system, including cGMP and GLP, with an attractive working environment will be the basis for an innovative center of chemical and physical expertise

CHANGES IN THE COORDINATION OF WALKING MOVEMENTS UNDER CONDITIONS OF CONSTANT AND VARIABLE SPEED

INTRODUCTION: A great number of scientific studies on the biomechanics of walking are available. In addition to the analysis of the time course of kinematic and dynamic quantities, increased efforts were made for the estimation of the muscle activities. It is common to use an average of the muscle activity patterns of several steps (Zwick (1993); Konrad/Tyry (1996)). This procedure presupposes constant external constraints, similar biomechanical curves and equal muscle activity patterns. Here arises the problem: How stable or variable is the movement coordination of single steps if a) the walking speed is constant and b) the walking speed is changed? METHODS: The investigations were carried out with three male sports students on a treadmill. As an example, the results of one subject (SR) will be represented in this presentation. Three walking speeds were selected which the subjects could realize as comfortable and below the point where running begins. The speeds for SR were 1.0 m/s (SR1), 2.0 m/s (SR2) and 2.2 m/s (SR3). The subjects walked for four minutes at each speed level. The breaks between the speed levels were used for relaxation. Muscle fatigue was thus minimized. By means of the SIMI-Motion movement analysis system and EMG-Telemetry system of Noraxon-Neurodata, two dimensional video analysis (50 s-1 and 200 s- 1) of the left side was carried out and the EMG signals of five muscles (m. biceps femoris, m. vastus medialis, m. rectus femoris, m. gastrocnemius, m. tibialis) were recorded synchronously. The cycles were divided in two phases (support and swing) on the basis of characteristics of the time courses of relative ankle velocity in relation to the hip. Due to high-speed video limitations, five cycles for SR1 and eight cycles for SR2 and SR3 could be analyzed. We applied the adaptive estimation of the momentary power of the EMG-signals for timedependent analysis of muscle activities (Grießbach, Schack et al., 1994)

Evaluation of the cutaneous microbiome in psoriasis

Psoriasis, a highly prevalent disease of humans of unknown cause, is a chronic inflammatory disorder primarily involving skin, with distinctive clinical characteristics. With the newly developed tools that facilitate microbiome research, it now is possible to assess whether the cutaneous microbiome plays a role in the pathogenesis of this disorder. Preliminary data from our studies suggest that the cutaneous microbiome in psoriasis is complex and possibly different from normal. To deal with this complexity, we propose to examine the cutaneous microbiome in relation to psoriasis with explorations at several taxonomic and informatic levels. Our overall objective is to examine how changes in the normal cutaneous microbiome contributes to the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Since causality is complex and often difficult to prove, our overall hypothesis is that there are alterations in the cutaneous microbiome in areas of skin affected by psoriasis in comparison with the range observed in clinically unaffected areas, or in healthy persons. We also hypothesize that the characteristics of the microbiome may affect clinical responses to the immunomodulatory agents used to treat psoriasis. An alternative hypothesis is that effective treatment of psoriasis with systemic immunomodulatory agents will not substantially affect the disordered microbial ecosystem. Such observations would provide evidence for the roles of the microbiota in this disorder. Since an important consideration in microbiome research is the optimal level (e.g. phylum, genus, species, strain, gene) at which to examine a scientific question, and we are not yet certain what are the optimal levels for psoriasis, this also will be examined. Our studies of psoriasis should allow development of both approaches and tools that will have general utility for microbiome research. To test our hypothesis, we propose the following specific aims: 1. To understand the cutaneous microbiome species composition overlaying psoriatic lesions; 2. To investigate differences in metagenome content for psoriatic lesions compared to normal skin; 3. To identify differences in the transcriptional profiles of the microbiome and the host between normal skin and psoriatic lesions using high-throughput sequencing; and 4. To estimate the effects of systemic immunomodulatory therapy for psoriasis on microbiome composition. In total, these studies should help us understand the role of the microbiome in psoriasis pathogenesis

Control of intestinal bacterial proliferation in regulation of lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A powerful approach to understanding complex processes such as aging is to use model organisms amenable to genetic manipulation, and to seek relevant phenotypes to measure. <it>Caenorhabditis elegans </it>is particularly suited to studies of aging, since numerous single-gene mutations have been identified that affect its lifespan; it possesses an innate immune system employing evolutionarily conserved signaling pathways affecting longevity. As worms age, bacteria accumulate in the intestinal tract. However, quantitative relationships between worm genotype, lifespan, and intestinal lumen bacterial load have not been examined. We hypothesized that gut immunity is less efficient in older animals, leading to enhanced bacterial accumulation, reducing longevity. To address this question, we evaluated the ability of worms to control bacterial accumulation as a functional marker of intestinal immunity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We show that as adult worms age, several <it>C. elegans </it>genotypes show diminished capacity to control intestinal bacterial accumulation. We provide evidence that intestinal bacterial load, regulated by gut immunity, is an important causative factor of lifespan determination; the effects are specified by bacterial strain, worm genotype, and biologic age, all acting in concert.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In total, these studies focus attention on the worm intestine as a locus that influences longevity in the presence of an accumulating bacterial population. Further studies defining the interplay between bacterial species and host immunity in <it>C. elegans </it>may provide insights into the general mechanisms of aging and age-related diseases.</p

Fecal Viral Community Responses to High-Fat Diet in Mice.

Alterations in diet can have significant impact on the host, with high-fat diet (HFD) leading to obesity, diabetes, and inflammation of the gut. Although membership and abundances in gut bacterial communities are strongly influenced by diet, substantially less is known about how viral communities respond to dietary changes. Examining fecal contents of mice as the mice were transitioned from normal chow to HFD, we found significant changes in the relative abundances and the diversity in the gut of bacteria and their viruses. Alpha diversity of the bacterial community was significantly diminished in response to the diet change but did not change significantly in the viral community. However, the diet shift significantly impacted the beta diversity in both the bacterial and viral communities. There was a significant shift away from the relatively abundant Siphoviridae accompanied by increases in bacteriophages from the Microviridae family. The proportion of identified bacteriophage structural genes significantly decreased after the transition to HFD, with a conserved loss of integrase genes in all four experimental groups. In total, this study provides evidence for substantial changes in the intestinal virome disproportionate to bacterial changes, and with alterations in putative viral lifestyles related to chromosomal integration as a result of shift to HFD.IMPORTANCE Prior studies have shown that high-fat diet (HFD) can have profound effects on the gastrointestinal (GI) tract microbiome and also demonstrate that bacteria in the GI tract can affect metabolism and lean/obese phenotypes. We investigated whether the composition of viral communities that also inhabit the GI tract are affected by shifts from normal to HFD. We found significant and reproducible shifts in the content of GI tract viromes after the transition to HFD. The differences observed in virome community membership and their associated gene content suggest that these altered viral communities are populated by viruses that are more virulent toward their host bacteria. Because HFD also are associated with significant shifts in GI tract bacterial communities, we believe that the shifts in the viral community may serve to drive the changes that occur in associated bacterial communities