Dietary fat promotes antibiotic-induced Clostridioides difficile mortality in mice.

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is the leading cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea, and emerging evidence has linked dietary components with CDI pathogenesis, suggesting that dietary modulation may be an effective strategy for prevention. Here, we show that mice fed a high-fat/low-fiber "Western-type" diet (WD) had dramatically increased mortality in a murine model of antibiotic-induced CDI compared to a low-fat/low-fiber (LF/LF) diet and standard mouse chow controls. We found that the WD had a pro- C.

Intestinal microbial communities and isolated from HIV+/- men who have sex with men increase frequencies of lamina propria CCR5 CD4 T cells.

Men who have sex with men (MSM), regardless of HIV infection status, have an intestinal microbiome that is compositionally distinct from men who have sex with women (MSW) and women. We recently showed HIV-negative MSM have elevated levels of intestinal CD4 T cells expressing CCR5, a critical co-receptor for HIV. Whether elevated expression of CCR5 is driven by the altered gut microbiome composition in MSM has not been explored.

The Gut Microbiome in Autism: Study-Site Effects and Longitudinal Analysis of Behavior Change.

Research relating gut microbiome composition to autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has produced inconsistent results, indicative of the disorder's complexity and the need for more sophisticated experimental designs. We address this need by (i) comparing gut microbiome composition between individuals with ASD and neurotypical controls in Arizona and Colorado using standardized DNA extraction and sequencing methods at both locations and (ii) longitudinally evaluating the gut microbiome's relationship to autism behavioral severity, diet, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Gut microbiome composition differed between individuals in Arizona and individuals in Colorado, and gastrointestinal symptoms were significantly higher in ASD individuals than in neurotypical individuals in Arizona but not in Colorado.

Gut microbiota from high-risk men who have sex with men drive immune activation in gnotobiotic mice and in vitro HIV infection.

Men who have sex with men (MSM) have differences in immune activation and gut microbiome composition compared with men who have sex with women (MSW), even in the absence of HIV infection. Gut microbiome differences associated with HIV itself when controlling for MSM, as assessed by 16S rRNA sequencing, are relatively subtle. Understanding whether gut microbiome composition impacts immune activation in HIV-negative and HIV-positive MSM has important implications since immune activation has been associated with HIV acquisition risk and disease progression.