Changes in microbiome and metabolomic profiles of fecal samples stored with stabilizing solution at room temperature: a pilot study

AbstractDespite the considerable amount of research devoted to understanding fraud, few studies have examined how the physical environment can influence the likelihood of committing fraud. One recent study found a link between room brightness and occurrence of human fraud behaviors. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate how temperature may affect fraud. Based on a power analysis using the effect size observed in a pilot study, we recruited 105 participants and randomly divided them into three temperature groups (warm, medium, and cool). We then counted fraud behaviors in each group and tested for potential significant differences with a Kruskal–Wallis test. Additionally, we used a correlation analysis to determine whether the perceived temperature affected fraud. As a result, regardless of participants’ subjective sensory experience or their physical environment, we did not find that temperature-related factors influence the incidence of fraud. We discussed the potential reason for the results and suggested directions for future research.

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Determining the most effective common household disinfection method to reduce the microbial load on domestic dishcloths: a pilot study

Environmental Health Review ◽

10.5864/d2020-024 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 63 (4) ◽

pp. 101-106

Author(s):

Emily Gillies

Keyword(s):

Pilot Study ◽

Confidence Intervals ◽

High Power ◽

Room Temperature ◽

Tap Water ◽

Lemon Juice ◽

Foodborne Illness ◽

Cross Contamination ◽

Disinfection Methods ◽

Significant Difference

The domestic dishcloth has been shown to be the most contaminated item in the domestic kitchen, reported to contain up to 108 bacteria for up to 48 hours. Their smooth texture and large surface area allow bacteria to be transferred to kitchen surfaces easily, presenting a greater risk of cross-contamination and potentially contributing to foodborne illness. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the most effective method to decrease the aerobic colony count (ACC) present on contaminated dishcloths. Dishcloths were inoculated in a beef slurry for 48 hours at room temperature. Contaminated dishcloths were subjected to 1-minute treatments of 10% bleach solution, lemon juice, vinegar, tap water, and microwaving. Serial dilutions were plated and incubated at 37°C overnight. Three replicates were produced, and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Although treatments of 10% bleach solution and vinegar showed reduced ACC growth, no growth was identified after microwaving dishcloths for 1 minute on high power. There was no significant difference identified between the tap water and lemon juice treatments. Given that this is the first study conducted directly comparing different disinfection methods for dishcloths, microwaving dishcloths on high power for 1 minute can be recommended to disinfect domestic dishcloths and reduce cross-contamination within the home.

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Subfreezing versus Room-Temperature Balloon Dilation of Benign Tracheal Stenosis: A Pilot Study in Rabbits

Ear Nose & Throat Journal ◽

10.1177/014556131309200517 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 92 (5) ◽

pp. 219-222

Author(s):

Benjamin J. Wycherly ◽

Matthew K. Steehler ◽

Hosai Hesham ◽

Kevin Burke ◽

Sonya Malekzadeh

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Pilot Study ◽

Tracheal Stenosis ◽

Room Temperature ◽

Balloon Dilation ◽

Collagen Content ◽

Collagen Deposition ◽

Tracheal Injury ◽

New Zealand White Rabbits

We conducted an experiment to compare collagen deposition in tracheal stenoses dilated with room-temperature balloons and stenoses dilated with balloons at a subfreezing temperature (-10°C). Six New Zealand white rabbits underwent endoscopic tracheal injury. Tracheal dilation was performed at 3 weeks postinjury with either a room-temperature balloon or a vascular cryoplasty balloon. Five surviving rabbits were sacrificed at either 2 weeks (n = 3) or 4 weeks (n = 2) postdilation (1 rabbit that was not able to tolerate dilation was euthanized during the procedure). A blinded pathologist graded histologic sections of the injured tracheas for collagen content. The tracheal collagen deposits in the 3 animals sacrificed at 2 weeks postdilation were all graded as moderate. However, at the 4-week postdilation examination, there was a marked difference in collagen deposition between the rabbit that underwent room-temperature dilation and the rabbit that underwent subfreezing dilation; while the former showed moderate collagen deposition, the deposition in the latter was only mild. In conclusion, this pilot study showed that tracheal dilation with balloon cryotherapy decreased collagen deposition in the injured airway of 1 animal. Larger studies are required to determine whether balloon cryotherapy improves the long-term patency of immature tracheal stenosis.

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Effect of short-term room temperature storage on the microbial community in infant fecal samples

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/srep26648 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Yong Guo ◽

Sheng-Hui Li ◽

Ya-Shu Kuang ◽

Jian-Rong He ◽

Jin-Hua Lu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Microbial Community ◽

Room Temperature ◽

Short Term ◽

Fecal Samples ◽

Room Temperature Storage ◽

Temperature Storage

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Diversity and Richness Analysis of the Oral and Gastrointestinal Microbiome during Autologous Transplantation for Multiple Myeloma: Results of a Prospective Pilot Study and Correlation with Transplant Outcomes

Blood ◽

10.1182/blood-2018-99-120038 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 132 (Supplement 1) ◽

pp. 4627-4627

Author(s):

Najla H El Jurdi ◽

Ali Filali ◽

Iman Salem ◽

Mauricio Retuerto ◽

Nina Dambrosio ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Multiple Myeloma ◽

Pilot Study ◽

Microbial Diversity ◽

Bacterial Diversity ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

R Package ◽

Advisory Board ◽

Gastrointestinal Microbiome ◽

Fecal Samples ◽

Genus Richness

Abstract Background The human microbiome has been associated with allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) outcomes, namely infections, graft-versus-host disease and relapse. There are no studies describing the longitudinal changes in the oral or gastrointestinal microbiome in the setting of autologous HCT. We conducted a prospective study to describe the changes in microbial diversity in patients undergoing HCT for multiple myeloma (MM), and whether these correlate with HCT outcomes and/or toxicities. Methods Samples were collected from 15 MM patients on admission (baseline, T-2), during marrow aplasia (T+7) and after engraftment (T+30) (Table 1- summarizes baseline characteristics). We evaluated the bacterial and fungal microbiome of 15 patients using Ion-Torrent PGM workflow. The amplicons generated from the 16s rRNA and the ITS genes were sequenced for bacterial and fungal identification, respectively. Sequencing reads were clustered into operational taxonomic units (OTUs, 3% distance) and taxonomically classified via Qiime bioinformatics pipeline. Diversity was calculated using Shannon diversity index and richness using the R package 'vegan'. Longitudinal analysis was performed using all pairwise Multiple Comparison of Mean Ranks as implemented PMCMR plus R package, employing Kruskal & Wallis test followed by Bonferroni-Dunn post-hoc adjustment. Results Diversity and richness of the oral mycobiome decreased at T+7 compared to pre-transplant levels with further decrease noted at T+30, without reaching significance. Fecal mycobiome diversity and richness decreased from baseline to T+7 meeting statistical significance for diversity (T-2 vs T+7, p=0.05) and richness trended towards significance (p=0.06) with a further decrease noted at T+30. The temporal changes in bacterial diversity and richness in both oral and fecal samples did not reach statistical significance. (Figure1- Box and whisker plots of diversity and richness of the bacteriome and mycobiome at the genus levels from oral rinse and fecal samples) In fecal samples, bacterial diversity noted at T+7 during count nadir was associated with the severity of diarrhea experienced after myeloablation, with lower diversity correlating with more severe diarrhea (p= 0.03). Anaerobic targeting antibiotic exposure on or before T+7 affected both the genus diversity and richness at T+7 (p=0.015 and p=0.014, respectively). The bacterial genus richness at baseline (p=0.03) as well as the diversity and richness noted at T+7 (p=0.01) was associated with the development of fever on or after T+7. For the oral mycobiome, exposure to anaerobic depleting antibiotics correlated with genus richness in T+30 samples (p=0.04). There was a trend towards significance between the diversity of fecal samples at baseline and the development of nausea post transplant, such that higher diversity was associated with lower incidence/severity of nausea (p=0.06). Conclusion and Future Directions While acknowledging the limitation inherent in the small sample size of this pilot study, our results highlight several aspects of the longitudinal changes in the microbiome during HCT. Oral and lower gastrointestinal microbial diversity and richness is altered during HCT with trends significantly different between the oral and fecal bacteriome and mycobiome. This change is likely multifactorial owing to the conditioning regimen, antimicrobial exposure and immune dysregulation. Our data suggest a possible correlation between exposure to anaerobic organism depleting antimicrobials and these changes in microbial diversity and richness at the genus level. Baseline microbial diversity and richness as well as changes coinciding with marrow aplasia could correlate with the incidence and severity of transplant related toxicities. Amifostine was used as a cytoprotectant before high dose melphalan for our patients. The effect of this organic thiophosphate on the microbiota is unclear and it would be of interest to compare matched patient samples to explore the effect of this cytoprotectant on the microbiota. Further studies conducted on a larger scale and incorporating metabolomics and proteomics will help elucidate the interactions between the host and the microbiome and their effect on short term and long term transplantation outcomes as well as toxicities. Disclosures Lazarus: Pluristem Ltd.: Consultancy. Caimi:Celgene: Speakers Bureau; Kite Pharma: Other: Advisory Board Participation; Kite Pharma: Other: Advisory Board Participation; Genentech: Other: Advisory Board PArticipation, Research Funding. Malek:Janssen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Amgen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Sanofi: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau.

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Heat and fraud: Evaluating how room temperature influences fraud likelihood

10.31234/osf.io/mt8pv ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Huanxu Liu ◽

Jingwen Yang ◽

Yuki Yamada

Keyword(s):

Pilot Study ◽

Correlation Analysis ◽

Effect Size ◽

Physical Environment ◽

Power Analysis ◽

Room Temperature ◽

Sensory Experience ◽

Future Research ◽

Related Factors ◽

Perceived Temperature

Despite the considerable amount of research devoted to understanding fraud, few studies have examined how the physical environment can influence the likelihood of committing fraud. One recent study found a link between room brightness and occurrence of human fraud behaviors. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate how temperature may affect fraud. Based on a power analysis using the effect size observed in a pilot study, we recruited 105 participants and randomly divided them into three temperature groups (warm, medium, and cool). We then counted fraud behaviors in each group and tested for potential significant differences with a Kruskal-Wallis test. Additionally, we used a correlation analysis to determine whether the perceived temperature affected fraud. As a result, regardless of participants’ subjective sensory experience or their physical environment, we did not find that temperature-related factors influence the incidence of fraud. We discussed the potential reason for the results, and suggested directions for future research.

Download Full-text