Selvasankar Murugesan

Airborne Bacterial Diversity from the Low Atmosphere of Greater Mexico City

Greater Mexico City is one of the largest urban centers in the world, with an estimated population by 2010 of more than 20 million inhabitants. In urban areas like this, biological material is present at all atmospheric levels including live bacteria. We sampled the low atmosphere in several surveys at different points by the gravity method on LB and blood agar media during winter, spring, summer, and autumn seasons in the years 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012. The colonial phenotype on blood agar showed α, β, and γ hemolytic activities among the live collected bacteria. Genomic DNA was extracted and convenient V3 hypervariable region libraries of 16S rDNA gene were high-throughput sequenced. From the data analysis, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria were the more abundant phyla in all surveys, while the genera from the family Enterobacteriaceae, in addition to Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas spp., Acinetobacter spp., Erwinia spp., Gluconacetobacter spp., Proteus spp., Exiguobacterium spp., and Staphylococcus spp. were also abundant. From this study, we conclude that it is possible to detect live airborne nonspore-forming bacteria in the low atmosphere of GMC, associated to the microbial cloud of its inhabitants.

Current Insight into the Role of Gut Microbiota in Mexican Childhood Obesity

Obesity is an epidemic multifactorial metabolic malady worldwide. This review insights the influence of gut microbiota in developing obesity in Mexican children. High prevalence of childhood obesity in Mexico draws the importance to look for a therapeutic target to control it. Gut microbial disturbances in obese children may have a role in their metabolism. Excessive Short chain fatty acids produced by obese gut microbiota, present an additional energy which causes an imbalance in energy regulation. Thus Manipulating gut microbiota via diverse diet, probiotics and prebiotics treatment can provide a novel approach to treat obesity and other metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes and Metabolic syndrome.

The gut microbiome of Mexican children affected by obesity

Obesity is a metabolic disorder and global health issue. In Mexico 34.4% of children between 5 and 11 years-old are overweight or obese. Here we address this issue studying the gut microbiome in a sample of Mexican children affected by obesity. We performed metagenomic shotgun-sequencing of DNA isolated from fecal samples from a cohort of normal weight and obese Mexican children using Illumina platform with HiSeq 2500. We also examined their metabolic factors and fecal short-chain fatty acids concentration. The results show that a remarkable dysbiosis of bacteria, archaea and viruses was not observed in the obese children group compared to the normal weight group; however, the archaeal community exhibited an increase of unclassified Methanobrevibacter spp. in obese children. The bacterial communities of all participants were clustered into three different enterotypes. Most normal weight children have a gut bacterial community dominated by Ruminococcus spp. (Enterotype 3), while most obese children had a community dominated by Prevotella spp. (Enterotype 2). On the other hand, changes in the gut microbiome were correlated with clinical metadata and could be used to stratify individuals based on their phenotype. The species Megamonas spp. were over-represented in obese children, whereas members of the family Oscillospiraceae were depleted in the same individuals and negatively correlated with levels of serum cholesterol. A microbiome comparative metabolic pathway analysis showed that two KEGG pathway modules of glycolysis, Glycolysis I (from Glucose 6-Phosphate), and Glycolysis II (from Fructose 6-Phosphate) were significantly overrepresented in normal weight children. Our results establish specific alterations in the gut microbiome of Mexican children affected of obesity, along with clinical alterations, providing information on the microbiome composition that may be useful for prognosis, diagnosis, and treatment.

Erratum to: Airborne bacterial diversity from the low atmosphere of Greater Mexico City

The original published version of this article has some imprecisions in the coordinates for the forward and reverse primers in 16S rDNA molecule, B16S rDNA Libraries^ of the BMaterials and Methods^ section (Page no. 76). The correct version is presented below: The seven forward primers used in this work, V3-341F2, V3341F4, V3-341F7, V3-341F8, V3-341F9, V3-341F18, and V3-341F49 (complementary to positions 340–356), and reverse V3-518R primer (complementary to positions 517– 533) have already been reported [42].

Expectations of Treatment of Hepatitis C in Children

Background: HCV infection in children differs from infection in adult through transmission paths, spontaneous viral clearance rate, and fibrosis progression duration of chronic infection. It is estimated that the rate of children with chronic hepatitis C will develop cirrhosis is less than 2%, however there are reports of children requiring liver transplantation. Objective: Was to present a general overview of the current treatments for HCV infection in children. Material and method: Databases such as PubMed, MEDLINE and Scopus were used as information sources to identify and analyzed the current information about the treatment for HCV infection in children. Results: In children the most commonly used drugs are pegylated alpha interferon in combination with ribavirin, both drugs are given in combination therapy in children over 3 years of age with detectable HCV RNA levels. The side effects reported are similar like to adults, including leukopenia, anemia, weight loss (determined by anorexia, nausea, and abdominal pain), changes in behavior, depression, suicidal ideation, thyroid disorders, and transient slowing of the growth rate. Recently, it has been approved that the other drugs with direct antiviral activity (DAAs), the protease inhibitors NS3/4, Boceprevir and Telaprevir were introduced into clinical practice in adults, only Boceprevir was tested and not approved for use in children, (Clinical Trials gob No P07614), adverse effects were reported in 37.5% of participants and included nausea, fatigue, malaise, increased systolic pressure, increased liver enzymes.