Microorganisms present in artisanal fermented food from South America

Artisanal fermented products (foods and beverages) are produced in an artisanal way in many countries around the world. The main purpose of fermentation is to preserve the food, improve its safety, increase the nutritional and health-promoting value and add specific flavours. In South America, there is a great variety of fermented food produced in an artisanal way. Different raw materials are used such as potatoes, sweet potato, cassava, maize, rice, milk (cow, ewe, goat) and meat (beef, goat, lamb, llama and guanaco). Some of these fermented foods are typical of the region and are part of the culture of native communities, e.g. tocosh, masa agria, puba flour, charqui, chicha, champu and cauim among others (indigenous foods). However, other fermented foods produced in South America introduced by mainly European immigration, such as cheeses and dry sausages, and they are also produced in many different parts of the world. In this work, the microbial composition of the different artisanal fermented products produced in South America is reviewed, taking into consideration the associated raw materials, fermentation conditions and methodologies used for their production.Fil: Jimenez, María Eugenia. Teagasc - Irish Agriculture And Food Development Authority; Irlanda. Apc Microbiome Ireland; Irlanda. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigaciones en Tecnologías y Desarrollo Social para el Noa. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta-Jujuy. Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigaciones en Tecnologías y Desarrollo Social para el Noa; ArgentinaFil: O'Donovan, Ciara M.. Apc Microbiome Ireland; Irlanda. Teagasc - Irish Agriculture And Food Development Authority; IrlandaFil: Fernandez de Ullivarri, Miguel. Apc Microbiome Ireland; IrlandaFil: Cotter, Paul D.. Apc Microbiome Ireland; Irlanda. Teagasc - Irish Agriculture And Food Development Authority; Irland

Instances of altered gut microbiomes among Irish cricketers over periods of travel in the lead up to the 2016 World Cup: A sequencing analysis

peer-reviewedBackgroundChanges and stresses experienced during travel have the potential to impact the gut microbiome, with travel implicated in the spread of antibiotic resistance genes across continents. The possibility of gut microbiome-mediated negative impacts arising from travel, and consequences for peak performance, would be of particular concern for elite athletes. MethodsFaecal samples were collected from male (N = 14) and female (N = 7) cricket players during the build-up to the 2016 Cricket World Cup. Baseline and post-travel samples were collected from all participants and subjected to 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Samples from a subset of participants (N = 4) were also analysed by shotgun metagenomic sequencing. ResultsAnalysis revealed a single travel time point as having the potential to have an impact on the gut microbiome. Reductions in alpha diversity following travel were observed, accompanied by shifts in the taxonomic profile of the gut microbiome. Antibiotic resistance and virulence genes were also identified as undergoing changes following travel. ConclusionsThis study reveals that periods of travel, in particular following gastrointestinal distress, may result in gut microbiome disruption. While this analysis was completed in athletes, the findings are applicable to all travelling individuals and considerations should be made surrounding travel in an attempt to reduce these changes

An inherited duplication at the gene p21 protein-activated Kinase 7 (PAK7) is a risk factor for psychosis

FUNDING Funding for this study was provided by the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2 project (085475/B/08/Z and 085475/Z/08/Z), the Wellcome Trust (072894/Z/03/Z, 090532/Z/09/Z and 075491/Z/04/B), NIMH grants (MH 41953 and MH083094) and Science Foundation Ireland (08/IN.1/B1916). We acknowledge use of the Trinity Biobank sample from the Irish Blood Transfusion Service; the Trinity Centre for High Performance Computing; British 1958 Birth Cohort DNA collection funded by the Medical Research Council (G0000934) and the Wellcome Trust (068545/Z/02) and of the UK National Blood Service controls funded by the Wellcome Trust. Chris Spencer is supported by a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship (097364/Z/11/Z). Funding to pay the Open Access publication charges for this article was provided by the Wellcome Trust. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors sincerely thank all patients who contributed to this study and all staff who facilitated their involvement. We thank W. Bodmer and B. Winney for use of the People of the British Isles DNA collection, which was funded by the Wellcome Trust. We thank Akira Sawa and Koko Ishzuki for advice on the PAK7–DISC1 interaction experiment and Jan Korbel for discussions on mechanism of structural variation.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Obesity in adults: a 2022 adapted clinical practice guideline for Ireland

This Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) for the management of obesity in adults in Ireland, adapted from the Canadian CPG, defines obesity as a complex chronic disease characterised by excess or dysfunctional adiposity that impairs health. The guideline reflects substantial advances in the understanding of the determinants, pathophysiology, assessment, and treatment of obesity. It shifts the focus of obesity management toward improving patient-centred health outcomes, functional outcomes, and social and economic participation, rather than weight loss alone. It gives recommendations for care that are underpinned by evidence-based principles of chronic disease management; validate patients' lived experiences; move beyond simplistic approaches of "eat less, move more" and address the root drivers of obesity. People living with obesity face substantial bias and stigma, which contribute to increased morbidity and mortality independent of body weight. Education is needed for all healthcare professionals in Ireland to address the gap in skills, increase knowledge of evidence-based practice, and eliminate bias and stigma in healthcare settings. We call for people living with obesity in Ireland to have access to evidence-informed care, including medical, medical nutrition therapy, physical activity and physical rehabilitation interventions, psychological interventions, pharmacotherapy, and bariatric surgery. This can be best achieved by resourcing and fully implementing the Model of Care for the Management of Adult Overweight and Obesity. To address health inequalities, we also call for the inclusion of obesity in the Structured Chronic Disease Management Programme and for pharmacotherapy reimbursement, to ensure equal access to treatment based on health-need rather than ability to pay

Elucidating the microbiome of Irish athletes

Exercise has been established as a factor that has a beneficial impact on several body systems, including the prevention and treatment of obesity, and alleviation of symptoms affecting the cardiovascular system. A variation in the gut microbiome composition and functionality of athletes relative to that of the general population has been identified. Numerous factors have the potential to alter the gut microbiome of athletes, including type of sport, travel for competition, and training intensity. This thesis explores these factors, while also assessing how they impact on microbial and host metabolism. After reviewing several aspects of the topic in chapters 1 and 2, in chapter 3, we investigate the impact of travel on the athlete gut microbiome using 16S rRNA and shotgun metagenomic sequencing approaches. In chapter 4, we evaluate the differences in the gut microbiome and metabolome between athletes participating in different types of sports. Chapter 5 focuses on profiling the bile and fatty acid content and bile salt hydrolase potential of athletes and controls and, finally, in chapter 6, we employ shotgun metagenomic sequencing to analyse the composition and functional potential of the gut microbiome in an active cohort to determine the impact of activity level and fitness. Overall, this thesis explores the factors that influence an athlete’s gut microbiome, and indicates a role for travel as well as sports type and activity level on gut microbiome composition, functional potential, and metabolism

More than a gut feeling: What is the role of the gastrointestinal tract in female athlete health?

As with much of science, the female athlete is under researched, particularly in the area of gastrointestinal (GI) physiology. Gut function is of pivotal importance to athletes in that it supports digestion and absorption of nutrients, as well as providing a barrier between the external environment and the circulation. While sex-derived differences in GI structure and function have been well characterised at rest, there remains a paucity of data examining this during exercise. The wider impact of the GI system has begun to be realised and it is now widely acknowledged to play a role in more systemic bodily systems. In the current review, we discuss localised issues including the GI structure, function, and microbiome of male and females. We also discuss GI-related symptoms experienced by athletes, highlight the differences in incidence between males and females, and discuss contributing factors. We then move beyond the gut to discuss wider biological processes that have been shown to have both sex related differences and that are impacted by the GI system. Some of these areas include immune function and risk of illness, sleep, hormones, bone health and the gut–brain–axis. The magnitude of such effects and relationships is currently unknown but there is enough mechanistic data for future studies to consider a more central role that the gastrointestinal tract may play in overall female athlete healt

Neuropsychological effects of the CSMD1 genome-wide associated schizophrenia risk variant rs10503253

The single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs10503253, located within the CUB and Sushi multiple domains-1 (CSMD1) gene on 8p23.2, was recently identified as genome-wide significant for schizophrenia (SZ), but is of unknown function. We investigated the neurocognitive effects of this CSMD1 variant in vivo in patients and healthy participants using behavioral and imaging measures of brain structure and function. We compared carriers and non-carriers of the risk ‘A’ allele on measures of neuropsychological performance typically impaired in SZ (general cognitive ability, episodic and working memory and attentional control) in independent samples of Irish patients (n = 387) and controls (n = 171) and German patients (205) and controls (n = 533). Across these groups, the risk ‘A’ allele at CSMD1 was associated with deleterious effects across a number of neurocognitive phenotypes. Specifically, the risk allele was associated with poorer performance on neuropsychological measures of general cognitive ability and memory function but not attentional control. These effects, while significant, were subtle, and varied between samples. Consistent with previous evidence suggesting that CSMD1 may be involved in brain mechanisms related to memory and learning, these data appear to reflect the deleterious effects of the identified ‘A’ risk allele on neurocognitive function, possibly as part of the mechanism by which CSMD1 is associated with SZ risk