Lactobacillus ruminis strains cluster according to their mammalian gut source

peer-reviewedBackground Lactobacillus ruminis is a motile Lactobacillus that is autochthonous to the human gut, and which may also be isolated from other mammals. Detailed characterization of L. ruminis has previously been restricted to strains of human and bovine origin. We therefore sought to expand our bio-bank of strains to identify and characterise isolates of porcine and equine origin by comparative genomics. Results We isolated five strains from the faeces of horses and two strains from pigs, and compared their motility, biochemistry and genetic relatedness to six human isolates and three bovine isolates including the type strain 27780T. Multilocus sequence typing analysis based on concatenated sequence data for six individual loci separated the 16 L. ruminis strains into three clades concordant with human, bovine or porcine, and equine sources. Sequencing the genomes of four additional strains of human, bovine, equine and porcine origin revealed a high level of genome synteny, independent of the source animal. Analysis of carbohydrate utilization, stress survival and technological robustness in a combined panel of sixteen L. ruminis isolates identified strains with optimal survival characteristics suitable for future investigation as candidate probiotics. Under laboratory conditions, six human isolates of L. ruminis tested were aflagellate and non-motile, whereas all 10 strains of bovine, equine and porcine origin were motile. Interestingly the equine and porcine strains were hyper-flagellated compared to bovine isolates, and this hyper-flagellate phenotype correlated with the ability to swarm on solid medium containing up to 1.8% agar. Analysis by RNA sequencing and qRT-PCR identified genes for the biosynthesis of flagella, genes for carbohydrate metabolism and genes of unknown function that were differentially expressed in swarming cells of an equine isolate of L. ruminis. Conclusions We suggest that Lactobacillus ruminis isolates have potential to be used in the functional food industry. We have also identified a MLST scheme able to distinguish between strains of L. ruminis of different origin. Genes for non-digestible oligosaccharide metabolism were identified with a putative role in swarming behaviour.This work was supported by a Principal Investigator Award (07/IN.1/B1780) from Science Foundation Ireland to P.W. O’Toole

Attitudes and Beliefs of Marriage and Family Therapists Regarding Psychotropic Drugs and Therapy

Clinical members of AAMFT were solicited by means of a randomized multi-staged clustering technique to identify their attitudes and beliefs regarding psychotropic drugs. All participants were blind to the overall purpose of the study (n = 322) and were directed to read a clinical vignette and then identify what course of action they would take with the client. They were then asked to complete a small questionnaire regarding their attitudes and beliefs regarding psychotropic drugs. Results of the study showed that 35.7% of the clinicians identified medication and a medication referral as a viable treatment option they might pursue with a client meeting criteria for major depressive episode. Clinicians who reported having a dedicated university class (17.2%) in psychopharmacology were more likely to identify medication referral as a treatment option. However, 80% of the AAMFT clinicians we surveyed reported that they were not adequately trained about psychotropic medications in their graduate programs. Further implications regarding diagnostic practices are also discussed, as 26% of clinicians failed to explicitly diagnose the client in the case vignette with depression

Pro-inflammatory flagellin proteins of prevalent motile commensal bacteria are variably abundant in the intestinal microbiome of elderly humans

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

What do different beliefs tell us? An examination of factual, opinion-based, and religious beliefs

Children and adults differentiate statements of religious belief from statements of fact and opinion, but the basis of that differentiation remains unclear. Across three experiments, adults and 8–10-year-old children heard statements of factual, opinion-based, and religious belief. Adults and children judged that statements of factual belief revealed more about the world, statements of opinion revealed more about individuals, and statements of religious belief provided information about both. Children—unlike adults—judged that statements of religious belief revealed more about the world than the believer. These results led to three conclusions. First, judgments concerning the relative amount of information statements of religious belief provide about individuals change across development, perhaps because adults have more experience with diversity. Second, recognizing that statements of religious belief provide information about both the world and the believer does not require protracted learning. Third, statements of religious belief are interpreted as amalgams of factual and opinion-based statements.Psycholog

The Development of Reasoning About Beliefs: Fact, Preference, and Ideology

The beliefs people hold about the social and physical world are central to self-definition and social interaction. The current research analyzes reasoning about three kinds of beliefs: those that concern matters of fact (e.g., dinosaurs are extinct), preference (e.g., green is the prettiest color), and ideology (e.g., there is only one God). The domain of ideology is of unique interest because it is hypothesized to contain elements of both facts and preferences. If adults' distinct reasoning about ideological beliefs is the result of prolonged experience with the physical and social world, children and adults should reveal distinct patterns of differentiating kinds of beliefs, and this difference should be particularly pronounced with respect to ideological beliefs. On the other hand, if adults' reasoning about beliefs is a basic component of social cognition, children and adults should demonstrate similar belief representations and patterns of belief differentiation. Two experiments demonstrate that 5–10 year old children and adults similarly judged religious beliefs to be intermediate between factual beliefs (where two disagreeing people cannot both be right) and preferences (where they can). From the age of 5 years and continuing into adulthood, individuals distinguished ideological beliefs from other types of mental states and demonstrated limited tolerance for belief-based disagreements.Psycholog

Draft genome sequence of Lactobacillus crispatus EM-LC1, an isolate with antimicrobial activity cultured from an elderly subject

Here we report the 1.86-Mb draft genome sequence of Lactobacillus crispatus EM-LC1, a fecal isolate with antimicrobial activity. This genome sequence is expected to provide insights into the antimicrobial activity of L. crispatus and improve our knowledge of its potential probiotic traits

Origins of linewidth in ¹H magic-angle spinning NMR

A detailed study of the factors determining the linewidth (and hence resolution) in 1H solid-state magic-angle spinning NMR is described. Although it has been known from the early days of magic-angle spinning (MAS) that resolution of spectra from abundant nuclear spins, such as 1H, increases approximately linearly with increasing sample rotation rate, the difficulty of describing the dynamics of extended networks of coupled spins has made it difficult to predict a priori the resolution expected for a given sample. Using recently developed, highly efficient methods of numerical simulation, together with experimental measurements on a variety of test systems, we propose a comprehensive picture of 1H resolution under MAS. The "homogeneous" component of the linewidth is shown to depend primarily on the ratio between an effective local coupling strength and the spin rate, modified by geometrical factors which loosely correspond to the "dimensionality" of the coupling network. The remaining "inhomogeneous" component of the natural linewidth is confirmed to have the same properties as in dilute-spin NMR. Variations in the NMR frequency due to chemical shift effects are shown to have minimal impact on 1H resolution. The implications of these results for solid-state NMR experiments involving 1H and other abundant-spin nuclei are discussed

GALEX FUV Observations of Comet C/2004 Q2 (Machholz): The Ionization Lifetime of Carbon

We present a measurement of the lifetime of ground state atomic carbon, C(^3P), against ionization processes in interplanetary space and compare it to the lifetime expected from the dominant physical processes likely to occur in this medium. Our measurement is based on analysis of a far ultraviolet (FUV) image of comet C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) recorded by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) on 2005 March 1. The bright CI 1561 A and 1657 A multiplets dominate the GALEX FUV band. We used the image to create high S/N radial profiles that extended beyond one million km from the comet nucleus. Our measurements yielded a total carbon lifetime of 7.1 -- 9.6 x 10^5 s (scaled to 1 AU). Which compares favorably to calculations assuming solar photoionization, solar wind proton change exchange and solar wind electron impact ionization are the dominant processes occurring in this medium and that comet Machholz was embedded in the slow solar wind. The shape of the CI profiles inside 3x10^5 km suggests that either the CO lifetime is shorter than previously thought and/or a shorter-lived carbon-bearing parent molecule, such as CH_4 is providing the majority of the carbon in this region of the coma of comet Machholz.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa