Maternal antibiotic prophylaxis affects Bifidobacterium spp. counts in the human milk, during the first week after delivery.

Human milk is an important source of microorganisms for infant gut colonisation. Although the maternal antibiotic prophylaxis is an important strategy to prevent maternal/neonatal sepsis, it has to be investigated how it may affect the human milk microbiota, especially the genus Bifidobacterium, which has been associated to health benefits. Here, we investigated the impact of the maternal antibiotic prophylaxis on the human milk Bifidobacterium spp. and total bacteria counts, in the first week (short-term) and first month (medium-term) after delivery. Human milk samples were collected from 55 healthy lactating women recruited from the University Hospital of the University of São Paulo at days 7±3 and 30±4 after vaginal delivery. Twenty one volunteers had received maternal antibiotic prophylaxis (MAP group) and 34 had not received MAP (no-MAP group) during or after labour. Total DNA was isolated from milk samples, and the bacterial counts were estimated by quantitative PCR (qPCR). We found lower levels of Bifidobacterium in the MAP group in the first week after delivery (median = 2.1 vs 2.4 log of equivalent cells/ml of human milk, for MAP and no-MAP groups, respectively; P=0.01), although there were no statistical differences in total bacteria count. However, no differences were found in Bifidobacterium counts between the groups at day 30±4 (median = 2.5 vs 2.2 log of equivalent cells/ml of human milk, for MAP and no-MAP groups, respectively; P=0.50). Our results suggest that MAP has a significant impact on Bifidobacterium counts in human milk, reducing this population in the first week after delivery. However, throughout the first month after delivery, the Bifidobacterium counts tend to recover, reaching similar counts to those found in no-MAP group at day 30±4 after delivery.

Study of lobation and vascularization of the lungs of wild boar (Sus scrofa).

The purpose of this study was to describe the anatomy of the lungs of wild boars for comparison with those of domestic swine. It was found that the right lung of the wild boar is divided into four lobes: cranial, median, caudal and accessory, whereas the left lung is divided into two lobes: cranial and caudal. In 93.4% of the cases, right pulmonary artery separates into the ascendant, descendant, median, accessory and caudal branches. In 73.3% of the cases, left pulmonary artery separates most frequently to form three branches to the cranial lobe, whereas the median lobe is generally supplied by only one arterial branch. There is a single pattern of bronchial distribution: in the right lung a tracheal bronchus leads to the cranial lobe, where it separates into the cranial and caudal bronchi and there are also bronchi to the median, caudal and accessory lobes. In the left lung, the large bronchus separates to form two branches, one of which further separates to form two branches to the cranial lobe whereas the other forms a single branch to the caudal lobe.