Publications by authors named "S H Murch"

Background: Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is the most life-threatening form of undernutrition, and children hospitalised with complications have unacceptably high mortality. Complicated SAM is a multisystem disease characterised pathophysiologically by muscle wasting, systemic inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, and malnutrition enteropathy including epithelial barrier dysfunction. There is a clear need for novel interventions to address the underlying pathogenic perturbations of complicated SAM.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Metabolomics is the simultaneous determination of all metabolites in a system. Despite significant advances in the field, compound identification remains a challenge. Prior knowledge of the compound classes of interest can improve metabolite identification.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada is heavily impacted by harmful algal blooms that contain non-protein amino acids (NPAAs) produced by cyanobacteria: -(2-aminoethyl)glycine (AEG), β-aminomethyl-L-alanine (BAMA), β--methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), and 2,4-diaminobutyric acid (DAB). Our objective was to investigate the impact of microbial diversity on NPAA production by cyanobacteria using semi-purified crude cyanobacterial cultures established from field samples collected by the Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium between 2016 and 2021. NPAAs were detected and quantified by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) using validated analytical methods, while Shannon and Simpson alpha diversity scores were determined from 16S rRNA metagenomic sequences.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Malnutrition is a major cause of child deaths globally, with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) leading to high mortality rates, especially when compounded by infections or medical complications.
  • A clinical trial conducted in Zambia and Zimbabwe evaluated four potential treatments for malnutrition-related enteropathy in 125 hospitalized children aged 6-59 months with SAM, comparing bovine colostrum, N-acetyl glucosamine, teduglutide, budesonide, and standard care over 14 days.
  • Results indicated that teduglutide significantly reduced mucosal damage biomarkers, suggesting it may be a beneficial treatment for enteropathy in children with complicated malnutrition, with all interventions deemed safe.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cyanobacteria produce neurotoxic non-protein amino acids (NPAAs) that accumulate in ecosystems and food webs. American lobsters (Homarus americanus H. Milne-Edwards) are one of the most valuable seafood industries in Canada with exports valued at > $2 billion.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF