Problems with paper on Bread and Mental Diseases

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A Storify Story of my tweets today about this paper:

Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 12.13.44 AM.png

Bread and Other Edible Agents of Mental Disease – Paola Bressan* and Peter Kramer – Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padova, Italy – Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Abstract: Perhaps because gastroenterology, immunology, toxicology, and the nutrition and agricultural sciences are outside of their competence and responsibility, psychologists and psychiatrists typically fail to appreciate the impact that food can have on their patients’ condition. Here we attempt to help correct this situation by reviewing, in non-technical, plain English, how cereal grains—the world’s most abundant food source—can affect human behavior and mental health. We present the implications for the psychological sciences of the findings that, in all of us, bread (1) makes the gut more permeable and can thus encourage the migration of food particles to sites where they are not expected, prompting the immune system to attack both these particles and brain-relevant substances that resemble them, and (2) releases opioid-like compounds, capable of causing mental derangement if they make it to the brain. A grain-free diet, although difficult to maintain (especially for those that need it the most), could improve the mental health of many and be a complete cure for others.

I tried to embed the Storify Story here, but this Embedding is Trickier Than I Thought (or maybe I ate too much bread?). Ah well, I apologize. You will just have to click on the link:

[View the story “Problems with “Bread and Mental Disease” paper in Frontiers” on Storify]

April 12, 2016, the late one

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Events

Standards for Microbiome Measurements Workshop – August 9-10, NIST, Gaithersburg, Md

General microbiome

Review: Network-based metabolic analysis and microbial community modeling – Cesar Cardona – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Review: The importance of the microbiome in epidemiologic research – Blake M. Hanson – Annals of Epidemiology

Moving microbiota research towards establishing causal associations that represent viable targets for effective public health interventions – Volker Mai – Annals of Epidemiology

Evolution of Koch’s postulates: towards a twenty-first century understanding of microbial infection – Guido Antonelli – Clinical Microbiology and Infection

Thematic Issue: Environmental Dimension of Antibiotic Resistance – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Human oral microbiome

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104727971630076XThe Effects of Family, Dentition and Dental Caries on the Salivary Microbiome – Betsy Foxman – Annals of Epidemiology

Red fluorescent biofilm: the thick, the old, and the cariogenic – Catherine M.C. Volgenant – Journal of Oral Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

DNA from fecal immunochemical test can replace stool for microbiota-based colorectal cancer screening – Nielson T Baxter – BioRxiv Preprint

Changes in Korean Adult Females’ Intestinal Microbiota Resulting from Kimchi Intake – Kim JY – Omics Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences

Review: The Fiber Gap and the Disappearing Gut Microbiome: Implications for Human Nutrition – Edward C. Deehan – Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism

Animal model microbiome

Gut microbiome remodeling induces depressive-like behaviors through a pathway mediated by the host’s metabolism – P Zheng – Molecular Psychiatry

Temperate phages enhance pathogen fitness in chronic lung infection – Emily V Davies – The ISME Journal

Bacteraemia before during and after tooth extraction in horses in the absence of antimicrobial administration – I. Kern – Equine Veterinary Journal

Animal microbiome

Population and individual level dynamics of intestinal microbiota of a small primate – Tuomas Aivelo – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

The nasopharyngeal microbiota in feedlot cattle and its role in respiratory health – Edouard Timsit – Animal Frontiers

Review: Gut microbiome and omics: a new definition to ruminant production and health – Nilusha Malmuthuge – Animal Frontiers

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Structural and functional differentiation of the root-associated bacterial microbiomes of perennial ryegrass – Lin Chen – Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Assessing microbial activities in metal contaminated agricultural volcanic soils – An integrative approach – C. Parelho – Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety

Review: The role of locally adapted mycorrhizas and rhizobacteria in plant-soil feedback systems – Daniel Revillini – Functional Ecology

Water microbiome

Metagenomic analysis of nitrogen and methane cycling in the Arabian Sea oxygen minimum zone – Claudia Lüke – PeerJ

Recurring patterns in bacterioplankton dynamics during coastal spring algae blooms – Hanno Teeling

Transporting Ocean Viromes: Invasion of the Aquatic Biosphere – Yiseul Kim – PLOS ONE

Seasonal changes in microbial community composition in river water studied using 454-pyrosequencing – Marija Kaevska – SpringerPlus

Response of bacterial communities from California coastal waters to alginate particles and an alginolytic Alteromonas macleodii strain – Maximilian Mitulla – Environmental Microbiology

Waste and pollution microbiology

Substantial Variability of Multiple Microbial Communities Collected at Similar Acidic Mine Water Outlets – Lukáš Falteisek – Microbial Ecology

Bioinformatics and metagenomics

Chapter: Improving Bloom Filter Performance on Sequence Data Using kk-mer Bloom Filters – David Pellow – Research in Computational Molecular Biology

Microbial ecology

A Game Theoretical Approach to Microbial Coexistence – Monica Abrudan – Advances in Dynamic and Evolutionary Games

The ecologist’s field guide to sequence-based identification of biodiversity –
Simon Creer – Methods in Ecology and Evolution

Microbes in the news

MSU professor Gemma Reguera making tiny innovations with a big impact – Erin F. Wasinger – Lansing State Journal

Mind the fibre gap: The case of the vanishing gut microbiome – Will Chu – NutraIngredients

uBiome Opens Voting to all Citizen Scientists to Select $100k Microbiome Research Grant Winner – uBiome

Here’s the mounting evidence against using antibacterial soaps; Few pros, but cons include upped risk of infection, microbiome changes, drug resistance – Beth Mole – Ars Technica

Six-step hand-washing technique most effective for reducing bacteria in hospitals – Glasgow Chamber of Commerce

Hacking Gut Bacteria Could Be The Future Of Medicine. MIT biologists are reprogramming gut bacteria as “live therapeutics.” – Carolyn Gregoire – Huffington Post

Feeding Bacteria to Livestock Could Cut Antibiotic Use – Amy Mayer – Iowa Public Radio

Drug-resistant bacteria found scattered in soil – V. Nilesh – Deccan Chronicle

Sweet Siren call of surface lures bacteria to their death – Anthony King – Chemistry World

New Tree of Life Beautifully Illustrates the Enormous World of Bacteria – Kate Horowitz – Mental Floss

April 12, 2016, part 1

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Too many alerts to go through after taking one day off, so here is part one. An updated tree of life, acute appendicitis, rhizosphere of a living fossil plant, Antarctic surface snow, and effects of Superstorm Sandy on creek water.

Jobs and events

Senior Scientist with significant track record in microbiome research – The National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, South Mimms, UK

General microbiome

A new view of the tree of life – Laura A. Hug – Nature Microbiology

Pregnancy and birth

The Gestational Vaginal Microbiome and Spontaneous Preterm Birth among Nulliparous African American Women – Deborah B. Nelson – American Journal of Perinatology

Early colonization of functional groups of microbes in the infant gut – Van T. Pham – Environmental Microbiology

The gut resistome is highly dynamic during the first months of life – Christian JH von Wintersdorff – Future Medicine

Human skin microbiome

Review: Skin Biomes – N. Fyhrquist – Current Allergy and Asthma Reports

Human respiratory microbiome

Review: Next Generation Sequencing and the Microbiome of Chronic Rhinosinusitis – A Primer for Clinicians and Review of Current Research, Its Limitations, and Future Directions – Jake Jervis Bardy – Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol

Human oral microbiome

The salivary microbiome for differentiating individuals: proof of principle – Sarah L. Leake – Microbes and Infection

Concordance of HOMIM and HOMINGS technologies in the microbiome analysis of clinical samples – Jean-Luc C. Mougeot – Journal of Oral Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

There are no Enterotypes: Interpreting Prevotella and Bacteroides as biomarkers of diet and lifestyle – Anastassia Gorvitovskaia – Microbiome

Experiment with n=1: Understanding the Impact of Omega-3 Rich Diet on the Gut Microbiota – Blanca S. Noriega – Case Reports in Medicine

First Occurrence of Severe Extraintestinal Manifestations of Crohn’s Disease Following Faecal Microbiota Transplantation – Niels Teich – Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis

Acute appendicitis in children is associated with a local expansion of Fusobacteria – Matthew B. Rogers – Clinical Infectious Diseases

Hypothesis: Gut Microbiota Diversity and Human Diseases: Should We Reintroduce Key Predators in Our Ecosystem? – Alexis Mosca – Frontiers in Microbiology

Not endorsing, because highly controversial and not well founded: Bread and Other Edible Agents of Mental Disease – Paola Bressan and Peter Kramer – Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

Review: The human gut microbiome in health: establishment and resilience of microbiota over a lifetime – Kacy Greenhalgh – Environmental Microbiology

Review: Cytotoxicity of Nanoparticles Contained in Food on Intestinal Cells and the Gut Microbiota – Esther E. Fröhlich – MDPI International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Review: The Role of the Gut Microbiota in Childhood Obesity – Pihl Andreas Friis – Childhood Obesity

Animal models

Gnotobiotic Rodents: An In Vivo Model for the Study of Microbe–Microbe Interactions – Rebeca Martín – Frontiers in Microbiology

Depletion of Cultivatable Gut Microbiota by Broad-Spectrum Antibiotic Pretreatment Worsens Outcome After Murine Stroke – Katarzyna Winek – Stroke

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Common mycorrhizal networks and their effect on the bargaining power of the fungal partner in the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis – Heike Bückinga – Communicative & Integrative Biology

Rhizosphere Microbiomes of European + Seagrasses Are Selected by the Plant, But Are Not Species Specific – Catarina Cúcio – Frontiers in Microbiology

Specific Microbial Communities Associate with the Rhizosphere of Welwitschia mirabilis, a Living Fossil – Angel Valverde – PLOS ONE

Impact of alien pines on local arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities – evidence from two continents – Antonio Gazol – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Differences in stability of seed-associated microbial assemblages in response to invasion by phytopathogenic microorganisms – Samir Rezki – PeerJ

Using Ancient Traits to Convert Soil Health into Crop Yield: Impact of Selection on Maize Root and Rhizosphere Function – Jennifer E. Schmidt – Frontiers in Plant Science

Partitioning of Functional and Taxonomic Diversity in Surface-Associated Microbial Communities – Alexandra J. Roth-Schulze – Environmental Microbiology

Temporal dynamics of sediment bacterial communities in monospecific stands of Juncus maritimus and Spartina maritima – Daniel F R Cleary – Plant Biology

Thorough high-throughput sequencing analyses unravels huge diversities of soil parasitic protists – Stefan Geisen – Environmental Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of Archaeal Communities in Two Freshwater Lakes at Different Trophic Status – Yuyin Yang – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metagenomic Analysis of Bacterial Communities of Antarctic Surface Snow – Anna Lopatina – Frontiers in Microbiology

Partitioning of Functional and Taxonomic Diversity in Surface-Associated Microbial Communities – Alexandra J. Roth-Schulze – Environmental Microbiology

Impact of an intense water column mixing (0-1500m) on prokaryotic diversity and activities during an open-ocean convection event in the NW Mediterranean Sea – T. Severin – Environmental Microbiology

Aquatic bacterial community is restructured by hydric dynamics associated with Superstorm Sandy – Nikea Ulrich – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Metagenomic analysis of lacustrine viral diversity along a latitudinal transect of the Antarctic Peninsula – Daniel Aguirre de Cárcer – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Response of bacterial communities from California coastal waters to alginate particles and an alginolytic Alteromonas macleodii strain – Maximilian Mitulla – Environmental Microbiology

Waste and pollution microbiology

Partitioning of Viruses in Wastewater Systems and Potential for Aerosolization – Mari Titcombe Lee – Environmental Science & Technology Letters

Seasonality of antibiotic prescriptions for outpatients and resistance genes in sewers and wastewater treatment plant outflow – Serena Caucci – FEMS Microbiology Ecology

Spatial and temporal variability of bacterial communities within a combined sewer system – Henriette Stokbro Jensen – MicrobiologyOpen

Genomic insights into members of the candidate phylum Hyd24-12 common in mesophilic anaerobic digesters – Rasmus Hansen Kirkegaard – The ISME Journal

Bioinformatics

Not endorsing: Motif-Based Text Mining of Microbial Metagenome Redundancy Profiling Data for Disease Classification – Yin Wang – BioMed Research International

More microbiology

Host-Derived Sialic Acids Are an Important Nutrient Source Required for Optimal Bacterial Fitness In Vivo – Nathan D. McDonald – mBio

Review: Network-based metabolic analysis and microbial community modeling – Cesar Cardona – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Review: DNA-sensing inflammasomes: regulation of bacterial host defense and the gut microbiota – Si Ming Man – Pathogens and Disease

Microbes in the news

Most of the Tree of Life is a Complete Mystery. We know certain branches exist, but we have never seen the organisms that perch there – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Wealth of unsuspected new microbes expands tree of life – Science Daily

Can more fiber restore microbiome diversity? – Science Daily

Science, publishing, and career

Research Funding: the Case for a Modified Lottery – Ferric C. Fang and Arturo Casadevall – mBio

 

April 8, 2016

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Bacterial mucin degradation in CF, gastric mucosa vs gastric juice, cockroaches, penguins, estimating post-mortem interval, and effects of sound on growth of E. coli.

Pregnancy and birth

Perinatal microbial exposure may influence aortic intima-media thickness in early infancy – Kate McCloskey – International Journal of Epidemiology

Human skin microbiome

A method for culturing Gram-negative skin microbiota – Ian A. Myles – BMC Microbiology

Human respiratory microbiome

Haemophilus parainfluenzae as a marker of the upper respiratory tract microbiota changes under the influence of preoperative prophylaxis with or without postoperative treatment in patients with lung cancer
Urszula Kosikowska – BMC Microbiology

Evidence and role for bacterial mucin degradation in cystic fibrosis airway disease – Jeffrey M Flynn – BioRxiv

Human oral microbiome

Identification of microorganisms in biofluids of individuals with periodontitis and chronic kidney disease using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry – Levy Anderson César Alves – Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry

Review: Host-Microbiome Cross-talk in Oral Mucositis – RM Vasconcelos – Journal of Dental Research

Human stomach microbiome

Comparison of Gastric Microbiota Between Gastric Juice and Mucosa by Next Generation Sequencing Method – Jihee Sung – Journal of Cancer Prevention

Human gut microbiome

Long-Term Green Tea Supplementation Does Not Change the Human Gut Microbiota – Pilou L. H. R. Janssens – PLOS ONE

Fecal bacterial microbiome diversity in chronic HIV-infected patients in China – Yang Sun – Emerging Microbes & Infections

Review: Gut microbiome and lipid metabolism: from associations to mechanisms – Wang, Zheng – Current Opinion in Lipidology

Review: Mood by microbe: towards clinical translation – Timothy G. Dinan – Genome Medicine

Animal models

Microbial-Derived Metabolites Reflect an Altered Intestinal Microbiota during Catch-Up Growth in Undernourished Neonatal Mice – Geoffrey A Preidis – Journal of Nutrition

Reduced Epithelial Na+/H+ Exchange Drives Gut Microbial Dysbiosis and Promotes Inflammatory Response in T Cell-Mediated Murine Colitis – Daniel Laubitz – PLOS ONE

Animal microbiome

Gut Bacterial Community of the Xylophagous Cockroaches Cryptocercus punctulatus and Parasphaeria boleiriana – Mercedes Berlanga – PLOS ONE

Age-Related Differences in the Gastrointestinal Microbiota of Chinstrap Penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica) – Andrés Barbosa – PLOS ONE

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Functional breadth and home-field advantage generate functional differences among soil microbial decomposers – Nicolas Fanin – Ecology

Greater carbon allocation to mycorrhizal fungi reduces tree nitrogen uptake in a boreal forest – Niles J. Hasselquist – Ecology

Shifts in plant foliar and floral metabolomes in response to the suppression of the associated microbiota – Albert Gargallo-Garriga – BMC Plant Biology

Does arsenic play an important role in the soil microbial community around a typical arsenic mining area? – Fan Wu – Environmental Pollution

Groundwater–surface water mixing shifts ecological assembly processes and stimulates organic carbon turnover – James C. Stegen – Nature Communications

Waste and pollution microbiology

Altitude-scale variation in nitrogen-removal bacterial communities from municipal wastewater treatment plants distributed along a 3600-m altitudinal gradient in China – Lihua Niu – Science of The Total Environment

Performance Assessment of Full-Scale Wastewater Treatment Plants Based on Seasonal Variability of Microbial Communities via High-Throughput Sequencing – Tang Liu – PLOS ONE

Review: Microbial Ecology and Evolution in the Acid Mine Drainage Model System – Li-Nan Huang – Trends in Microbiology

Forensic microbiology

Potential use of bacterial community succession for estimating post-mortem interval as revealed by high-throughput sequencing – Juanjuan Guo – Scientific Reports

Musical microbes

Effects of sound exposure on the growth and intracellular macromolecular synthesis of E. coli k-12 – Shaobin Gu – PeerJ

Functional foods

Special issue on Pre- and Probiotics in Gastroenterology Practice – Clinical Gastroenterology

Microbes in the news

Saving the Tasmanian devil with microbiome research – Yuanyuan Cheng, Carolyn Hogg & Kathy Belov – BioMedCentral Blog

Bacteria used to extract precious metals from e-waste in NUS study – Straits Times

Fighting Indoor Air Pollution with Plant Root Bacteria – Launch UMD

Latest #spacemicrobes Paper is Out… Built Environment Strains Grown on the ISS – David Coil – MicroBEnet

UChicago and Evelo Biosciences sign licensing deal for microbiome-based cancer immunotherapy – PR Newswire

Journal Club: Crowdfunding Science: all that we learned during our first crowdfunding campaigns – Katherine Dahlhausen – MicroBEnet

Maldonado-Contreras recognized by American Gastroenterological Association for gut microbiome research – Megan Bard – University of Massachusetts

Satire: Pope Francis To Award Sainthood To All Microbiome Researchers – The Allium HT: Tomer Altman

Microbes and art

Celling point: scientist makes Darwin’s Origin of Species with bacteria. Molecular biologist Dr Simon Park has made a very unusual edition of the classic text, using bacteria to create the cover – The Guardian

The Microverse: Children books about microbes. Cool titles, such as Escher Surfs the Sewer, and Vibri Finds Her Glow.

April 7, 2016

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Biases and challenges with microbiome data, metabolic syndrome, stem cell transplants, ammonia-eating bacteria in fish gills, and a distinct pilus in the gut microbiome.

Events

Webinar: Cancer and the Oral Microbiome: A Metagenomics Approach – Scott Kelley, April 25

General microbiome

Good read about biases: Commentary: Challenges for Case-Control Studies with Microbiome Data – J. Paul Brooks – Annals of Epidemiology

Review: The importance of the microbiome in epidemiologic research – Blake M. Hanson – Annals of Epidemiology

Perspective: Microbiome and Anticancer Immunosurveillance – Laurence Zitvogel – Cell

Human oral microbiome

Effects of triclosan on host response and microbial biomarkers during experimental gingivitis – Brooke A. Pancer – Journal of Clinical Periodontology

Human skin microbiome

Review: New insights into acne pathogenesis: Exploring the role of acne-associated microbial populations – Bipul Kumar – Dermatologica Sinica

Human respiratory microbiome

Respiratory syncytial virus and rhinovirus severe bronchiolitis are associated with distinct nasopharyngeal microbiota – Jonathan M. Mansbach – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Review: The respiratory microbiome: An underappreciated player in the human response to inhaled pollutants? – Sara D. Adar – Annals of Epidemiology

Human gut microbiome

The effect of heritability and host genetics on the gut microbiota and metabolic syndrome – Mi Young Lim – Gut

Functional changes in gut microbiota during haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for severe combined immunodeficiency – Jonathan P. Lane – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Interplay between bile acid metabolism and microbiota in irritable bowel syndrome – M. Dior – Neurogastroenterology & Motility

Review: The Intestinal Microbiota in Metabolic Disease – Anni Woting – MDPI Nutrients

Animal models

The absence of microbiota delays the inflammatory response to Cryptococcus gattii – Marliete Carvalho Costa – International Journal of Medical Microbiology

Brain injury induces specific changes in the caecal microbiota of mice via altered autonomic activity and mucoprotein production – A. Houlden – Brain, Behavior, and Immunity

Animal microbiome

Branchial nitrogen cycle symbionts can remove ammonia in fish gills – Maartje A.H.J. van Kessel – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Bovine teat microbiome analysis revealed reduced alpha diversity and significant changes in taxonomic profiles in quarters with a history of mastitis – Helene Falentin – Frontiers in Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Could The Martian science heck work? Evolution of soil on Mars – Shannon Bohle – Astronomy & Geophysics

Enhanced Degradation of Diesel in the Rhizosphere of Lupinus luteus after Inoculation with Diesel-Degrading and Plant Growth-Promoting Bacterial Strains – María Balseiro-Romero – Journal of Environmental Quality

Amplicon-based metabarcoding reveals temporal response of soil microbial community to fumigation-derived products – Feng Wei – Applied Soil Ecology

Water microbiome

Identification of bacterial communities in sediments of Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China – Wenbo Kou – SpringerPlus

Influence of selected environmental factors on the abundance of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs in peat-bog lakes – Sylwia Lew – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Other microbiology

From Bacteroidia: A Distinct Type of Pilus from the Human Microbiome – Qingping Xu – Cell

Identification of new drug candidates against Borrelia burgdorferi using high-throughput screening – Venkata Raveendra Pothineni – Drug Design, Development and Therapy

Microbes and art

Another report on this beautiful art: Microbiome Art by Joana Ricou – Alex Alexiev – MicroBEnet

Students paint bacteria in cross campus learning Science Meets Art is a part of the SciCom initiative which is intended to help science students communicate their work and research – Connie Beltran – Texas Christian University

Microbes in the news

“Evolution of Soil on Mars”… where fiction becomes fact – David Coil – MicroBEnet

Gut Microbiota Altered in First-Episode Schizophrenia – Liam Davenport – Medscape

Gut Microbiome May Play Role in Myelination Disorders Including Multiple Sclerosis – interview with John Cryan – Medical Research

New type of symbiosis: Bacteria eat ammonia in fish gills – Science Daily

Elucidating the Microbiome of Acne Pathogenesis – Clincical Microbiomics

Biofilm oscillations: Excellent Paper on Metabolism dynamics + a video – Ben Libberton – NPJ Biofilms Community

California Strains of Lyme Bacteria May Survive Antibiotic Treatment According to Study – PR NewsWire

 

Some followers will need to sign up again

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Last week I migrated the blog from an independent server to a WordPress server, and it seems that a subset of my followers were not transferred during the migration. In other words, if you had signed up to get an email whenever I posted something new, you might not have received anything in the last week. I am so sorry about that! I actually lost a large number of followers (the list had ~700 followers, and now only has 150).

I tried to figure out how to fix this but could not find an easy solution. For now, it’s probably the best to sign up again. Since I am now on a different server, the “Follow” box is now at the bottom right.

It looks like this: Screen Shot 2016-04-06 at 05.42PM, Apr 06

Click on it and enter your email, and you should get a confirmation email.

If you don’t see it, that means you are already logged in. Sometimes, signing in in Incognito mode might help to sign up again.

Again, my apologies! Let me know if you still are having troubles.

Elies

 

April 6, 2016

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C-section and gut colonization, N. flavescens in celiac patients, Lactobacillus in the gut, bird or whiskey, bacteria attached to phytodetritus, microbiology in the classroom, and CRISPR to decipher and shape bacterial diversity. And a bad article about women in space.

Event

Microbiome: How Commensal Bacteria Can Be Our Friends – A Talk by Dr. Deepshika Ramanan – April 14, Genspace Brooklyn, NY, Genspace

Organizing 2017 Microbes of the Built Environment conference, call for community input – Lynn Schriml – MicroBEnet

Pregnancy and birth

Cesarean section changes neonatal gut colonization – Jakob Stokholm – Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Human respiratory microbiome

Bacterial–viral load and the immune response in stable and exacerbated COPD: significance and therapeutic prospects – Silvestro Ennio D’Anna – International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Human gut microbiome

Metagenomics Reveals Dysbiosis and a Potentially Pathogenic N. flavescens Strain in Duodenum of Adult Celiac Patients – Valeria D’Argenio – American Journal of Gastroenterology

Th17 responses and natural IgM antibodies are related to gut microbiota composition in systemic lupus erythematosus patients – Patricia López – Scientific Reports

Mining metagenomic whole genome sequences revealed subdominant but constant Lactobacillus population in the human gut microbiota – Maddalena Rossi – Environmental Microbiology Reports

Diminution of the gut resistome after a gut microbiota-targeted dietary intervention in obese children – Guojun Wu – Scientific Reports

DGGE: The Effect of Probiotic Treatment on Patients Infected with the H7N9 Influenza Virus – Xinjun Hu – PLOS ONE

Review: Use your antibiotics wisely. Consequences to the intestinal microbiome – Jorge Cervantes – FEMS Microbiology Letters

Review: Diet, Microbiota, Obesity, and NAFLD: A Dangerous Quartet – Mariana Verdelho Machado – MDPI International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Animal models

Airway bacteria drive a progressive COPD-like phenotype in mice with polymeric immunoglobulin receptor deficiency – Bradley W. Richmond – Nature Communications

Reproduction and Growth in a Murine Model of Early Life-Onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease – Eniko Nagy – PLOS ONE

Intake of Meat Proteins Substantially Increased the Relative Abundance of Genus Lactobacillus in Rat Feces – Yingying Zhu – PLOS ONE

Colitis susceptibility in p47 phox−/− mice is mediated by the microbiome – E. Liana Falcone – Microbiome

Review: Multiscale analysis of the murine intestine for modeling human diseases – Jesse Lyons – Integrative Biology

Animal microbiome

The bird, not the whiskey: Activity of urealytic microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract of the black grouse Lyrurus tetrix – M. V. Vecherskii – Doklady Biological Sciences

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Zinc treatment increases the titre of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ in huanglongbing-affected citrus plants while affecting the bacterial microbiomes – M.Q. Zhang – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Species Specificity of Bacteria Associated to the Brown Seaweeds Lobophora (Dictyotales, Phaeophyceae) and Their Potential for Induction of Rapid Coral Bleaching in Acropora muricata – Christophe Vieira – Frontiers in Microbiology

Water and extremophile microbiome

Aerobic Vinyl Chloride Metabolism in Groundwater Microcosms by Methanotrophic and Etheneotrophic Bacteria – Margaret Findlay – Environmental Science & Technology

Pyrosequencing analysis of bacterial communities in Lake Bosten, a large brackish inland lake in the arid northwest of China – Lei Zhang – Canadian Journal of Microbiology

Dynamic of bacterial communities attached to lightened phytodetritus – Morgan Petit – Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Waste and pollution microbiology

Detection of the Antimicrobial Triclosan in Environmental Samples by Immunoassay – Ki Chang Ahn – Environmental Science & Technology

Lactic acid fermentation from food waste with indigenous microbiota: Effects of pH, temperature and high OLR – Jialing Tang – Waste Management

Use of PCR-DGGE based molecular methods to assessment of microbial diversity during anaerobic treatment of antibiotic combinations – Sevcan Aydin – Bioresource Technology

Microbial Ecology

Host behaviour–parasite feedback: an essential link between animal behaviour and disease ecology – Vanessa O. Ezenwa – Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Myxococcus xanthus: Positively Frequency-Dependent Interference Competition Maintains Diversity and Pervades a Natural Population of Cooperative Microbes – Olaya Rendueles – Current Biology

Review: Deciphering and shaping bacterial diversity through CRISPR – Alexandra E Briner – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Microbes and education

Nice set of papers in ASM’s Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education:

Microbes in the news

The Scary Thing About a Virus That Kills Farmed Fish – Ed Yong – The Atlantic

Seres Therapeutics: All You Need To Know About What Will Be The First Prescription Microbiome Company – Seeking Alpha

Type IV pili: Appendages Help Microbes Survive Harsh Conditions – Charles Q. Choi – Astrobiology

Not endorsing this article. Microbiotas of men and women are not that different, not much published data on effects of space flight on gut microbiome, and I did not like the suggestion that women will get sick more often. Also, antibiotics ain’t gonna help if women have breast cancer.
Gender generates biological challenges for long duration spaceflight – Evan Gough

So long lithium, hello bacteria batteries? – ScienMag (not to be confused with Science)

Microbes in the news

Targeting the gut microbiome to fight heart disease – American Society for Microbiology

Science, publishing, and career

The Immoral Landscape? Scientists Are Associated with Violations of Morality – Bastiaan T. Rutjens – PLOS ONE

April 5, 2016

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Differences in myelination and gene expression in prefrontal cortex between GF and conventional mice, migratory passerines, metagenomics of probiotics, and megaviromes.

Events

NAS Meeting: Microbiomes of the Built Environment: From Research to Application – David Coil – MicroBEnet

Human oral microbiome

Impact of age and sex on the composition and abundance of the intestinal microbiota in individuals with and without enteric infections – Pallavi Singh – Annals of Epidemiology

Review [PDF]: Oral Microbial Shift: Factors affecting the Microbiome and Prevention of Oral Disease – Namrata Dagli – Journal of Contemporary Dental Practice

Human reproductive tract microbiome

Review: Incorporating microbiota data into epidemiological models: Examples from vaginal microbiota research – Janneke van de Wijgert – Annals of Epidemiology

Combined effect of diet and cervical microbiome on the risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia – Sang-Soo Seo – Clinical Nutrition

Human gut microbiome

Diversified mcr-1-Harbouring Plasmid Reservoirs Confer Resistance to Colistin in Human Gut Microbiota – Huiyan Ye – mBio

Animal models

Regulation of prefrontal cortex myelination by the microbiota – AE Hoban – Translational Psychiatry

Responses of fecal bacterial communities to resistant starch intervention in diabetic rats – Zhongkai Zhou – Starch

Resveratrol Attenuates Trimethylamine-N-Oxide (TMAO)-Induced Atherosclerosis by Regulating TMAO Synthesis and Bile Acid Metabolism via Remodeling of the Gut Microbiota – Ming-liang Chen – mBio

Commentary: Policing of gut microbiota by the adaptive immune system – Laurent Dollé – BMC Medicine

Animal microbiome

Sample processing impacts the viability and cultivability of the sponge microbiome – Ana I. Esteves – Frontiers in Microbiology

Characterization of the gut microbiota of migratory passerines during stopover along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico – William B. Lewis – Journal of Avian Biology

Highlight: Microbes matter: herbivore gut endosymbionts play a role in breakdown of host plant toxins – Franziska Beran – Environmental Microbiology

Selective feeding by the giant barrel sponge enhances foraging efficiency – Steven E. McMurray – Limnology and Oceanography

PhD Thesis: Molecular investigation of Australian termites and their gut symbionts – Nurdyana Abdul Rahman – University of Queensland

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Distance-dependent effects of pathogenic fungi on seedlings of a legume tree: impaired nodule formation and identification of antagonistic rhizosphere bacteria –  Lan Liu – Journal of Ecology

Bacterial community dynamics during ensiling of perennial ryegrass at two compaction levels monitored by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism – K. Graf – Journal of Applied Microbiology

Microsite differentiation drives the abundance of soil ammonia oxidizing bacteria along aridity gradients – Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo – Frontiers in Microbiology

Not exactly microbes but sounded interesting: Do tropical rain forest soils have greater nematode diversity than High Arctic tundra? A metagenetic comparison of Malaysia and Svalbard – Dorsaf Kerfahi – Global Ecology and Biogeography

Use of two spatially separated plant species alters microbial community function in horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands – Mark Button – Ecological Engineering

Water microbiome

Spatio-temporal interdependence of bacteria and phytoplankton during a Baltic Sea spring bloom – Carina Bunse – Frontiers in Microbiology

Protist-bacteria associations: Gammaproteobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria are prevalent as digestion-resistant bacteria in ciliated protozoa – Jun Gong – Frontiers in Microbiology

Particulate matter stoichiometry driven by microplankton community structure in summer in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean – M. Rembauville – Limnology and Oceanography

Waste and pollution microbiome

Functional Metagenomics of a Biostimulated Petroleum-Contaminated Soil Reveals an Extraordinary Diversity of Extradiol Dioxygenases – Laura Terrón-González – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Lateral Gene Transfer in a Heavy Metal-Contaminated-Groundwater Microbial Community – Christopher L. Hemme – mBio

Built environment microbiome

A novel, optical, on-line bacteria sensor for monitoring drinking water quality – Bo Højris – Scientific Reports

Food and probiotics microbiology

Culture-Independent Metagenomic Surveillance of Commercially Available Probiotics with High-Throughput Next-Generation Sequencing – Jennifer N. Patro – mSphere

Unravelling the effect of clostridia spores and lysozyme on microbiota dynamics in Grana Padano cheese: A metaproteomics approach – Alessio Soggiu – Journal of Proteomics

Viruses and phages / metagenomics

VIP: an integrated pipeline for metagenomics of virus identification and discovery – Yang Li – Scientific Reports

Antibiotic Resistome: Improving Detection and Quantification Accuracy for Comparative Metagenomics – Ali H. A. Elbehery – OMICS

Themed Issue of Current Opinion in Microbiology: Environmental microbiology/Megaviromes
Review: Giants among larges: how gigantism impacts giant virus entry into amoebae – Rodrigo Araújo Lima Rodrigues – Current Opinion in Microbiology
Review: Updating strategies for isolating and discovering giant viruses – Jacques Yaacoub Bou Khalil
Review, but not sure about what: Persistent virus and addiction modules: an engine of symbiosis – Luis P Villarreal

Metabolomics

In silico methods for linking genes and secondary metabolites: The way forward – Shradha Khater – Synthetic and Systems Biotechnology

Techniques and bioinformatics

It’s all relative: analyzing microbiome data as compositions – Gregory B. Gloor – Annals of Epidemiology

Not metagenomics but about a not-clearly defined 16S rRNA gene amplification pipeline. Not a good paper: Snapshot on a pilot metagenomic study for the appraisal of gut microbial diversity in mice, cat and men – Coline Plé – Gastroenterology Research and Practice

More microbiology

Expression of arsenic resistance genes in the obligate anaerobe Bacteroides vulgatus ATCC 8482, a gut microbiome bacterium – Jiajiao Li – Anaerobe

Cholesterol Analogs with Degradation-resistant Alkyl Side Chains Are Effective Mycobacterium tuberculosis Growth Inhibitors – Daniel J. Frank – The Journal of Biological Chemistry

Microbiology and art

This Artist Paints With Bacteria, And It’s Strangely Beautiful – Jacqueline Howard – Huffington Post

Microbes in the news

With a quote from me! Gut bacteria regulate nerve fibre insulation – Mo Costandi – The Guardian

Europe’s Microbiology Society’s Annual Conference 2016: the Twitter story – Microbepost

Antibiotic soap can alter a baby’s gut bacteria – Tim Sandle – Digital Journal

The fridge that detects bacteria in your food – NZ Herald

About COPD: Take a deep breath – your lung microbiome will appreciate it – GSK

Microbiome and the modern environment: a global drift toward dysbiosis? – Susan Prescott and Alan Logan – BioMed Central blog

Biofilm researcher: New Faces: Boo Shan Tseng: This Life Sciences professor is all about communities – University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Study by the University of Kaiserslautern: Viruses cause bacteria to produce pink pigments – AlphaGalileo

Promising new method inhibits TB–causing bacteria – Phys.org

Bacteria Hysteria

Do you know how clean your lean workout is? The DEADLY bacteria found in your gym mat – Kat Romero – Express

Bik’s Picks

Cellular telephone use during free-living walking significantly reduces average walking speed – Jacob E. Barkley – BMC Research Notes

So cool: The Cemetery as Archive: A 177-year-old cemetery is preparing to digitize millions of records that shed light on New York City’s shifting demographics – Jessica Leigh Hester

April 4, 2016

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Gut microbiome of Australian sea lions, Trichoderma fungi in endemic plants, and digging for microbial proof of Hannibal’s route over the alps.

Human vaginal microbiome

Comment: Translating the vaginal microbiome: gaps and challenges – Jacques Ravel – Genome Medicine

Human respiratory microbiome

Review: The lung microbiome: the perfect culprit for COPD exacerbations? – Carine Gomez – European Respiratory Journal

Animal models

Frogs: Short-term exposure to coal combustion waste has little impact on the skin microbiome of adult spring peepers, Pseudacris crucifer – Myra C. Hughey – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Short bowel syndrome (SBS)-associated alterations within the gut-liver axis evolve early and persist long-term in the piglet model of short bowel syndrome – Prue M. Pereira-Fantini – Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology

Maternal Antibiotic Treatment Impacts Development of the Neonatal Intestinal Microbiome and Antiviral Immunity – Gabriela Gonzalez-Perez – The Journal of Immunology

Generation and Characterization of Indoor Fungal Aerosols for Inhalation Studies – Anne Mette Madsen – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Correspondence: The premature invocation of a ‘gut-lung axis’ may obscure the direct effects of respiratory microbiota on pneumonia susceptibility – Robert P Dickson – Gut

Animal microbiome

Colony location and captivity influence the gut microbial community composition of the Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) – Tiffany C. Delport – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

DGGE: Decreased microbial diversity and Lactobacillus group in the intestine of geriatric giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) – Zhirong Peng – World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

Germs within Worms: Localization of Neorickettsia sp. within Life Cycle Stages of the Digenean Plagiorchis elegans – Stephen E. Greiman – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Comparison of the abundance and community structure of ammonia oxidizing prokaryotes in rice rhizosphere under three different irrigation cultivation modes – Jinping Zhang – World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

Endemic plants harbour specific Trichoderma communities with an exceptional potential for biocontrol of phytopathogens – Christin Zachow – Journal of Biotechnology

Water microbiome

Diverse and temporally-variable particle-associated microbial communities are insensitive to bulk seawater environmental parameters – Cheuk-Man Yung – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Pollution and waste microbiology

Similar Microbial Consortia and Genes Are Involved in the Biodegradation of Benzalkonium Chlorides in Different Environments – Emine Ertekin – Environmental Science & Technology

Biofilm and Planktonic Bacterial and Fungal Communities Transforming High-Molecular-Weight Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons – Benjamin D. Folwell – Applied and Environmental Microbiology

Microbes and art

These petri dish “paintings” reveal the hidden beauty of bacteria – Julia Belluz – Vox

After Effects: A series of architectural scale models constructed with black paper and covered with flour and a layer of mould to create the effect of old abandoned buildings – Daniele Del Nero.

Microbes in the news

Scarlett Fever: A 19th-century disease is on the rise in the UK—and nobody knows why – Akshat Rathi – Quartz

The truth about Hannibal’s route across the Alps. How exactly did the Carthaginian general and his elephants reach Italy? Scientists have got their hands dirty to come up with an answer – Philip Ball – The Guardian

Gender differences in antibiotic prescribing in the community: a systematic review and meta-analysis – Wiebke Schröder – Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy

Microbes Meet Cancer. Understanding cancer’s relationship with the human microbiome could transform immune-modulating therapies – Kate Yandell – The Scientist

Guts and Glory. An open mind and collaborative spirit have taken Hans Clevers on a journey from medicine to developmental biology, gastroenterology, cancer, and stem cells – Anna Azvolinsky – The Scientist

Science, pubilishing, and career

Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2016 – Carol Peckham – MedScape

Bik’s Picks

It turns out this planet has three suns in its sky – Rachel Feltman – Washington Post

April 2, 2016

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Yes, it is technically already April 3, but I only got to do the daily roundup late tonight, so I did not quite get it done in time. C-section and weight influence on infant colonization, dachshunds, crops selecting fungi, post-mortem microbial transmigration

Pregnancy and birth

Birth mode-dependent association between pre-pregnancy maternal weight status and the neonatal intestinal microbiome – Noel T. Mueller – Scientific Reports

Study provides evidence that “vaginal seeding” of infants born by caesarean partially restores microbiota – Amali Lokugamage – BMJ

Relationship between milk microbiota, bacterial load, macronutrients and human cells during lactation – Alba Boix-Amoros – Frontiers in Microbiology

Mode of Delivery Determines Neonatal Pharyngeal Bacterial Composition and Early Intestinal Colonization – David E. Brumbaugh – Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition

Effect of Formula Containing Lactobacillus Reuteri DSM 17938 on Fecal Microbiota of Infants Born by Cesarean-Section – Rodenas, Clara L. Garcia – Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition

Human oral microbiome

Mucosal and salivary microbiota associated with recurrent aphthous stomatitis – Yun-ji Kim- BMC Microbiology

Assessment of oral malodor and tonsillar microbiota after gargling with benzethonium chloride – Yuki Iwamura – Journal of Oral Science

Potential screening and early diagnosis method for cancer: Tongue diagnosis – Shuwen Han – International Journal of Oncology

In vitro: A dual-species microbial model for studying the dynamics between oral streptococci and periodontal pathogens during biofilm development on titanium surfaces by flow cytometry – Anita Manti – Research in Microbiology

Human gut microbiome

Changes in fecal microbiota and metabolomics in a child with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) responding to two treatment periods with exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) – Lillemor Berntson – Clinical Rheumatology

Renal Failure due to Excessive Intake of Almonds in the Absence of Oxalobacter formigenes – Yngvar Lunde Haaskjold – The American Journal of Medicine

Reanalysis of published data, no apparent new findings: Host genetics is associated with the gut microbial community membership rather than the structure – Peihua Zhao – Molecular BioSystems

Review: Modulatory Effects of Gut Microbiota on the Central Nervous System: How Gut Could Play a Role in Neuropsychiatric Health and Diseases – Shadi S Yarandi – Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility

Commentary: Can microbiota research change our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases? – Filip Scheperjans – Neurodegenerative Disease Management

Review: Microbes and the mind: emerging hallmarks of the gut microbiota–brain axis
– Kylynda C. Bauer – Cellular Microbiology

Animal models

Distinctly altered gut microbiota in the progression of liver disease – Guoxiang Xie – Oncotarget

Wolbachia confers sex-specific resistance and tolerance to enteric but not systemic bacterial infection in Drosophila – Radhakrishnan B Vasanthakrishnan – BioRxiv

Gut Microbiota and a Selectively Bred Taste Phenotype: A Novel Model of Microbiome-Behavior Relationships – Lyte, Mark – Psychosomatic Medicine

Periodontal dysbiosis linked to periodontitis is associated with cardio-metabolic adaptation to high-fat diet in mice – Maxime Branchereau – American Journal of Physiology Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology

Protocol: The Gut Microbiome in the NOD Mouse – Jian Peng – Part of the series Methods in Molecular Biology

Animal microbiome

Fecal dysbiosis in miniature dachshunds with inflammatory colorectal polyps – Hirotaka Igarashi – Research in Veterinary Science

Plant, root, and soil microbiome

Differential response of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria to the wetting of salty arid soil – Yonatan Sher – Journal of Basic Microbiology

Selection of fungi by candidate cover crops – Maria-Soledad Benitez – Applied Soil Ecology

Unravelling Linkages between Plant Community Composition and the Pathogen-Suppressive Potential of Soils – Ellen Latz – Scientific Reports

Water and extremophile microbiome

Characterization of the prokaryotic diversity through a stratigraphic permafrost core profile from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau – Weigang Hu – Extremophiles

Seasonal and Spatial Changes of Planktonic Bacterial Communities Inhabiting the Natural Thermal Lake Hévíz, Hungary – Gergely Krett – Acta Microbiologica et Immunologica Hungarica

Microbiome of Death

Fluorescently labeled bacteria provide insight on post-mortem microbial transmigration –
Z.M. Burcham – Forensic Science International

Food microbiology

Review: Hygienic characteristics and microbiological hazard identification in horse and donkey raw milk – Giampaolo Colavita – Veterinaria Italiana

Waste and pollution microbiology

Microbial communities in riparian soils of a settling pond for mine drainage treatment – Miaochun Fan – Water Research

Metagenomic analysis shows diverse, distinct bacterial communities in biofilters among different marine recirculating aquaculture systems – Zhitao Huang – Aquaculture International

More microbiology

Evaluation of genetic diversity among strains of the human gut commensal Bifidobacterium adolescentis – Sabrina Duranti – Scientific Reports

Metagenomics and bioinformatics

Not sure if this is a good approach; ignores variation between individual human microbiome strains: Reconstruction of bacterial and viral genomes from multiple metagenomes – Vineet K. Sharma – Frontiers in Microbiology

Metabolomics

Harnessing the power of microbial metabolism – Eduardo Santero – Current Opinion in Microbiology

Microbiology and art

BioArt: Joana Ricou shows the Beautiful Similarities of the Microbiome – Labiotech

Rap song: CosmosID Metagenomics: Exploring the Universe of Microbes – CosmosID – YouTube

Microbes in the news

Mythbusters: Human Microbiota – Caroline Ayinon – Yale Scientific

Introducing the “HomeGenome”. Not endorsing this. Exploring the Microcosm Within. Adventures and insights from the microbiome – Conan Milner – Epoch Times

April Fool’s Day microbiome jokes

Thanks to Microbiome Boost, Donuts May Be Beneficial: when paired with P. tursiops – Tim De Chant – PBS

A microbiology of the built environment April Fools’ joke – Jonathan Eisen – MicroBEnet

And of course my own selection: Human-derived microbial strains used for food and beverage production – Elisabeth Bik – Microbiome Digest

Science, publishing, and career

‘Lab Girl’ Is a Fierce, Uplifting, Must-Read Memoir – Hope Jahren is an acute observer, prickly, and funny as hell. – Elizabeth Royte – Elle