Caracterización de la microbiota bacteriana ruminal de un bovino a pastoreo mediante técnicas clásicas e independientes del cultivo

La microbiota simbionte ruminal ha conferido a los rumiantes la ventaja evolutiva de poder aprovechar la fibra vegetal a través de su metabolismo fermentativo. La fermentación de la fibra en el rumen provee de fuentes de energía mientras que la biomasa microbiana aporta la principal fuente de proteínas. La comunidad bacteriana ruminal comprende varios cientos de especies bacterianas y está distribuida en la fase sólida del contenido ruminal, en el fluido ruminal y en una menor medida asociada al epitelio. Sólo una fracción de la microbiota ruminal, mayoritariamente anaerobia, puede ser cultivada y el advenimiento de los métodos moleculares ha permitido conocer la diversidad microbiana sin la necesidad de cultivo. Los objetivos de este trabajo fueron caracterizar la microbiota bacteriana ruminal cultivable y no cultivable asociada a las fracciones sólida y líquida del contenido ruminal de un bovino a pastoreo y aislar y clasificar bacterias capaces de crecer en un medio de cultivo con celulosa como principal fuente de carbono y energía. Para evaluar la microbiota cultivable se utilizaron medios de cultivo artificiales mientras que el análisis de la comunidad microbiana total se realizó por medio de la técnica de Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). Se identificaron 16 aislamientos incluyendo miembros de los géneros Butyrivibrio, Pseudobutyrivibrio, Succinivibrio y Selenomonas además de otros 4 que representan nuevas especies y géneros bacterianos. Este trabajo representa una primera aproximación en el país dirigida a aislar e identificar microorganismos ruminales por medio de técnicas bacteriológicas y moleculares.Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovació

Caracterización de la microbiota bacteriana ruminal de un bovino a pastoreo mediante técnicas clásicas e independientes del cultivo

La microbiota simbionte ruminal ha conferido a los rumiantes la ventaja evolutiva de poder aprovechar la fibra vegetal a través de su metabolismo fermentativo. La fermentación de la fibra en el rumen provee de fuentes de energía mientras que la biomasa microbiana aporta la principal fuente de proteínas. La comunidad bacteriana ruminal comprende varios cientos de especies bacterianas y está distribuida en la fase sólida del contenido ruminal, en el fluido ruminal y en una menor medida asociada al epitelio. Sólo una fracción de la microbiota ruminal, mayoritariamente anaerobia, puede ser cultivada y el advenimiento de los métodos moleculares ha permitido conocer la diversidad microbiana sin la necesidad de cultivo. Los objetivos de este trabajo fueron caracterizar la microbiota bacteriana ruminal cultivable y no cultivable asociada a las fracciones sólida y líquida del contenido ruminal de un bovino a pastoreo y aislar y clasificar bacterias capaces de crecer en un medio de cultivo con celulosa como principal fuente de carbono y energía. Para evaluar la microbiota cultivable se utilizaron medios de cultivo artificiales mientras que el análisis de la comunidad microbiana total se realizó por medio de la técnica de Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). Se identificaron 16 aislamientos incluyendo miembros de los géneros Butyrivibrio, Pseudobutyrivibrio, Succinivibrio y Selenomonas además de otros 4 que representan nuevas especies y géneros bacterianos. Este trabajo representa una primera aproximación en el país dirigida a aislar e identificar microorganismos ruminales por medio de técnicas bacteriológicas y moleculares.Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovació

mHealth in urology

Introduction: Smartphones are increasingly playing a role in healthcare and previous studies assessing medical applications (apps) have raised concerns about lack of expert involvement and low content accuracy. However, there are no such studies in Urology. We reviewed Urology apps with the aim of assessing the level of participation of healthcare professionals (HCP) and scientific Urology associations in their development. Material and Methods: A systematic search was performed on PubMed, Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store, for Urology apps, available in English. Apps were reviewed by three graders to determine the app's platform, target customer, developer, app type, app category, price and the participation of a HCP or a scientific Urology association in the development. Results: The search yielded 372 apps, of which 150 were specific for Urology. A fifth of all apps had no HCP involvement (20.7%) and only a third had been developed with a scientific Urology association (34.7%). The lowest percentage of HCP (13.4%) and urological association (1.9%) involvement was in apps designed for the general population. Furthermore, there was no contribution from an Urology society in "Electronic Medical Record" nor in "Patient Information" apps. A limitation of the study is that only Android and iOS apps were reviewed. Conclusions: Despite the increasing Mobile Health (mHealth) market, this is the first study that demonstrates the lack of expert participation in the design of Urology apps, particularly in apps designed for the general public. Until clear regulation is enforced, the urological community should help regulate app development. Maintaining a register of certified apps or issuing an official scientific seal of approval could improve overall app quality. We propose that urologists become stakeholders in mHealth, shaping future app design and promoting peer-review app validation

Humoral response to SARS-CoV-2 infection among liver transplant recipients

Objective Immunosuppressive agents are known to interfere with T and/or B lymphocytes, which are required to mount an adequate serologic response. Therefore, we aim to investigate the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 in liver transplant (LT) recipients after COVID-19. Design Prospective multicentre case-control study, analysing antibodies against the nucleocapsid protein, spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 and their neutralising activity in LT recipients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19-LT) compared with immunocompetent patients (COVID-19-immunocompetent) and LT recipients without COVID-19 symptoms (non-COVID-19-LT). Results Overall, 35 LT recipients were included in the COVID-19-LT cohort. 35 and 70 subjects fulfilling the matching criteria were assigned to the COVID-19-immunocompetent and non-COVID-19-LT cohorts, respectively. We showed that LT recipients, despite immunosuppression and less symptoms, mounted a detectable antinucleocapsid antibody titre in 80% of the cases, although significantly lower compared with the COVID-19-immunocompetent cohort (3.73 vs 7.36 index level, p<0.001). When analysing anti-S antibody response, no difference in positivity rate was found between the COVID-19-LT and COVID-19-immunocompetent cohorts (97.1% vs 100%, p=0.314). Functional antibody testing showed neutralising activity in 82.9% of LT recipients (vs 100% in COVID-19-immunocompetent cohort, p=0.024). Conclusions Our findings suggest that the humoral response of LT recipients is only slightly lower than expected, compared with COVID-19 immunocompetent controls. Testing for anti-S antibodies alone can lead to an overestimation of the neutralising ability in LT recipients. Altogether, routine antibody testing against separate SARS-CoV-2 antigens and functional testing show that the far majority of LT patients are capable of mounting an adequate antibody response with neutralising ability.Cellular mechanisms in basic and clinical gastroenterology and hepatolog

Socioeconomic status, non-communicable disease risk factors, and walking speed in older adults: Multi-cohort population based study

Objective To assess the association of low socioeconomic status and risk factors for non-communicable diseases (diabetes, high alcohol intake, high blood pressure, obesity, physical inactivity, smoking) with loss of physical functioning at older ages. Design Multi-cohort population based study. Setting 37 cohort studies from 24 cou