Trauma-Informed Care Training for Dietetic Interns Improves Attitudes Toward Women Who Have Experienced Trauma.

OBJECTIVE: To assess change in attitudes toward women who have experienced trauma and to describe interns' reflections regarding the provision of universal trauma precautions and the training sessions. METHODS: Dietetic interns participated in 3 2-hour trauma-informed care (TIC) training sessions. A multiple-methods design was used, incorporating a presurvey and postsurvey to assess change in attitudes and thematic analysis to assess self-reflections. RESULTS: The attitudes of the interns improved across all statements. Two components measuring attitudes about sympathetic feelings toward mothers with underlying trauma and substance use disorder during pregnancy and retaining custody of their children reached statistical significance (P < 0.05). Four themes were identified in the self-reflections: TIC training was informative, valuable, and warranted, and interns felt comfortable discussing TIC. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Students positively assessed the TIC training and changed their attitudes. Trauma-informed care can be effectively incorporated within dietetics education to support students in developing therapeutic relationships in their future nutrition care standards.

Development and Application of a Life Cycle-Based Model to Evaluate Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Oil Sands Upgrading Technologies.

A life cycle-based model, OSTUM (Oil Sands Technologies for Upgrading Model), which evaluates the energy intensity and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of current oil sands upgrading technologies, is developed. Upgrading converts oil sands bitumen into high quality synthetic crude oil (SCO), a refinery feedstock. OSTUM's novel attributes include the following: the breadth of technologies and upgrading operations options that can be analyzed, energy intensity and GHG emissions being estimated at the process unit level, it not being dependent on a proprietary process simulator, and use of publicly available data. OSTUM is applied to a hypothetical, but realistic, upgrading operation based on delayed coking, the most common upgrading technology, resulting in emissions of 328 kg CO2e/m3 SCO. The primary contributor to upgrading emissions (45%) is the use of natural gas for hydrogen production through steam methane reforming, followed by the use of natural gas as fuel in the rest of the process units' heaters (39%). OSTUM's results are in agreement with those of a process simulation model developed by CanmetENERGY, other literature, and confidential data of a commercial upgrading operation. For the application of the model, emissions are found to be most sensitive to the amount of natural gas utilized as feedstock by the steam methane reformer. OSTUM is capable of evaluating the impact of different technologies, feedstock qualities, operating conditions, and fuel mixes on upgrading emissions, and its life cycle perspective allows easy incorporation of results into well-to-wheel analyses.

The complete genome sequence of the rumen methanogen Methanobrevibacter millerae SM9.

Methanobrevibacter millerae SM9 was isolated from the rumen of a sheep maintained on a fresh forage diet, and its genome has been sequenced to provide information on the phylogenetic diversity of rumen methanogens with a view to developing technologies for methane mitigation. It is the first rumen isolate from the Methanobrevibacter gottschalkii clade to have its genome sequence completed. The 2.54 Mb SM9 chromosome has an average G + C content of 31.8 %, encodes 2269 protein-coding genes, and harbors a single prophage. The overall gene content is comparable to that of Methanobrevibacter ruminantium M1 and the type strain of M. millerae (ZA-10(T)) suggesting that the basic metabolism of these two hydrogenotrophic rumen methanogen species is similar. However, M. millerae has a larger complement of genes involved in methanogenesis including genes for methyl coenzyme M reductase II (mrtAGDB) which are not found in M1. Unusual features of the M. millerae genomes include the presence of a tannase gene which shows high sequence similarity with the tannase from Lactobacillus plantarum, and large non-ribosomal peptide synthase genes. The M. millerae sequences indicate that methane mitigation strategies based on the M. ruminantium M1 genome sequence are also likely to be applicable to members of the M. gottschalkii clade.

The complete genome sequence of Eubacterium limosum SA11, a metabolically versatile rumen acetogen.

Acetogens are a specialized group of anaerobic bacteria able to produce acetate from CO2 and H2 via the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway. In some gut environments acetogens can compete with methanogens for H2, and as a result rumen acetogens are of interest in the development of microbial approaches for methane mitigation. The acetogen Eubacterium limosum SA11 was isolated from the rumen of a New Zealand sheep and its genome has been sequenced to examine its potential application in methane mitigation strategies, particularly in situations where hydrogenotrophic methanogens are inhibited resulting in increased H2 levels in the rumen. The 4.15 Mb chromosome of SA11 has an average G + C content of 47 %, and encodes 3805 protein-coding genes. There is a single prophage inserted in the chromosome, and several other gene clusters appear to have been acquired by horizontal transfer. These include genes for cell wall glycopolymers, a type VII secretion system, cell surface proteins and chemotaxis. SA11 is able to use a variety of organic substrates in addition to H2/CO2, with acetate and butyrate as the principal fermentation end-products, and genes involved in these metabolic pathways have been identified. An unusual feature is the presence of 39 genes encoding trimethylamine methyltransferase family proteins, more than any other bacterial genome. Overall, SA11 is a metabolically versatile organism, but its ability to grow on such a wide range of substrates suggests it may not be a suitable candidate to take the place of hydrogen-utilizing methanogens in the rumen.

The genetics of childhood obesity and interaction with dietary macronutrients.

The genes contributing to childhood obesity are categorized into three different types based on distinct genetic and phenotypic characteristics. These types of childhood obesity are represented by rare monogenic forms of syndromic or non-syndromic childhood obesity, and common polygenic childhood obesity. In some cases, genetic susceptibility to these forms of childhood obesity may result from different variations of the same gene. Although the prevalence for rare monogenic forms of childhood obesity has not increased in recent times, the prevalence of common childhood obesity has increased in the United States and developing countries throughout the world during the past few decades. A number of recent genome-wide association studies and mouse model studies have established the identification of susceptibility genes contributing to common childhood obesity. Accumulating evidence suggests that this type of childhood obesity represents a complex metabolic disease resulting from an interaction with environmental factors, including dietary macronutrients. The objective of this article is to provide a review on the origins, mechanisms, and health consequences of obesity susceptibility genes and interaction with dietary macronutrients that predispose to childhood obesity. It is proposed that increased knowledge of these obesity susceptibility genes and interaction with dietary macronutrients will provide valuable insight for individual, family, and community preventative lifestyle intervention, and eventually targeted nutritional and medicinal therapies.

The glycobiome of the rumen bacterium Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus B316(T) highlights adaptation to a polysaccharide-rich environment.

Determining the role of rumen microbes and their enzymes in plant polysaccharide breakdown is fundamental to understanding digestion and maximising productivity in ruminant animals. Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus B316(T) is a gram-positive, butyrate-forming rumen bacterium with a key role in plant polysaccharide degradation. The 4.4 Mb genome consists of 4 replicons; a chromosome, a chromid and two megaplasmids. The chromid is the smallest reported for all bacteria, and the first identified from the phylum Firmicutes. B316 devotes a large proportion of its genome to the breakdown and reassembly of complex polysaccharides and has a highly developed glycobiome when compared to other sequenced bacteria. The secretion of a range of polysaccharide-degrading enzymes which initiate the breakdown of pectin, starch and xylan, a subtilisin family protease active against plant proteins, and diverse intracellular enzymes to break down oligosaccharides constitute the degradative capability of this organism. A prominent feature of the genome is the presence of multiple gene clusters predicted to be involved in polysaccharide biosynthesis. Metabolic reconstruction reveals the absence of an identifiable gene for enolase, a conserved enzyme of the glycolytic pathway. To our knowledge this is the first report of an organism lacking an enolase. Our analysis of the B316 genome shows how one organism can contribute to the multi-organism complex that rapidly breaks down plant material in the rumen. It can be concluded that B316, and similar organisms with broad polysaccharide-degrading capability, are well suited to being early colonizers and degraders of plant polysaccharides in the rumen environment.

The genome sequence of the rumen methanogen Methanobrevibacter ruminantium reveals new possibilities for controlling ruminant methane emissions.

BACKGROUND: Methane (CH(4)) is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG), having a global warming potential 21 times that of carbon dioxide (CO(2)). Methane emissions from agriculture represent around 40% of the emissions produced by human-related activities, the single largest source being enteric fermentation, mainly in ruminant livestock. Technologies to reduce these emissions are lacking. Ruminant methane is formed by the action of methanogenic archaea typified by Methanobrevibacter ruminantium, which is present in ruminants fed a wide variety of diets worldwide. To gain more insight into the lifestyle of a rumen methanogen, and to identify genes and proteins that can be targeted to reduce methane production, we have sequenced the 2.93 Mb genome of M. ruminantium M1, the first rumen methanogen genome to be completed. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The M1 genome was sequenced, annotated and subjected to comparative genomic and metabolic pathway analyses. Conserved and methanogen-specific gene sets suitable as targets for vaccine development or chemogenomic-based inhibition of rumen methanogens were identified. The feasibility of using a synthetic peptide-directed vaccinology approach to target epitopes of methanogen surface proteins was demonstrated. A prophage genome was described and its lytic enzyme, endoisopeptidase PeiR, was shown to lyse M1 cells in pure culture. A predicted stimulation of M1 growth by alcohols was demonstrated and microarray analyses indicated up-regulation of methanogenesis genes during co-culture with a hydrogen (H(2)) producing rumen bacterium. We also report the discovery of non-ribosomal peptide synthetases in M. ruminantium M1, the first reported in archaeal species. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The M1 genome sequence provides new insights into the lifestyle and cellular processes of this important rumen methanogen. It also defines vaccine and chemogenomic targets for broad inhibition of rumen methanogens and represents a significant contribution to worldwide efforts to mitigate ruminant methane emissions and reduce production of anthropogenic greenhouse gases.

Reclassification of Clostridium proteoclasticum as Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus comb. nov., a butyrate-producing ruminal bacterium.

It is proposed that Clostridium proteoclasticum be reclassified as Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus comb. nov. on the basis of phylogenetic position, DNA G+C content and physiological traits. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences from an extensive range of taxa within clostridial rRNA subcluster XIVa grouped C. proteoclasticum together with isolates of the genus Butyrivibrio, though this species was genetically distinct from the extant Butyrivibrio species examined. The DNA G+C content of C. proteoclasticum was originally erroneously reported as 28 mol%. However the genome sequence of the type strain of C. proteoclasticum, strain B316(T), and HPLC analysis estimate the DNA G+C content as 40 mol%, which is within the range reported for strains of Butyrivibrio. C. proteoclasticum was distinguishable from other species of the genus Butyrivibrio as the 16S rRNA gene from strain B316(T) shared less than 97 % sequence similarity with sequences from the type strains of Butyrivibrio species. C. proteoclasticum was also able to convert linoleic acid to stearic acid, in contrast to other species of Butyrivibrio. Physiological characteristics, including carbon source utilization, volatile fatty acid production and proteinase activities, were assessed for a panel of representative strains of the genera Butyrivibrio and Pseudobutyrivibrio and C. proteoclasticum. These data, together with the phylogenetic analyses, support the reclassification of Clostridium proteoclasticum as a separate species within the genus Butyrivibrio, Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus comb. nov. (type strain B316(T)=ATCC 51982(T)=DSM 14932(T)).