Changes in the fecal microbiota of breast cancer patients based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: Breast cancer (BC) is a devastating disease for women. Microbial influences may be involved in the development and progression of breast cancer. This study aimed to investigate the difference in intestinal flora abundance between breast cancer patients and healthy controls (HC) based on previous 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing results, which have been scattered and inconsistent in previous studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In agreement with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), we searched for pertinent literature in Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases from build until February 1, 2023. Relative abundance, diversity of intestinal microflora by level, microbial composition, community structure, diversity index, and other related data were extracted. We used a fixed or random effects model for data analysis. We also conducted funnel plot analysis, sensitivity analysis, Egger's, and Begg's tests to assess the bias risk. RESULTS: A total of ten studies involving 734 BC patients were enrolled. It was pointed out that there were significant differences in the Chao index between BC and HC in these studies [SMD = - 175.44 (95% CI - 246.50 to - 104.39)]. The relative abundance of Prevotellaceae [SMD = - 0.27 (95% CI - 0.39 to - 0.15)] and Bacteroides [SMD = 0.36 (95% CI 0.23-0.49)] was significantly different. In the included articles, the relative abundance of Prevotellaceae, Ruminococcus, Roseburia inulinivorans, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii decreased in BC. Accordingly, the relative richness of Erysipelotrichaceae was high in BC. CONCLUSIONS: This observational meta-analysis revealed that the changes in gut microbiota were correlated with BC, and the changes in some primary fecal microbiota might affect the beginning of breast cancer.

Qualitative analysis of the most locally relevant runoff and erosion parameters for constructing Brazilian scenarios.

Estimating exposure is one of the most important steps in an environmental risk analysis of crop-protection products to nontarget organisms. Regulatory agencies such as the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) all use mathematical exposure models in their regulatory assessment process. Brazil has been discussing the adoption of the Pesticide in Water Calculator (PWC) to be applied in aquatic pesticide risk assessment. Therefore, a qualitative sensitivity analysis (Morris OAT method) was performed to understand which are the most important local parameters in the PWC to estimate environmental concentrations in surface water (EECSW ). In addition, an exercise made up of two corn scenarios in two Brazilian regions was developed (Uberlândia [UDI] and Arapoti [ARA]). Two herbicides with different soil-binding properties and modes of action were selected to estimate the EECSW . The results demonstrated that the parameters of importance were different for each site, probably the result of different soil characteristics and meteorological patterns. This outcome suggests that regulatory agencies should consider developing more than one scenario to account for different agricultural regions. For Herbicide 1, the EECSW for UDI were similar to US scenarios, whereas for ARA they were lower. For Herbicide 2, the EECSW for the UDI site was higher than most of the US scenarios, whereas at the ARA site, EECs were similar to four US scenarios and lower than the other six. Local data were used as a refinement, resulting in the decrease in the EECSW for both herbicides in the UDI site. For the ARA site, Herbicide 1 displayed a similar EECSW value, whereas for Herbicide 2, it was lower after the refinement. Overall, these results demonstrated the importance of developing local scenarios to provide more realism to estimate pesticide exposure from its agricultural use and may help regulators to determine and recommend mitigations regarding the use of crop-protection products. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2023;19:1374-1384. © 2023 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).