Bile acids at the cross-roads of gut microbiome–host cardiometabolic interactions

Bile acids at the cross-roads of gut microbiome–host cardiometabolic interactions

While basic and clinical research over the last several decades has recognized a number of modifiable risk factors associated with cardiometabolic disease progression, additional and alternative biological perspectives may offer novel targets for prevention and treatment of this disease set. There is mounting preclinical and emerging clinical evidence indicating that the mass of metabolically d...

Cirrhosis, bile acids and gut microbiota

A picture is now starting to emerge regarding the liver-bile acid-microbiome axis. Increasing levels of the primary bile acid cholic acid (CA) causes a dramatic shift toward the Firmicutes, particularly Clostridium cluster XIVa and increasing production of the harmful secondary bile acid deoxycholic acid (DCA). During progression of cirrhosis, the microbiome, both through their metabolism, cell...

Metabolism of Cholesterol and Bile Acids by the Gut Microbiota

The human gastro-intestinal tract hosts a complex and diverse microbial community, whose collective genetic coding capacity vastly exceeds that of the human genome. As a consequence, the gut microbiota produces metabolites from a large range of molecules that host's enzymes are not able to convert. Among these molecules, two main classes of steroids, cholesterol and bile acids, denote two diffe...

Neutrino Astrophysics at the Cross Roads

The indications for neutrino oscillations from the atmospheric and solar neutrino anomalies and from the LSND experiment are now so overwhelming that the discourse in neutrino physics has changed. One no longer asks if these particles indeed oscillate, one rather debates the most plausible pattern of masses and mixing angles, and if the existence of a sterile neutrino is required. Of course, al...

American Tropical Medicine at the Cross-roads