scholarly journals Large-scale characterisation of the pregnancy vaginal microbiome and sialidase activity in a low-risk Chinese population

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherrianne Ng ◽  
Muxuan Chen ◽  
Samit Kundu ◽  
Xuefei Wang ◽  
Zu-Yi Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Chinese Women ◽  
Vaginal Microbiota ◽  
Childhood Mortality ◽  
Vaginal Microbiome ◽  
Microbiota Composition ◽  
Sialidase Activity ◽  
Host Interactions ◽  
Host Immune Responses ◽  
The Relationship

Vaginal microbiota-host interactions are linked to preterm birth (PTB), which continues to be the primary cause of global childhood mortality. Despite the majority of PTB occuring in Asia, studies of the pregnancy vaginal microbiota are largely limited to Northern American and European populations. Here, we characterised the vaginal microbiome of 2689 pregnant Chinese women using metataxonomics and in a subset (n=823), the relationship between vaginal microbiota composition, sialidase activity and leukocyte presence and pregnancy outcomes. Vaginal microbiota were most frequently dominated by Lactobacillus crispatus or L. iners, with the latter associated with vaginal leukocyte presence. Women with high sialidase activity were enriched for bacterial vaginosis-associated genera including Gardnerella, Atopobium and Prevotella. Vaginal microbiota composition, high sialidase activity and/or leukocyte presence was not associated with PTB risk suggesting underlying differences in the vaginal microbiota and/or host immune responses of Chinese women, possibly accounting for low PTB rates in this population.

scholarly journals Large-scale characterisation of the pregnancy vaginal microbiome and sialidase activity in a low-risk Chinese population

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherrianne Ng ◽  
Muxuan Chen ◽  
Samit Kundu ◽  
Xuefei Wang ◽  
Zuyi Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Chinese Women ◽  
Vaginal Microbiota ◽  
Childhood Mortality ◽  
Vaginal Microbiome ◽  
Microbiota Composition ◽  
Sialidase Activity ◽  
Host Interactions ◽  
Host Immune Responses ◽  
Asian Populations

AbstractVaginal microbiota-host interactions are linked to preterm birth (PTB), which continues to be the primary cause of global childhood mortality. Due to population size, the majority of PTB occurs in Asia, yet there have been few studies of the pregnancy vaginal microbiota in Asian populations. Here, we characterized the vaginal microbiome of 2689 pregnant Chinese women using metataxonomics and in a subset (n = 819), the relationship between vaginal microbiota composition, sialidase activity and leukocyte presence and pregnancy outcomes. Vaginal microbiota were most frequently dominated by Lactobacillus crispatus or L. iners, with the latter associated with vaginal leukocyte presence. Women with high sialidase activity were enriched for bacterial vaginosis-associated genera including Gardnerella, Atopobium and Prevotella. Vaginal microbiota composition, high sialidase activity and/or leukocyte presence was not associated with PTB risk suggesting underlying differences in the vaginal microbiota and/or host immune responses of Chinese women, possibly accounting for low PTB rates in this population.

scholarly journals Metagenomics Analysis of Race and Age influence on the Vaginal Microbiome in Pregnant and Non-pregnant Healthy Women

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Golestani ◽  
Samira Ghaedmohammadi ◽  
Najmeh Mozdoori
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Chinese Women ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Relative Number ◽  
Vaginal Microbiota ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Vaginal Microbiome ◽  
Microbial Species ◽  
Healthy Women

Abstract Various human body parts are host to many microbial species and have a mutualistic relationship with them. The presence of these microbial species in reproductive tubes plays an essential protective role against the proliferation of harmful organisms and is an important factor in reproductive health. The vaginal microbiota during pregnancy plays a vital role in the health of the mother and the infant. Microbiota imbalance during pregnancy is associated with many complications. As a result, the detection of vaginal microbiota during pregnancy can reduce the risk of these problems. High-throughput culture-independent technologies allow the study of vaginal microbiome on a large scale. This study aimed to compare the vaginal microbiota between pregnant and non-pregnant healthy women of different age or race using the meta-analysis method. The results from 7 articles having 16S rRNA gene sequences, were extracted and analyzed by CLC. Data from 898 pregnant and 702 non-pregnant women showed that the Bacilli, Clostridia, Actinobacteria and Coriobacteria were the dominant classes in pregnancy. The vaginal microbiota in normal non-pregnancy is also predominated by Bacilli. Still, beta diversity maps demonstrated that non-pregnant vaginal microbiome is more variable than that in the pregnant state. This study reveals new insights into age and ethnic effects on the pregnant and non-pregnant vaginal microbiome and found that the microbiome of Chinese women was more distinct than the other races. It was also detected that the relative number of bacterial classes is dramatically lower in women above the age of 35 relative to younger ones.

scholarly journals Alterations in the Vaginal Microbiome by Maternal Stress Are Associated With Metabolic Reprogramming of the Offspring Gut and Brain

Endocrinology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 156 (9) ◽  
pp. 3265-3276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eldin Jašarević ◽  
Christopher L. Howerton ◽  
Christopher D. Howard ◽  
Tracy L. Bale
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Stress ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Vaginal Microbiota ◽  
Developing Brain ◽  
Metabolic Reprogramming ◽  
Vaginal Microbiome ◽  
Microbiota Composition ◽  
Neurodevelopmental Disease ◽  
Gut Colonization

The neonate is exposed to the maternal vaginal microbiota during parturition, providing the primary source for normal gut colonization, host immune maturation, and metabolism. These early interactions between the host and microbiota occur during a critical window of neurodevelopment, suggesting early life as an important period of cross talk between the developing gut and brain. Because perturbations in the prenatal environment such as maternal stress increase neurodevelopmental disease risk, disruptions to the vaginal ecosystem could be a contributing factor in significant and long-term consequences for the offspring. Therefore, to examine the hypothesis that changes in the vaginal microbiome are associated with effects on the offspring gut microbiota and on the developing brain, we used genomic, proteomic and metabolomic technologies to examine outcomes in our mouse model of early prenatal stress. Multivariate modeling identified broad proteomic changes to the maternal vaginal environment that influence offspring microbiota composition and metabolic processes essential for normal neurodevelopment. Maternal stress altered proteins related to vaginal immunity and abundance of Lactobacillus, the prominent taxa in the maternal vagina. Loss of maternal vaginal Lactobacillus resulted in decreased transmission of this bacterium to offspring. Further, altered microbiota composition in the neonate gut corresponded with changes in metabolite profiles involved in energy balance, and with region- and sex-specific disruptions of amino acid profiles in the developing brain. Taken together, these results identify the vaginal microbiota as a novel factor by which maternal stress may contribute to reprogramming of the developing brain that may predispose individuals to neurodevelopmental disorders.

scholarly journals The vaginal microbiome of sub-Saharan African women: revealing important gaps in the era of next-generation sequencing

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9684
Author(s):  
Nkechi Martina Odogwu ◽  
Oladapo O. Olayemi ◽  
Akinyinka O. Omigbodun
Keyword(s):  
Next Generation Sequencing ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Marker Gene ◽  
Vaginal Microbiota ◽  
African Population ◽  
African Women ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Vaginal Microbiome ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Generation Sequencing

Accurate characterization of the vaginal microbiome remains a fundamental goal of the Human Microbiome project (HMP). For over a decade, this goal has been made possible deploying high-throughput next generation sequencing technologies (NGS), which indeed has revolutionized medical research and enabled large-scale genomic studies. The 16S rRNA marker-gene survey is the most commonly explored approach for vaginal microbial community studies. With this approach, prior studies have elucidated substantial variations in the vaginal microbiome of women from different ethnicities. This review provides a comprehensive account of studies that have deployed this approach to describe the vaginal microbiota of African women in health and disease. On the basis of published data, the few studies reported from the African population are mainly in non-pregnant post pubertal women and calls for more detailed studies in pregnant and postnatal cohorts. We provide insight on the use of more sophisticated cutting-edge technologies in characterizing the vaginal microbiome. These technologies offer high-resolution detection of vaginal microbiome variations and community functional capabilities, which can shed light into several discrepancies observed in the vaginal microbiota of African women in an African population versus women of African descent in the diaspora.

scholarly journals Vaginal microbiota of adolescents and their mothers: A preliminary study of vertical transmission and persistence

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine M. Bassis ◽  
Kaylie A. Bullock ◽  
Daniel E. Sack ◽  
Katie Saund ◽  
Ali Pirani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vaginal Delivery ◽  
Vaginal Swab ◽  
Vaginal Microbiota ◽  
16S Rrna Genes ◽  
Rrna Genes ◽  
Microbiota Composition ◽  
Genome Sequences ◽  
Mother And Daughter ◽  
Birth Factors ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractBackgroundThe composition of the human vaginal microbiota is related to many aspects of health from infection susceptibility to preterm birth. Factors that influence human vaginal microbiota composition, including its source, are not well understood.ObjectiveThe goal of this study was to determine if vaginal microbiota transmission from mother to daughter at birth influences the human vaginal microbiota composition in adolescence.Study DesignWeekly vaginal swab samples from 13 adolescents and their mothers were collected for up to 4 weeks. After DNA was isolated from the swabs, the V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA genes were amplified, sequenced and analyzed. We calculated distances between the bacterial communities in different samples to investigate the relationship between the vaginal microbiota of the mother/daughter pairs and the daughter’s birth mode. We also cultivated Lactobacillus crispatus from the mother and daughter of 1 pair. To investigate the possibility of direct transmission and persistence of one member of the vaginal microbiota, we isolated DNA from the L. crispatus isolates and compared their genomes with each other and other publicly available L. crispatus genome sequences.ResultsThe vaginal microbiotas of mother/daughter pairs were more similar to each other if the daughter was born by vaginal delivery rather than by C-section. Additionally, genome sequences from an important member of the vaginal microbiota, L. crispatus, isolated from one mother/daughter pair in which the daughter was born by vaginal delivery, were highly similar.ConclusionBoth community-level analysis and isolate genome sequence analysis are consistent with birth-mode dependent transmission and persistence of at least some members of the vaginal microbiota.

Relationship between total plasma homocysteine and the risk of aneurysms – a meta-analysis

VASA ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Hanji Zhang ◽  
Dexin Yin ◽  
Yue Zhao ◽  
Yezhou Li ◽  
Dejiang Yao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Total Plasma ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Randomized Controlled Studies ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Healthy Participants

Summary: Our meta-analysis focused on the relationship between homocysteine (Hcy) level and the incidence of aneurysms and looked at the relationship between smoking, hypertension and aneurysms. A systematic literature search of Pubmed, Web of Science, and Embase databases (up to March 31, 2020) resulted in the identification of 19 studies, including 2,629 aneurysm patients and 6,497 healthy participants. Combined analysis of the included studies showed that number of smoking, hypertension and hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) in aneurysm patients was higher than that in the control groups, and the total plasma Hcy level in aneurysm patients was also higher. These findings suggest that smoking, hypertension and HHcy may be risk factors for the development and progression of aneurysms. Although the heterogeneity of meta-analysis was significant, it was found that the heterogeneity might come from the difference between race and disease species through subgroup analysis. Large-scale randomized controlled studies of single species and single disease species are needed in the future to supplement the accuracy of the results.

New ''Cold War''

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-34
Author(s):  
Vladimir Batiuk
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Arms Race ◽  
Ideological Struggle ◽  
Nuclear Arms Race ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Nuclear Arms

In this article, the ''Cold War'' is understood as a situation where the relationship between the leading States is determined by ideological confrontation and, at the same time, the presence of nuclear weapons precludes the development of this confrontation into a large-scale armed conflict. Such a situation has developed in the years 1945–1989, during the first Cold War. We see that something similar is repeated in our time-with all the new nuances in the ideological struggle and in the nuclear arms race.

Investigating Diseases and Chemicals in COVID-19 Literature with Text Mining (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Karami ◽  
Brandon Bookstaver ◽  
Melissa Nolan
Keyword(s):  
Text Mining ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Topic Modeling ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Clinical Manifestations ◽  
International Health ◽  
Research Papers ◽  
Strategic Plans ◽  
Funding Agencies ◽  
The Relationship

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly all aspects of life and has posed significant threats to international health and the economy. Given the rapidly unfolding nature of the current pandemic, there is an urgent need to streamline literature synthesis of the growing scientific research to elucidate targeted solutions. While traditional systematic literature review studies provide valuable insights, these studies have restrictions, including analyzing a limited number of papers, having various biases, being time-consuming and labor-intensive, focusing on a few topics, incapable of trend analysis, and lack of data-driven tools. OBJECTIVE This study fills the mentioned restrictions in the literature and practice by analyzing two biomedical concepts, clinical manifestations of disease and therapeutic chemical compounds, with text mining methods in a corpus containing COVID-19 research papers and find associations between the two biomedical concepts. METHODS This research has collected papers representing COVID-19 pre-prints and peer-reviewed research published in 2020. We used frequency analysis to find highly frequent manifestations and therapeutic chemicals, representing the importance of the two biomedical concepts. This study also applied topic modeling to find the relationship between the two biomedical concepts. RESULTS We analyzed 9,298 research papers published through May 5, 2020 and found 3,645 disease-related and 2,434 chemical-related articles. The most frequent clinical manifestations of disease terminology included COVID-19, SARS, cancer, pneumonia, fever, and cough. The most frequent chemical-related terminology included Lopinavir, Ritonavir, Oxygen, Chloroquine, Remdesivir, and water. Topic modeling provided 25 categories showing relationships between our two overarching categories. These categories represent statistically significant associations between multiple aspects of each category, some connections of which were novel and not previously identified by the scientific community. CONCLUSIONS Appreciation of this context is vital due to the lack of a systematic large-scale literature review survey and the importance of fast literature review during the current COVID-19 pandemic for developing treatments. This study is beneficial to researchers for obtaining a macro-level picture of literature, to educators for knowing the scope of literature, to journals for exploring most discussed disease symptoms and pharmaceutical targets, and to policymakers and funding agencies for creating scientific strategic plans regarding COVID-19.

scholarly journals Strategic resources and smallholder performance at the bottom of the pyramid

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Olthaar ◽  
Wilfred Dolfsma ◽  
Clemens Lutz ◽  
Florian Noseleit
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Agricultural Economics ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Bottom Of The Pyramid ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Strategic Resources ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Resource Based Theory

In a competitive business environment at the Bottom of the Pyramid smallholders supplying global value chains may be thought to be at the whims of downstream large-scale players and local market forces, leaving no room for strategic entrepreneurial behavior. In such a context we test the relationship between the use of strategic resources and firm performance. We adopt the Resource Based Theory and show that seemingly homogenous smallholders deploy resources differently and, consequently, some do outperform others. We argue that the ‘resource-based theory’ results in a more fine-grained understanding of smallholder performance than approaches generally applied in agricultural economics. We develop a mixed-method approach that allows one to pinpoint relevant, industry-specific resources, and allows for empirical identification of the relative contribution of each resource to competitive advantage. The results show that proper use of quality labor, storage facilities, time of selling, and availability of animals are key capabilities.

scholarly journals Lack of an association between gallstone disease and bilirubin levels with risk of colorectal cancer: a Mendelian randomisation analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Culliford ◽  
Alex J. Cornish ◽  
Philip J. Law ◽  
Susan M. Farrington ◽  
Kimmo Palin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colorectal Cancer ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Gallstone Disease ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Mendelian Randomisation ◽  
Linear Relationships ◽  
Potential Risk Factors ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Circulating Levels

Abstract Background Epidemiological studies of the relationship between gallstone disease and circulating levels of bilirubin with risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) have been inconsistent. To address possible confounding and reverse causation, we examine the relationship between these potential risk factors and CRC using Mendelian randomisation (MR). Methods We used two-sample MR to examine the relationship between genetic liability to gallstone disease and circulating levels of bilirubin with CRC in 26,397 patients and 41,481 controls. We calculated the odds ratio per genetically predicted SD unit increase in log bilirubin levels (ORSD) for CRC and tested for a non-zero causal effect of gallstones on CRC. Sensitivity analysis was applied to identify violations of estimator assumptions. Results No association between either gallstone disease (P value = 0.60) or circulating levels of bilirubin (ORSD = 1.00, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.96–1.03, P value = 0.90) with CRC was shown. Conclusions Despite the large scale of this study, we found no evidence for a causal relationship between either circulating levels of bilirubin or gallstone disease with risk of developing CRC. While the magnitude of effect suggested by some observational studies can confidently be excluded, we cannot exclude the possibility of smaller effect sizes and non-linear relationships.

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