Sugar-rich larval diet promotes lower adult pathogen load and higher survival after infection in a polyphagous fly

Nutrition is a central factor influencing immunity and resistance to infection, but the extent to which nutrition during development affects adult responses to infections is poorly understood. Our study investigated how the nutritional composition of the larval diet affects the survival, pathogen load, and food intake of adult fruit flies, Bactrocera tryoni, after bacterial septic infection. We found a sex-specific effect of larval diet composition on survival post-infection: survival rate was higher and bacterial load was lower for infected females fed sugar-rich larval diet compared with females fed protein-rich larval diet, an effect that was absent in males. Both males and females were heavier when fed a balanced larval diet compared to protein- or sugar-rich diet, while body lipid reserves were higher in the sugar-rich larval diet compared with other diets. Body protein reserve was lower for sugar-rich larval diets compared to other diets in males, but not females. Both females and males shifted their nutrient intake to ingest a sugar-rich diet when infected compared with sham-infected flies without any effect of the larval diet, suggesting that sugar-rich diets can be beneficial to fight off bacterial infection. Overall, our findings show that nutrition during early life can shape individual fitness in adulthood.

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Larval Diet Abundance Influences Size and Composition of the Midgut Microbiota of Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes

Frontiers in Microbiology ◽

10.3389/fmicb.2021.645362 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Hannah J. MacLeod ◽

George Dimopoulos ◽

Sarah M. Short

Keyword(s):

Aedes Aegypti ◽

Bacterial Load ◽

Amplicon Sequencing ◽

Larval Diet ◽

Microbiota Composition ◽

Vector Species ◽

Larval Food ◽

Disease Vector ◽

16S Amplicon Sequencing ◽

The Impact

The midgut microbiota of the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti impacts pathogen susceptibility and transmission by this important vector species. However, factors influencing the composition and size of the microbiome in mosquitoes are poorly understood. We investigated the impact of larval diet abundance during development on the composition and size of the larval and adult microbiota by rearing Aedes aegypti under four larval food regimens, ranging from nutrient deprivation to nutrient excess. We assessed the persistent impacts of larval diet availability on the microbiota of the larval breeding water, larval mosquitoes, and adult mosquitoes under sugar and blood fed conditions using qPCR and high-throughput 16S amplicon sequencing to determine bacterial load and microbiota composition. Bacterial loads in breeding water increased with increasing larval diet. Larvae reared with the lowest diet abundance had significantly fewer bacteria than larvae from two higher diet treatments, but not from the highest diet abundance. Adults from the lowest diet abundance treatment had significantly fewer bacteria in their midguts compared to all higher diet abundance treatments. Larval diet amount also had a significant impact on microbiota composition, primarily within larval breeding water and larvae. Increasing diet correlated with increased relative levels of Enterobacteriaceae and Flavobacteriaceae and decreased relative levels of Sphingomonadaceae. Multiple individual OTUs were significantly impacted by diet including one mapping to the genus Cedecea, which increased with higher diet amounts. This was consistent across all sample types, including sugar fed and blood fed adults. Taken together, these data suggest that availability of diet during development can cause lasting shifts in the size and composition of the microbiota in the disease vector Aedes aegypti.

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Nutritional Composition of Edible Insects Consumed in Africa: A Systematic Review

Nutrients ◽

10.3390/nu12092786 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 2786

Author(s):

Zabentungwa T. Hlongwane ◽

Rob Slotow ◽

Thinandavha C. Munyai

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Nutritional Composition ◽

Edible Insects ◽

Sustainable Food ◽

Food Shortages ◽

Rich Natural Resource ◽

Protein Rich ◽

Year 2000 ◽

Excellent Source

Edible insects are an important protein rich natural resource that can contribute to resilient food security. Edible insects not only play an important role in traditional diets, but are also an excellent source of protein in traditional dishes in Africa. We systematically searched Web-of-Science and Google Scholar from year 2000–2019 for studies on the consumption of insects and their nutritional composition in Africa, resulting in 98 eligible papers, listing 212 edible insect species from eight orders. These insects were rich in protein, fats, and fibre. The highest protein content was reported for Lepidoptera (range: 20–80%). Coleoptera had the highest carbohydrate content (7–54%), while Lepidoptera had the highest fat content (10–50%). Considering the excellent source of nutrition, and potential socio-economic benefits, from edible insects, they can contribute strongly to improved food security, and rural development in developing countries. In addition, edible insects can be used as a sustainable food source to combat food shortages in the future, for example, providing resilience during times of drought or other climate stressors.

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Level of cottonseed meal but not frequency of feeding regulates whole-body protein synthesis and growth of sheep fed a roughage diet

Animal Production Science ◽

10.1071/an09066 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 49 (11) ◽

pp. 1023

Author(s):

L. P. Kahn ◽

Somu B. N. Rao ◽

J. V. Nolan

Keyword(s):

Growth Rate ◽

Protein Synthesis ◽

Cottonseed Meal ◽

Whole Body ◽

Body Protein ◽

Protein Supplements ◽

Protein Retention ◽

Medium Quality ◽

Protein Rich

An incomplete factorial experiment was conducted to determine the effect of level and frequency of feeding of a protein-rich supplement on the growth and whole-body protein metabolism of young sheep fed a medium quality roughage diet. Cottonseed meal (CSM) was used as the protein supplement and provided at 0, 0.2 or 0.4% liveweight per day at a frequency of 1 or 3 times each week and chopped oaten (0.95) and lucerne (0.05) hay was the roughage. Growth rate more than doubled (P < 0.01) following provision of CSM but there was no advantage of feeding CSM at the highest level. Frequency of feeding CSM did not alter growth rate. Intake of hay was little affected by CSM and as a consequence the food conversion ratio declined (P < 0.01) favourably from 22 : 1 (nil CSM) to 9 : 1 as a result of supplementation. The rate of whole-body protein synthesis increased (P < 0.01) in response to the highest level of CSM with no apparent change in protein degradation, underpinning an increase (P < 0.01) in protein retention. These results highlight the role of protein supplements for promoting growth of young sheep on roughage diets and indicate that these supplements need to be provided only once a week.

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Sex-specific transcriptomic responses to changes in the nutritional environment

10.1101/595686 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

M. Florencia Camus ◽

Matthew D.W. Piper ◽

Max Reuter

Keyword(s):

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Nutrient Sensing ◽

Male And Female ◽

Reproductive Genes ◽

Metabolic Genes ◽

Nutritional Environment ◽

Males And Females ◽

Dietary Variation ◽

Protein Rich ◽

Female Responses

AbstractMales and females typically pursue divergent reproductive strategies and accordingly require different dietary compositions to maximise their fitness. Here we move from identifying sex-specific optimal diets to understanding the molecular mechanisms that underlie male and female responses to dietary variation. We examine male and female gene expression on male-optimal (carbohydrate-rich) and female-optimal (protein-rich) diets. We find that the sexes share a large core of metabolic genes that are concordantly regulated in response to dietary composition. However, we also observe smaller sets of genes with divergent and opposing regulation, most notably in reproductive genes which are over-expressed on each sex’s optimal diet. Our results suggest that nutrient sensing output emanating from a shared metabolic machinery are reversed in males and females, leading to opposing diet-dependent regulation of reproduction in males and females. Further analysis and experiments suggest that this reverse regulation occurs within the IIS/TOR network.

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Reporting and misreporting of sex differences in the biological sciences

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.70817 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

Author(s):

Yesenia Garcia-Sifuentes ◽

Donna L Maney

Keyword(s):

Biological Sciences ◽

Sex Differences ◽

Biomedical Research ◽

Specific Effect ◽

National Institutes Of Health ◽

Specific Effects ◽

Biological Variable ◽

Males And Females ◽

Increasing Risk ◽

Do So

As part of an initiative to improve rigor and reproducibility in biomedical research, the U.S. National Institutes of Health now requires the consideration of sex as a biological variable in preclinical studies. This new policy has been interpreted by some as a call to compare males and females with each other. Researchers testing for sex differences may not be trained to do so, however, increasing risk for misinterpretation of results. Using a list of recently published articles curated by Woitowich et al. (eLife, 2020; 9:e56344), we examined reports of sex differences and non-differences across nine biological disciplines. Sex differences were claimed in the majority of the 147 articles we analyzed; however, statistical evidence supporting those differences was often missing. For example, when a sex-specific effect of a manipulation was claimed, authors usually had not tested statistically whether females and males responded differently. Thus, sex-specific effects may be over-reported. In contrast, we also encountered practices that could mask sex differences, such as pooling the sexes without first testing for a difference. Our findings support the need for continuing efforts to train researchers how to test for and report sex differences in order to promote rigor and reproducibility in biomedical research.

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Whole-body protein turnover in humans fed a soy protein-rich vegetable diet

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition ◽

10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600399 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 51 (5) ◽

pp. 308-311 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

N Gausserès ◽

I Catala ◽

S Mahé ◽

C Luengo ◽

F Bornet ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soy Protein ◽

Protein Turnover ◽

Whole Body ◽

Body Protein ◽

Vegetable Diet ◽

Protein Rich

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Patterns of Gonadic Development and Operational Sex Ratio Promote Promiscuity of Euxesta bilimeki (Diptera:Ulidiidae)

Annals of the Entomological Society of America ◽

10.1093/aesa/saaa043 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Christian L Rodríguez-Enríquez ◽

Diana Pérez-Staples ◽

Oscar Rios-Cardenas ◽

Juan Rull

Keyword(s):

Sex Ratio ◽

Protein Content ◽

Operational Sex Ratio ◽

Mating Frequency ◽

Body Protein ◽

Protein Ingestion ◽

Full Complement ◽

Individual Mating ◽

Males And Females ◽

Testes Size

Abstract Promiscuous mating systems are widely distributed among animals and can be promoted by operational sex ratios (number of receptive adults; OSR). In populations where OSR is not biased towards any sex, the possibility that males and females mate with several individuals increases. For both sexes to synchronize in time and space for reproduction, adults should possess or simultaneously acquire nutrients required to reach sexual maturity. Among synovigenic (without a full complement of eggs at eclosion) species, nutrient acquisition, protein in particular, may influence the OSR. In the Agave fly Euxesta bilimeki (Hendel) (Diptera: Ulidiidae), both sexes engage in multiple mating and females frequently expel all or part of the ejaculate. Here, we assessed the effect of protein intake on gonadic development, and estimated OSR from field-collected individuals. Body protein content was compared between wild and laboratory individuals with access to different diets, and mating frequency and individual mating rate were analyzed for cohorts at a 1:1 sex ratio. Both sexes required protein ingestion for gonadic development, but there were no differences in protein content between field-collected males and males fed protein and sugar in the laboratory, despite the fact that males assigned 9.3% of their corporal weight to testicles. Euxesta bilimeki is a promiscuous species where both males and females mate multiply with one or several individuals in short periods of time; thus, large testes size may be linked to the need of voluminous ejaculate production, and might be further exacerbated by female ejaculate expulsion.

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P4401Depressive symptomatology, sex and 10-year cardiovascular disease; revealing the mediation ranking of lifestyle, sociodemographic and clinical factors in primary and secondary prevention spectrum

European Heart Journal ◽

10.1093/eurheartj/ehz745.0806 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽

Author(s):

M Kouvari ◽

D B Panagiotakos ◽

C Chrysohoou ◽

V Notara ◽

E Georgousopoulou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cardiovascular Disease ◽

Confidence Interval ◽

Depressive Symptomatology ◽

Depression Scale ◽

Specific Effect ◽

Mediating Effect ◽

Clinical Factors ◽

Cox Regression Analysis ◽

Coronary Syndrome ◽

Males And Females

Abstract Background/Introduction Brain and heart interplay is highly discussed in healthy yet even more in cardiac population with inconclusive evidence regarding the sex-related interactions. Purpose The sex-specific effect of depressive symptomatology (DS) on 10-year first and recurrent cardiovascular disease (CVD) events was evaluated. Methods The samples of two cohorts were used; n=845 free of CVD males and females (2002–2012) and n=2,172 males and females with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) (2004–2014) with baseline psychological assessments (Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale and Centre of Epidemiological Studies-Depressive symptoms scale, respectively) were used. The percentage of excess mediated risk (PEMR) and the corresponding 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI) were used to evaluate the mediating effect of various factors on the examined association. Results ACS as well as free-of-CVD females scored significantly higher for DS. Males exceeded females against first (19.7% vs. 11.7%, p<0.001) and subsequent CVD events (38.8% vs. 32.9%, p=0.016) while in participants with DS a male-to-female first and recurrent CVD event rate ratio below -1- was noticed. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that DS remained an independent aggravating factor for first (Hazard Ratio (HR) = 2.72, 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI) 1.50, 9.12, p=0.01) and recurrent (HR=1.31, 95% CI 1.01, 1.69, p<0.001) CVD events only in females. Mediation analysis in females revealed that 35% (23%, 44%) of excess first-CVD-event risk of DS was attributed to lifestyle, sociodemographic, clinical, anthropometric factors as well as lipid and inflammatory markers. The respective number for recurrent events was 46% (23%, 53%). In free-of-CVD females, factors mostly accounted for excess DS risk, close to the overall, were C-reactive protein [38% (31%, 51%)], waist-to-hip ratio [35% (31%, 42%)] and diabetes [32% (27%, 36%)]. Among lipid markers, the biggest mediating effect was observed for high density lipoprotein [28% (25%, 32%)] and triglycerides [26% (22%, 33%)]. As for non-clinical factors, financial status [23% (15%, 31%)] presented the biggest mediating effect followed by educational status, adherence to Mediterranean diet and sleep duration. In ACS females, diabetes [40% (27%, 51%)] and adherence to medication [40% (29%, 53%)] had the biggest mediating effect followed by hypertension [38% (27%, 48%)]. Patients' CVD history and discharge status, presented a very low mediating effect size (∼10%). Among the examined lifestyle factors, current smoking was revealed the strongest mediator, accounting for 33% (19%, 39%) of DS aggravating effect. Anthropometric parameters in terms of body mass index seemed to modestly mediate the examined association (∼29%). Conclusions The present work augments prior evidence that psychological stressors possess important drivers of CVD onset and progression mainly in females while it gives rise to research towards unidentified paths behind this claim. Acknowledgement/Funding The ATTICA study is supported by research grants from the Hellenic Cardiology Society [HCS2002] and the Hellenic Atherosclerosis Society [HAS2003].

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A Study on Hand Contamination and Hand Washing Practices among Medical Students

ISRN Public Health ◽

10.5402/2012/251483 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2012 ◽

pp. 1-5 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Watutantrige Ranjit De Alwis ◽

Premalatha Pakirisamy ◽

Lum Wai San ◽

Evelyn Chen Xiaofen

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Bacterial Load ◽

Bacterial Count ◽

Male Students ◽

Dominant Hand ◽

Hygiene Practices ◽

Before And After ◽

Males And Females ◽

The Mean ◽

Transmit Disease

Harmful microorganisms can be transferred to hands from contaminated surfaces people come into contact in daily life. Contaminated hands can transmit disease to one self as well as to others. A study was done to determine the extent to which hand hygiene practices and toilet door knobs contribute to the bacterial load of hands of toilet users in a medical school. Swabs were taken from a randomly selected sample of 60 medical students for bacterial count from both hands before and after toilet use and from door knobs of six toilets. Only 40 (66.7%) claimed they washed hands with soap. Significantly more females (83%) used soap to wash hands compared to males (50%). Bacterial load in the hands of both males and females showed an increase after toilet use. The increase was significant among male students. The dominant hand had a significantly higher bacterial load than the other. The mean bacterial load of male toilet door knobs (12 CFU/cm2) were significantly higher than of female toilet door knobs (2.5 CFU/cm2) (P<0.05). Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from the hands of 21 students. Toilets and washrooms should be designed so as to eliminate the sources of contamination of the hands.

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Evaluation of Nutritional Composition of Pure Filamentous Fungal Biomass as a Novel Ingredient for Fish Feed

Fermentation ◽

10.3390/fermentation7030152 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 152

Author(s):

Sajjad Karimi ◽

Nasrollah Mahboobi Soofiani ◽

Amir Mahboubi ◽

Jorge A. Ferreira ◽

Torbjörn Lundh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fatty Acids ◽

Fungal Biomass ◽

Fish Meal ◽

Saturated Fatty Acids ◽

Essential Amino Acids ◽

Nutritional Composition ◽

Submerged Cultivation ◽

Fish Feed ◽

Biomass Yields ◽

Protein Rich

The rapid growth of aquaculture and the lack of fish meal demand new sustainable ingredients. Although fungal biomass is found to be a promising sustainable fish feed supplementation candidate, the characteristics of this protein-rich source are closely influenced by the quality of the applied growth medium. In this work, the nutritional properties of pure filamentous fungal biomass provided from the cultivation of Aspergillus oryzae, Neurospora intermedia and Rhzopus oryzae were evaluated to assess their potential as alternative novel protein sources in fish feed. In this regard, fungal biomass yields of up to 0.19 ± 0.005 (g dry biomass/g substrate glucose) were obtained during submerged cultivation of fungal strains. The pure fungal biomass acquired could contain significant amounts of protein up to 62.2 ± 1.2% (w/w). The obtained protein had a high quality with notable inclusion of essential amino acids such as lysine, arginine, methionine and threonine with comparable concentrations to those of fish meal. Fungal biomass is mainly considered as protein source, however, entitlement of 6.9 ± 0.5, 4.0 ± 0.7 and 17.2 ± 1.1% (w/w) of lipids and ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) to saturated fatty acids (SFA) of 1.37:1, 1.74:1 and 1.47:1 in A. oryzae, N. intermedia and R. oryzae, respectively, signal health benefits for the fish. Considering the results, protein-rich pure fungal biomass with amino acid composition is greatly compatible with fish meal, and contains essential nutrients such as fatty acids and minerals. This pure biomass constitutes a promising sustainable alternative supplement to be introduced in fish feed industry.

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