Human Microbiome and Its Medical Applications

The commensal microbiome is essential for human health and is involved in many processes in the human body, such as the metabolism process and immune system activation. Emerging evidence implies that specific changes in the microbiome participate in the development of various diseases, including diabetes, liver diseases, tumors, and pathogen infections. Thus, intervention on the microbiome is becoming a novel and effective method to treat such diseases. Synthetic biology empowers researchers to create strains with unique and complex functions, making the use of engineered microbes for clinical applications attainable. The aim of this review is to summarize recent advances about the roles of the microbiome in certain diseases and the underlying mechanisms, as well as the use of engineered microbes in the prevention, detection, and treatment of various diseases.

Being in a crowd bonds people via physiological synchrony

Collective events can generate intense emotions, shape group identities, and forge strong bonds. Do these effects extend to remote participation, and what are the psychological mechanisms underpinning their social power? We monitored psycho-physiological activity among groups of basketball fans who either attended games in-person (in a stadium) or watched games live on television in small groups. In-person attendance was associated with greater synchronicity in autonomic nervous system activation at the group level, which resulted in more transformative experiences and contributed to stronger identity fusion. Our findings suggest that the social effects of sports depend substantially on the inter-personal dynamics unfolding among fans, rather than being prompted simply by watching the game itself. Given the increasing prevalence of virtual experiences, this has potentially wide-reaching implications for many domains of collective human interaction.

High-Risk NAFLD among Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Frequency and Effect on Disease Severity

Background Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal (GI) disease that can change a patient's quality of life and impair their daily activities. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), on the other hand, has become a widespread condition as the global obesity rates rises. The prevalence of NAFLD has reached up to 25% of the adolescent population. The etiology of both diseases is still not clearly understood. The mechanism linking the two seemingly similar diseases could be immune system activation and tissue inflammation; thus, the goal of our study was to see if there was a common link between them and to examine NAFLD prevalence and severity in IBS patients. Our study included 150 patients who have symptoms of IBS with different degrees of severity. IBS was diagnosed according to modified ROME IV criteria. Patients were examined to see if they had NAFLD based on abdominal ultrasonography and NAFLD fibrosis score calculation. Results Our current study showed that regarding evaluating the association of IBS with NAFLD, there was a highly statistically significant association between both diseases. Furthermore, there was a high statistical significant association between higher grades of NAFLD and lipid profile parameters. Conclusion Patients with IBS had a higher frequency of NAFLD. In addition, a significant association was noted between IBS severity and increased NAFLD grades.

Plant immunity inducers: from discovery to agricultural application

While conventional chemical fungicides directly eliminate pathogens, plant immunity inducers activate or prime plant immunity. In recent years, considerable progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms of immune regulation in plants. The development and application of plant immunity inducers based on the principles of plant immunity represent a new field in plant protection research. In this review, we describe the mechanisms of plant immunity inducers in terms of plant immune system activation, summarize the various classes of reported plant immunity inducers (proteins, oligosaccharides, chemicals, and lipids), and review methods for the identification or synthesis of plant immunity inducers. The current situation, new strategies, and future prospects in the development and application of plant immunity inducers are also discussed.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Vesicles Induce a Transcriptional Shift in Arabidopsis Towards Immune System Activation Leading to Suppression of Pathogen Growth in Planta

Gram negative bacteria form spherical blebs on their cell periphery, which later dissociate and released into the surrounding environment. Previous studies have shown that these nano scale structures, derived primarily from the bacterial outer membrane and are termed outer membrane vesicles (OMVs), induce typical immune outputs in both mammals and plants. On the other hand, these same structures have been shown to promote infection and disease. To better understand the broad transcriptional change plants undergo following exposure to OMVs, we treated Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) seedlings with OMVs purified from the Gram-negative plant pathogenic bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris and performed RNA-seq analysis on OMV- and mock-treated samples at 2, 6 and 24 h post challenge. We found that the most pronounced transcriptional shift occurred in the first two time points, as was reflected by both the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and the average fold change. Gene ontology enrichment analysis revealed that OMVs induce a major transcriptional shift in Arabidopsis towards immune system activation, upregulating a multitude of immune-related pathways including a variety of immune receptors and transcriptional factors. Comparing Arabidopsis response to OMVs and to single purified elicitors, revealed that while OMVs induce a similar suite of genes and pathways as single elicitors, some differential pathways activated by OMVs were detected including response to drug and apoptosis, which may indicate exposure to toxic compounds via OMV. To examine whether the observed transcriptional shift in Arabidopsis leads to an effective immune response, plants were pretreated with OMVs and then inoculated with a bacterial pathogen. OMV-mediated priming led to a significant reduction in bacterial titer in inoculated leaves two days following inoculation. Mutations in the elongation factor receptor (EFR), flagellin receptor (FLS2), or the brassinosteroid-insensitive 1-associated kinase (BAK1) receptor, did not significantly affect OMV-priming. All together these results show that OMV induce a broad transcriptional shift in Arabidopsis leading to upregulation of multiple immune pathways, and that this transcriptional change is reflected in the ability to better resist bacterial infection.

281 Home delivery of the communicator for remote monitoring of cardiac implantable devices: a multicentre experience during the COVID-19 lockdown

Aims During the COVID-19 pandemic in-person visits for patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices should be replaced by remote monitoring (RM), in order to prevent viral transmission. A direct home-delivery service of the RM communicator has been implemented at 49 Italian arrhythmia centres. Methods and results According to individual patient preference or the organizational decision of the centre, patients were assigned to the home-delivery group or the standard in-clinic delivery group. In the former case, patients received telephone training on the activation process and use of the communicator. In June 2020, the centres were asked to reply to an ad hoc questionnaire to describe and evaluate their experience in the previous 3 months. RM was activated in 1324 patients: 821 (62%) received the communicator at home and the communicator was activated remotely. Activation required one additional call in 49% of cases, and the median time needed to complete the activation process was 15 min (25th–75th percentile: 10–20). 753 (92%) patients were able to complete the correct activation of the system. At the time when the questionnaire was completed, 743 (90%) communicators were regularly transmitting data. The service was generally deemed useful (96% of respondents) in facilitating the activation of RM during the COVID-19 pandemic and possibly beyond. Conclusions Home delivery of the communicator proved to be a successful approach to system activation, and received positive feedback from clinicians. The increased use of a RM protocol will reduce risks for both providers and patients, while maintaining high-quality care.

Is Fecal Calprotectin an Applicable Biomarker of Gut Immune System Activation in Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy? – A Pilot Study

Introduction: Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is a complex autoimmune disease caused by dysregulated response to not fully recognized antigens. Some association between CIDP and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been reported, but the exact pathophysiological links of these disorders are not well understood.Aim of the Study: To evaluate fecal calprotectin as a biomarker of gut inflammation in CIDP patients without IBD.Methods: Fifteen patients with CIDP and 15 healthy controls were included in the study. The CIDP diagnosis was based on the EFNS/PNS criteria. The occurrence of bowel symptoms was assessed based on a questionnaire. The quantitative evaluation of fecal calprotectin level was performed by the ELISA test.Results: The fecal calprotectin level (μg/g) expressed as median along with the lower and upper quartiles [25Q–75Q] was significantly higher in CIDP patients compared to the controls: 26.6 [17.5–109.0] vs 15.6 [7.1–24.1], p = 0.0066. Abnormal fecal calprotectin level (>50 μg/g) was found in 33% of all CIDP patients and in none of the control subjects. The patients with abnormal fecal calprotectin level did not differ from the rest of the study group regarding the neurological status. The most common bowel symptoms reported by CIDP patients included constipation (33%), feeling of incomplete evacuation (33%), bloating (27%), and alternating bowel movement pattern (27%).Conclusion: In one-third of CIDP patients the signs of gut immune system activation have been observed. This finding may be associated with CIDP pathogenesis and induction of autoimmune response as well as concomitant dysautonomia with gastrointestinal symptoms.