Medicine in Microecology最新文献

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common types of cancer and continues to threaten human health. The microbiota plays an important role in health and disease, including GC. Dysbiosis of gut microbiota has been reported to be associated with various diseases. There are no published meta-analyses of gut microbiota alterations in patients with GC in China. A meta-analysis was performed by searching the PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases up to July 2022. Nine eligible studies, representing 405 patients, were included in the analysis. At the phylum level, Proteobacteria (mean difference 12.46 (3.06–21.87), p ​< ​0.05) was significantly increased, and Firmicutes (mean difference −4.10 (−7.65 to −0.56), p ​< ​0.05) was decreased in patients with GC. At the genus level, Desulfovibrio (mean difference 0.38 (0.16–0.59); p ​< ​0.05) and Streptococcus (mean difference 1.92 (0.37–3.46), p ​< ​0.05) were significantly increased in patients with GC. No significant difference was observed in gut microbial diversity between patients and non-GC controls. Subgroup analysis suggested that region, sample size, and quality of studies caused heterogeneity to different extents. In summary, our study indicated a difference in gut microbial composition between patients with GC and individuals without GC. No significant differences were observed in the diversity of the gut microbes. Changes in the gut microbiota of patients with GC could potentially be used for the non-invasive diagnosis of GC.

Caries is a dental disease that can affect oral and psychological health and has a high incidence in children. The role of fungal flora in childhood caries has not been fully described. In this study, we aimed to investigate the fungal composition differences and the influencing factors in unstimulated saliva (S) and supragingival plaque (P) samples in childhood caries. S and P samples were collected from 63 children with caries. The ITS2 region in the fungal genome was then amplified and sequenced. Subsequently, we quantified and analyzed the fungal compositions in the samples. Cryptococcus was the most abundant genus in the S and P subgroups. The relative abundances of Cryptococcus and Wickerhamomyces significantly differed between the S and P subgroups (p ​< ​0.05). Significant differences were also observed in alpha and beta diversities between the two subgroups (p ​< ​0.05). However, no significant differences were observed between the mycobiome of the SFe and SMa subgroups or the PFe and PMa subgroups (p ​> ​0.05). Conversely, species differences were detected between the SDD and SMD subgroups (p ​< ​0.05) but not in the PDD and PPD subgroups (p ​> ​0.05). Our findings revealed significant differences in the mycobiome of unstimulated saliva and supragingival plaque. Dentition period and oral hygiene behaviors may have affected these differences.

Aims

To compared the amniotic fluid and vaginal microbiota of pregnant women, who developed gestational diabetes mellitus to those who did not, and explored if any differences exist in the composition and functional genes of their amniotic fluid and vaginal microbiota.

Methods

We compared the amniotic fluid and vaginal microbiota of five GDM patients and five non-GDM pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy by using metagenomics, and analyzed the characteristics, functions, and differences between two groups.

Results

The analysis of the amniotic fluid showed significant differences in genus and species. In contrast, there was no significant difference in vaginal microbial community structure between two groups. The alpha diversity in the GDM group was higher than the control, but the difference was not statistically significant. There was a statistically significant difference in the species-level beta-diversity measured by Bray–Curtis distance of the amniotic fluid communities between two groups, while no significant differences were observed in the vaginal microbiota. Regarding the functions, we observed that the microbial communities of the amniotic fluid and vaginal secretions were involved in the regulation of a variety of host metabolic pathways, including carbohydrate metabolism, membrane transport, energy, amino acid metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, etc. No significant differences were observed between two groups, but different sites exist.

Conclusion

The amniotic fluid of this study was discovered to have a heterogeneous, albeit small in number, community of microorganisms.Our research suggests that gestational diabetes has a very limited impact on the amniotic fluid and vaginal microbiome. The composition and the functions of the microbiota at different sites are different.

Leclercia adecarboxylata is a recently acknowledged emerging pathogen. It is a member of the Enterobacterals family, formerly thought to be a member of the genus Escherichia. Isolation was reported from various animal and environmental specimens. However, it rarely causes infection in humans, and the true frequency is unknown or underestimated. Leclercia adecarboxylata showed an ascending resistance grade from pan-sensitive to Carbapenem-resistant due to its ability to produce and harbour hydrolysing enzymes that challenge daily clinical practices. In our report, the isolate was misidentified as Citrobacter koseri by Analytical Profile Index for Enterobacterals (API E), and as Pantoea species by Vitek 2 but confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and 16S ribosomal RNA analysis as Leclercia adecarboxylata. Conventional PCR revealed the presence of two populations of resistance genes, VIM-1 and OXA-48. Herein, a report of the first clinical emergence of Leclercia adecarboxylata producing VIM-1 in a rectal swab of a 63-year-old non-immunocompromised female with acute intracerebral haemorrhage.

SARS-CoV-2 spread rapidly, causing millions of deaths across the globe. As a result, demand for medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) surged and supplies dwindled. Separate entirely, hospital-acquired infections have become commonplace and challenging to treat. To explore the potential of novel sterilization techniques, this study evaluated the disinfection efficacy of Fathhome's ozone-based, dry-sanitizing device by dose and time response. Inactivation of human pathogens was tested on non-porous (plastic) surfaces. 95.42–100% inactivation was observed across all types of vegetative microorganisms and 27.36% inactivation of bacterial endospores tested, with no residual ozone detectable after completion. These results strongly support the hypothesis that Fathhome's commercial implementation of gas-based disinfection is suitable for rapid decontamination of a wide variety of pathogens on PPE and other industrially relevant materials.

Preterm birth (PTB) is the main cause of perinatal incidence rate and mortality worldwide and seriously threatens lives of newborns. In order to improve the understanding of PTB etiology, this study aimed to investigate associations between vaginal microbiome and PTB. We conducted an in-depth meta-analysis on publicly available shotgun metagenomics datasets of vaginal microbiome, including comparisons of microbial composition, metabolic pathways, biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), and virulence factors (VFs) between PTB and Healthy groups. Our results showed that 113 species existed in PTB group and 161 species in Healthy group, and their species compositions were significantly different. PTB group was associated with six species, namely Lactobacillus crispatus, Atopobium vaginae, Prevotella bivia, Neisseria subflava, Corynebacterium sp. HMSC078H07 and Capnocytophaga leadbetteri. Between the two groups exhibited 314 significantly different KEGG orthologys. The distribution of BGCs in PTB group were significantly different from that in Healthy group. The total amount of BGCs in PTB group was 95 and they were divided into 12 types, in Healthy group 300 BGCs into 16 types. We also obtained 7080 types of VF genes in PTB group, and 10,748 in Healthy group. The virulence gene with the highest proportion in both groups was ssrA. To conclude, this meta-analysis indicated that significant differences of microbial relative abundance were observed between PTB and Healthy groups. PTB group carried less total amount and types of BGCs, and less types of VFs than those in Healthy group, and PTB group showed significantly different metabolic pathways from Healthy group. We also provided new hypotheses related to vaginal microbiome and PTB.

Microbiome epidemiology is an emerging field for the discovery of novel disease biomarkers or intervention targets in human epidemiological studies. The determinants and consequences of human microbiome variations, especially for the gut microbiome, are both important and unsolved research questions, while the majority of findings of prior research are based on small-scale human studies with limited statistical power and a lack of replication/generalizability across different populations. Here, we initiated the Westlake Gut (WeGut) project, a consortium of gut microbiome-based human cohort studies in China. The WeGut project aims to provide a platform for the integration of gut microbiome data across different cohort studies, including two major components: 1) cohorts for healthy ageing and 2) cohorts for healthy pregnancy. The WeGut consortium includes seven core/foundation cohorts involving over 32,000 participants with gut microbiome and rich phenotype data across 17 provinces/megacities in China. Within the WeGut framework, we hope to disentangle the interplay among diet, lifestyle factors, host genetics and the gut microbiome in human health and explore the role of the gut microbiome for the precision prevention of chronic diseases in Chinese populations.

Liver health has long been linked to the homeostasis of gut microbiota. Although some studies have shown that alterations in the species and function of gut microbiota contribute to the initiation and development of acute liver injury (ALI), studies investigating the effects of ALI on gut microbial dynamic composition changes are still limited. To observe whether liver damage can alter the composition of gut microbiota dynamically, we established three chemical models (e.g., acetaminophen, carbon tetrachloride, lipopolysaccharide) of ALI. Using these models, multiple time points of liver injury and intestinal microbiome were analyzed through plasma biochemical analysis and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We assessed α-diversity, Unifrac principal coordinates analysis (PCoA), and linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) in the injury and control groups. The composition of the gut microbiota underwent dramatic shifts with liver injury and recovery in each model. Additionally, specific microbial abundance was significantly correlated with the level of plasma alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase. These data provide new evidence that liver dysfunction and restoration is dynamically linked with the changes in the intestinal microbiome.

Dietary fiber intake in humans is nowadays substantially decreased as compared to the communities of ancestral populations. Accompanying that, the incidences of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), allergy, and other autoimmune diseases are steadily increasing over the past 60 years, especially in high-income countries, which is partly attributed to the changing dietary habit in modern societies. Chronic inflammation triggered by immune disorders is the central part of the pathophysiology of various non-communicable diseases. Dietary fiber intake is inexorably linked to the gut microbiome leading to the reduction of inflammation. This review explores how dietary fibers modulate the gut microbiota composition and function leading to the alteration of host physiology. High-fiber dietary regime has been consistently shown to increase the microbiome alpha diversity and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)-producing bacteria in the human gut. SCFAs are the main players in the interplay between diet, microbiota, and host health. In clinical settings, therapies with high fiber or SCFA supplementations are proposed for inflammatory diseases. However, due to greater variations in the dosage, type, and duration of dietary fiber intervention in different clinical trials, the effects remain controversial. Unraveling the mechanisms exerted by dietary fiber in synergy with the gut microbiome in human pathophysiology holds a promising prospect in guiding next-generation precision therapies.