Analysis of microbiota profile and nutritional status in male professional football players.

BACKGROUND: The interest in the effect of gut microbiota on athlete health has increased in recent years. Available data indicate a relationship between gut microbiota composition and physical activity, suggesting that changes in the microbiota may contribute to the host's physical performance. Studies show that leaky gut syndrome is highly correlated with upper respiratory infections and gastrointestinal disorders in endurance sports. This study aims to reveal the relationship between microbiota profiles, and the nutritional status of football players who perform endurance exercises. METHODS: Twenty male professional football players playing in one of the Turkish Football Federation Second League clubs participated in the study. Fecal samples were collected and stored at -86 °C, and the fecal microbiota was analyzed through 16s rRNA gene sequencing. The body composition of the football players was measured using a bioelectrical impedance analyzer. In addition, the 3-day food intake of the participants was recorded with the help of a dietitian. RESULTS: In the microbiota of football players, four phyla, 10 genera, and four species with densities above 1% were found. Body fat percentage was observed to be negatively correlated with the species of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Bacteroides vulgatus and the genus of Faecalibacterium (P<0.05). Considering the nutritional status, the fat intake was found to be positively correlated with Actinobacteria and Blautia coccoides; energy and fiber intake with Prevotella and Prevotella copri (P<0.05). In addition, there was a negative correlation between carbohydrate intake and Faecalibacterium (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our study is the first to reveal the microbiota profile of professional Turkish football players. It was found that football players' nutritional status and anthropometric measurements of are significantly related to phylum, genus and species ranks in the microbiota. These results support the bidirectional interaction between microbiota and sports. The relationship between microbiota and sports health/performance is thought to be further clarified with future studies.

Investigation of the inverse magnetocaloric effect with the fraction method.

In this study, we examine Ni49Nb1Mn36In14(nom. at.%) magnetic shape memory alloy (MSMA) to illustrate the inverse magnetocaloric effect (MCE) using the fraction method. The magnetic entropy change,ΔSmag, was calculated with both, the fraction method and the thermomagnetic Maxwell relation. Our results demonstrate that there exists a large magnetization difference between field-cooling and field-heating histories in Ni49Nb1Mn36In14(nom. at.%) MSMA, which can be attributed to the pinning of lattice entropy and magnetic entropy, as it is well-known that the temperature and applied magnetic fields have an opposing effect on the total entropy change. In addition, we describe the inverse MCE and the contradictory roles on the total entropy change between the two stimuli via the fraction method.

Taurine Electrografting onto Porous Electrodes Improves Redox Flow Battery Performance.

The surface properties of porous carbonaceous electrodes govern the performance, durability, and ultimately the cost of redox flow batteries (RFBs). State-of-the-art carbon fiber-based electrode interfaces suffer from limited kinetic activity and incomplete wettability, fundamentally limiting the performance. Surface treatments for electrodes such as thermal and acid activation are a common practice to make them more suitable for aqueous RFBs; however, these treatments offer limited control over the desired functional properties. Here, we propose, for the first time, electrografting as a facile, rapid, and versatile technique to enable task-specific functionalization of porous carbonaceous electrodes for use in RFBs. Electrografting allows covalent attachment of organic molecules on conductive substrates upon application of an electrochemical driving force, and the vast library of available organic molecules can unlock a broad range of desired functional properties. To showcase the potential of electrografting for RFBs, we elect to investigate taurine, an amine with a highly hydrophilic sulfonic acid tail. Oxidative electrografting with cyclic voltammetry allows covalent attachment of taurine through the amine group to the fiber surface, resulting in taurine-functionalized carbon cloth electrodes. In situ polarization and impedance spectroscopy in single-electrolyte flow cells reveal that taurine-treated cloth electrodes result in 40% lower charge transfer and 25% lower mass transfer resistances than off-the-shelf cloth electrodes. We find that taurine-treated electrode interfaces promote faster Fe3+ reduction reaction kinetics as the electrochemical surface area normalized current densities are 2-fold and 4-fold higher than oxidized and untreated glassy carbon surfaces, respectively. Improved mass transfer of taurine-treated electrodes is attributed to their superior wettability, as revealed by operando neutron radiography within a flow cell setup. Through demonstrating promising results for aqueous systems with the model molecule taurine, this work aims to bring forth electrografting as a facile technique to tailor electrode surfaces for other RFB chemistries and electrochemical technologies.

A Rare Cause of Urinary Retention Refractory to Conventional Measures: Bladder Fungoma.

Funguria is a rare condition in healthy populations but in immunocompromised patients, it is occasionally seen and can cause opportunistic urinary tract infections. Candida albicans is the most commonly isolated pathogen in fungal urinary tract infections. The standard treatment for fungal urinary tract infection is anti-fungal therapy. Sometimes when severe funguria is present, a rare entity called a fungus ball can form in the urinary tract and surgical excision may be needed for eradication. In this report, we present a 76-year-old male patient who was admitted to our clinic for anuria for two days. The patient was catheterized transurethrally and saline irrigation was performed. Candida albicans was isolated from the urine. Ultrasound showed a 4 x 2cm fungus ball in the bladder. With the open surgical removal of the fungus ball and anti-fungal therapy with fluconazole, the patient was discharged without any complications. We emphasize that in patients with risk factors, abnormal imaging, and funguria resistant to anti-fungal therapy, fungus ball may be present and surgical removal is the standard approach.

Computer-assisted assessment of ovarian echotexture parameters in mares following changes after ovulation determined by ultrasonography.

This study was carried out to determine the time-dependent changes in the ultrasonographic image of the ovary with computer-assisted analysis programs at certain intervals after ovulation and to determine whether computer-assisted analysis programs and ovulation programs can be managed in cases where the ovulation time is unknown. The study included 40 purebred Arab mares. The study was subdivided into 4 different time periods of 6 (Group 1), 12 (Group 2), 18 (Group 3) and 24 (Group 4) hours following ovulation. In addition, after ovulation and ultrasonographic examination, natural insemination was performed at 6, 12, 18 and 24 hours, and pregnancy examination and follow-up were performed at 15-30-45 days. In the echotexture analysis, mean grayness value (MGV) and contrast (CON) measurements were at different levels according to the time groups (p⟨0.001). Homogeneity (HOM) measurements were at different levels according to the time groups (p⟨0.001). A very strong, significant negative correlation was determined between MGV and pregnancy rates (r=-0.91, p=0.01, p⟨0.05). No significant relationship was observed between HOM values and pregnancy rates (r=0.19, p=0.23, p>0.05). A very strong, significant negative correlation was determined between CON and pregnancy rates (r=-0.92, p=0.01, p⟨0.05). It was concluded that the use of ultrasonographic echotexture in mares after ovulation provided very important information. In cases where the time of ovulation was not known, by looking at the values of echotexture parameters, it was seen that the highest pregnancy rates were at the 6th hour and the lowest pregnancy rates were at the 24th hour. As the echotexture parameters MGV and CON increased, it was determined that pregnancy rates decreased, but there was no relationship between them and the HOM value.

Illuminating the Reaction Pathways of Viromimetic Assembly.

The coassembly of well-defined biological nanostructures relies on a delicate balance between attractive and repulsive interactions between biomolecular building blocks. Viral capsids are a prototypical example, where coat proteins exhibit not only self-interactions but also interact with the cargo they encapsulate. In nature, the balance between antagonistic and synergistic interactions has evolved to avoid kinetic trapping and polymorphism. To date, it has remained a major challenge to experimentally disentangle the complex kinetic reaction pathways that underlie successful coassembly of biomolecular building blocks in a noninvasive approach with high temporal resolution. Here we show how macromolecular force sensors, acting as a genome proxy, allow us to probe the pathways through which a viromimetic protein forms capsids. We uncover the complex multistage process of capsid assembly, which involves recruitment and complexation, followed by allosteric growth of the proteinaceous coat. Under certain conditions, the single-genome particles condense into capsids containing multiple copies of the template. Finally, we derive a theoretical model that quantitatively describes the kinetics of recruitment and growth. These results shed new light on the origins of the pathway complexity in biomolecular coassembly.

Evaluation of endometrial echotexture and cervical cytology in cows during and after treatment of endometritis.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in the endometrium by using echotexture parameters during and after treatment of endometritis with intrauterine administration of an intrauterine antiseptic solution (Lotagen®, 3% metacresolsulphonic acid and formaldehyde) in cows which became pregnant after treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: According to the severity of endometritis 21 cows were divided into three groups: E1 (slight, n = 7), E2 (moderate, n = 8), E3 (severe, n = 6). The control group (C, n = 11) consisted of cows without endometritis that did not receive an intrauterine medication. A software (Bs200 Pro®) was used to evaluate echotexture parameters Contrast (CON), Gradient (GR), Homogeneity (HOM), Mean Gray Level (MGL) of images taken during the examinations at hours (h) 0, 1 and 6 and days (d) 2, 3, 5 and 10. RESULTS: At 0 h, GR was significantly lower in group E2 than in groups E1 and C (p < 0.05). There was an increase in GR values between 0 h and 10 d in group E2 and E3, but a decrease during the same time interval in group C (p < 0.05). In contrast, CON values of group E2 were lower (p < 0.05) at 0 h compared to other timepoints of examination and lower than in group C. HOM values were lower (p < 0.05) in groups E1, E2 and E3 than in group C on d 5 and d 10. HOM values were higher at 1 h compared to 6 h, d 2 and d 10 in group E3 (p < 0.05). By contrast to GR values, HOM values were higher in group C at 6 h and d 10 than they were in group E3. MGL values of group E2 were higher (p < 0.05) than in group C until d 10 and higher (p < 0.05) in group E3 than in group C at 6 h after treatment. In group E2 an increase of MGL values until d 2 was followed by a decrease (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Echotexture parameters determined by the evaluation of sonographic B-mode images reflect changes in the endometrium and could be used for the evaluation of the recovery period after treatment of endometritis.

The effects of aglepristone alone and in combination with cloprostenol on hormonal values during termination of mid-term pregnancy in bitches.

This study was designed to assess endocrine changes associated with termination of mid-term pregnancy after use of two different protocols. For this purpose we compared the effects of aglepristone (AGL) alone and in combination with cloprostenol (CLO) on serum concentrations of progesterone (P4), estradiol (E2) and relaxin (RLN) measured at short-term intervals during the abortion period in bitches. Fourteen pregnant bitches between day 25 and 32 of gestation were used in the study. In the AGL group (n=7), aglepristone was administered solely (10mg/kg body weight (BW), subcutaneously, once daily on two consecutive days) whereas in the AGL-CLO group (n=7), aglepristone (dosage as in AGL group) and cloprostenol (1µg/kg BW, subcutaneously, same with aglepristone) were combined. All pregnancies were successfully terminated 5.2±1.6 days after initiation of treatments, which was significant in both groups (P>0.05). At the time of the start of abortion (SA) and the end of abortion (EA), the mean P4 concentrations were 26.6±7.3 and 12.0±6.4ng/ml in AGL group, and 2.7±0.7 and 0.9±0.1ng/ml, in AGL-CLO group, respectively (P<0.01). Serum E2 concentrations were significantly higher (P<0.05) in AGL group at 42, 48, 54h and SA after initiation of treatment. In the AGL-CLO group, serum RLN concentrations did not significantly change from the initiation of treatment to EA (P>0.05). However, markedly higher RLN concentrations (P<0.05) were observed in the AGL group at 48h (1.5±0.7ng/ml) and at SA (1.6±0.5ng/ml). The results of the present study indicate that changes in the hormonal concentrations affect the mechanism of abortion in different ways. Further in depth studies investigating changes in the expression of hormone receptors inside the ovary, endometrium and placenta might be helpful to our understanding of the endocrinological differences observed in this study.

Clinical evaluation of different applications of misoprostol and aglepristone for induction of abortion in bitches.

The aim of the present study was to compare the clinical and endocrinological effects of different applications of misoprostol (MIS) and aglepristone (AGL) for the induction of abortion in bitches. For this purpose, 28 healthy pregnant bitches from different breeds, ages, body weights (Body weigt, BWs, 10-40 kg), and between Days 25 to 35 of gestation were used. Bitches were randomly assigned to four groups. In group 1 (GI, n = 7), AGL (10 mg/kg BW, s.c. on 2 consecutive days); in group 2 (GII, n = 7), AGL (as in GI), intravaginal MIS (IVag, 200 µg for bitches with ≤20 kg BW, 400 µg for bitches with >20 kg BW, daily intravaginally until completion of abortion); in group 3 (GIII, n = 7), AGL (as in GI), ICVag (as in GII), per os MIS (400 µg for bitches with ≤20 kg BW, 800 µg for bitches with >20 kg BW, daily orally, until completion of abortion); in group 4 (GIV, n = 7), AGL (as in GI), per os MIS (as GIII) were used. Clinical, vaginal, and ultrasonographic examinations were performed daily until abortion was completed. For measurement of serum progesterone, blood samples were collected in all groups immediately after the first AGL administration and every other day until completion of abortion. No statistical differences were found between groups concerning the duration until completion of abortion after treatment (nonsignificant); however, in GII, one bitch completed abortion 2 days after the start of treatment.

The intravaginal application of misoprostol improves induction of abortion with aglepristone.

The aim of the present study was to compare the clinical and endocrinological effects of four different treatments for the induction of abortion in bitches. For this purpose, 28 pregnant bitches between days 25 and 35 of gestation, were randomly assigned to four groups. In group I (n = 7), only aglepristone (AGL, 10mg/kg bw, two injections 24 h apart, s.c.) was administered. In group II (n = 7), AGL (as in group I), cabergolin (CAB, 5 µg/kg, daily p.o., until completion of abortion) and misoprostol (MIS, 200 µg for bitches with ≤ 20 kg bw, 400 µg for bitches with > 20 kg bw, daily intravaginally, until completion of abortion) were administered. In group III (n = 7), AGL (as in group I) and MIS (as in group II) were administered. In group IV (n = 7) AGL, (as in group I) and cloprostenol (CLO, 1µg/kg bw, s.c., two injections 24 h apart with the AGL injections) were combined. In all groups, bitches were examined daily, clinically and ultrasonographically to monitor resorptions/abortions. To measure serum progesterone (P4) and total estrogen (TE) concentrations, blood samples were collected in all groups immediately after the first AGL administration and every other day until completion of abortion. No statistical differences were found between groups concerning the duration until completion of abortion following treatment (n.s.); however, in Group III, 6 d after the start of treatment all pregnancies were terminated whereas in Group I, II and IV, only 57.1% (4/7), 85.7 % (6/7) and 42.8 % (3/7) of pregnancies were terminated. In the latter groups, all pregnancies were terminated between days 8 and 10 after the start of treatment. In Group IV, P4 concentrations on days two and one before the beginning of abortion and the day the abortion started was significantly lower than in the other groups (P < 0.01). No statistical differences were found between groups for TE concentrations (P > 0.05). In Groups I, II and III, no severe side effects occurred. Severe vomiting after each treatment and until the end of abortion was observed in Group IV only. In conclusion, only when a combination of AGL and MIS was used abortion was completed within 6 d in all bitches whereas the additional use of CAB did not improve the treatment.

Antibiotics prophylaxis in laparoscopy.

OBJECTIVE: This study was to determine which prophylactic antibiotic regimen is most effective in reducing the incidence of infectious morbidity in women undergoing laparoscopy. DESIGN: Randomized, nonblinded comparative study of a single preoperative dose of first generation cephalosporins vs. the control group which did not receive the antibiotic. METHODS: The operations were performed using standard technique. Women (n = 450) with indication for laparoscopy were randomly allocated to two groups. Group 1 (n = 200) received the single dose in first generation cephalosporins and group 2 (n = 250) did not receive it. Both groups were followed up during 7 days for detection of signs of wound infection, idiopathic fever, peritonitis and urinary tract infection, and respiratory tract. Prevalence of postoperative infection, mean hospital stay. RESULTS: Women completing the study (n = 450) were distributed into group 1 (n = 200) and group 2 (n = 250). No significant difference was found either in the prevalence of postoperative infection or in the mean hospital stay. No death occurred. Each patient was assessed daily until discharge to evidence wound infection, idiopathic fever, peritonitis and urinary tract infection, and respiratory tract. Hospital stay did not differ significantly between groups (p>0.005). CONCLUSION: In our setting, the administration of a single dose of 2 g of first generation cephalosporins before laparoscopy for prevention of infection is clinically equivalent to control group. Single dose of 2 g of first generation cephalosporins appears to offer no added benefit over control group.

Abdominal mass secondary to actinomyces infection: an unusual presentation and its treatment.

Abdominal actinomycosis may appear as an abdominal mass and/or abscess. This mass can mimic a malignant tumour. The diagnosis and management of abdominal actinomycosis will be discussed through a review of the literature and a case report from our own institution. The patient was a 17-year-old boy who presented with abdominal discomfort and a palpable right lower quadrant mass defined on CT scan. He underwent en bloc resection of the mass for a presumed diagnosis of tumour of uncertain type with intestinal involvement. The diagnosis was reversed, when histology revealed filamentous organisms consistent with actinomyces. He was treated with high dose penicillin for several weeks and was discharged from the hospital taking penicillin orally. Preoperative diagnosis of abdominal actinomycosis is difficult. An accurate diagnosis is always obtained in a histological or microbiological examination, often requiring surgical resection. Recognition is important because successful treatment requires combined surgery and prolonged penicillin treatment.