T cells regulate intestinal motility and shape enteric neuronal responses to intestinal microbiota.

How the gut microbiota and immune system maintain intestinal homeostasis in concert with the enteric nervous system (ENS) remains incompletely understood. To address this gap, we assessed small intestinal transit, enteric neuronal density, enteric neurogenesis, intestinal microbiota, immune cell populations and cytokines in wildtype and T-cell deficient germ-free mice colonized with specific pathogen-free (SPF) microbiota, conventionally raised SPF and segmented filamentous bacteria (SFB)-monocolonized mice. SPF microbiota increased small intestinal transit in a T cell-dependent manner.

Preliminary report: Sleep duration during late pregnancy predicts postpartum emotional responses among parents at risk for postpartum depression.

Introduction: Sleep loss is common during the perinatal period; however, few studies have assessed potential consequences of insufficient sleep for postnatal emotional responding, a key contributor to parenting behaviors with implications for parent-infant bonding and mental health. To generate hypotheses for future work assessing perinatal sleep and emotion-related outcomes, this pilot study explored whether prenatal sleep duration predicted postnatal emotional responding in a sample at risk for postpartum depression.

Methods: Participants were nine birthing parents with a prior mood disorder who were not in a current episode at enrollment.

Sex-specific post-inflammatory dysbiosis mediates chronic visceral pain in colitis.

Background: Despite achieving endoscopic remission, over 20% of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients experience chronic abdominal pain. Visceral pain and the microbiome exhibit sex-dependent interactions, while visceral pain in IBD shows a sex bias. Our aim was to evaluate whether post-inflammatory microbial perturbations contribute to visceral hypersensitivity in a sex-dependent manner.

Reduced Stroke Volume and Brain Perfusion Drive Postural Hyperventilation in Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome.

Postural hyperventilation has been implicated as a cause of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), yet the precise mechanisms underlying the heightened breathing response remain unclear. This study challenges current hypotheses by revealing that exaggerated peripheral chemoreceptor activity is not the primary driver of postural hyperventilation. Instead, significant contributions from reduced stroke volume and compromised brain perfusion during orthostatic stress were identified.

Longitudinal analysis of glymphatic function in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and primary lateral sclerosis.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Accumulation of misfolded proteins is central to the pathogenesis of ALS and the glymphatic system is emerging as a potential therapeutic target to reduce proteinopathy. Using diffusion tensor imaging analysis along the perivascular spaces (DTI-ALPS) to assess glymphatic function, we performed a longitudinal analysis of glymphatic function in ALS and compared it to a disorder in the motor neuron disease spectrum, primary lateral sclerosis (PLS).