Long-term motor activity, cardiopulmonary performance and quality of life in abdominal wall defect patients.

AIM: To assess whether patients born with an abdominal wall defect (AWD) have impaired cardiorespiratory performance capacity, motor skills, core stability or quality of life in a long-term follow up. METHODS: Patients diagnosed with AWD between 2002 and 2013 were invited to participate in the study, which included clinical examination, spirometry, cardiopulmonary exercise performance testing, assessment of motor activity, ultrasound, electromyography of the abdominal wall and assessment of the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI). The results were compared to a healthy control group matched for age, sex, BMI, and physical activity levels. RESULTS: In total, 18 AWD patients (mean age 12.6 ± 3.5 years) were included and there were no significant differences in anthopometric data compared to the control group (n = 18). AWD patients had a significantly lower GIQLI score (AWD mean 137.2 ± 6.8 vs. control mean 141.4 ± 4.9; p = 0.038) and were affected by decreased motor abilities with significantly higher Dordel-Koch-Test values (AWD median 3.54/IQR 1 vs. control median 2.8/IQR 1; p = 0.005). CONCLUSION: Follow-up examinations of AWD patients revealed decreased motor abilities and GIQLI scores while cardiopulmonary function was not different compared to healthy controls. The clinical impact of these findings remains to be elucidated. IMPACT: Clinical examination, assessment of the gastrointestinal quality of life, sport medical testing, electromyography and abdominal wall ultrasound were performed in patients with congenital abdominal wall defect and compared to an age and sex matched healthy control group. Results of spirometry and spiroergometry, ultrasound or electromyography did not significantly differ between the groups. Significantly decreased locomotor function and gastrointestinal quality of life were found in patients with abdominal wall defect. However, the clinical impact of these findings remains to be elucidated.

Metabolomic Alterations of Volatile Organic Compounds and Bile Acids as Biomarkers of Microbial Shifts in a Murine Model of Short Bowel Syndrome.

Pediatric short bowel syndrome (SBS) is a rare condition characterized by a massive loss of the small intestine, leading to the inability to meet nutritional requirements without the use of parenteral or enteral supplementation. SBS causes profound alterations in the intestinal microbiome and metabolome. The aim of this study was a detailed assessment of the intestinal microbiome and metabolome in a murine model of SBS. We performed a 60% proximal small bowel resection versus a sham operation in C57BL/6 mice. Four weeks postoperatively, the microbial communities of different intestinal segments (jejunum, ileum, colon) and stool were assessed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Bile acids in serum and stool and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the fecal headspace were assessed using LC-MS and GC-MS techniques. The α-diversity of the different intestinal segments did not significantly differ between the two groups. ß-diversity significantly differed between sham and SBS mice. While in the jejunum, Faecalibaculum was significantly increased in SBS animals, a significant reduction in Lactobacillus and Sporosarcina was detected in the ileum of SBS mice. In the colon of SBS mice, a significant decrease in Ruminococcaceae and a significant increase in Proteobacteria such as Faecalibaculum and Escherichia-Shigella were found. Serum levels of deoxycholic, taurocholic and taurochenodeoxycholic acids were significantly higher in the SBS group. Of the 29 VOCs tested, hexane, isoflurane and pentane were significantly higher in the SBS group, and pyrrole was significantly lower. We were able to show that SBS causes shifts in the murine intestinal microbiome and metabolome including serum BAs and fecal VOCs.

Probiotic OMNi-BiOTiC® 10 AAD Reduces Cyclophosphamide-Induced Inflammation and Adipose Tissue Wasting in Mice.

Cancer therapy is often associated with severe side effects such as drug induced weight loss, also known as chemotherapy-induced cachexia. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a multispecies probiotic (OMNi-BiOTiC® 10 AAD) in a chemotherapy mouse model. A total of 24 male BALB/c mice were gavage-fed with the probiotic formulation or water, once a day for 3 weeks. In the third week, the mice received intraperitoneal cyclophosphamide. At euthanasia, the organs were dissected, and serum was sampled for cytokine analysis. Tight junction components, myosin light chain kinase, mucins, and apoptosis markers were detected in the ileum and colon using histological analyses and qRT-PCR. Lipolysis was analyzed by enzymatic activity assay, Western blotting analyses, and qRT-PCR in WAT. The fecal microbiome was measured with 16S-rRNA gene sequencing from stool samples, and fecal volatile organic compounds analysis was performed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The probiotic-fed mice exhibited significantly less body weight loss and adipose tissue wasting associated with a reduced CGI58 mediated lipolysis. They showed significantly fewer pro-inflammatory cytokines and lower gut permeability compared to animals fed without the probiotic. The colons of the probiotic-fed animals showed lower inflammation scores and less goblet cell loss. qRT-PCR revealed no differences in regards to tight junction components, mucins, or apoptosis markers. No differences in microbiome alpha diversity, but differences in beta diversity, were observed between the treatment groups. Taxonomic analysis showed that the probiotic group had a lower relative abundance of Odoribacter and Ruminococcus-UCG014 and a higher abundance of Desulfovibrio. VOC analysis yielded no significant differences. The results of this study indicate that oral administration of the multispecies probiotic OMNi-BiOTiC® 10 AAD could mitigate cyclophosphamide-induced chemotherapy side effects.

Pediatric radius torus fractures in x-rays-how computer vision could render lateral projections obsolete.

It is an indisputable dogma in extremity radiography to acquire x-ray studies in at least two complementary projections, which is also true for distal radius fractures in children. However, there is cautious hope that computer vision could enable breaking with this tradition in minor injuries, clinically lacking malalignment. We trained three different state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks (CNNs) on a dataset of 2,474 images: 1,237 images were posteroanterior (PA) pediatric wrist radiographs containing isolated distal radius torus fractures, and 1,237 images were normal controls without fractures. The task was to classify images into fractured and non-fractured. In total, 200 previously unseen images (100 per class) served as test set. CNN predictions reached area under the curves (AUCs) up to 98% [95% confidence interval (CI) 96.6%-99.5%], consistently exceeding human expert ratings (mean AUC 93.5%, 95% CI 89.9%-97.2%). Following training on larger data sets CNNs might be able to effectively rule out the presence of a distal radius fracture, enabling to consider foregoing the yet inevitable lateral projection in children. Built into the radiography workflow, such an algorithm could contribute to radiation hygiene and patient comfort.

(S)-Reutericyclin: Susceptibility Testing and In Vivo Effect on Murine Fecal Microbiome and Volatile Organic Compounds.

We aimed to assess the in vitro antimicrobial activity and the in vivo effect on the murine fecal microbiome and volatile organic compound (VOC) profile of (S)-reutericyclin. The antimicrobial activity of (S)-reutericyclin was tested against Clostridium difficile, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus (S.) epidermidis, Streptococcus agalactiae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Propionibacterium acnes. Reutericyclin or water were gavage fed to male BALBc mice for 7 weeks. Thereafter stool samples underwent 16S based microbiome analysis and VOC analysis by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). (S)-reutericyclin inhibited growth of S. epidermidis only. Oral (S)-reutericyclin treatment caused a trend towards reduced alpha diversity. Beta diversity was significantly influenced by reutericyclin. Linear discriminant analysis Effect Size (LEfSe) analysis showed an increase of Streptococcus and Muribaculum as well as a decrease of butyrate producing Ruminoclostridium, Roseburia and Eubacterium in the reutericyclin group. VOC analysis revealed significant increases of pentane and heptane and decreases of 2,3-butanedione and 2-heptanone in reutericyclin animals. The antimicrobial activity of (S)-reutericyclin differs from reports of (R)-reutericyclin with inhibitory effects on a multitude of Gram-positive bacteria reported in the literature. In vivo (S)-reutericyclin treatment led to a microbiome shift towards dysbiosis and distinct alterations of the fecal VOC profile.