Obesity status and obesity-associated gut dysbiosis effects on hypothalamic structural covariance.

BACKGROUND: Functional connectivity alterations in the lateral and medial hypothalamic networks have been associated with the development and maintenance of obesity, but the possible impact on the structural properties of these networks remains largely unexplored. Also, obesity-related gut dysbiosis may delineate specific hypothalamic alterations within obese conditions. We aim to assess the effects of obesity, and obesity and gut-dysbiosis on the structural covariance differences in hypothalamic networks, executive functioning, and depressive symptoms. METHODS: Medial (MH) and lateral (LH) hypothalamic structural covariance alterations were identified in 57 subjects with obesity compared to 47 subjects without obesity. Gut dysbiosis in the subjects with obesity was defined by the presence of high (n = 28) and low (n = 29) values in a BMI-associated microbial signature, and posthoc comparisons between these groups were used as a proxy to explore the role of obesity-related gut dysbiosis on the hypothalamic measurements, executive function, and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Structural covariance alterations between the MH and the striatum, lateral prefrontal, cingulate, insula, and temporal cortices are congruent with previously functional connectivity disruptions in obesity conditions. MH structural covariance decreases encompassed postcentral parietal cortices in the subjects with obesity and gut-dysbiosis, but increases with subcortical nuclei involved in the coding food-related hedonic information in the subjects with obesity without gut-dysbiosis. Alterations for the structural covariance of the LH in the subjects with obesity and gut-dysbiosis encompassed increases with frontolimbic networks, but decreases with the lateral orbitofrontal cortex in the subjects with obesity without gut-dysbiosis. Subjects with obesity and gut dysbiosis showed higher executive dysfunction and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Obesity-related gut dysbiosis is linked to specific structural covariance alterations in hypothalamic networks relevant to the integration of somatic-visceral information, and emotion regulation.

Balances: a New Perspective for Microbiome Analysis.

High-throughput sequencing technologies have revolutionized microbiome research by allowing the relative quantification of microbiome composition and function in different environments. In this work we focus on the identification of microbial signatures, groups of microbial taxa that are predictive of a phenotype of interest. We do this by acknowledging the compositional nature of the microbiome and the fact that it carries relative information. Thus, instead of defining a microbial signature as a linear combination in real space corresponding to the abundances of a group of taxa, we consider microbial signatures given by the geometric means of data from two groups of taxa whose relative abundances, or balance, are associated with the response variable of interest. In this work we present selbal, a greedy stepwise algorithm for selection of balances or microbial signatures that preserves the principles of compositional data analysis. We illustrate the algorithm with 16S rRNA abundance data from a Crohn's microbiome study and an HIV microbiome study. IMPORTANCE We propose a new algorithm for the identification of microbial signatures. These microbial signatures can be used for diagnosis, prognosis, or prediction of therapeutic response based on an individual's specific microbiota.

Efecto de un tratamiento experimental de una superficie sobre la resistencia flexural en una zirconia Y-TZP / Effect of an experimental surface treatment on Y-TZP zirconia flexural strength

RESUMEN Objetivo: Analizar el efecto del microgranallado superficial como tratamiento experimental de regeneración, en la resistencia flexural y esfuerzos residuales de una Zirconia Y-TZP, una vez ha sido alterada con otros tratamientos mecánicos como microarenado y fresado. Métodos: Un total de 75 probetas de Zirconia Y-TZP fueron divididas en cinco grupos n=15 y sometidas a tratamientos de superficie así: fresado y microarenado (Grupos 2 y 4) microarenado + microgranallado y fresado + microgranallado (Grupos 3 y 5), y comparadas con un grupo control (Grupo 1), mediante Difracción de Rayos X (DRX), Microscopía electrónica de barrido (SEM), Microscopía confocal (CLSM) y sometida a falla en máquina universal de ensayos. Resultados: Los grupos de microgranallado y microarenado presentaron un aumento significativo de la resistencia flexural p=0.0082 con relación al grupo de fresado. Las mediciones mediante DRX no mostraron relación estadística con los cambios en la resistencia flexural. Significancia: Es posible que el microgranallado se considere un tratamiento para regenerar las propiedades mecánicas reducidas por fresado o arenado en la Zirconia Y-TZP.

ABSTRACT Objective: To analyze the effect of surface micro shot peening as an experimental regeneration treatment on the flexural strength and residual stresses of a Y-TZP Zirconia, once it has been altered with other mechanical treatments such as micro sandblasting and milling. Methods: A total of 75 Zirconia Y-TZP specimens were divided into five n = 15 groups and subjected to surface treatments such as: milling and micro sandblasting (Groups 2 and 4) micro sandblasting + micro shot peening; and milling + micro shot peening (Groups 3 and 5), compared to a control group (Group 1), by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), confocal microscopy (CLSM) and subjected to failure in a universal testing machine. All the results were compared to find a statistical relationship between them using a mixed linear model and Tuckey. Results: The groups of micro shot peening and micro sandblasting presented a significant increase of the flexural strength p = 0.0082 vs the milling group. The XRD technique is not related to flexural strength measurements. Significance: It is possible that the micro shot peening be considered a treatment to regenerate the mechanical properties reduced by milling or sandblasting in Zirconia Y-TZP.

Impact of HLA-DRB1 allele polymorphisms on control of HIV infection in a Peruvian MSM cohort.

Associations between HLA class II polymorphisms and HIV control were assessed in a Peruvian MSM cohort. Among 233 treatment naïve HIV+ individuals, DRB1*13:02 was linked to elevated viral loads (P = .044) while DRB1*12:01 showed significantly lower viral set points (P = .015) and restricted a dominant T cell response to HIV Gag p24 (P = .038). The present work contributes to a better knowledge of the Peruvian immunogenetics and supports the important role of HLA class II restricted T cells in HIV control.

Chylous ascites after retroperitoneal aortocava lymphadenectomy for endometrial cancer: a case report.

This is a case report of chylous ascites after retroperitoneal aortocava lymphadenectomy for endometrial cancer. There are few reports of chylous ascites in gynecologic surgery. Treatment is primarily conservative. The present case was resolved with a low fat diet with medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) supplements and somatostatin IV.

Improving strategies for detecting genetic patterns of disease susceptibility in association studies.

The analysis of gene interactions and epistatic patterns of susceptibility is especially important for investigating complex diseases such as cancer characterized by the joint action of several genes. This work is motivated by a case-control study of bladder cancer, aimed at evaluating the role of both genetic and environmental factors in bladder carcinogenesis. In particular, the analysis of the inflammation pathway is of interest, for which information on a total of 282 SNPs in 108 genes involved in the inflammatory response is available. Detecting and interpreting interactions with such a large number of polymorphisms is a great challenge from both the statistical and the computational perspectives. In this paper we propose a two-stage strategy for identifying relevant interactions: (1) the use of a synergy measure among interacting genes and (2) the use of the model-based multifactor dimensionality reduction method (MB-MDR), a model-based version of the MDR method, which allows adjustment for confounders.