The honey bee gut microbiota: strategies for study and characterization.

Gut microbiota research is an emerging field that improves our understanding of the ecological and functional dynamics of gut environments. The honey bee gut microbiota is a highly rewarding community to study, as honey bees are critical pollinators of many crops for human consumption and produce valuable commodities such as honey and wax. Most significantly, unique characteristics of the Apis mellifera gut habitat make it a valuable model system. This review discusses methods and pipelines used in the study of the gut microbiota of Ap. mellifera and closely related species for four main purposes: identifying microbiota taxonomy, characterizing microbiota genomes (microbiome), characterizing microbiota-microbiota interactions and identifying functions of the microbial community in the gut. The purpose of this contribution is to increase understanding of honey bee gut microbiota, to facilitate bee microbiota and microbiome research in general and to aid design of future experiments in this growing field.

Kidney transplantation in Romania: two transplant centers experience.

PURPOSE: Kidney graft survival rates improved from decade to decade, but data about factors that affect patient and graft survival remain challenging and even controversial. METHODS: We analyzed retrospectively data from kidney transplanted patients followed in two Romanian transplant centers (Iasi and Bucharest)-new programmes specifically developed after 1989 to cover transplantation requirements for two-thirds of Romania. We used a composite survival outcome defined as 50% reduction in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), return to dialysis or death. Survival analysis was performed using uni- and multivariable Cox regression with baseline and time-updated covariates. RESULTS: From the entire cohort of 365 patients, 243 had the outcome of interest. In the univariable Cox survival analysis, age, hemoglobin, eGFR, cholesterol, AST and transplant center were associated with the outcome. The multivariable Cox analysis reveals that only cholesterol (HR 0.97, 95% CI 0.94-0.99 per 10 mg/dL increase) and transplant center (HR 3.64, 95% CI 2.67-4.97) remain associated. For the time-updated Cox survival analysis we found that eGFR (HR 0.91, 95% CI 0.87-0.96 per 10 ml/min/1.73 m2 increase) and cholesterol are associated with the outcome in the univariable analysis and only eGFR and transplant center in the multivariable Cox survival analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Our study reports data from two distinct transplant centers from a developing country. Our results are similar to the current literature data, but also reveal that the approach of a center to the transplantation management is an independent factor associated with graft survival.