The metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that increase an individual's risk of developing diseases. Being physically active throughout life is known to reduce the prevalence and onset of some aspects of the metabolic syndrome. Furthermore, previous studies have demonstrated that an individual's gut microbiome composition has a large influence on several aspects of the metabolic syndrome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe gut microbiome influences nutrient processing as well as host physiology. Plasma lipid levels have been associated with the microbiome, although the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown, and the effects of dietary lipids on the gut microbiome in humans are not well-studied. We used a compilation of four studies utilizing non-human primates ( and ) with treatments that manipulated plasma lipid levels using dietary and pharmacological techniques, and characterized the microbiome using 16S rDNA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) has been increasing globally, and a growing body of evidence links type 2 diabetes with altered microbiota composition. Type 2 diabetes is preceded by a long prediabetic state characterized by changes in various metabolic parameters. We tested whether the gut microbiome could have predictive potential for T2D development during the healthy and prediabetic disease stages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: It is unclear how high fructose consumption induces disparate metabolic responses in genetically diverse mouse strains.
Objective: We aimed to investigate whether the gut microbiota contributes to differential metabolic responses to fructose.
Methods: Eight-week-old male C57BL/6J (B6), DBA/2J (DBA), and FVB/NJ (FVB) mice were given 8% fructose solution or regular water (control) for 12 wk.
Objective: Lipocalin-2 (LCN2) is a secreted protein involved in innate immunity and has also been associated with several cardiometabolic traits in both mouse and human studies. However, the causal relationship of LCN2 to these traits is unclear, and most studies have examined only males.
Methods: Using adeno-associated viral vectors we expressed LCN2 in either adipose or liver in a tissue specific manner on the background of a whole-body Lcn2 knockout or wildtype mice.
Interindividual variation in the composition of the human gut microbiome was examined in relation to demographic and anthropometric traits, and to changes in dietary saturated fat intake and protein source. One hundred nine healthy men and women aged 21 to 65, with BMIs of 18 to 36, were randomized, after a two-week baseline diet, to high (15% total energy [E])- or low (7%E)-saturated-fat groups and randomly received three diets (four weeks each) in which the protein source (25%E) was mainly red meat (beef, pork) (12%E), white meat (chicken, turkey) (12%E), and nonmeat sources (nuts, beans, soy) (16%E). Taxonomic characterization using 16S ribosomal DNA was performed on fecal samples collected at each diet completion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRationale: Gut microbes influence cardiovascular disease and thrombosis risks through the production of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO). Microbiota-dependent generation of trimethylamine (TMA)-the precursor to TMAO-is rate limiting in the metaorganismal TMAO pathway in most humans and is catalyzed by several distinct microbial choline TMA-lyases, including the proteins encoded by the cutC/D (choline utilization C/D) genes in multiple human commensals.
Objective: Direct demonstration that the gut microbial cutC gene is sufficient to transmit enhanced platelet reactivity and thrombosis potential in a host via TMA/TMAO generation has not yet been reported.
Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is a gut microbiota-derived metabolite that enhances both platelet responsiveness and in vivo thrombosis potential in animal models, and TMAO plasma levels predict incident atherothrombotic event risks in human clinical studies. TMAO is formed by gut microbe-dependent metabolism of trimethylamine (TMA) moiety-containing nutrients, which are abundant in a Western diet. Here, using a mechanism-based inhibitor approach targeting a major microbial TMA-generating enzyme pair, CutC and CutD (CutC/D), we developed inhibitors that are potent, time-dependent, and irreversible and that do not affect commensal viability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiofilms are a ubiquitous formation of microbial communities found on surfaces in aqueous environments. These structures have been investigated as biomonitoring indicators for stream heath, and here were used for the potential use in forensic sciences. Biofilm successional development has been proposed as a method to determine the postmortem submersion interval (PMSI) of remains because there are no standard methods for estimating the PMSI and biofilms are ubiquitous in aquatic habitats.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuman remains can be discovered in freshwater or marine ecosystems, circumstances where insects and other invertebrates have infrequently been used for understanding the time of postmortem submersion. In this study, the identification and succession of epinecrotic bacterial communities on vertebrate remains were described during decomposition in a temperate headwater stream during two seasons (summer and winter). Bacterial communities were characterized with 454 pyrosequencing and analyzed at phyletic and generic taxonomic resolutions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStream epilithic biofilm community assembly is influenced in part by environmental factors. Autumn leaf deposition is an annual resource subsidy to streams, but the physical effects of leaves settling on epilithic biofilms has not been investigated.We hypothesized that bacterial and microeukaryotic community assembly would follow a successional sequence that was mediated by abiotic effects that were simulating leaf deposition (reduced light and flow) and by biotic (snail grazing)disturbance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSixty-one adrenal gland tumors were surgically removed from 60 dogs. Fifty-two dogs underwent elective adrenalectomy and 8 dogs underwent emergency adrenalectomy for acute adrenal hemorrhage. Size of adrenal tumors ranged from 10 mm to 80 mm.
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