Immortal time bias (ITB) is common in cohort studies and distorts the association estimates between the treated and untreated. We used data from an Italian study on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, with a large cohort, long follow-up, and adjustment f...
Each individual is provided with a unique gut microbiota profile that plays many specific functions in host nutrient metabolism, maintenance of structural integrity of the gut mucosal barrier, immunomodulation, and protection against pathogens. Gut m...
Most humans are in contact with animals in a way or another. A zoonotic disease is a disease or infection that can be transmitted naturally from vertebrate animals to humans or from humans to vertebrate animals. More than 60% of human pathogens are z...
Probiotics, known to be live microorganisms, have been shown to improve or restore the gut microbiota, which in turn has been linked to improved health. It is believed that probiotics are the modern equivalent of a panacea, with claims that they may...
Biofilm is complex and consists of bacterial colonies that reside in an exopolysaccharide matrix that attaches to foreign surfaces in a living organism. Biofilm frequently leads to nosocomial, chronic infections in clinical settings. Since the bacter...
The two most important bacterial phyla in the gastrointestinal tract, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, have gained much attention in recent years. The Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio is widely accepted to have an important influence in maintaining...
In recent years, vessels have been discovered that contain the remains of wine with an age close to 7000 years. It is unclear whether, in ancient times, humans accidentally stumbled across fermented beverages like wine or beer, or was it a product in...
In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, a need has arisen to prevent and treat two related conditions, COVID-19 vaccine injury and long COVID-19, both of which can trace at least part of their aetiology to the spike protein, which can cause harm through...
This review presents selected data on the probiotic strain Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12® (BB-12®), which is the world’s most documented probiotic Bifidobacterium. It is described in more than 300 scientific publications out of which m...
Purpose of review: This review investigates the oral microbiome’s composition, functions, influencing factors, connections to oral and systemic diseases, and personalized oral care strategies. Recent findings: The oral microbiome is a complex e...
The microbiome plays an important role in a wide variety of skin disorders. Not only is the skin microbiome altered, but also surprisingly many skin diseases are accompanied by an altered gut microbiome. The microbiome is a key regulator for the immu...
Respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are the focus of developments in public health, given their widespread distribution and the high morbidity and mortality rates reported worldwide. The clinical spectrum ranges from asymptomatic or mild infection to...
Fast detection and identification of microorganisms is a challenging and significant feature from industry to medicine. Standard approaches are known to be very time-consuming and labor-intensive (e.g., culture media and biochemical tests). Conversel...
Dynamic interactions between gut microbiota and a host’s innate and adaptive immune systems are essential in maintaining intestinal homeostasis and inhibiting inflammation. Gut microbiota metabolizes proteins and complex carbohydrates, synthesizes vi...
Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a Gram-negative bacterium that colonizes the gastric mucosa and is associated with various gastrointestinal disorders. H. pylori is a pervasive pathogen, infecting nearly 50% of the world’s population, and pre...
The human oral cavity is home to an abundant and diverse microbial community (i.e., the oral microbiome), whose composition and roles in health and disease have been the focus of intense research in recent years. Thanks to developments in sequencing-...
An extensive body of evidence documents the importance of the gut microbiome both in health and in a variety of human diseases. Cell and animal studies describing this relationship abound, whilst clinical studies exploring the associations between ch...
In this paper, we describe a mechanism for the transfer of nutrients from symbiotic microbes (bacteria and fungi) to host plant roots that we term the ‘rhizophagy cycle.’ In the rhizophagy cycle, microbes alternate between a root intracel...
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a gram-negative bacillus and resident of the normal intestinal microbiota. However, some E. coli strains can cause diseases in humans, other mammals and birds ranging from intestinal infections, for example, diarrhea and...
Dental caries is a significant oral and public health problem worldwide, especially in low-income populations. The risk of dental caries increases with frequent intake of dietary carbohydrates, including sugars, leading to increased acidity and disru...
Plastic and microplastic pollution has caused a great deal of ecological problems because of its persistence and potential adverse effects on human health. The degradation of plastics through biological processes is of great significance for ecologic...
The objective of this narrative review was to check the influence of the human microbiota in the pathogenesis of acne and how the treatment with probiotics as adjuvant or alternative therapy affects the evolution of acne vulgaris. Acne is a chronic i...
Pneumonia remains a leading cause of mortality internationally, making it an intense area of study for new tools for diagnosis and treatment. In this review, we evaluate the potential of recently emerging syndromic panels in promoting rapid diagnosis...
Dietary fiber is fermented by the human gut microbiota, producing beneficial microbial metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids. Over the last few centuries, dietary fiber intake has decreased tremendously, leading to detrimental alternations in...
Malaria is a severe disease caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium, which is transmitted to humans by a bite of an infected female mosquito of the species Anopheles. Malaria remains the leading cause of mortality around the world, and early diag...
B vitamins act as coenzymes in a myriad of cellular reactions. These include energy production, methyl donor generation, neurotransmitter synthesis, and immune functions. Due to the ubiquitous roles of these vitamins, their deficiencies significantly...
The increase in the world population has generated an important need for both quality and quantity agricultural products, which has led to a significant surge in the use of chemical pesticides to fight crop diseases. Consumers, however, have become v...
The increasing incidence of drug- resistant pathogens raises an urgent need to identify and isolate new bioactive compounds from medicinal plants using standardized modern analytical procedures. Medicinal plant-derived compounds could provide novel s...
Twenty-five patients with relapsing and remitting Borreliosis, Babesiosis, and bartonellosis despite extended anti-infective therapy were prescribed double-dose dapsone combination therapy (DDDCT), followed by one or several courses of High Dose Daps...
Changes in the gut microbiome can affect cognitive and psychological functions via the microbiota–gut–brain (MGB) axis. Probiotic supplements are thought to have largely positive effects on mental health when taken in sufficient amounts;...
Currently, the problem of heavy metal pollution in China is becoming increasingly serious, which poses grave threats to the environment and human health. Owing to the non-biodegradability and toxicity of heavy metals, a more sustainable and ecologica...
Despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine, in 2018, around 350,000 measles cases were reported worldwide, which resulted in an estimate of 142,300 deaths from measles. Additionally, in 2017, global measles cases spiked, causing the dea...
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), frequently considered a major global public health threat, requires a comprehensive understanding of its emergence, mechanisms, advances, and implications. AMR’s epidemiological landscape is characterized by its...
Oral diseases, particularly dental caries and periodontal disease, pose significant global health challenges. The imbalance of the oral microbiota plays a key role in the occurrence of these diseases, prompting researchers to seek new strategies to r...
‘Leaky gut’ syndrome, long-associated with celiac disease, has attracted much attention in recent years and for decades, was widely known in complementary/alternative medicine circles. It is often described as an increase in the permeabil...
The skin is the largest organ of the human body and it protects the body from the external environment. It has become the topic of interest of researchers from various scientific fields. Microorganisms ensure the proper functioning of the skin. Of gr...
Soil and the human gut contain approximately the same number of active microorganisms, while human gut microbiome diversity is only 10% that of soil biodiversity and has decreased dramatically with the modern lifestyle. We tracked relationships betwe...
Despite the recent advances in food preservation techniques and food safety, significant disease outbreaks linked to foodborne pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses still occur worldwide indicating that these pathogens still constitute signi...
Sepsis is a clinical syndrome encompassing physiologic and biological abnormalities caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. Sepsis progression into septic shock is associated with a dramatic increase in mortality, hence the importance of...
Bacterial meningitis is a devastating infection, with a case fatality rate of up to 30% and 50% of survivors developing neurological complications. These include short-term complications such as focal neurological deficit and subdural effusion, and l...
In the present narrative review, the probiotic effects of vaginal Lactobacillus spp. are described in detail, covering the importance of the differential production of lactic acid, the lactic acid D/L isoforms, the questionable in vivo effect of hydr...
Recombinant protein production emerged in the early 1980s with the development of genetic engineering tools, which represented a compelling alternative to protein extraction from natural sources. Over the years, a high level of heterologous protein w...
Gut bacteria play an important role in the digestion of food, immune activation, and regulation of entero-endocrine signaling pathways, but also communicate with the central nervous system (CNS) through the production of specific metabolic compounds,...
Microorganisms rule the functioning of our planet and each one of the individual macroscopic living creature. Nevertheless, microbial activity and growth status have always been challenging tasks to determine both in situ and in vivo. Microbial activ...
The complex polymicrobial composition of human gut microbiota plays a key role in health and disease. Lachnospiraceae belong to the core of gut microbiota, colonizing the intestinal lumen from birth and increasing, in terms of species richness and th...
Salmonella is the leading cause of food-borne zoonotic disease worldwide. Non-typhoidal Salmonella serotypes are the primary etiological agents associated with salmonellosis in poultry. Contaminated poultry eggs and meat products are the major source...
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections, especially among women and older adults, leading to a significant global healthcare cost burden. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) are the most common cause and accou...
The ability to fight bacterial infections with antibiotics has been a longstanding cornerstone of modern medicine. However, wide-spread overuse and misuse of antibiotics has led to unintended consequences, which in turn require large-scale changes of...
Earthquakes are among the most impressive natural phenomena with very high potential to set off a chain of effects that significantly affects public health through casualties and injuries. Related disasters are attributed not only to the strong groun...
Gut microbiota is the aggregate of all microorganisms in the human digestive system. There are 1014 CFU/mL of such microorganisms in the human body, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea and protozoa. The Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes bacteria p...
