Does #beauty have a dark side? Testing mediating pathways between engagement with beauty content on social media and cosmetic surgery consideration.

Beauty content on social media has grown exponentially, however research has yet to investigate its association with appearance concerns. This study drew on components of the tripartite influence model to test the associations between young women's engagement with beauty content on social media and cosmetic surgery consideration. A sample of 399 undergraduate women aged 17-25years (Mage = 19.36) completed measures of beauty social media engagement, upward appearance comparison, general attractiveness internalization, dysmorphic appearance concerns, and consideration of cosmetic surgery. Path analysis was used to test direct and indirect associations. In line with the tripartite influence model, results supported a serial mediation model that comprised significant paths from beauty social media engagement through in turn, upward appearance comparison, general attractiveness internalization, and dysmorphic appearance concerns, to cosmetic surgery consideration. However, neither general attractiveness internalization nor dysmorphic appearance concerns mediated the link between beauty social media engagement and consideration of cosmetic surgery. Findings provide new insights into the links between engagement with the growing beauty social media trend and cosmetic surgery consideration.

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass-induced bacterial perturbation contributes to altered host-bacterial co-metabolic phenotype.

BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery, used to achieve effective weight loss in individuals with severe obesity, modifies the gut microbiota and systemic metabolism in both humans and animal models. The aim of the current study was to understand better the metabolic functions of the altered gut microbiome by conducting deep phenotyping of bariatric surgery patients and bacterial culturing to investigate causality of the metabolic observations. METHODS: Three bariatric cohorts (n = 84, n = 14 and n = 9) with patients who had undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), sleeve gastrectomy (SG) or laparoscopic gastric banding (LGB), respectively, were enrolled. Metabolic and 16S rRNA bacterial profiles were compared between pre- and post-surgery. Faeces from RYGB patients and bacterial isolates were cultured to experimentally associate the observed metabolic changes in biofluids with the altered gut microbiome. RESULTS: Compared to SG and LGB, RYGB induced the greatest weight loss and most profound metabolic and bacterial changes. RYGB patients showed increased aromatic amino acids-based host-bacterial co-metabolism, resulting in increased urinary excretion of 4-hydroxyphenylacetate, phenylacetylglutamine, 4-cresyl sulphate and indoxyl sulphate, and increased faecal excretion of tyramine and phenylacetate. Bacterial degradation of choline was increased as evidenced by altered urinary trimethylamine-N-oxide and dimethylamine excretion and faecal concentrations of dimethylamine. RYGB patients' bacteria had a greater capacity to produce tyramine from tyrosine, phenylalanine to phenylacetate and tryptophan to indole and tryptamine, compared to the microbiota from non-surgery, normal weight individuals. 3-Hydroxydicarboxylic acid metabolism and urinary excretion of primary bile acids, serum BCAAs and dimethyl sulfone were also perturbed following bariatric surgery. CONCLUSION: Altered bacterial composition and metabolism contribute to metabolic observations in biofluids of patients following RYGB surgery. The impact of these changes on the functional clinical outcomes requires further investigation. Video abstract.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Outcomes Following Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Recurrent C. difficile Infection.

BACKGROUND: Recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a clinical challenge. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has emerged as a recurrent CDI therapy. Anecdotal concerns exist regarding worsening of IBD activity; however, prospective data among IBD patients are limited. METHODS: Secondary analysis from an open-label, prospective, multicenter cohort study among IBD patients with 2 or more CDI episodes was performed. Participants underwent a single FMT by colonoscopy (250 mL, healthy universal donor). Secondary IBD-related outcomes included rate of de novo IBD flares, worsening IBD, and IBD improvement-all based on Mayo or Harvey-Bradshaw index (HBI) scores. Stool samples were collected for microbiome and targeted metabolomic profiling. RESULTS: Fifty patients enrolled in the study, among which 15 had Crohn's disease (mean HBI, 5.8 ± 3.4) and 35 had ulcerative colitis (mean partial Mayo score, 4.2 ± 2.1). Overall, 49 patients received treatment. Among the Crohn's disease cohort, 73.3% (11 of 15) had IBD improvement, and 4 (26.6%) had no disease activity change. Among the ulcerative colitis cohort, 62% (22 of 34) had IBD improvement, 29.4% (11 of 34) had no change, and 4% (1 of 34) experienced a de novo flare. Alpha diversity significantly increased post-FMT, and ulcerative colitis patients became more similar to the donor than Crohn's disease patients (P = 0.04). CONCLUSION: This prospective trial assessing FMT in IBD-CDI patients suggests IBD outcomes are better than reported in retrospective studies.