Publications by authors named "Curtis Tilves"

Objective: To examine gut microbiota diversity, composition and metabolites in relation to overall mass (OM), fat mass (FM) and lean soft tissue mass (LSTM) measured by dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in 5-year-old children.

Methods: Mothers of the Gen3G cohort were enrolled prenatally in 2010-2013 in Quebec, Canada; 153 children from the cohort had data on gut microbiota and DXA scans at 5-6.4 years of age, and 140 also had plasma metabolite data.

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Objective: Gut microbes and microbe-dependent metabolites (eg, tryptophan-kynurenine-serotonin pathway metabolites) have been linked to systemic inflammation, but the microbiota-metabolite-inflammation axis remains uncharacterised in children. Here we investigated whether gut microbiota features and circulating metabolites (both microbe-dependent and non-microbe-dependent metabolites) associated with circulating inflammation markers in children.

Methods: We studied children from the prospective Gen3G birth cohort who had data on untargeted plasma metabolome (n=321 children; Metabolon platform), gut microbiota (n=147; 16S rRNA sequencing), and inflammation markers (plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, and tumour necrosis factor-α) measured at 5-7 years.

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Article Synopsis
  • Japan has the lowest COPD mortality rates globally, despite higher smoking rates among men compared to the US.
  • A study analyzed smoking trends, COPD mortality, and prevalence between Japan and the US from the 1980s to the 2010s.
  • Results indicate that Japan has significantly lower COPD mortality and prevalence than the US, even with higher smoking rates, suggesting other factors may influence these outcomes.
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Exposing C-section infants to the maternal vaginal microbiome, coined "vaginal seeding", partially restores microbial colonization. However, whether vaginal seeding decreases metabolic disease risk is unknown. Therefore, we assessed the effect of vaginal seeding of human infants on adiposity in a murine model.

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  • The study investigates the relationship between gut microbiome diversity and fat distribution, particularly visceral fat, in older African Caribbean men.
  • Lower diversity in gut bacteria correlates with higher levels of visceral fat and body mass index (BMI).
  • The findings suggest that specific gut microbiota types are linked to both overall body fat and harmful fat accumulation, indicating potential metabolic implications for this population.
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Background: Mounting evidence indicates that although some plant-based diets are healthful, others are not. Changes in the gut microbiome and microbiome-dependent metabolites, such as trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), may explain differential health effects of plant-based diets. However, human data are sparse on whether qualitatively distinct types of plant-based diets differentially affect gut microbiome diversity, composition, particularly at the species level, and/or metabolites.

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  • The study investigates the link between plastic bottle feeding and various health indicators in infants during their first year of life.
  • It involved 442 infants from the Nurture birth cohort, analyzing the impact of plastic bottle feeding frequency at 3 months on growth metrics and microbiota composition at 12 months.
  • Results showed that while plastic bottle feeding frequency affected fecal microbiota diversity and specific short-chain fatty acid levels, it did not lead to significant differences in overall growth measures, except for a slight impact on length-for-age.
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Objective: The aim of this study was to examine associations of gut microbiome diversity and composition with directly measured regional fat distribution, including central fat, in a large community-based cohort.

Methods: A cross-sectional investigation was conducted in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (N = 815, 55.2% female, 65.

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  • This study explores the effects of plastic bottle feeding on the gut microbiota and growth of infants in their first year of life, revealing significant associations.
  • Infants fed with plastic bottles less frequently showed lower diversity in fecal microbiota and reduced levels of propionic acid, both at three months.
  • Additionally, less frequent bottle use negatively affected the length-for-age growth metric by 12 months, suggesting that plastic bottle exposure could influence both microbiome development and overall growth in infants.
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Background: The increasing trend of obesity prevalence is a serious health warning for people worldwide. Evaluation of anthropometric measures is essential for explaining individual's health status. Studies have investigated the effect of diet on inflammation.

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Background: Several individual studies from specific countries have reported rising numbers of pediatric COVID-19 cases with inconsistent reports on the clinical symptoms including respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms as well as diverse reports on the mean age and household exposure in children. The epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 in children are not fully understood, hence, comprehensive meta-analyses are needed to provide a better understanding of these characteristics.

Methods: This review was conducted in Medline, Scopus, Cochrane library, Embase, Web of Science, and published reports on COVID-19 in children.

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Background Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are microbially derived end products of dietary fiber fermentation. The SCFA butyrate reduces blood pressure (BP) in mouse models. The association of SCFAs, including butyrate, with BP in humans is unclear, due in part to predominantly cross-sectional analyses and different biospecimens (blood versus fecal) for SCFA measurement.

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Background/objectives: Lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP), a biomarker of gut barrier permeability to lipopolysaccharides, is higher in adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes. Behavioral weight loss and metformin have distinct effects on the gut microbiome, but their impact on gut permeability to lipopolysaccharides is unknown. This study's objective was to determine the effects of a behavioral weight-loss intervention or metformin treatment on plasma LBP.

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Background: Regional body compositions are differentially associated with cardiometabolic risk factors. Simultaneous inclusion of both upper and lower body composition predictors in models is not often done, and studies which do include both measures (1) tend to exclude some tissue(s) of potential metabolic relevance, and (2) have used study populations with underrepresentation of individuals with African ancestries. Further, most body composition analyses do not employ compositional data analytic approaches, which may result in spurious associations.

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Objective: Decreased radiodensity of adipose tissue (AT) located in the visceral AT (VAT), subcutaneous AT (SAT), and intermuscular AT (IMAT) abdominal depots is associated with hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and insulin resistance independent of AT volumes. These associations were sought in African-ancestry men, who have higher risk for type 2 diabetes and have been underrepresented in previous studies.

Methods: This cross-sectional analysis included 505 nondiabetic men of African-Caribbean ancestry (median age: 61 years; median BMI: 26.

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Objective: Cross-sectional studies suggest that lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP) may be associated with obesity and metabolic disorders. However, prospective studies examining LBP are lacking. This prospective study investigated the association between LBP and metabolic abnormalities in 580 African ancestry men (mean age, 59.

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