Publications by authors named "S 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.
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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.

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