Gut microbiome shifts in adolescents after sleeve gastrectomy with increased oral-associated taxa and pro-inflammatory potential.

Bariatric surgery is highly effective in achieving weight loss in children and adolescents with severe obesity, however the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood, and gut microbiome changes are unknown. Here, we show that adolescents exhibit significant gut microbiome and metabolome shifts several months after laparoscopic vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), with increased alpha diversity and notably with enrichment of oral-associated taxa. To assess causality of the microbiome/metabolome changes in phenotype, pre-VSG and post-VSG stool was transplanted into germ-free mice.

Gut microbiome shifts in adolescents after sleeve gastrectomy with increased oral-associated taxa and pro-inflammatory potential.

Background: Bariatric surgery is highly effective in achieving weight loss in children and adolescents with severe obesity, however the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood, and gut microbiome changes are unknown.

Objectives: 1) To comprehensively examine gut microbiome and metabolome changes after laparoscopic vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) in adolescents and 2) to assess whether the microbiome/metabolome changes observed with VSG influence phenotype using germ-free murine models.

Design: 1) A longitudinal observational study in adolescents undergoing VSG with serial stool samples undergoing shotgun metagenomic microbiome sequencing and metabolomics (polar metabolites, bile acids and short chain fatty acids) and 2) a human-to-mouse fecal transplant study.

Fecal transplant from vaginally seeded infants decreases intraabdominal adiposity in mice.

Exposing C-section infants to the maternal vaginal microbiome, coined "vaginal seeding", partially restores microbial colonization. However, whether vaginal seeding decreases metabolic disease risk is unknown. Therefore, we assessed the effect of vaginal seeding of human infants on adiposity in a murine model.

Delivery mode impacts gut bacteriophage colonization during infancy.

Background: Cesarean section delivery is associated with altered early-life bacterial colonization and later adverse inflammatory and immune health outcomes. Although gut bacteriophages can alter gut microbiome composition and impact host immune responses, little is known about how delivery mode impacts bacteriophage colonization over time. To begin to address this we examined how delivery mode affected bacteriophage colonization over the first two years of life.

Shotgun metagenomic sequencing on skin microbiome indicates dysbiosis exists prior to the onset of atopic dermatitis.

Background: While the microbiome is increasingly seen as a targetable contributor to atopic dermatitis (AD), questions remain as to whether the dysbiosis is secondary to diseased skin or if it predates symptom onset. Previous work has evaluated how the skin microbiome changes with age and established the influence of factors like delivery mode and breastfeeding on global microbiome diversity. However, these studies were unable to identify taxa which predict subsequent AD.

Epidemiological and microbiome associations of carriage in infancy and early childhood.

There has been an increase in the prevalence of Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) causing significant economic impact on the health care system. Although toxigenic C.

The Role of the Gut Microbiome in Pediatric Obesity and Bariatric Surgery.

Obesity affects 42.4% of adults and 19.3% of children in the United States.

Fecal sphingolipids predict parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Background: Parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis (PNAC) in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) causes significant morbidity and associated healthcare costs. Laboratory detection of PNAC currently relies on elevated serum conjugated bilirubin levels in the aftermath of impaired bile flow. Here, we sought to identify fecal biomarkers, which when integrated with clinical data, would better predict risk for developing PNAC.

A cross-sectional investigation of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and associated risk factors in children and adolescents in the United States.

Background: Pediatric SARS-CoV-2 data remain limited and seropositivity rates in children were reported as <1% early in the pandemic. Seroepidemiologic evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 in children in a major metropolitan region of the US was performed.

Methods: Children and adolescents ≤19 years were enrolled in a cross-sectional, observational study of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence from July-October 2020 in Northern Virginia, US.

Maternal Confidence and Emergency Department Utilization Among Infants.

Objectives: To determine if maternal confidence affects emergency department (ED) utilization in the first year of life.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study examined the Maternal Confidence Questionnaire responses from a longitudinal birth cohort study and ED visits for these subjects across all Inova hospitals from January 2012 to July 2017 for full-term children 12 months or younger at the time of visit. Using logistic regression, maternal confidence, maternal race/ethnicity, age, education, parity, and insurance were evaluated against Emergency Severity Index acuity levels and ED visit frequency.

An ambient-temperature storage and stabilization device performs comparably to flash-frozen collection for stool metabolomics in infants.

Background: Stool metabolites provide essential insights into the function of the gut microbiome. The current gold standard for storage of stool samples for metabolomics is flash-freezing at - 80 °C which can be inconvenient and expensive. Ambient temperature storage of stool is more practical, however no available methodologies adequately preserve the metabolomic profile of stool.

Prenatal and Peripartum Exposure to Antibiotics and Cesarean Section Delivery Are Associated with Differences in Diversity and Composition of the Infant Meconium Microbiome.

The meconium microbiome may provide insight into intrauterine and peripartum exposures and the very earliest intestinal pioneering microbes. Prenatal antibiotics have been associated with later obesity in children, which is thought to be driven by microbiome dependent mechanisms. However, there is little data regarding associations of prenatal or peripartum antibiotic exposure, with or without cesarean section (CS), with the features of the meconium microbiome.

Gram-negative Microbiota Blooms in Premature Twins Discordant for Parenteral Nutrition-associated Cholestasis.

Parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis (PNAC) causes serious morbidity in the neonatal intensive care unit. Infection with gut-associated bacteria is associated with cholestasis, but the role of intestinal microbiota in PNAC is poorly understood. We examined the composition of stool microbiota from premature twins discordant for PNAC as a strategy to reduce confounding from variables associated with both microbiota and cholestasis.

Comparison of Infant Gut and Skin Microbiota, Resistome and Virulome Between Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Environments.

There is a growing move to provide care for premature infants in a single family, private room neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in place of the traditional shared space, open bay NICU. The resultant effect on the developing neonatal microbiota is unknown. Stool and groin skin swabs were collected from infants in a shared-space NICU (old NICU) and a single-family room NICU (new NICU) on the same hospital campus.