Publications by authors named "Elena M Comelli"

Article Synopsis
  • - Mother's milk has diverse bacterial communities, and this study investigates how these bacteria affect the gut microbiota of very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants during hospitalization, analyzing 94 mother-infant pairs and 422 milk-stool samples.
  • - Approximately 30%-40% of the bacterial types found in the infants' guts are also present in the mother's milk, showing a direct link between milk consumption and gut microbiota development in VLBW infants, influenced by feeding practices and antibiotic use.
  • - The findings suggest that the microbiota in mother's milk plays a significant role in shaping the gut bacteria of VLBW infants, indicating that specific milk bacteria and their interactions are important for gut colonization.
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Cranberry-derived proanthocyanidin (PAC) is processed by the gut microbiota to produce 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propionic acid (HPPA), among other metabolites. These data are in support of the article entitled, "Cranberry proanthocyanidin and its microbial metabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, but not 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propionic acid, partially reverse pro-inflammatory microRNA responses in human intestinal epithelial cells," published in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research [1]. Here we describe data generated by nCounter Human v3 miRNA Expression Panel of RNA obtained from Caco-2BBe1 cells exposed to two different concentrations of cranberry extract rich in PAC (50 µg/ml or 100 µg/ml) or 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propionic acid (5 µg/ml or 10 µg/ml) for 24 h, then stimulated with 1 ng/ml of IL-1ß or not (mock) for three hours.

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Background And Aims: Bacterial species and microbial pathways along with metabolites and clinical parameters may interact to contribute to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and disease severity. We used integrated machine learning models and a cross-validation approach to assess this interaction in bariatric patients.

Methods: 113 patients undergoing bariatric surgery had clinical and biochemical parameters, blood and stool metabolite measurements as well as faecal shotgun metagenome sequencing to profile the intestinal microbiome.

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Background: Sleep and gut microbiota are emerging putative risk factors for several physical, mental, and cognitive conditions. Sleep deprivation has been shown to be linked with unhealthy microbiome environments in animal studies. However, in humans, the results are mixed.

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Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. There is a growing interest in using dietary approaches, including flaxseed (FS) and its oil and lignan components, to mitigate breast cancer risk. Importantly, there is recognition that pubertal processes and lifestyle, including diet, are important for breast health throughout life.

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Background: Growth studies rely on longitudinal measurements, typically represented as trajectories. However, anthropometry is prone to errors that can generate outliers. While various methods are available for detecting outlier measurements, a gold standard has yet to be identified, and there is no established method for outlying trajectories.

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Objective: Longitudinal patterns of growth in early childhood are associated with health conditions throughout life. Knowledge of such patterns and the ability to predict them can lead to better prevention and improved health promotion in adulthood. However, growth analyses are characterized by significant variability, and pattern detection is affected by the method applied.

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The interplay between the intestinal microbiota and host is critical to intestinal ontogeny and homeostasis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) may be an underlying link. Intestinal miRNAs are microbiota-dependent and, when shed in the lumen, affect resident microorganisms.

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Cranberries have known anti-inflammatory properties, which extend their benefits in the context of several chronic diseases. These benefits highly rely on the polyphenol profile of cranberries, one of few foods rich in A-type proanthocyanidin (PAC). A-type PAC comprises flavan-3-ol subunits with an additional interflavan ether bond in the conformational structure of the molecule, separating them from the more commonly found B-type PAC.

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Background: Health authorities are near universal in their recommendation to replace sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) with water. Non-nutritive sweetened beverages (NSBs) are not as widely recommended as a replacement strategy due to a lack of established benefits and concerns they may induce glucose intolerance through changes in the gut microbiome. The STOP Sugars NOW trial aims to assess the effect of the substitution of NSBs (the "intended substitution") versus water (the "standard of care substitution") for SSBs on glucose tolerance and microbiota diversity.

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Child growth patterns assessment is critical to design public health interventions. However, current analytical approaches may overlook population heterogeneity. To overcome this limitation, we developed a growth trajectories clustering pipeline that incorporates a shape-respecting distance, baseline centering (i.

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Breast cancer is among the most common cancers in women, second to skin cancer. Mammary gland development can influence breast cancer development in later life. Processes such as proliferation, invasion, and migration during mammary gland development can often mirror processes found in breast cancer.

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Osteoporosis has traditionally been characterized by underlying endocrine mechanisms, though evidence indicates a role of inflammation in its pathophysiology. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a component of gram-negative bacteria that reside in the intestines, can be released into circulation and stimulate the immune system, upregulating bone resorption. Exogenous LPS is used in rodent models to study the effect of systemic inflammation on bone, and to date a variety of different doses, routes, and durations of LPS administration have been used.

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Aim: To assess the effects of faecal microbial transplant (FMT) from lean people to subjects with obesity via colonoscopy.

Material And Methods: In a double-blind, randomized controlled trial, subjects with a body mass index ≥ 35 kg/m and insulin resistance were randomized, in a 1:1 ratio in blocks of four, to either allogenic (from healthy lean donor; n = 15) or autologous FMT (their own stool; n = 13) delivered in the caecum and were followed for 3 months. The main outcome was homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and secondary outcomes were glycated haemoglobin levels, lipid profile, weight, gut hormones, endotoxin, appetite measures, intestinal microbiome (IM), metagenome, serum/faecal metabolites, quality of life, anxiety and depression scores.

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Aims/hypothesis: Nordic dietary patterns that are high in healthy traditional Nordic foods may have a role in the prevention and management of diabetes. To inform the update of the EASD clinical practice guidelines for nutrition therapy, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of Nordic dietary patterns and cardiometabolic outcomes.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE and The Cochrane Library from inception to 9 March 2021.

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Nutrient fortifiers are added to human milk to support the development of very-low-birth-weight infants. Currently, bovine-milk-based fortifiers (BMBFs) are predominantly administered, with increasing interest in adopting human-milk-based fortifiers (HMBFs). Although beneficial for growth, their effects on the gastrointestinal microbiota are unclear.

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Purpose Of Review: Probiotics intake may be considered beneficial by prospective and pregnant mothers, but their effects on offspring development are incompletely understood. The purpose of this review was to examine recent pre-clinical and clinical studies to understand how maternal probiotics exposure affects offspring health outcomes.

Recent Findings: Effects were investigated in the context of supporting offspring growth, intestinal health, and gut microbiota, preventing allergic diseases, supporting neurodevelopment, and preventing metabolic disorders in pre-clinical and clinical studies.

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Dietary flaxseed may act via microRNAs (miRNAs) to affect the health of the mammary gland. These data are in support of the article entitled "Effects of flaxseed and its components on mammary gland miRNome: identification of potential biomarkers to prevent breast cancer development" [1]. Here, we provide miRNA expression data obtained from NanoString nCounter® profiling of mammary gland RNA from C57BL/6 female mice who received a control diet or isocaloric diets containing 10% FS, 3.

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Introduction: The gut microbiota interacts with diet to affect body health throughout the life cycle. Critical periods of growth, such as infancy and puberty, are characterised by microbiota remodelling and changes in dietary habits. While the relationship between gut microbiota and growth in early life has been studied, our understanding of this relationship during puberty remains limited.

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Importance: There are concerns that low- and no-calorie sweetened beverages (LNCSBs) do not have established benefits, with major dietary guidelines recommending the use of water and not LNCSBs to replace sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Whether LNCSB as a substitute can yield similar improvements in cardiometabolic risk factors vs water in their intended substitution for SSBs is unclear.

Objective: To assess the association of LNCSBs (using 3 prespecified substitutions of LNCSBs for SSBs, water for SSBs, and LNCSBs for water) with body weight and cardiometabolic risk factors in adults with and without diabetes.

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The human gastrointestinal tract is inhabited by the largest microbial community within the human body consisting of trillions of microbes called gut microbiota. The normal flora is the site of many physiological functions such as enhancing the host immunity, participating in the nutrient absorption and protecting the body against pathogenic microorganisms. Numerous investigations showed a bidirectional interplay between gut microbiota and many organs within the human body such as the intestines, the lungs, the brain, and the skin.

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Introduction: We previously reported a lower fecal abundance of Ruminococcus spp., Faecalibacterium prausnitzii , and Coprococcus spp. in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

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Scope: The molecular basis underlying the anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic properties of cranberries is incompletely understood. The effects of a cranberry proanthocyanidin-rich extract (PAC) and two of its gut microbial metabolites, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DHPAA) and 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propionic acid (HPPA), on intestinal epithelial cells microRNA (miRNA) expression and their downstream pathways at homeostasis and in inflammatory conditions, are investigated.

Methods And Results: The expression of 799 miRNAs is quantitatively assessed in differentiated Caco-2BBe1 cells pre-treated with PAC, DHPAA, or HPPA and stimulated with interleukin (IL)-1β or not.

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Several studies have shown that diets containing lower vitamin D than in the AIN-93G diet do not compromise bone structure, bone mineral density (BMD), and/or bone strength in male and female mice. This study determined if a diet containing low vitamin D from prepregnancy through to the end of lactation maintained these bone outcomes to a similar extent as a high vitamin D diet. Mice were fed an AIN-93G diet with 25 (LD diet) or 5000 (HD diet) IU vitamin D/kg diet from premating through to lactation ( = 15/group).

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Dietary flaxseed (FS) and its components including FS oil (FSO), secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) and fiber, are processed by the gut microbiota. These data are in support of the article entitled "Discriminatory and cooperative effects within the mouse gut microbiota in response to flaxseed and its oil and lignan components", Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry [1]. Here we describe data generated by 16S rRNA sequencing of DNA obtained from cecum contents and feces of C57BL/6 female mice fed either a basal diet (BD, AIN93G), or isocaloric diets containing 10% FS, or 10% FS-equivalent amounts of FSO or SDG for 21 days.

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