Effects of Broad-Spectrum Antibiotic Treatment or Germ-Free Status on Endurance Performance and Exercise Adaptations in Mice.

PURPOSE: Endurance exercise alters the gut microbiome independently of diet. The extent to which gut microbes are responsible for physiologic adaptations to exercise training is unknown. The purpose of these experiments was to determine the role of gut microbes in performance and muscle adaptation to 6 wk of voluntary wheel running (VWR) in mice. METHODS: We depleted microbes with broad-spectrum antibiotic (ABX) treatment and used germ-free (GF) mice to determine effects on adaptations to VWR. Male and female C57Bl/6 mice ( n = 56) were assigned to daily VWR or sedentary conditions. After the intervention, treadmill endurance and glucose tolerance were assessed, and gastrocnemius and soleus tissues were harvested and analyzed for citrate synthase (CS) enzyme activity and expression of exercise training-sensitive genes. RESULTS: ABX treatment and GF status resulted in VWR volumes ~22% and 26% lower than controls, respectively. Analysis of variance revealed that, although VWR increased treadmill endurance, ABX had no effect. GF status significantly reduced treadmill performance in trained GF mice after training. VWR increased gastrocnemius CS enzyme activity in all groups, and ABX and GF status did not reduce the VWR effect. VWR also increased muscle expression of PGC1a, but this was not affected by ABX treatment. CONCLUSIONS: ABX treatment and GF status reduced VWR behavior but did not affect VWR-induced adaptations in endurance capacity, CS activity, or expression of muscle metabolic genes. However, GF status reduced endurance capacity. These data indicated that reducing microbes in adulthood does not inhibit endurance training adaptations in C57Bl/6 mice, but that GF mice possess a reduced responsiveness to endurance exercise training, perhaps because of a developmental defect associated with lack of microbes from birth.

A coordinated strategy to develop and distribute infographics addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and misinformation.

BACKGROUND: Visual communication strategies are becoming increasingly prevalent for conveying information to health professionals as well as to the general public. The potential of social media for rapid knowledge dissemination using infographics was recognized early in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic by health professionals. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to describe a coalition of health professionals' approach to developing infographics about COVID-19 vaccines and the reach and engagement of those infographics when shared through social media. METHODS: Infographics were created by a core team within the coalition following a stepwise approach. Each underwent a multistep review process, readability evaluation, and translation into Spanish. Infographics were then shared through multiple social media platforms. They were grouped into 1 of 3 categories for this analysis: COVID-19 vaccine series, myth debunkers, or other. RESULTS: All infographics had greater outreach, impressions, and engagement on Twitter than they did on other platforms. When comparing the 3 groups, no 1 infographic type was consistently performing higher than the others. CONCLUSION: Each infographic reached thousands to tens of thousands of people. We do not know whether those who viewed these infographics changed their perspective on vaccination, so we are unable to draw a conclusion about their impact on vaccine hesitancy based on this study alone.