Cell-type-resolved chromatin accessibility in the human intestine identifies complex regulatory programs and clarifies genetic associations in Crohn's disease.

Crohn's disease (CD) is a complex inflammatory bowel disease resulting from an interplay of genetic, microbial, and environmental factors. Cell-type-specific contributions to CD etiology and genetic risk are incompletely understood. Here we built a comprehensive atlas of cell-type- resolved chromatin accessibility comprising 557,310 candidate cis-regulatory elements (cCREs) in terminal ileum and ascending colon from patients with active and inactive CD and healthy controls.

A randomized controlled trial of an online support group addressing psychosexual distress among women treated for gynecologic cancer.

Objective: To assess whether a 12-week, professionally facilitated, asynchronous online support group would reduce sexual distress (primary outcome) and improve sexual function, body image, depression symptoms, relationship satisfaction, and social support (secondary outcomes) in women treated for gynecologic cancer.

Methods: Participants were 398 women recruited from three Canadian provinces and one American cancer center in cohorts of 40. Participants were randomized (50:50 odds) to either the immediate treatment condition (ITC) or the waitlist control condition (WCC).

The First In Vivo Study Shows That Gyrophoric Acid Changes Behavior of Healthy Laboratory Rats.

Gyrophoric acid (GA), a lichen secondary metabolite, has attracted more attention during the last years because of its potential biological effects. Until now, its effect in vivo has not yet been demonstrated. The aim of our study was to evaluate the basic physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties of GA, which are directly associated with its biological activities.

A novel conjugative transposon carrying an autonomously amplified plasmid.

Tetracyclines serve as broad-spectrum antibiotics to treat bacterial infections. The discovery of new tetracycline resistance genes has led to new questions about the underlying mechanisms of resistance, gene transfer, and their relevance to human health. We tracked changes in the abundance of a 55-kbp conjugative transposon (CTn214) carrying a tetracycline resistance gene, within a metagenome-assembled genome derived from shotgun sequencing of microbial DNA extracted from the ileal pouch of a patient with ulcerative colitis.

Microbially catalyzed conjugation of GABA and tyramine to bile acids.

Bile acids (BAs) are cholesterol-derived molecules that aid in digestion and nutrient absorption, regulate host metabolic processes, and influence physiology of the gut microbiota. Both the host and its microbiome contribute to enzymatic modifications that shape the chemical diversity of BAs in the gut. Several bacterial species have been reported to conjugate standard amino acids to BAs, but it was not known if bacteria conjugate BAs to other amine classes.