Search

Research on the gut microbiome may help with increasing our understanding of primate health with species’ ecology, evolution, and behavior. In particular, microbiome-related information has the potential to clarify ecology issues, providing knowledge in support of wild primates conservation and their associated habitats. Indri (Indri indri) is the largest extant living lemur of Madagascar. This species is classified as “critically endangered” by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, representing one of the world’s 25 most endangered primates. Indris diet is mainly folivorous, but these primates frequently and voluntarily engage in geophagy. Indris have never been successfully bred under human care, suggesting that some behavioral and/or ecological factors are still not considered from the ex situ conservation protocols. Here, we explored gut microbiome composition of 18 indris belonging to 5 different family groups. The most represented phyla were Proteobacteria 40.1 ± 9.5%, Bacteroidetes 28.7 ± 2.8%, Synergistetes 16.7 ± 4.5%, and Firmicutes 11.1 ± 1.9%. Further, our results revealed that bacterial alpha and beta diversity were influenced by indri family group and sex. In addition, we investigated the chemical composition of geophagic soil to explore the possible ecological value of soil as a nutrient supply. The quite acidic pH and high levels of secondary oxide-hydroxides of the soils could play a role in the folivorous diet’s gut detoxification activity. In addition, the high contents of iron and manganese found the soils could act as micronutrients in the indris’ diet. Nevertheless, the concentration of a few elements (i.e., calcium, sulfur, boron, nickel, sodium, and chromium) was higher in non-geophagic than in geophagic soils. In conclusion, the data presented herein provide a baseline for outlining some possible drivers responsible for the gut microbiome diversity in indris, thus laying the foundations for developing further strategies involved in indris’ conservation.

Background: The long-term effects of COVID-19 remain largely unclear. This study aims to investigate post-acute health consequences and mortality one year after hospital discharge. Methods: All surviving adult patients who were discharged after hospital admission due to acute COVID-19 in the first wave of the pandemic underwent a comprehensive interview. Functional assessment was performed in patients aged over 65. Clinical and hospital records were reviewed and mortality causes assessed. Results: A total of 587 patients with COVID-19 were discharged from hospital, including 266 after hospital admission and 321 from the emergency room. Mortality within the following year occurred in 34/266 (12.8%) and 10/321 (3.1%), respectively, due to causes directly or possibly related to COVID-19 in 20.5% and 25% of patients. Post-COVID-19 syndrome was assessed in 543 patients at one year from discharge. Any clinical complaint was reported by 90.1% of patients who needed hospitalization and 80.4% of those discharged from the emergency room (p = 0.002), with breathlessness (41.6%), tiredness (35.4%), ageusia (30.2%), and anosmia (26.3%) being the most common complaints. Ongoing symptoms attributed to COVID-19 were reported by 66.8% and 49.5% of patients, respectively (p &lt, 0.001). Newly developed COPD, asthma, diabetes, heart failure, and arthritis—as well as worsening of preexisting comorbidities—were found. Conclusions: One-year mortality among survivors of acute COVID-19 was 7.5%. A significant proportion of COVID-19 patients experienced ongoing symptoms at 1 year from onset of the disease.

Technical-economic diagnosis and proposal at farm level for two family livestock producers in the northern territory of Santa Fe, Argentina.The objective of this paper was to make diagnose of two small livestock farms in the north of the province of Santa Fe and propose and evaluate an intervention strategy using the case study methodology. The analysed family production systems are vulnerable because the low perceived incomes can put their existence at risk by not allowing remuneration for family and salaried labour and the fulfilment of fi nancial obligation. The proposal at farm level consists of incorporate a subtropical legume, dual purpose, which can increase the production gross value by the sale of seeds and by the improvement in livestock productivity. El objetivo del trabajo fue realizar un diagnóstico de dos pequeñas explotaciones ganaderas del norte de la provincia de Santa Fe y proponer y evaluar una estrategia de intervención utilizando la metodología de casos de estudio. Los sistemas de producción familiares analizados son vulnerables porque los bajos ingresos percibidos ponen en riesgo su existencia al no permitir retribuir la mano de obra familiar y asalariada y el cumplimiento de obligaciones financieras. La propuesta consiste en incorporar una leguminosa subtropical, doble propósito, que puede incrementar el valor bruto de la producción por la venta de las semillas y por la mejora en la productividad ganadera. &nbsp

Background: Risk factors for in-hospital mortality from severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection have been identified in studies mainly carried out in urban-based teaching hospitals. However, there is little data for rural populations attending community hospitals during the first wave of the pandemic. Methods: A retrospective, single-center cohort study was undertaken among inpatients at a rural community hospital in Spain. Electronic medical records of the 444 patients (56.5% males) admitted due to severe SARS-CoV-2 infection during 26 February 2020&ndash, 31 May 2020 were reviewed. Results: Mean age was 71.2 &plusmn, 14.6 years (rank 22&ndash, 98), with 69.8% over 65. At least one comorbidity was present in 410 patients (92.3%), with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) present in 21.7%. Overall in-hospital mortality was 32%. Multivariate analysis of factors associated with death identified patients&rsquo, age (with a cumulative effect per decade), COPD as a comorbidity, and respiratory insufficiency at the point of admission. No additional comorbid conditions proved significant. Among analytical values, increased serum creatinine, LDH &gt, 500 mg/dL, thrombocytopenia (&lt, 150 &times, 109/per L), and lymphopenia (&lt, 1000 cells/&micro, L) were all independently associated with mortality during admission. Conclusions: Age remained the major determinant for COVID-19-caused mortality, COPD was the only comorbidity independently associated with in-hospital death, together with respiratory insufficiency and analytical markers at admission.

Ad oggi le batteriosi delle piante sono gestite mediante strategie integrate di lotta chimica (metalli pesanti ed induttori di resistenza) e biologica (microrganismi antagonisti). Gli oli essenziali (OE) sono miscele complesse di composti altamente volatili, ottenute per distillazione in corrente di vapore di piante officinali e manifestanti spesso attività antimicrobica; il sottoprodotto di questo processo è l’idrolato, che contiene molecole bioattive idrosolubili a basse concentrazioni (< 0,1%) (Di Vito et al., 2019). In questo studio è stata valutata l’attività antibatterica in vitro di diversi OE ed idrolati nei confronti di differenti specie batteriche fitopatogene. Alcuni OE ed idrolati selezionati sono stati saggiati in vivo contro Erwinia amylovora (Ea).Le prove in vitro hanno rilevato un’attività battericida degli OE e degli idrolati testati anche a basse concentrazioni, tuttavia le prove in vivo non hanno confermato questi risultati. Verosimilmente l’inefficacia di OE/idrolati in vivo potrebbe essere dovuta alla modalità di somministrazione. Per saggiare questa ipotesi sarà necessario eseguire ulteriori indagini usando diverse formulazioni/emulsioni degli antimicrobici naturali considerati.

Scopo del presente trovato è quindi quello di rendere disponibile un presidio medico per la cura di patologie cutanee che permetta di medicare la superficie cutanea lesa, di evitare l’adesione del presidio alle ferite, di promuovere la risposta immunitaria dei pazienti, di evitare sovra-infezioni microbiche anche resistenti ai farmaci convenzionali. Un altro scopo del presente trovato è quello di realizzare un presidio medico per la cura di patologie cutanee che permetta di utilizzare un medicamento in sostituzione degli oli essenziali o di sintesi con un'altra sostanza che sia idrofila ed economica, provenendo da scarti di processi di produzione degli oli essenziali. Un ulteriore scopo del presente trovato è di mettere a punto un metodo per la realizzazione del presidio medico che sia semplice ed economico. Per ovviare agli inconvenienti della tecnica nota e per ottenere questi ulteriori scopi e vantaggi, la Richiedente ha studiato, sperimentato e realizzato il presente trovato.

The gastrointestinal microbiota has an important role in human health. Dietary interventions are of great interest to modulate the composition and metabolic functions of the gut microbial communities and to improve health, and prevent or treat diseases. Consumption of prebiotics is one dietary strategy for beneficial manipulation of the gut microbiota, because it allows increasing the fibre intake, especially in people with western dietary habits, who do not take the recommended daily amount of fiber. Interestingly, milk peptides can also positively affect the beneficial gut microorganisms. The present work is a pilot study aimed to investigate the effect of a prebiotic supplementation on composition and metabolic activity of microorganisms living in the human gut. In this trial, 12 healthy subjects received 10g/die of supplement Biotransit®, composed by corn derived dextrin and milk peptides, produced and marketed in Italy by Depofarma (Italy), for 4 weeks with a 2 weeks washout. Outcome measures were assessed at four time points (before the supplementation T0-1, T0-2, at the end of intervention, T30 and after washout, T45), including gut microbiota profiling by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and intestinal functional metabolism measuring faecal Short Chain Fatty Acid concentrations (SCFAs). The effects of the Biotransit supplementation on bifidobacteria were also assessed with culture dependent techniques. Gut microbiota analysis revealed that Biotransit® supplementation after 30 days did not exert effects on the overall gut microbiota structure. Although no significant differences on alpha diversity were obtained, we observed an increase of diversity after 30 days of treatment. Beta diversity analysis, calculated on Bray-Curtis distances revealed significant differences comparing T0 vs T45 and T30 vs T45. Interestingly, at T45, we found an enrichment of Porphyromonadaceae. Biotransit® induced quantitative changes in cultivable bifidobacteria with increased amount at T45, even if the total number of species has not been influenced. Biotransit® supplementation is also associated to an increase total SCFAs concentration in T30 and T45, in particular related to acetate, propionate and butyrate (p < 0.05). Future study will be aimed to follow the time course of the persistence of this effect after the end of treatment.

Bifidobacteria are important probiotic bacteria and the number of identified species of the genus Bifidobacterium is greatly increased in recent years mainly due to the study on poor investigated animal gastrointestinal niches. Thanks to the modern omics tools used for phylogenomic and genomic approaches, understanding host-bifidobacteria interactions (antibiotic resistance, adherence and biofilm formation as well as fitness, survival, and immunological functions) is becoming easier, allowing for more thorough molecular characterization. In this scenario on the other hand conventional microbial culture methods and identification processes for its accurate identification and characterization are not surpassed. Classical bacteriological studies targeted to one genus should be encouraged in order to accumulate isolates and their ecological, phenotypical and genotypical details: this is an important opportunity for useful, publishable, contributions to knowledge and to taxonomy and as support to molecular data and viceversa. For example, molecular data about the presence of bifidobacterial species in host microbiota where until now these species have not yet been isolated is a stimulus to unravel new findings. The addition of new species description should be considered not simply for academic validity, but also for their impact on applied microbiology especially for those species considered probiotics. The finding of recently new 23 bifidobacterial species in non-human primates, the most evolutionary closed species to humans, could be of great interest to obtain useful information also for human beings. Proposals for new species should include a suggested scheme for routine identification, and some reasonable basis for prediction of ecological, functional and technological properties as described in the Minimal Standards for new species description of Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and related genera. These requirements would provide a practical basis for the work in the routine laboratory. Academic taxonomists play an important role supplying expertise for probiotic applications because taxonomy should be the “working technical language of microbiology”.

Le recenti scoperte sulla biodiversità microbica del microbiota intestinale umano ed animale hanno permesso di approfondire le conoscenze sulla composizione delle comunità di probiotici (bifidobatteri, lattobacilli, funghi e nuovi probiotici) in questo complesso ecosistema e di rivelare le intricate interrelazioni con l’ospite e con altri gruppi microbici. Le caratteristiche metaboliche sono infatti importanti nella colonizzazione dell’habitat intestinale e nell’interazione con i tessuti dell’ospite. Un’altra importante caratteristica dei probiotici è la capacità di inibire la crescita di microrganismi patogeni come Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium e Clostridium difficile. Inoltre, i probiotici possono svolgere attività antivirali. Tutte queste conoscenze sono fondamentali per lo sviluppo di nuove strategie terapeutiche basate sul principio di mantenere o ristabilire l’equilibrio intestinale. In questo complesso scenario gli oli essenziali (OE) possono svolgere un importante ruolo. Si ipotizza, infatti, una loro azione selettiva: ossia, gli OE, potrebbero svolgere un’attività di modulazione delle comunità microbiche intestinali con vantaggio per i microrganismi benefici e riduzione di quelli patobionti. Questo argomento di così grande interesse non è ancora stato studiato in modo approfondito. Scopo: il presente lavoro ha avuto lo scopo di confrontare l’attività antimicrobica di OE (singoli o in miscele) testati sia verso ceppi di bifidobatteri isolati da suini e da potamoceri. e sia verso patogeni intestinali. Materiali e metodi: sono stati isolati ceppi di bifidobatteri da feci di potamocero mediante MRS addizionato di cisteina, acido acetico e mupirocina; sono stati saggiati gli OE di Corydothimus capitatus, Lavandula intermedia, Monarda didyma (“Scarlett”) e la miscela commerciale GR-OLI verso i probiotici del genere Bifidobacterium: B. bifidum, B. longum subsp. longum, B. breve, B. longum subsp. suis, B. thermacidophilum subsp. porcinum (isolato da potamocero), poi Lactobacillus paracasei, Saccharomyces boulardi, S. cerevisiae, e Enterococcus faecium (ceppo probiotico commerciale per suinetti) e verso i patobionti/patogeni E. coli, Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium, Candida albicans e Staphylococcus aureus. La Minima Concentrazione Inibente (MIC) e Minima Concentrazione Letale (MLC) sono state determinate secondo linee guida EUCAST mediante il metodo delle micro-brodo diluizioni. Risultati: i risultati ottenuti hanno mostrato una diversa attività antimicrobica degli OE saggiati. E’ stata messa in evidenza la maggiore efficacia dell’OE di C. capitatus e di M. didyma (MIC = 0.5% v/v) e GR-OLI (MIC = 0.25% v/v) verso i patobionti/patogeni rispetto all’attività antimicrobica verso i probiotici [C. capitatus e di M. didyma (MIC = 2%) e GR-OLI (MIC = 1% v/v)]. L. intermedia ha mostrato una bassa attività antimicrobica con MIC ≥ 2% verso tutti i ceppi saggiati. La miscela GR-OLI ha mostrato una attività antimicrobica più elevata dei singoli OE. Conclusioni: l’utilizzo di OE e di miscele di OE può essere una strategia per contrastare la carica batterica potenzialmente patogena nel microbiota intestinale di animali e per rinforzare l’eubiosi in favore di microrganismi benefici intestinali. Questo approccio potrebbe essere particolarmente importante in condizioni di stress durante specifici periodi di vita degli animali, come nel caso dello svezzamento nei suinetti, nel quale il microbiota è fisiologicamente soggetto a importanti cambiamenti qualitativi e quantitativi.

In many areas of the world traditional dairy products rely on spontaneous milk fermentations which result in a large variety of products with different flavours and containing important beneficial microorganisms. Gioddu, a traditional fermented milk, is prepared in the very restricted areas of north Sardinia (Italy) from sheep or goat milk and it is a typical meal of shepherds. Gioddu is prepared as follows: the row milk is added with calf rennet and maintained firstly for 30 min at 30-40°C. then for one-two days at room temperature. This preparation is used as natural starter culture (“sa madrighe”) and added at a rate of 1-2% to fresh milk previously boiled for 5 min and cooled to about 30-40 °C. After 8 hours the Gioddu is ready. Gioddu can be obtained also after adding boiled milk with the previous day’s Gioddu production. The objective of this study was to investigate the diversity of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) communities in 5 different samples of Gioddu and madrighe collected from 3 different areas in Sardinia, with culture dependent and independent techniques. The LAB counts in these samples varied from 105 and 109 ufc/ml. Fermented milks had almost identical mean numbers of LAB. In total, 100 isolates were obtained from these samples using MRS agar and M17 agar incubated at 25, 37 and 42°C in order to widen the possibility to isolate different strains. Each isolate was considered to be presumptive LAB based on gram-positive and catalase-negative properties and on RAPD-PCR. Basing on RAPD-PCR database the following species have been presumptively identified Lactococcus lactis, Streptococcus thermophilus, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Enterococcus spp. and Lactobacillus paracasei. LH-PCR fingerprinting, associated to the sequencing of 16S rRNA genes, was used for the characterization of the bacterial community and to confirm identification of species in the 5 Gioddu and Gioddu starters tested. The resulting LAB confirmed the results of RAPD-PCR with two main LAB associations: in 2 samples the prevalent species were Lactococcus/Streptococcus, Leuconostoc, Enterococcus while in the other 3 samples Lactococcus, Streptococcus, Leuconostoc. These results can help to understand more about Gioddu which is a traditional fermented product until now poorly investigated. Due to the importance of finding new probiotics, further studies will include challenges from a phylogenetic point of view and for screening the functional properties of the strains isolated.

Knee arthroscopy is the most common orthopedic procedure worldwide. While incidence of post-arthroscopy venous thromboembolic events (VTE) is low, treatment patterns and patient outcomes have not been described. Patients from the "Registro Informatizado Enfermedad TromboEmbolica" who had confirmed post-arthroscopy VTE were compared to patients with provoked, post bone-fracture, and to patients with unprovoked VTE. Baseline characteristics, presenting signs and symptoms, treatment and outcomes including recurrent VTE, bleeds or death were compared. A total of 101 patients with post-arthroscopy VTE and 19,218 patients with unprovoked VTE were identified. Post-arthroscopy patients were younger (49.5 vs. 66 years, P

Primates in general exhibit a wide dietary diversity, enabling them to occupy various ecological niches. It is well know that the diet greatly influences microbial diversity of gut microbiota and generally, a fibre rich diet promotes the growth of microbial groups producing short fatty acids, thus playing an important beneficial role in the host health. The Bifidobacteriaceae are grampositive, pleomorphically branched, non-motile, non-spore-forming that constitute a significant proportion of the microbiota in the gut. They can be grouped on the basis of one of six different ecological niches that they occupy: the human intestine, oral cavity, food, the animal gastrointestinal tract, the insect intestine, and sewage. Although nearly all primates are to some extent omnivorous, most primates can be primarily categorized as fruit-, insect- or leaf-eaters. However, in all primate diversity, there is only one species of modern primate that feeds on particularly nutrient-poor plant material is the gelada baboon (Theropithecus gelada). Native to the highlands of Ethiopia, they subsist largely as grazers, the only modern primate species to do so. Aim of this work was to investigate the occurrence of Bifidobacteriaceae in six adult males of Theropithecus gelada housed in Parco Natura Viva Garda Zoological Park (Bussolengo, Verona, Italy). Different selective media were tested for their suitability in the isolation of the Bifidobacteriaceae strains. All sixteen isolates were clones as resulted from BOX-PCR fingerprinting, a technique allowing the molecular typing. Comparative analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed low sequence similarity of isolates to known Bifidobacteriaceae and the highest similarity (96.1 %) was found to Alloscardovia criceti. Therefore the isolates are phylogenetically not closely related to known species and are possible novel species in the genus Alloscardovia of the Bifidobacteriaceae family. For the first time member of Bifidobacteriaceae family have been found in Theropithecus gelada and further studies are needed to better analyse the importance of their presence in these very peculiar group of monkeys.