scholarly journals Considerations When Designing a Microbiome Study: Implications for Nursing Science

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine A. Maki ◽  
Ana F. Diallo ◽  
Mark B. Lockwood ◽  
Alexis T. Franks ◽  
Stefan J. Green ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Human Genetics ◽  
Nursing Science ◽  
Microbiome Analysis ◽  
Microbiome Research ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Complex Relationships ◽  
Study Designs

Nurse scientists play an important role in studying complex relationships among human genetics, environmental factors, and the microbiome, all of which can contribute to human health and disease. Therefore, it is essential that they have the tools necessary to execute a successful microbiome research study. The purpose of this article is to highlight important methodological factors for nurse scientists to consider when designing a microbiome study. In addition to considering factors that influence host-associated microbiomes (i.e., microorganisms associated with organisms such as humans, mice, and rats), this manuscript highlights study designs and methods for microbiome analysis. Exemplars are presented from nurse scientists who have incorporated microbiome methods into their program of research. This review is intended to be a resource to guide nursing-focused microbiome research and highlights how study of the microbiome can be incorporated to answer research questions.

scholarly journals Exploring the Microbiome Analysis and Visualization Landscape

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jannes Peeters ◽  
Olivier Thas ◽  
Ziv Shkedy ◽  
Leyla Kodalci ◽  
Connie Musisi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
Characterization Methods ◽  
Domain Experts ◽  
Microbiome Analysis ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Microbiome Research ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Microbiome Data

Research on the microbiome has boomed recently, which resulted in a wide range of tools, packages, and algorithms to analyze microbiome data. Here we investigate and map currently existing tools that can be used to perform visual analysis on the microbiome, and associate the including methods, visual representations and data features to the research objectives currently of interest in microbiome research. The analysis is based on a combination of a literature review and workshops including a group of domain experts. Both the reviewing process and workshops are based on domain characterization methods to facilitate communication and collaboration between researchers from different disciplines. We identify several research questions related to microbiomes, and describe how different analysis methods and visualizations help in tackling them.

scholarly journals BOARD INVITED REVIEW: The pig microbiota and the potential for harnessing the power of the microbiome to improve growth and health1

2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (9) ◽  
pp. 3741-3757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nirosh D Aluthge ◽  
Dana M Van Sambeek ◽  
Erin E Carney-Hinkle ◽  
Yanshuo S Li ◽  
Samodha C Fernando ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gastrointestinal Tract ◽  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Therapeutic Potential ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Microbial Colonization ◽  
Critical Importance ◽  
Specific Host ◽  
Microbiome Research ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
The Impact

Abstract A variety of microorganisms inhabit the gastrointestinal tract of animals including bacteria, archaea, fungi, protozoa, and viruses. Pioneers in gut microbiology have stressed the critical importance of diet:microbe interactions and how these interactions may contribute to health status. As scientists have overcome the limitations of culture-based microbiology, the importance of these interactions has become more clear even to the extent that the gut microbiota has emerged as an important immunologic and metabolic organ. Recent advances in metagenomics and metabolomics have helped scientists to demonstrate that interactions among the diet, the gut microbiota, and the host to have profound effects on animal health and disease. However, although scientists have now accumulated a great deal of data with respect to what organisms comprise the gastrointestinal landscape, there is a need to look more closely at causative effects of the microbiome. The objective of this review is intended to provide: 1) a review of what is currently known with respect to the dynamics of microbial colonization of the porcine gastrointestinal tract; 2) a review of the impact of nutrient:microbe effects on growth and health; 3) examples of the therapeutic potential of prebiotics, probiotics, and synbiotics; and 4) a discussion about what the future holds with respect to microbiome research opportunities and challenges. Taken together, by considering what is currently known in the four aforementioned areas, our overarching goal is to set the stage for narrowing the path towards discovering how the porcine gut microbiota (individually and collectively) may affect specific host phenotypes.

scholarly journals Gut Microbiota and Host Metabolism: From Proof of Concept to Therapeutic Intervention

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1302
Author(s):  
Patrice D. Cani ◽  
Emilie Moens de Hase ◽  
Matthias Van Hul
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Clinical Implementation ◽  
Science Area ◽  
Microbiome Research ◽  
Fast Pace ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Host Metabolism

The field of the gut microbiota is still a relatively young science area, yet many studies have already highlighted the translational potential of microbiome research in the context of human health and disease. However, like in many new fields, discoveries are occurring at a fast pace and have provided new hope for the development of novel clinical applications in many different medical conditions, not in the least in metabolic disorders. This rapid progress has left the field vulnerable to premature claims, misconceptions and criticism, both from within and outside the sector. Tackling these issues requires a broad collaborative effort within the research field and is only possible by acknowledging the difficulties and challenges that are faced and that are currently hindering clinical implementation. These issues include: the primarily descriptive nature of evidence, methodological concerns, disagreements in analysis techniques, lack of causality, and a rather limited molecular-based understanding of underlying mechanisms. In this review, we discuss various studies and models that helped identifying the microbiota as an attractive tool or target for developing various translational applications. We also discuss some of the limitations and try to clarify some common misconceptions that are still prevalent in the field.

scholarly journals Ambiguity in European seasonal comparative research: how decisions on modelling shape results on inequality in learning?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A. Helbling ◽  
Martin J. Tomasik ◽  
Urs Moser
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Research ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Social Disparities ◽  
Conditional Learning ◽  
Summer Setback ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Learning Progress ◽  
Modeling Strategy ◽  
Study Designs

AbstractSummer break study designs are used in educational research to disentangle school from non-school contributions to social performance gaps. The summer breaks provide a natural experimental setting that allows for the measurement of learning progress when school is not in session, which can help to capture the unfolding of social disparities in learning that are the result of non-school influences. Seasonal comparative research has a longer tradition in the U.S. than in Europe, where it is only at its beginning. As such, summer setback studies in Europe lack a common methodological framework, impairing the possibility to draw lines across studies because they differ in their inherent focus on social inequality in learning progress. This paper calls for greater consideration of the parameterization of “unconditional” or “conditional” learning progress in European seasonal comparative research. Different approaches to the modelling of learning progress answer different research questions. Based on real data and constructed examples, this paper outlines in an intuitive fashion the different dynamics in inequality that may be simultaneously present in the survey data and distinctly revealed depending on whether one or the other modeling strategy of learning progress is chosen. An awareness of the parameterization of learning progress is crucial for an accurate interpretation of the findings and their international comparison.

scholarly journals Impact of the Human Microbiome in Forensic Sciences: a Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (22) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel G. García ◽  
María D. Pérez-Cárceles ◽  
Eduardo Osuna ◽  
Isabel Legaz
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Forensic Science ◽  
Human Microbiome ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Postmortem Interval ◽  
Forensic Sciences ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Microbiome Analysis ◽  
Location Of Death ◽  
Microbiome Research

ABSTRACT Numerous studies relate differences in microbial communities to human health and disease; however, little is known about microbial changes that occur postmortem or the possible applications of microbiome analysis in the field of forensic science. The aim of this review was to study the microbiome and its applications in forensic sciences and to determine the main lines of investigation that are emerging, as well as its possible contributions to the forensic field. A systematic review of the human microbiome in relation to forensic science was carried out by following PRISMA guidelines. This study sheds light on the role of microbiome research in the postmortem interval during the process of decomposition, identifying death caused by drowning or sudden death, locating the geographical location of death, establishing a connection between the human microbiome and personal items, sexual contact, and the identification of individuals. Actinomycetaceae, Bacteroidaceae, Alcaligenaceae, and Bacilli play an important role in determining the postmortem interval. Aeromonas can be used to determine the cause of death, and Corynebacterium or Helicobacter pylori can be used to ascertain personal identity or geographical location. Several studies point to a promising future for microbiome analysis in the different fields of forensic science, opening up an important new area of research.

Exercise Physiology From 1980 to 2020: Application of the Natural Sciences

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Jane A. Kent ◽  
Kate L. Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Human Performance ◽  
Exercise Physiology ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
The Past ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Advanced Technologies ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Fundamental Research ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

The field of exercise physiology has enjoyed tremendous growth in the past 40 years. With its foundations in the natural sciences, it is an interdisciplinary field that is highly relevant to human performance and health. The focus of this review is on highlighting new approaches, knowledge, and opportunities that have emerged in exercise physiology over the last four decades. Key among these is the adoption of advanced technologies by exercise physiologists to address fundamental research questions, and the expansion of research topics to range from molecular to organismal, and population scales in order to clarify the underlying mechanisms and impact of physiological responses to exercise in health and disease. Collectively, these advances have ensured the position of the field as a partner in generating new knowledge across many scientific and health disciplines.

scholarly journals Quality Parameters Perception of Modern Methods of Construction Based on Wood in the Context of Sustainability

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jozef Švajlenka ◽  
Mária Kozlovská
Keyword(s):  
Research Study ◽  
Quality Parameters ◽  
Performance Parameters ◽  
Modern Methods ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Economic Survey ◽  
Wooden Structures ◽  
Residents Attitudes

Quality parameters are important for achieving sustainability and prosperity. A range of new and innovative construction systems is currently being developed, presented as modern methods of construction (MMC), which have an ambition to improve the performance parameters of buildings throughout their life cycle. As for the implementation of modern methods of construction in Slovakia, assembled buildings based on wood seem to be the most preferred construction system. In the study presented in the paper, we searched for already built and occupied wood-based family houses. The residents’ attitudes towards such a type of buildings in the context with declared design and qualitative parameters of efficiency and sustainability are overlooked. The methodology of the research study is based on a socio-economic survey. Due to the large amounts of data collected through a questionnaire, only selected parts of the survey results are evaluated and discussed in the paper. The presented parts of the survey focus on two research questions. The first is aimed at determining the preferred parameters of wooden structures with future users and the second is aimed at evaluating the quality of buildings in view of users of existing wooden buildings. An expectations survey aims the determine the attitudes of users during their use of wooden buildings as one of the innovative technologies, MMC, and their view of the quality of construction and comfort while living in them.

Gendered Innovations: A New Approach for Nursing Science

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacy T. Sims ◽  
Marcia L. Stefanick ◽  
Fredi Kronenberg ◽  
Nishma A. Sachedina ◽  
Londa Schiebinger
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Education ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Gender Analysis ◽  
Scientific Rigor ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Nursing Science ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Source Of Error ◽  
It Risk

Considerable sex and gender bias has been recognized within the field of medicine. Investigators have used sex and gender analysis to reevaluate studies and outcomes and generate new perspectives and new questions regarding differential diagnoses and treatments of men and women. Sex and gender analysis acts as an experimental control to provide critical scientific rigor; researchers who ignore it risk ignoring a possible source of error in past, current, and future science. In this article, the authors introduce some tools of sex and gender analysis and illustrate the concept of gendered innovations by demonstrating through examples how this type of analysis has profoundly enhanced human knowledge in health and disease. The authors also provide recommendations for incorporating the concepts of sex and gender analysis into nursing education and research.

Pregnant in prison the narrative intersection of motherhood and incarceration

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rebecca Rodriguez Carey
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Care ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Important Research ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Birth Stories ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The University ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
The U.S

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This research study explores the ways in which women who were pregnant and incarcerated discuss how their pregnancy experiences unfolded behind bars. This research is necessary both because this group has not received adequate attention from scholars and also because the number of women who are incarcerated has increased sharply in recent decades. By relying on in-depth interviews with women who were formerly pregnant and incarcerated in prisons across the U.S., this study aims to answer important research questions related to how women construct and account for 1) how they prepared for motherhood while imprisoned, 2) the quality of maternal care they received while incarcerated, and 3) how they felt about being separated from their infants after birth, in addition to how they approached reentry. The findings indicate that the women encountered stigma as a result of their unique entrance into motherhood because their birth stories are inextricably tied to the prison system. The women in this study were tasked with preparing for motherhood under less than ideal circumstances. They all fought difficult battles in their quest to access maternal care, and they all encountered barriers after the births of their infants, including upon release from prison.

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