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Periodontitis and peri-implantitis are common biofilm-mediated infectious diseases affecting teeth and dental implants and have been considered to be initiated with microbial dysbiosis. To further understand the essence of oral microbiome dysbiosis in terms of bacterial interactions, community structure, and microbial stability, we analyzed 64 plaque samples from 34 participants with teeth or implants under different health conditions using metagenomic sequencing. After taxonomical annotation, we computed the inter-species correlations, analyzed the bacterial community structure, and calculated the microbial stability in supra- and subgingival plaques from hosts with different health conditions. The results showed that when inflammation arose, the subgingival communities became less connective and competitive with fewer hub species. In contrast, the supragingival communities tended to be more connective and competitive with an increased number of hub species. Besides, periodontitis and peri-implantitis were associated with significantly increased microbial stability in subgingival microbiome. These findings indicated that the periodontal and peri-implant dysbiosis is associated with aberrant alterations in the bacterial correlations, community structures, and local stability. The highly connected hub species, as well as the major contributing species of negative correlations, should also be given more concern in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common cutaneous disease, associated with imbalances in the skin microbiota. Objective: To explore the characteristics of the cutaneous microbiota and its dynamic changes during clinical treatment. Methods: Cutaneous swab samples were collected from 51 AD patients before treatment, and 40 AD patients remained after a 2-week treatment with mometasone and mupirocin. Results: AD patients exhibited significant enrichments of Prevotella and Desulfovibrio as well as obvious reductions of Corynebacterium, Streptococcus and Parabacteroides. Based on the proportion of Staphylococcus aureus , the AD patients were further classified into S. aureus- predominant group (AD.S) and S. aureus- non-dominant (AD.ND) group. The AD.S group exhibited lower skin microbial diversity and higher atopic dermatitis (SCORAD) index. In the AD.S group, the cutaneous microbial diversity significantly increased from 2.9 ± 0.8 to 3.7 ± 1.0, while the relative abundance of S. aureus decreased from 42.5 ± 20.7 to 10.3 ± 28.4 after treatment. In contrast, no significant skin microbiota changes were detected in the AD.ND group. Conclusions: AD patients with predominant S. aureus had higher disease severity and lower microbiota diversity compared to patients in the AD.ND group. Mometasone and mupirocin therapy had significant effects on skin microbiota in AD.S patients, but had a paradoxical response in the AD.ND patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Idiopathic central precocious puberty (ICPP) is a relatively common condition in preadolescent girls, and its pathogenesis remains to be uncovered. A variety of studies have highlighted the association of gut microbiota (GM) with endocrine diseases, such as obesity, which is commonly associated with ICPP. However, the relationship between GM and ICPP remains unexplored. Feces samples were collected from 25 girls with ICPP (ICPP group) and 23 healthy girls (Control group). We applied 16S rDNA sequencing to compare the GM between two groups. The ICPP group had higher GM diversity and was enriched for several GM species, including Ruminococcus gnavus, Ruminococcus callidus, Ruminococcus bromii, Roseburia inulinivorans, Coprococcus eutactus, Clostridium leptum , and Clostridium lactatifermentans , which are known to be associated with obesity and are related to the production of short-chain fatty acids. Additionally, 36 candidate GM biomarkers for patients with ICPP screening were identified with high accuracy (AUC = 0.95, 95% CI 0.88 to 1). We observed that the GM of the ICPP group was enriched for the microbial functions of cell motility, signal transduction, and environmental adaptation. Positive correlations were also detected between Fusobacterium and follicle-stimulating hormone, and Gemmiger and luteinizing hormone. This study documents relationships between GM and ICPP, and the implication of these findings remains to be determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undernutrition (UN) is a worldwide concern affecting morbidity and mortality among children, but the safety and long-term efficacy of its current treatments remain controversial. Recent evidence showing the roles of the gut microbiome (GM) in nutrient absorption indicates its usefulness in alternative interventions to treat UN safely with sustainable amelioration. To enhance our understanding of the GM and childhood undernutrition, we deep sequenced the gut metagenomes of 65 children with moderate or severe undernutrition (UN group) and 61 healthy children (HC group) to identify associated taxa and genes using a two-stage validation scheme. At stage I, 54 UN patients and 51 healthy children were enrolled for the discovery of GM markers in UN children. The accuracy of the markers was then tested in an additional 11 UN patients and 10 healthy children at stage II. Compared to the HC group, the UN group had lower richness in microbial genes (P = 0.005, FDR = 0.005) and species (P = 0.002, FDR = 0.002). The distributions of bacterial genes enable the identification of 16 gene markers with which to discriminate UN patients with high accuracy [averaged areas under the receiver operating curve (AUC) = 0.87], including three Bacteroides uniformis genes that are responsible for the synthesis of iron transporters. We also identified four species markers that enable the UN patients to be confidently discriminated from the HC children (averaged AUC = 0.91), namely Bacteroides ovatus , Bacteroides uniformis , Bacteroides uniformis , and Bacteroides vulgatus. In addition, metabolic comparison showed significantly decreased isobutyric acid (P = 0.005, FDR = 0.017) and increased isovaleric acid (P = 0.006, FDR = 0.017) in UN patients. We also identified notable correlations between microbial species and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and several nutritional indicators, including acetic acid and iron (r = 0.436, P = 0.029), butyric acid and iron (r = 0.422, P = 0.036), butyric acid and lymphocyte (r = −0.309, P = 0.011), and acetic acid and total protein (r = −0.303, P = 0.043). Taken together, the distinct features of gut microbiota in UN patients highlight the taxonomic and functional shift during the development of UN and provide a solid theoretical basis for intervention in childhood undernutrition through gut microbes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cholestasis is a major hepatic disease in infants, with increasing morbidity in recent years. Accumulating evidence has revealed that the gut microbiota (GM) is associated with liver diseases, such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, GM alterations in cholestatic infants and the correlation between the GM and hepatic functions remain uninvestigated. In this study, 43 cholestatic infants (IC group) and 37 healthy infants (H group) were enrolled to detect GM discrepancies using 16S rDNA analysis. The diversity in the bacterial community was significantly lower in the IC group than that in the H group (P = 0.013). After determining the top 10 abundant genera of microbes in the IC and H groups, we found that 13 of them were differentially enriched, including Bifidobacterium, Bacteroides, Streptococcus, Enterococcus , and Staphylococcus. As compared with the H group, the IC group had a more complex GM co-occurrence network featured by three core nodes: Phyllobacterium, Ruminococcus , and Anaerostipes. In addition, the positive correlation between Faecalibacterium and Erysipelatoclostridium (r = 0.689, P = 0.000, FDR = 0.009) was not observed in the IC patients. Using the GM composition, the cholestatic patients can be distinguished from healthy infants with high accuracy [areas under receiver operating curve (AUC) > 0.97], wherein Rothia, Eggerthella, Phyllobacterium , and Blautia are identified as valuable biomarkers. Using KEGG annotation, we identified 32 functional categories with significant difference in enrichment of the GM of IC patients, including IC-enriched functional categories that were related to lipid metabolism, biodegradation and metabolism of xenobiotics, and various diseases. In contrast, the number of functions associated with amino acid metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, and vitamins metabolism was reduced in the IC patients. We also identified significant correlation between GM composition and indicators of hepatic function. Megasphaera positively correlated with total bilirubin (r = 0.455, P = 0.002) and direct bilirubin (r = 0.441, P = 0.003), whereas γ-glutamyl transpeptidase was positively associated with Parasutterella (r = 0.466, P = 0.002) and negatively related to Streptococcus (r = -0.450, P = 0.003). This study describes the GM characteristics in the cholestatic infants, illustrates the association between the GM components and the hepatic function, and provides a solid theoretical basis for GM intervention for the treatment of infantile cholestasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: infantile cholestasis; 16S rRNA; hepatic function; bacterial biomarkers; co-abundance network EN infantile cholestasis 16S rRNA hepatic function bacterial biomarkers co-abundance network 1 1 1 07/27/20 20200724 NES 200724 In the original article, there was an error in the Funding statement. The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. Infantile cholestasis, 16S rRNA, hepatic function, bacterial biomarkers, co-abundance network. [Extracted from the article]