Bovine mammary epithelial cells can grow and express milk protein synthesis genes at reduced fetal bovine serum concentration.

Milk proteins produced by lactating cells isolated from bovine mammary tissue can offer a sustainable solution to the high protein demand of a global growing population. Serum is commonly added to culture systems to provide compounds necessary for optimal growth and function of the cells. However, in a cellular agricultural context, its usage is desired to be decreased. This study aims at examining the minimum level of fetal bovine serum (FBS) required for the growth and functionality of bovine mammary epithelial cells (MECs). The cells were isolated from dairy cows in early and mid-lactation and cultured in reduced concentrations of FBS (10%, 5%, 1.25%, and 0%). Real-time cell analysis showed a significant effect of lactation stage on growth rate and 5% FBS resulted in similar growth rate as 10% while 0% resulted in the lowest. The effect of reducing FBS on cell functionality was examined by studying the expressions of selected marker genes involved in milk protein and fat synthesis, following differentiation. The gene expressions were not affected by the level of FBS. A reduction of FBS in the culture system of MEC, at least down to 5%, does not assert any negative effect on the growth and expression levels of studied genes. As the first attempt in developing an in-vitro model for milk component production using MEC, our results demonstrate the potential of MEC to endure FBS-reduced conditions.

In Silico Comparison Shows that the Pan-Genome of a Dairy-Related Bacterial Culture Collection Covers Most Reactions Annotated to Human Microbiomes.

The diversity of the human microbiome is positively associated with human health. However, this diversity is endangered by Westernized dietary patterns that are characterized by a decreased nutrient variety. Diversity might potentially be improved by promoting dietary patterns rich in microbial strains. Various collections of bacterial cultures resulting from a century of dairy research are readily available worldwide, and could be exploited to contribute towards this end. We have conducted a functional in silico analysis of the metagenome of 24 strains, each representing one of the species in a bacterial culture collection composed of 626 sequenced strains, and compared the pathways potentially covered by this metagenome to the intestinal metagenome of four healthy, although overweight, humans. Remarkably, the pan-genome of the 24 strains covers 89% of the human gut microbiome's annotated enzymatic reactions. Furthermore, the dairy microbial collection covers biological pathways, such as methylglyoxal degradation, sulfate reduction, g-aminobutyric (GABA) acid degradation and salicylate degradation, which are differently covered among the four subjects and are involved in a range of cardiometabolic, intestinal, and neurological disorders. We conclude that microbial culture collections derived from dairy research have the genomic potential to complement and restore functional redundancy in human microbiomes.

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of Iranian health sciences students regarding hepatitis B and C virus infections: A national survey.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization seeks to achieve the goal of viral hepatitis elimination by 2030 and lack of general knowledge about viral hepatitis seems to be a barrier to reaching this goal. This study was designed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections among Iranian health sciences students in 12 Iranian medical sciences universities using a national survey. METHODS: This survey was conducted during the second Hepatitis Awareness Campaign, which was held during the Iranian National Hepatitis Week (October 22-28, 2016). Students who visited our booths and were willing to participate in our survey were selected using convenience sampling and their HBV- and HCV-related KAP were evaluated. RESULTS: Two thousand one hundred fifty-six health sciences students with mean age of 21.24 years participated in our survey. The mean KAP scores were 7.35 (out of 10), 4.88 (possible score, -20 to +20), and 5.67 (out of 9). Students with experience of accidental exposures to blood (21.6%) had better KAP scores compared with the students without such experiences. The mean KAP scores were associated with subjects' year of education, field of study, university, and province (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that HBV- and HCV-related KAP in a sample of Iranian health sciences students was not satisfying. The results also demonstrated priority of needing intervention regarding KAP in some subject areas, lower years of education, and some universities compared with others.