Predicting Bacterial Vaginosis Development using Artificial Neural Networks.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a dysbiosis of the vaginal microbiome, characterized by the depletion of protective spp. and overgrowth of anaerobes. Artificial neural network (ANN) modeling of vaginal microbial communities offers an opportunity for early detection of incident BV (iBV).

Key bacterial vaginosis-associated bacteria influence each other's growth in biofilms in rich media and media simulating vaginal tract secretions.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a very common gynaecologic condition affecting women of reproductive age worldwide. BV is characterized by a depletion of lactic acid-producing species and an increase in strict and facultative anaerobic bacteria that develop a polymicrobial biofilm on the vaginal epithelium. Despite multiple decades of research, the etiology of this infection is still not clear.

Gardnerella vaginalis, Fannyhessea vaginae, and Prevotella bivia Strongly Influence Each Other's Transcriptome in Triple-Species Biofilms.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV), the most common vaginal infection worldwide, is characterized by the development of a polymicrobial biofilm on the vaginal epithelium. While Gardnerella spp. have been shown to have a prominent role in BV, little is known regarding how other species can influence BV development.

The Role of Species in Female Genital Tract Infections.

Female genital tract infections (FGTIs) include vaginal infections (e.g., bacterial vaginosis [BV]), endometritis, pelvic inflammatory disease [PID], and chorioamnionitis [amniotic fluid infection].

Deletion of impairs biofilm formation, generation of viable but non-culturable cells and stimulates cytokine production in human macrophages.

biofilms are one of the major causes of bloodstream infections related to the use of medical devices. The diagnosis of these infections is challenging, delaying their treatment and resulting in increased morbidity and mortality rates. As such, it is urgent to characterize the mechanisms employed by this bacterium to endure antibiotic treatments and the response of the host immune system, to develop more effective therapeutic strategies.

Optimized bacterial absolute quantification method by qPCR using an exogenous bacterial culture as a normalization strategy in triple-species BV-like biofilms.

Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) is a widely used method in molecular biology to quantify target DNA sequences. Despite its accuracy, there are important experimental controls that should be considered to avoid biased results. One of them is gDNA loss during extraction, which is higher among samples with lower bacterial concentrations.

Microbial interactions among , and prior to incident bacterial vaginosis: protocol for a prospective, observational study.

Introduction: The aetiology of bacterial vaginosis (BV), a biofilm-associated vaginal infection, remains unknown. Epidemiologic data suggest that it is sexually transmitted. BV is characterised by loss of lactic acid-producing lactobacilli and an increase in facultative and strict anaerobic bacteria.

An Indirect Fluorescence Microscopy Method to Assess Vaginal Lactobacillus Concentrations.

species are the main colonizers of the vaginal microbiota in healthy women. Their absolute quantification by culture-based methods is limited due to their fastidious growth. Flow cytometry can quantify the bacterial concentration of these bacteria but requires the acquisition of expensive equipment.

Gene Expression Quantification from Pathogenic Bacterial Biofilms by Quantitative PCR.

Quantitative PCR (qPCR) is one of the most used techniques to quantify gene expression in bacterial biofilms due to its easiness, sensitivity, and robustness. However, several practical aspects need to be considered to obtain accurate and reliable results. Here, we describe a detailed and optimized protocol to quantify mRNA transcripts from bacterial biofilms using qPCR, including pieces of advice to improve RNA quality, which ultimately increases the accuracy, consistency, and relevance of gene expression data.

Accurate Absolute Quantification of Bacterial Populations in Mixed Cultures by qPCR.

Quantitative PCR (qPCR) is a well-established technique that allows to accurately quantify nucleic acids or proteins, being widely used in several types of biological samples for bacterial load quantification. However, there are many recent studies that do not consider the potential pitfalls involved in key experimental qPCR stages, namely, those related to the extraction and purification of genomic DNA and to the thermal amplification process, that can lead to biased results in mixed cultures. Herein, we outline a proper protocol for bacterial quantification by qPCR, addressing how to overcome the main issues in that methodology.

A novel , , and standard that improves accuracy in quantifying bacterial burden in vaginal microbial communities.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common vaginal dysbiosis. In this condition, a polymicrobial biofilm develops on vaginal epithelial cells. Accurately quantifying the bacterial burden of the BV biofilm is necessary to further our understanding of BV pathogenesis.

Development of a Prevotella bivia PNA probe and a multiplex approach to detect three relevant species in bacterial vaginosis-associated biofilms.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common vaginal infection worldwide. We developed a peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probe targeting Prevotella bivia, a common BV-associated bacteria, and optimized a multiplex approach for detection of Gardnerella spp., P.

State of the Art for Diagnosis of Bacterial Vaginosis.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common cause of vaginal discharge among reproductive-age women. It is associated with multiple adverse health outcomes, including increased risk of acquisition of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), in addition to adverse birth outcomes. While it is known that BV is a vaginal dysbiosis characterized by a shift in the vaginal microbiota from protective species to an increase in facultative and strict anaerobic bacteria, its exact etiology remains unknown.

Vaginal Sheets with Essential Oil for the Treatment of Bacterial Vaginosis: Design, Characterization and Evaluation of Efficacy and Safety.

We aimed to incorporate essential oil (TCEO), a potent antimicrobial natural product against bacterial vaginosis (BV)-related bacteria, in a suitable drug delivery system. We used vaginal sheets as dosage form to promote immediate relief of the typical abundant vaginal discharge with unpleasant odour. Excipients were selected to promote the healthy vaginal environment reestablishment and bioadhesion of formulations, while the TCEO acts directly on BV pathogens.

Fighting polymicrobial biofilms in bacterial vaginosis.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common cause of vaginal discharge and is often associated with other health consequences mainly in pregnant women. BV is described by an imbalance in the vaginal microbiota where strictly and facultative anaerobic bacteria outgrow the lactic acid- and hydrogen peroxide-producing Lactobacillus species. The species involved in BV are capable to grow and form a polymicrobial biofilm in the vaginal epithelium.

High Piezoelectric Output Voltage from Blue Fluorescent ,-Dimethyl-4-nitroaniline Nano Crystals in Poly-L-Lactic Acid Electrospun Fibers.

,-dimethyl-4-nitroaniline is a piezoelectric organic superplastic and superelastic charge transfer molecular crystal that crystallizes in an acentric structure. Organic mechanical flexible crystals are of great importance as they stand between soft matter and inorganic crystals. Highly aligned poly-l-lactic acid polymer microfibers with embedded ,-dimethyl-4-nitroaniline nanocrystals are fabricated using the electrospinning technique, and their piezoelectric and optical properties are explored as hybrid systems.

DNA extraction leads to bias in bacterial quantification by qPCR.

Quantitative PCR (qPCR) has become a widely used technique for bacterial quantification. The affordability, ease of experimental design, reproducibility, and robustness of qPCR experiments contribute to its success. The establishment of guidelines for minimum information for publication of qPCR experiments, now more than 10 years ago, aimed to mitigate the publication of contradictory data.

Assessing recovery rates of distinct exogenous controls for gDNA extraction efficiency using phenol-chloroform or silica-column based extractions.

Assessment of genomic DNA (gDNA) extraction efficiency is required for accurate bacterial quantification by qPCR. Exogenous DNA molecules are often added after bacterial cultures are lysed, but before DNA purification steps, to determine extraction efficiency. Herein we found that different exogenous DNA controls have different recovery rates, suggesting distinct DNA extraction efficiencies.

Bacteriocin Production by during Biofilm Development.

is a highly versatile bacterium ranging from commensal to intestinal pathogen, and is an important foodborne pathogen. species are able to prosper in multispecies biofilms and secrete bacteriocins that are only toxic to species/strains closely related to the producer strain. In this study, 20 distinct strains were characterized for several properties that confer competitive advantages against closer microorganisms by assessing the biofilm-forming capacity, the production of antimicrobial molecules, and the production of siderophores.

Exploiting the Anti-Biofilm Effect of the Engineered Phage Endolysin PM-477 to Disrupt In Vitro Single- and Dual-Species Biofilms of Vaginal Pathogens Associated with Bacterial Vaginosis.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most frequent vaginal infection in women of reproductive age. It is caused by the overgrowth of anaerobic vaginal pathogens, such as , , and , which are vaginal pathogens detected during the early stages of incident BV and have been found to form multi-species biofilms. Treatment of biofilm-associated infections, such as BV, is challenging.

Hybrid Silver(I)-Doped Soybean Oil and Potato Starch Biopolymer Films to Combat Bacterial Biofilms.

This study describes the preparation, characterization, and antimicrobial properties of novel hybrid biopolymer materials doped with bioactive silver(I) coordination polymers (bioCPs). Two new bioCPs, [Ag(μ-hfa)] () and [Ag(μ-nda)(HO)] (), were assembled from AgO and homophthalic (Hhfa) or 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylic (Hnda) acids as unexplored building blocks. Their structures feature 2D metal-organic and supramolecular networks with 3,6L64 or sql topology.