Prediction of Response to Systemic Corticosteroids in Active UC by Microbial Composition-A Prospective Multicenter Study.

Background: Corticosteroids are used for induction of remission in patients with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. However, up to one-third of patients fail to this therapy. We investigated if fecal microbial composition or its metabolic capacity are associated with response to systemic corticosteroids.

Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis in Suspected Food Protein Induced Proctocolitis-A Prospective Comparative Cohort Trial.

Objectives: In infants with suspected food protein induced proctocolitis (sFPIP) only a minority of patients are finally diagnosed with the disease following diagnostic dietary intervention (DDI). There is a need for a pathophysiological explanation for the cause of hematochezia in the majority of sFPIP infants.

Methods: We prospectively recruited infants with sFPIP and healthy controls.

Host and microbiome features of secondary infections in lethal covid-19.

Secondary infections contribute significantly to covid-19 mortality but driving factors remain poorly understood. Autopsies of 20 covid-19 cases and 14 controls from the first pandemic wave complemented with microbial cultivation and RNA-seq from lung tissues enabled description of major organ pathologies and specification of secondary infections. Lethal covid-19 segregated into two main death causes with either dominant diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) or secondary pneumonias.

Resilience and Protection of Health Care and Research Laboratory Workers During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: Analysis and Case Study From an Austrian High Security Laboratory.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has highlighted the interdependency of healthcare systems and research organizations on manufacturers and suppliers of personnel protective equipment (PPE) and the need for well-trained personnel who can react quickly to changing working conditions. Reports on challenges faced by research laboratory workers (RLWs) are rare in contrast to the lived experience of hospital health care workers. We report on experiences gained by RLWs (e.

Toxin-Producing Klebsiella oxytoca in Healthy Infants: Commensal or Pathobiont?

Objectives: Klebsiella oxytoca is a gastrointestinal pathobiont with the potential to produce the toxins tilivalline and tilimycin, which cause antibiotic-associated hemorrhagic colitis. Overgrowth of toxigenic K oxytoca has recently been implicated in necrotizing enterocolitis. K oxytoca colonizes 2-9% of healthy adults, however, there is no systematic data on colonization in healthy children.

Rapid Antigen Test for Postmortem Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 Carriage.

Detecting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in deceased patients is key when considering appropriate safety measures to prevent infection during postmortem examinations. A prospective cohort study comparing a rapid antigen test with quantitative reverse transcription PCR showed the rapid test's usability as a tool to guide autopsy practice.

Qualitative and Quantitative DNA- and RNA-Based Analysis of the Bacterial Stomach Microbiota in Humans, Mice, and Gerbils.

Clinical interventions in the stomach have been linked to fecal microbiota alterations, suggesting a function of the stomach in gastrointestinal (GI) homeostasis. We sought to determine the taxonomic bacterial biogeography of the upper GI tract, including different sites within the human stomach (cardia, corpus, and antrum), adjacent upstream (esophagus) and downstream (duodenum) locations, and luminal contents (aspirate), as well as whole-stomach samples from mice and gerbils. Qualitative and quantitative DNA- and RNA-based taxonomic microbiota analyses were combined to study the relationship of relative and absolute bacterial abundances and transcriptionally active bacterial microbiota components in the stomach of humans and mice.

Mucosal biopsy shows immunologic changes of the colon in patients with early MS.

Objective: To investigate immune cells of the colonic mucosa and fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in treatment-naive patients with a clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) or early relapsing MS.

Methods: In this cross-sectional proof-of-concept study, we obtained mucosal specimens during ileocolonoscopy from 15 untreated patients with CIS/MS and 10 controls. Mucosal immune cells were analyzed by FACS, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry measurements of stool samples served to determine SCFA.

Antibiotic-Associated Apoptotic Enterocolitis in the Absence of a Defined Pathogen: The Role of Intestinal Microbiota Depletion.

Objective: Antibiotic therapy is a major risk factor for the development of diarrhea and colitis with varying severity. Often the origin of antibiotic-associated gastrointestinal deterioration remains elusive and no specific infectious agents could be discerned.

Patients: We represent three cases of intractable high-volume diarrhea associated with combined antibiotic and steroid therapy in critically ill patients not fitting into established disease entities.

Stringent factor and proteolysis control of sigma factor RpoS expression in Vibrio cholerae.

Vibrio cholerae can colonize the gastrointestinal track of humans and cause the disease cholera. During colonization, the alternative sigma factor, RpoS, controls a process known as "mucosal escape response," defining a specific spatial and temporal response and effecting chemotaxis and motility. In this report, the expression and proteolytic control of RpoS in V.

Propionibacterium acnes overabundance and natural killer group 2 member D system activation in corpus-dominant lymphocytic gastritis.

Corpus-dominant lymphocytic gastritis (LyG) is characterized by CD8 T-cell infiltration of the stomach epithelium by a so far uncharacterized mechanism. Although Helicobacter pylori is typically undetectable in LyG, patients respond to H. pylori antibiotic eradication therapy, suggesting a non-H.

Effects of high doses of vitamin D3 on mucosa-associated gut microbiome vary between regions of the human gastrointestinal tract.

Purpose: Vitamin D is well known for its effects on bone mineralisation but has also been attributed immunomodulatory properties. It positively influences human health, but in vivo data describing vitamin D effects on the human gut microbiome are missing. We aimed to investigate the effects of oral vitamin D3 supplementation on the human mucosa-associated and stool microbiome as well as CD8(+) T cells in healthy volunteers.

TLR8 and NOD signaling synergistically induce the production of IL-1β and IL-23 in monocyte-derived DCs and enhance the expression of the feedback inhibitor SOCS2.

Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) like Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and NOD-like receptors (NLRs) are important sensors of microbial products. Although they are referred to as innate immune receptors, they make essential contributions to adaptive immune responses by activating dendritic cells (DCs). Simultaneous activation of DCs via different classes of PRRs provides a powerful tool for inducing strong immune responses.