BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that starvation induces small bowel atrophy, and that atrophy diminishes with aging. In this experiment, we assessed whether starvation-induced atrophy of proximal gut mucosa is associated with the Interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R) signaling pathway in aged mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty 26-month-old IL-1R knockout mice and age-matched wild-type C57BL/6...

A functional mucus layer is a key requirement for gastrointestinal health as it serves as a barrier against bacterial invasion and subsequent inflammation. Recent findings suggest that mucus composition may pose an important selection pressure on the gut microbiota and that altered mucus thickness or properties such as glycosylation lead to intestinal inflammation dependent on bacteria. Here we...

Understanding predator-prey interactions is a major challenge in ecological studies. In particular, the accurate identification of prey is a fundamental requirement in elucidating food-web structure. This study took a molecular approach in determining the species identity of consumed prey items of a freshwater carnivorous fish (largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides), according to their size cl...

The formation of a single lumen during tubulogenesis is crucial for the development and function of many organs. Although 3D cell culture models have identified molecular mechanisms controlling lumen formation in vitro, their function during vertebrate organogenesis is poorly understood. Using light sheet microscopy and genetic approaches we have investigated single lumen formation in the zebra...

Horses are exquisitely sensitive to non-specific gastrointestinal disturbances as well as systemic and extraintestinal conditions related to gut health, yet minimal data are available regarding the composition of the microbiota present in the equine stomach, small intestine, and cecum and their relation to fecal microbiota. Moreover, there is minimal information regarding the concordance of the...

BACKGROUND Rodent models of abdominal wall defects (AWD) may provide insight into the pathophysiology of these conditions including gut dysfunction in gastroschisis, or pulmonary hypoplasia in exomphalos. Previously, a Scribble mutant mouse model (circletail) was reported to exhibit gastroschisis. We further characterise this AWD in Scribble knockout mice. METHOD Homozygous Scrib knockout mic...

On 4th April, 1925, at 3 p.m. I was called up to see a woman, aged 55, with an abdominal injury caused by the horn of a bullock; the accident had occurred in the early morning. I reached the place in the evening at 6 p.m. and found the woman in good condition (pulse and temperature normal). I found that the intestines had come out through the crescentic tear and were wrapped in a piece of dirty...

Glucosinolates, phytochemicals found in cruciferous vegetables, are metabolised to bioactive isothiocyanates (ITC) by certain bacteria in the human gut. Substantial individual variation in urinary ITC excretion has been observed in previous cruciferous vegetable-feeding studies. We hypothesised that individual differences in gut microbial community contribute to the observed variation in glucos...

Demands for faster and more accurate methods to analyze microbial communities from natural and clinical samples have been increasing in the medical and healthcare industry. Recent advances in next-generation sequencing technologies have facilitated the elucidation of the microbial community composition with higher accuracy and greater throughput than was previously achievable; however, the shor...

I provide a short overview of the hypothesis of Yukawa unification within SUSY GUTs, emphasizing its motivations and its predictivity-enhancing role. I then discuss the status of the tests of this hypothesis, and the major role played by observables in the flavor sector. Concerning the patterns of soft SUSY-breaking terms assumed at the GUT scale, I focus on the cases of universalities on sferm...