Characterization of egg yolk immunoglobulin (IgY) against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and evaluation of its effects on bovine intestinal cells

Escherichia coli (ETEC) infection is common in calves. Egg yolk antibodies (IgY) have been used to treat gastrointestinal infectious diseases. This study aimed to characterize IgY against bovine ETEC and to evaluate its effects on bovine intestinal cell culture challenged with a bovine ETEC strain. IgY was isolated from the egg yolks of hens immunized with ETEC. The characteristics of IgY were determined by Bradford, ELISA, gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting. Significant differences in anti-ETEC activity between anti-ETEC IgY and non-specific IgY were found in lyophilized fractions. In the bacterial growth assay, anti-ETEC IgY (40 mg/mL) showed growth inhibition of ETEC after 2 h of incubation (p<0.05). The difference in bacterial growth between anti-ETEC IgY and non-specific IgY groups was 0.51 log CFU/ml after an 8 h incubation (p<0.05). The bacterial adhesion assay indicated that anti-ETEC IgY (40 mg/ml) significantly decreased the adhesion of ETEC to bovine intestinal epithelial cells within 4 h (about 1.36 log units compared with the control group; p<0.05). This study demonstrates that anti-ETEC IgY inhibits the growth and adherence of ETEC to bovine intestinal cells and is a potential alternative to traditional treatments of infections.Fil: Bellingeri, Romina Valeria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Agronomía y Veterinaria. Departamento de Anatomía Animal; ArgentinaFil: Busso, Lucila. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Agronomía y Veterinaria. Departamento de Anatomía Animal; ArgentinaFil: Alustiza, Fabrisio Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Química; ArgentinaFil: Picco, Natalia Yanina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Agronomía y Veterinaria. Departamento de Anatomía Animal; ArgentinaFil: Molinero, Daniela Paola. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Naturales. Laboratorio de Genética y Mutagenesis Ambiental; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Grosso, Maria Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Agronomía y Veterinaria. Departamento de Anatomía Animal. Laboratorio de Radioisótopos; ArgentinaFil: Motta, Carlos. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Agronomía y Veterinaria. Departamento de Anatomía Animal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Vivas, Adriana Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Agronomía y Veterinaria. Departamento de Anatomía Animal; Argentin

Survival strategies and metabolic interactions between Ruminococcus gauvreauii and Ruminococcoides bili, isolated from human bile

This work was funded by MINECO (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) under grant number AGL2013-44761-P, supported by FEDER (The European Regional Development Funds). N.M. was the recipient of an FPI Predoctoral Grant (BES-2014-068736) from MINECO. A.M. thanks the support of CSIC (PIE-201970E019 grant). N.M., A.M., and S.D. from the MicroHealth group would like to thank the grant of the “Plan for Research, Development and Innovation of the Principado de Asturias 2018–2020” (ref. IDI/2018/000236) co-financed by FEDER funds. S.H.D. and A.W.W. acknowledge core funding support for the Rowett Institute from the Scottish Government Rural and Environmental Sciences and Analytical Services (RESAS) as well as the support for E.C. from the Tenovus Charitable trust (Scotland). Donna Henderson from Rowett Institute (University of Aberdeen) is also acknowledged for carrying out the gas chromatography analysis.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Diet: Cause or consequence of the microbial profile of cholelithiasis disease?

Recent dietary habits and lifestyle could explain the shaping of the gut microbiota composition and, in consequence, the increasing prevalence of certain pathologies. However, little attention has been paid to the influence of diet on microbiotas, other than the gut microbiota. This is important in cholelithiasis, given that changes in the production of bile acids may affect gallbladder microbial communities. Our aim was to assess the association between regular dietary intake and gallbladder microbial composition. Fourteen adults with cholelithiasis and 14 controls, sex-age-matched and without gastrointestinal pathology, were included. Diet was assessed through a food frequency questionnaire and quantification of gallbladder microbiota sequences by Illumina 16S rRNA gene-based analysis. The cholelithiasic patients showed greater intake of potatoes and lower consumption of vegetables, non-alcoholic drinks, and sauces, which resulted in a lower intake of energy, lipids, digestible polysaccharides, folate, calcium, magnesium, vitamin C, and some phenolic compounds. Regarding the altered bile microorganisms in cholelithiasic patients, dairy product intake was negatively associated with the proportions of Bacteroidaceae and Bacteroides, and several types of fiber, phenolics, and fatty acids were linked to the abundance of Bacteroidaceae, Chitinophagaceae, Propionibacteraceae, Bacteroides, and Escherichia-Shigella. These results support a link between diet, biliary microbiota, and cholelithiasis.This research was funded by the Spanish “Plan Estatal de I+D+i” Grant number (AGL2013-44761-P) I. Gutiérrez-Díaz was supported by “Plan Regional de Investigación del Principado de Asturias” Grant number (GRUPIN14-043).Peer reviewe

Deciphering the interactions between lipids and red wine polyphenols through the gastrointestinal tract

This paper investigates the mutual interactions between lipids and red wine polyphenols at different stages of the gastrointestinal tract by using the simgi® dynamic simulator. Three food models were tested: a Wine model, a Lipid model (olive oil + cholesterol) and a Wine + Lipid model (red wine + olive oil + cholesterol). With regard to wine polyphenols, results showed that co-digestion with lipids slightly affected the phenolic profile after gastrointestinal digestion. In relation to lipid bioaccessibility, the co-digestion with red wine tended to increase the percentage of bioaccessible monoglycerides, although significant differences were not found (p > 0.05). Furthermore, co-digestion with red wine tended to reduce cholesterol bioaccessibility (from 80 to 49 %), which could be related to the decrease in bile salt content observed in the micellar phase. For free fatty acids, almost no changes were observed. At the colonic level, the co-digestion of red wine and lipids conditioned the composition and metabolism of colonic microbiota. For instance, the growth [log (ufc/mL)] of lactic acid bacteria (6.9 ± 0.2) and bifidobacteria (6.8 ± 0.1) populations were significantly higher for the Wine + Lipid food model respect to the control colonic fermentation (5.2 ± 0.1 and 5.3 ± 0.2, respectively). Besides, the production of total SCFAs was greater for the Wine + Lipid food model. Also, the cytotoxicity of the colonic-digested samples towards human colon adenocarcinoma cells (HCT-116 and HT-29) was found to be significantly lower for the Wine and Wine + Lipid models than for the Lipid model and the control (no food addition). Overall, the results obtained using the simgi® model were consistent with those reported in vivo in the literature. In particular, they suggest that red wine may favourably modulate lipid bioaccessibility – a fact that could explain the hypocholesterolemic effects of red wine and red wine polyphenols observed in human

A two-question tool to assess the risk of repeated falls in the elderly

Introduction Older adults' perception of their own risk of fall has never been included into screening tools. The goal of this study was to evaluate the predictive validity of questions on subjects' self-perception of their own risk of fall. Methods This prospective study was conducted on a probabilistic sample of 772 Spanish community-dwelling older adults, who were followed-up for a one year period. At a baseline visit, subjects were asked about their recent history of falls (question 1: 'Have you fallen in the last 6 months?'), as well as on their perception of their own risk of fall by using two questions (question 2: 'Do you think you may fall in the next few months?' possible answers: yes/no; question 3: 'What is the probability that you fall in the next few months?' possible answers: low/intermediate/high). The follow-up consisted of quarterly telephone calls, where the number of falls occurred in that period was recorded. Results A short questionnaire built with questions 1 and 3 showed 70% sensitivity (95% CI: 56%-84%), 72% specificity (95% CI: 68%-76%) and 0.74 area under the ROC curve (95% CI: 0.66-0.82) for prediction of repeated falls in the subsequent year. Conclusions The estimation of one's own risk of fall has predictive validity for the occurrence of repeated falls in older adults. A short questionnaire including a question on perception of one's own risk of fall and a question on the recent history of falls had good predictive validity

La diabetes en España desde la perspectiva de la farmacia comunitaria: conocimiento, cumplimiento y satisfacción con el tratamiento

Objetivos: Conocer la situación actual, en cuanto a utilización de medicamentos, realización de controles, estado de salud y percepción que tienen sobre su enfermedad los diabéticos españoles que acuden a las farmacias comunitarias.Métodos: Estudio descriptivo transversal (enero-marzo 2014) en farmacias comunitarias españolas. Sujetos: personas diagnosticadas de diabetes, que acudían a la farmacia para retirar su tratamiento. La hoja de registro de datos incluía utilización de medicamentos, realización de controles periódicos, cuestionario de conocimiento sobre la enfermedad (Berbés), de conocimiento y cumplimiento del tratamiento y de satisfacción con la medicación (DTSQ). El tamaño muestral mínimo se estimó en 385 personas diabéticas.Resultados: 652 pacientes diabéticos, 49,5% hombres y 50,5% mujeres, 54,6% mayores de 65 años, 73,0% con dos o más factores de riesgo cardiovascular. El 84,1% utilizan ADO, el 38,0% insulina y el 22,9% ambos. 146 pacientes presentaron uno o más episodios de hipoglucemia en el último año. El 65,3% de los pacientes con insulina reutiliza las agujas. El 91,6% manifiesta no tener ningún problema en la realización del autoanálisis y el 72,8% reutiliza las lancetas. Conocían adecuadamente su tratamiento 196 (34,1%) y lo cumplían 432 (76,3%). La satisfacción con el tratamiento es buena (24,6±6,6 puntos sobre 36) (82,8% de pacientes satisfechos).Conclusiones: La utilización de medicamentos no se adecúa suficientemente a las guías clínicas. Las revisiones y los autocontroles que realizan son insuficientes. El conocimiento sobre la enfermedad y la medicación es bajo. El cumplimiento y la satisfacción con los tratamientos es alta, menor en los usuarios de insulina

Interaction of intestinal bacteria with human rotavirus during infection in children

The gut microbiota has emerged as a key factor in the pathogenesis of intestinal viruses, including enteroviruses, noroviruses and rotaviruses (RVs), where stimulatory and inhibitory effects on infectivity have been reported. With the aim of determining whether members of the microbiota interact with RVs during infection, a combination of anti-RV antibody labeling, fluorescence-activated cell sorting and 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was used to characterize the interaction between specific bacteria and RV in stool samples of children suffering from diarrhea produced by G1P[8] RV. The genera Ruminococcus and Oxalobacter were identified as RV binders in stools, displaying enrichments between 4.8- and 5.4-fold compared to samples nonlabeled with anti-RV antibodies. In vitro binding of the G1P[8] Wa human RV strain to two Ruminococcus gauvreauii human isolates was confirmed by fluorescence microscopy. Analysis in R. gauvreauii with antibodies directed to several histo-blood group antigens (HBGAs) indicated that these bacteria express HBGA-like substances on their surfaces, which can be the target for RV binding. Furthermore, in vitro infection of the Wa strain in differentiated Caco-2 cells was significantly reduced by incubation with R. gauvreauii. These data, together with previous findings showing a negative correlation between Ruminococcus levels and antibody titers to RV in healthy individuals, suggest a pivotal interaction between this bacterial group and human RV. These results reveal likely mechanisms of how specific bacterial taxa of the intestinal microbiota could negatively affect RV infection and open new possibilities for antiviral strategies

Ulcerative colitis seems to imply oral microbiome dysbiosis

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a recurrent pathology of complex etiology that has been occasionally associated with oral lesions, but the overall composition of the oral microbiome in UC patients and its role in the pathogenesis of the disease are still poorly understood. In this study, the oral microbiome of UC patients and healthy individuals was compared to ascertain the possible changes in the oral microbial communities associated with UC. For this, the salivary microbiota of 10 patients diagnosed with an active phase of UC and 11 healthy controls was analyzed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing (trial ref. ISRCTN39987). Metataxonomic analysis revealed a decrease in the alpha diversity and an imbalance in the relative proportions of some key members of the oral core microbiome in UC patients. Additionally, Staphylococcus members and four differential species or phylotypes were only present in UC patients, not being detected in healthy subjects. This study provides a global snapshot of the existence of oral dysbiosis associated with UC, and the possible presence of potential oral biomarkers

Computer Vision and Metrics Learning for Hypothesis Testing: An Application of Q-Q Plot for Normality Test

This paper proposes a new procedure to construct test statistics for hypothesis testing by computer vision and metrics learning. The application highlighted in this paper is applying computer vision on Q-Q plot to construct a new test statistic for normality test. Traditionally, there are two families of approaches for verifying the probability distribution of a random variable. Researchers either subjectively assess the Q-Q plot or objectively use a mathematical formula, such as Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, to formally conduct a normality test. Graphical assessment by human beings is not rigorous whereas normality test statistics may not be accurate enough when the uniformly most powerful test does not exist. It may take tens of years for statistician to develop a new and more powerful test statistic. The first step of the proposed method is to apply computer vision techniques, such as pre-trained ResNet, to convert a Q-Q plot into a numerical vector. Next step is to apply metric learning to find an appropriate distance function between a Q-Q plot and the centroid of all Q-Q plots under the null hypothesis, which assumes the target variable is normally distributed. This distance metric is the new test statistic for normality test. Our experimentation results show that the machine-learning-based test statistics can outperform traditional normality tests in all cases, particularly when the sample size is small. This study provides convincing evidence that the proposed method could objectively create a powerful test statistic based on Q-Q plots and this method could be modified to construct many more powerful test statistics for other applications in the future

The Spatial parameters of gait and their association with falls, functional decline and death in older adults: a prospective study

Association between spatial gait parameters and adverse health outcomes in the elderly has not been sufficiently studied. The goal of this study is to evaluate whether the stride length or the step width predict falls, functional loss and mortality. We conducted a prospective cohort study on a probabilistic sample of 431 noninstitutionalized, older-than-64-years subjects living in Spain, who were followed-up for five years. In the baseline visit, spatial gait parameters were recorded along with several control variables, with special emphasis on known medical conditions, strength, balance and functional and cognitive capacities. In the follow-up calls, vital status, functional status and number of falls from last control were recorded. We found that a normalized-to-height stride length shorter than 0.52 predicted recurrent falls in the next 6 months with 93% sensitivity and 53% specificity (AUC: 0.72), and in the next 12 months with 81% sensitivity and 57% specificity (AUC: 0.67). A normalized stride length <0.5 predicted functional loss at 12 months with a sensitivity of 79.4% and specificity of 65.6% (AUC: 0.75). This predictive capacity remained independent after correcting for the rest of risk factors studied. Step-with was not clearly related to functional loss or falls. Both shorter normalized stride length (OR1.56; AUC: 0.62; p < 0.05) and larger step width (OR1.42; AUC: 0.62; p < 0.05) were associated with risk of death at 60 months; however, none of them remained as independent predictor of death, after correcting for other risk factors. In summary, spatial gait parameters may be risk markers for adverse outcomes in the elderly. Step length is independently associated with functional loss and falls at one year, after correction for numerous known risk factors