Mother-to-infant microbiota transmission and infant microbiota development across multiple body sites.

Early-life microbiota seeding and subsequent development is crucial to future health. Cesarean-section (CS) birth, as opposed to vaginal delivery, affects early mother-to-infant transmission of microbes. Here, we assess mother-to-infant microbiota seeding and early-life microbiota development across six maternal and four infant niches over the first 30 days of life in 120 mother-infant pairs. Across all infants, we estimate that on average 58.5% of the infant microbiota composition can be attributed to any of the maternal source communities. All maternal source communities seed multiple infant niches. We identify shared and niche-specific host/environmental factors shaping the infant microbiota. In CS-born infants, we report reduced seeding of infant fecal microbiota by maternal fecal microbes, whereas colonization with breastmilk microbiota is increased when compared with vaginally born infants. Therefore, our data suggest auxiliary routes of mother-to-infant microbial seeding, which may compensate for one another, ensuring that essential microbes/microbial functions are transferred irrespective of disrupted transmission routes.

Early-life viral infections are associated with disadvantageous immune and microbiota profiles and recurrent respiratory infections.

The respiratory tract is populated by a specialized microbial ecosystem, which is seeded during and directly following birth. Perturbed development of the respiratory microbial community in early-life has been associated with higher susceptibility to respiratory tract infections (RTIs). Given a consistent gap in time between first signs of aberrant microbial maturation and the observation of the first RTIs, we hypothesized that early-life host-microbe cross-talk plays a role in this process. We therefore investigated viral presence, gene expression profiles and nasopharyngeal microbiota from birth until 12 months of age in 114 healthy infants. We show that the strongest dynamics in gene expression profiles occurred within the first days of life, mostly involving Toll-like receptor (TLR) and inflammasome signalling. These gene expression dynamics coincided with rapid microbial niche differentiation. Early asymptomatic viral infection co-occurred with stronger interferon activity, which was related to specific microbiota dynamics following, including early enrichment of Moraxella and Haemophilus spp. These microbial trajectories were in turn related to a higher number of subsequent (viral) RTIs over the first year of life. Using a multi-omic approach, we found evidence for species-specific host-microbe interactions related to consecutive susceptibility to RTIs. Although further work will be needed to confirm causality of our findings, together these data indicate that early-life viral encounters could impact subsequent host-microbe cross-talk, which is linked to later-life infections.

Use of 360° virtual reality video in medical obstetrical education: a quasi-experimental design.

BACKGROUND: Video-based teaching has been part of medical education for some time but 360° videos using a virtual reality (VR) device are a new medium that offer extended possibilities. We investigated whether adding a 360° VR video to the internship curriculum leads to an improvement of long-term recall of specific knowledge on a gentle Caesarean Sections (gCS) and on general obstetric knowledge. METHODS: Two weeks prior to their Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) internship, medical students were divided in teaching groups, that did or did not have access to a VR-video of a gCS. Six weeks after their O&G internship, potentially having observed one or multiple real-life CSs, knowledge on the gCS was assessed with an open questionnaire, and knowledge on general obstetrics with a multiple-choice questionnaire. Furthermore we assessed experienced anxiety during in-person attendance of CSs, and we asked whether the interns would have wanted to attend more CSs in-person. The 360° VR video group was questioned about their experience directly after they watched the video. We used linear regression analyses to determine significant effects on outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 89 medical students participated, 41 in the 360° VR video group and 48 in the conventional study group. Watching the 360° VR video did not result in a difference in either specific or general knowledge retention between the intervention group and the conventional study group. This was both true for the grade received for the internship, the open-ended questions as well as the multiple-choice questions and this did not change after adjustment for confounding factors. Still, 83.4% of the 360° VR video-group reported that more videos should be used in training to prepare for surgical procedures. In the 360° VR video-group 56.7% reported side effects like nausea or dizziness. After adjustment for the number of attended CSs during the practical internship, students in the 360° VR video-group stated less often (p = 0.04) that they would have liked to attend more CSs in-person as compared to the conventional study group. CONCLUSION: Even though the use of 360° VR video did not increase knowledge, it did offer a potential alternative for attending a CS in-person and a new way to prepare the students for their first operating room experiences.

[Hysteroscopy to relieve IUD-related symptoms]. / Hysteroscopie om IUD-klachten te verhelpen.

A levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device (LNG-IUD) had been placed in 4 patients, aged 33, 27, 46 and 27 years. They subsequently experienced symptoms that were possibly related to the IUD, such as haemorrhagic discharge, pain and dyspareunia. Patients who have persistent symptoms after IUD placement need to be examined. If a malpositioned IUD is suspected, outpatient vaginoscopic hysteroscopy should be considered. Hysteroscopy can reveal the cause of the symptoms. Furthermore, an IUD that is incorrectly positioned can be repositioned during the same procedure. One advantage to this is that unnecessary removal of an IUD may be prevented. The first patient referred to in this article had lost confidence in the IUD and requested its removal. In the second patient, the IUD had perforated the anterior wall of the uterus and it was removed as well. In the third patient, the IUD had perforated the posterior wall of the uterus, but it was repositioned during the hysteroscopy. In the last patient, hysteroscopy showed the IUD to be in a transverse position, but this could be corrected immediately.

Oligohydramnios in a pregnant woman with Cushing's syndrome caused by an adrenocortical adenoma.

A 28-year-old primigravida with severe oligohydramnios and pre-eclamptic symptoms was found to have Cushing's syndrome caused by an adrenocortical tumor. After maternal therapy the amniotic volume normalised, but the fetus succumbed. As clinical features of pre-eclampsia and Cushing's syndrome may overlap, diagnosis can be delayed or even missed.