Gut bioelectricity provides a path for bad bacteria to cause diseases

UC Davis Health researchers has discovered a novel bioelectrical mechanism pathogens like Salmonella use to find entry points in the gut lining that would allow them to pass and cause infection.

Getting to the Root of a Plant’s Success

Plants are powerful factories – they can turn basic ingredients like carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight into oxygen, sugars, and plant mass. But plants don’t do all of this work on their own. Below the soil’s surface, plant roots work with tiny microbes to gain access to the nutrients they need to survive.

Weight gain is kicked to the curb in antipsychotic drug breakthrough

World first research from the University of South Australia shows that antipsychotics can be reformulated with a strategically engineered coating that not only mitigates unwanted weight gain but also boosts serotonin levels by more than 250%.

Autism’s Missing Microbes May Influence Social Behavior by Protecting the Gut

For people with autism, constipation, diarrhea, and abdominal pain often go along with the social struggles and repetitive behaviors that define the condition. This has prompted many to wonder whether gastrointestinal (GI) problems arise due to autism’s behavioral or sensory features, or whether they might instead contribute to them.

Technique Restores Healthy Bacterial Balance in C-Section Babies

Newborns delivered by cesarean section who are swabbed with the vaginal fluid of their mothers after birth have beneficial bacteria restored to their skin surface and stools, according to a new study. In the first randomized study of its kind, published in the science journal mBio, a team of researchers found the process, known as vaginal seeding, definitively engrafted new strains of maternal bacteria in the babies’ bodies.

Gene Expression in Kidneys Is Regulated by the Microbiome in Sex- and Tissue-specific Ways

Article title: Commensal microbiota regulate renal gene expression in a sex-specific manner Authors: Brittni N. Moore and Jennifer L. Pluznick From the authors: “This report demonstrates that renal gene expression is modulated by the microbiome in a sex- and tissue-specific…

CHOP Researchers Show that IgA Fine Tunes the Body’s Interactions with Microbes

A new study by researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has demonstrated that IgA acts as a “tuner” that regulates the number of microbes the body sees every day, restraining the systemic immune response to these commensal microbes and limiting the development of systemic immune dysregulation.

New live bacterial product for stubborn superbug improves quality of life

Kevin Garey, professor of pharmacy practice and translational research at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy is reporting the first well-controlled study to demonstrate that a microbiome therapeutic, SER-109, is associated with significant quality of life improvement in patients with the debilitating recurrent infection and disease caused by Clostridium difficile (or C. diff).

Common Prebiotic Fiber Mitigates Harm of High-salt Diet in Rats

New research in rats finds a diet high in the fiber inulin offered a protective effect against the damage of a high-salt diet. The research will be presented this week at the American Physiological Society and American Society for Nephrology Control of Renal Function in Health and Disease conference

Children’s dislike of cauliflower, broccoli could be written in their microbiome

Researchers reporting in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have found that levels of volatile, sulfurous compounds are similar in parent-child pairs, suggesting shared oral microbiomes. They also found that high levels cause children to dislike the vegetables.

Fungi That Live in the Gut Influence Health and Disease

Bacteria’s role in gut health has received a lot of attention in recent years. But new research publishing in Nature shows that fungi—another microorganism that lives within us—may be equally important in health and disease. Fungi thrive in the healthy gut, but when interactions with the immune system are off-balance, they cause intestinal damage that may contribute to gastrointestinal disease. Additional investigation demonstrate that vaccines could be developed as therapeutics to improve gut health.

The Hidden Reason Children Born by C-Section Are More Likely to Develop Asthma

Researchers at Rutgers University, the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood and the University of Copenhagen have described for the first time how delivery by caesarean section interferes with a baby’s ability to obtain beneficial germs from the mother’s microbiome, and how this can lead to early childhood asthma.

High-fat diet with antibiotic use linked to gut inflammation

UC Davis researchers have found that combining a Western-style high-fat diet with antibiotic use significantly increases the risk of developing pre- inflammatory bowel disease. This combination shuts down the mitochondria in cells of the colon lining, leading to gut inflammation. Mesalazine can help restart the mitochondria and treat pre-IBD condition.

Memorial Sloan Kettering – Hackensack Meridian Health Partnership Announces Funding for Inaugural Immunology Research Collaboration Projects

The Memorial Sloan Kettering – Hackensack Meridian Health Partnership has formed an Immunology Research Collaboration, through which researchers can apply for funding to support innovative investigations to explore the power of the immune system and ways it may be harnessed to fight cancer. Three researchers’ projects were selected in 2020 for funding support.