The microbiota continuum along the female reproductive tract and its relation to uterine-related diseases

Reports on bacteria detected in maternal fluids during pregnancy are typically associated with adverse consequences, and whether the female reproductive tract harbours distinct microbial communities beyond the vagina has been a matter of debate. Here we systematically sample the microbiota within the female reproductive tract in 110 women of reproductive age, and examine the nature of colonisation by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and cultivation. We find distinct microbial communities in cervical canal, uterus, fallopian tubes and peritoneal fluid, differing from that of the vagina. The results reflect a microbiota continuum along the female reproductive tract, indicative of a non-sterile environment. We also identify microbial taxa and potential functions that correlate with the menstrual cycle or are over-represented in subjects with adenomyosis or infertility due to endometriosis. The study provides insight into the nature of the vagino-uterine microbiome, and suggests that surveying the vaginal or cervical microbiota might be useful for detection of common diseases in the upper reproductive tract.Shenzhen Municipal Government of China [JCYJ20160229172757249, JCYJ20150601090833370]; Danish Strategic Research Council [2106-07-0021]; Ole Romer grant from Danish Natural Science Research Council; Solexa project [272-07-0196]SCI(E)ARTICLE

metaX: a flexible and comprehensive software for processing metabolomics data

BACKGROUND: Non-targeted metabolomics based on mass spectrometry enables high-throughput profiling of the metabolites in a biological sample. The large amount of data generated from mass spectrometry requires intensive computational processing for annotation of mass spectra and identification of metabolites. Computational analysis tools that are fully integrated with multiple functions and are easily operated by users who lack extensive knowledge in programing are needed in this research field. RESULTS: We herein developed an R package, metaX, that is capable of end-to-end metabolomics data analysis through a set of interchangeable modules. Specifically, metaX provides several functions, such as peak picking and annotation, data quality assessment, missing value imputation, data normalization, univariate and multivariate statistics, power analysis and sample size estimation, receiver operating characteristic analysis, biomarker selection, pathway annotation, correlation network analysis, and metabolite identification. In addition, metaX offers a web-based interface (http://metax.genomics.cn) for data quality assessment and normalization method evaluation, and it generates an HTML-based report with a visualized interface. The metaX utilities were demonstrated with a published metabolomics dataset on a large scale. The software is available for operation as either a web-based graphical user interface (GUI) or in the form of command line functions. The package and the example reports are available at http://metax.genomics.cn/. CONCLUSIONS: The pipeline of metaX is platform-independent and is easy to use for analysis of metabolomics data generated from mass spectrometry. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12859-017-1579-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Size-Tunable Synthesis of Metallic Nanoparticles in a Continuous and Steady-Flow Reactor

Size-Tunable Synthesis of Metallic Nanoparticles in a Continuous and Steady-Flow Reacto

Chemically-Mechanically Assisted Synthesis of Metallic and Oxide Nanoparticles in Ambient Conditions

Based on the redox principle of galvanic displacement reaction, active metal foils, including magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al) and cobalt (Co), were creatively introduced as new heterogeneous reducing media and were successfully employed in the presence of sonomechanical assistance to produce metallic nanoparticles such as silver, copper, tin and metal oxides such as those of iron, cobalt and ruthenium. Various combinations were investigated to determine the optimum ion/foil pairings for dense and monodisperse colloids. A wide range of nanoscale metallic species can be achieved by this method given optimum combination of ion/foil pairing. This new strategy greatly enriches and extends the existing methods for metallic nanoparticles preparation.</jats:p

Simple One-Step Synthesis of Uniform Disperse Copper Nanoparticles

AbstractIn this paper, we describe a simple and rapid solution-phase chemical reduction method with no inert gas protection, for preparing stable copper nanoparticle colloid with average particle size of 3.4 nm and narrow size distribution. In our synthesis route, ascorbic acid, natural vitamin C (VC), serves as both a reducing agent and an antioxidant to reduce copper salt precursor and effectively prevent the general oxidation process occurring to the newborn nanoparticles. XRD and UV/vis confirm the formation of pure face-centered cubic (fcc) copper nanoparticles and the excellent antioxidant ability of ascorbic acid.</jats:p

Rapid Synthesis of Gold and Platinum Nanoparticles Using Metal Displacement Reduction with Sonomechanical Assistance

Rapid Synthesis of Gold and Platinum Nanoparticles Using Metal Displacement Reduction with Sonomechanical Assistanc