Nutritional intake and metabolic parameters of Japanese university students with and without obesity: Sex-specific differences.

OBJECTIVE: To establish effective methods of obesity prevention among young adults, we analyzed the relationship between obesity-related food intake and metabolic factors in Japanese university students. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of nutrient intake information and metabolic parameters among 1,206 Gifu University students categorized by body mass index. RESULTS: The overweight/obesity rate was significantly higher in males. Additionally, among males, the intake of protein, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, all lipids/fats, and all metabolic parameters including blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c, uric acid, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, and blood pressure significantly differed between the obese and non-obese groups. However, the same comparison among females revealed no significant differences in nutrient intake and significant differences in only half of the parameters. Among males, energy intake from protein and fat was significantly higher in the obese group, while the percentage of total energy intake from carbohydrates and fat was lower and higher, respectively, among females in the obese group. CONCLUSIONS: Overeating of protein and fat in males and unbalanced nutrition in females are sex-specific characteristics of Japanese university students with obesity, and metabolic abnormalities in students with obesity are more remarkable in males than in females.

Evaluation of bactericidal effects of silver hydrosol nanotherapeutics against Enterococcus faecium 1449 drug resistant biofilms.

Introduction: Silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) are well documented for their broad-spectrum bactericidal effects. This study aimed to test the effect of bioactive Ag-hydrosol NPs on drug-resistant E. faecium 1449 strain and explore the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for automated detection of the bacteria. Methods: The formation of E. faecium 1449 biofilms in the absence and presence of Ag-hydrosol NPs at different concentrations ranging from 12.4 mg/L to 123 mg/L was evaluated using a 3-dimentional culture system. The biofilm reduction was evaluated using the confocal microscopy in addition to the Transmission Electronic Microscopy (TEM) visualization and spectrofluorimetric quantification using a Biotek Synergy Neo2 microplate reader. The cytotoxicity of the NPs was evaluated in human nasal epithelial cells using the MTT assay. The AI technique based on Fast Regional Convolutional Neural Network architecture was used for the automated detection of the bacteria. Results: Treatment with Ag-hydrosol NPs at concentrations ranging from 12.4 mg/L to 123 mg/L resulted in 78.09% to 95.20% of biofilm reduction. No statistically significant difference in biofilm reduction was found among different batches of Ag-hydrosol NPs. Quantitative concentration-response relationship analysis indicated that Ag-hydrosol NPs exhibited a relative high anti-biofilm activity and low cytotoxicity with an average EC50 and TC50 values of 0.0333 and 6.55 mg/L, respectively, yielding an average therapeutic index value of 197. The AI-assisted TEM image analysis allowed automated detection of E. faecium 1449 with 97% ~ 99% accuracy. Discussion: Conclusively, the bioactive Ag-hydrosol NP is a promising nanotherapeutic agent against drug-resistant pathogens. The AI-assisted TEM image analysis was developed with the potential to assess its treatment effect.

High-Throughput Detection of Bacterial Community and Its Drug-Resistance Profiling From Local Reclaimed Wastewater Plants.

Treated wastewater from reclaimed facilities (WWTP) has become a reusable source for a variety of applications, such as agricultural irrigation. However, it is also a potential reservoir of clinically-relevant multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens, including ESKAPE (Enterococcus faecium and Streptococcus surrogates, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species along with the emerging nosocomial Escherichia strains). This study was performed to decipher the bacterial community structure through Illumina high throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and to determine the resistance profile using the Sensititre antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) conforming to clinical lab standards (NCCLS). Out of 1747 bacterial strains detected from wastewater influent and effluent, Pseudomonas was the most predominant genus related to ESKAPE in influent, with sequence reads corresponding to 21.356%, followed by Streptococcus (6.445%), Acinetobacter (0.968%), Enterococcus (0.063%), Klebsiella (0.038%), Escherichia (0.028%) and Staphylococcus (0.004%). Despite the different treatment methods used, the effluent still revealed the presence of some Pseudomonas strains (0.066%), and a wide range of gram-positive cocci, including Staphylococcus (0.194%), Streptococcus (0.63%) and Enterococcus (0.037%), in addition to gram-negative Acinetobacter (0.736%), Klebsiella (0.1%), and Escherichia sub-species (0.811%). The AST results indicated that the strains Escherichia along with Klebsiella and Acinetobacter, isolated from the effluent, displayed resistance to 11 antibiotics, while Pseudomonas was resistant to 7 antibiotics, and Streptococcus along with Staphylococcus were resistant to 9 antibiotics. Results herein, proved the existence of some nosocomial MDR pathogens, known for ESKAPE, with potential drug resistance transfer to the non-pathogen microbes, requiring targeted remediation.

Study on the therapeutic index and synergistic effect of Chitosan-zinc oxide nanomicellar composites for drug-resistant bacterial biofilm inhibition.

The synergistic effectiveness of chitosan with zinc oxide nanomicelles (CZNPs) on broad spectrum of multidrug resistance (MDR) was previously evidenced in our labs, requiring elucidation of the therapeutic index (TI) for safe in vivo use. This in vitro assessment estimated the effective dose (ED50) of micellar CZNPs for eradication of the MDR Enterococcus faecium 1449 model and the corresponding cytotoxic dose (LD50) against rat small intestinal epithelial cells as functions of TI. In order to visually determine the mechanistic effects of micellar CZNPs on bacterial biofilm size reduction, LIVE/DEAD viability assay was used in conjunction with advanced fluorescence imaging and 3D confocal microscopy. Biofilm quantification was performed through the measure of the fluorescence intensity, using the Biotek Synergy Neo2 for calculating the ED50. To generate the LD50, the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) cytotoxicity assay was implemented. Quantification results revealed, at the same concentration (200 µg/mL), micellar CZNPs had average biofilm reduction of approximately 50.22% at 24 h (ED50 = 199.13 µg/mL, LD50 = 240.20 µg/mL, TI = 1.2062), compared to chitosan (15.66%) and ZnO (13.94%) alone. Conclusively, the ED50 of micellar CZNPs on MDR bacterial biofilms (199.13 µg/mL) as a function of TI reveals a promising nanotherapeutic agent in comparison to either Chitosan or ZnO alone.