'NSU Corynebacteria' are commensals of the normal male and female urogenital tracts (Furness, Kamat, Kaminski, and Seebode, 1973). They are so called because they were first described in association with NSU (Fmrness and Csonka, 1966), and the term is retained so that they should not be confused with other diphtheroids, which in contrast are easily isolated on commercial media and are well-know...

Arthur Anker, Galena-Vantsetti Murina, Carlos Lira, Jonathan A. Vera Caripe, A. Richard Palmer, and Ming-Shiou Jeng (2005) Macrofauna Associated with Echiuran burrows: a review with new observations of the innkeeper worm, Ochetostoma erythrogrammon Leuckart and Rüppel, in Venezuela. Zoological Studies 44(2): 157-190. Because of their size and semipermanent nature, burrows of larger echiuran wor...

Commensals of the human body can shift to a pathogenic phase when the host immune system is impaired. This study aims to investigate the effect of seven yeast and two bacterial commensals and opportunistic pathogens isolated from blood and the female genital tract on the transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) of human cervical epithelial cell cultures (HeLa). The pathogens Candida tropical...

The role of the gut microbiota in health and disease is becoming increasingly recognized. The microbiota-gut-brain axis is a bi-directional pathway between the brain and the gastrointestinal system. The bacterial commensals in our gut can signal to the brain through a variety of mechanisms, which are slowly being resolved. These include the vagus nerve, immune mediators and microbial metabolite...

Environmental and intrinsic factors that alter microbiota structure can trigger aberrant immune responses. The resulting states of dysbiosis take many forms characterized by overrepresentation of pro-inflammatory organisms and pathobionts and loss of beneficial commensals further aggravating the inflammatory state. The pathogenic potential of the dysbiotic community can be linked to specific or...