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Background: Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) may influence growth during and recovery from moderate acute malnutrition (MAM), however, biomarkers to assess these relations have yet to be identified.
Objectives: The objectives of this study were to: 1) develop a score for EED based on host fecal mRNA transcripts, 2) compare biomarkers of EED with each other, and 3) examine associations between the EED biomarkers and recovery from MAM and growth outcomes.
Methods: In a cohort of 520 Sierra Leonean MAM children, biomarkers of EED included the lactulose: mannitol (L: M) test, 15 host fecal mRNA transcripts, and host fecal proteins [α-1-antitrypsin (AAT), myeloperoxidase (MPO), neopterin (NEO)]. Anthropometry data were also collected and z scores were computed for length-for-age (LAZ) and weight-for-length (WLZ). Recovery from MAM was defined as midupper arm circumference ≥12.5 cm. Factor analysis was used to identify EED scores using the mRNA transcripts, and mixed effects regression was conducted to test for associations.
Results: The 15 host fecal mRNA transcripts were clustered into 3 scores: gut inflammation (GI) score, gut structure (GS) score, and gut defense (GD) score. We found agreement between certain inflammation markers (GI score and MPO), and permeability markers (GS score and AAT; AAT and the L: M excretion ratio). Antimicrobial gut defense (GD score) was inversely associated with percent lactulose excreted, a measure of intestinal permeability. LAZ (β: -0.08; 95% CI: -0.14, -0.02) and WLZ (β: -0.03; 95% CI: -0.06, -0.01) were negatively associated with GI score. A high GD score (β: 0.36; 95% CI: 0.08, 0.64) and low AAT (β: -1.35; 95% CI: -2.35, -0.36) were associated with recovery from MAM.
Conclusions: Scores derived from host fecal mRNA transcript variably correlated with the L: M test and host fecal proteins. Markers of intestinal inflammation, permeability, and defense were associated with growth outcomes and recovery from MAM.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqaa434 | DOI Listing |
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Division of Computational Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Although dynamical systems models are a powerful tool for analysing microbial ecosystems, challenges in learning these models from complex microbiome datasets and interpreting their outputs limit use. We introduce the Microbial Dynamical Systems Inference Engine 2 (MDSINE2), a Bayesian method that learns compact and interpretable ecosystems-scale dynamical systems models from microbiome timeseries data. Microbial dynamics are modelled as stochastic processes driven by interaction modules, or groups of microbes with similar interaction structure and responses to perturbations, and additionally, noise characteristics of data are modelled.
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School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, India.
Over the past few decades, the scientific perspective on gut microbiota has undergone a profound transformation, particularly with the emergence and advancement of microbiome research. Next-generation sequencing technologies have emerged as a foundational tool in microbiome research, facilitating comprehensive characterization of microbial communities across diverse sample types and ecological niches. Significant alterations in gut microbiota composition have been observed in disease states compared to healthy individuals, suggesting a direct association between gut dysbiosis and host health status.
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Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Wildlife and Plant Resources Conservation in Southwest China, College of Life Sciences, China West Normal University, Nanchong, Sichuan, China.
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a prevalent intestinal pathogen that significantly impacts both human and animal health. G83, isolated from giant panda feces, has demonstrated notable probiotic properties. In this study, C57BL/6 J mice were randomly divided into Control, ETEC, and G83 groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGut Microbes
December 2025
Clinical Microbiome Unit, Laboratory of Host Immunity and Microbiome, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Parity, the number of pregnancies carried beyond 20 weeks, influences the maternal gut microbiome. However, whether parity modulates the infant microbiome longitudinally remains underexplored. To address this, 746 infants in a longitudinal cohort study were assessed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Ecol Resour
September 2025
Centre for Evolutionary Hologenomics (CEH), Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Global efforts to standardise methodologies benefit greatly from open-source procedures that enable the generation of comparable data. Here, we present a modular, high-throughput nucleic acid extraction protocol standardised within the Earth Hologenome Initiative to generate both genomic and microbial metagenomic data from faecal samples of vertebrates. The procedure enables the purification of either RNA and DNA in separate fractions (DREX1) or as total nucleic acids (DREX2).
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