The foundation aims to provide a common scientific platform for basic scientists and clinicians to share and exchange knowledge and views and delve into newer areas of probiotic research. It endeavors to do this through an annual Probiotic Symposium which will blend fundamental and applied research related to the use of probiotics for the enhancement of human health. The first symposium with the theme “Health Impact of Probiotics – Vision and Opportunities will be held on 10th and 11th December 2011 in Mumbai”

Download flyer of the symposium here.

For more information: Dr Neerja Hajela (neerja.hajela@yakultfoundation.org.in)

The proceedings of the symposium will be published in the form of a book with an ISBN number.

“… Although statins are widely prescribed medications, there remains considerable variability in therapeutic response. Genetics can explain only part of this variability. Metabolomics is a global biochemical approach that provides powerful tools for mapping pathways implicated in disease and in response to treatment. Metabolomics captures net interactions between genome, microbiome and the environment. In this study, we used a targeted GC-MS metabolomics platform to measure a panel of metabolites within cholesterol synthesis, dietary sterol absorption, and bile acid formation to determine metabolite signatures that may predict variation in statin LDL-C lowering efficacy. Measurements were performed in two subsets of the total study population in the Cholesterol and Pharmacogenetics (CAP) study: Full Range of Response (FR), and Good and Poor Responders (GPR) were 100 individuals randomly selected from across the entire range of LDL-C responses in CAP. GPR were 48 individuals, 24 each from the top and bottom 10% of the LDL-C response distribution matched for body mass index, race, and gender. We identified three secondary, bacterial-derived bile acids that contribute to predicting the magnitude of statin-induced LDL-C lowering in good responders. Bile acids and statins share transporters in the liver and intestine; we observed that increased plasma concentration of simvastatin positively correlates with higher levels of several secondary bile acids. Genetic analysis of these subjects identified associations between levels of seven bile acids and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs4149056, in the gene encoding the organic anion transporter SLCO1B1. These findings, along with recently published results that the gut microbiome plays an important role in cardiovascular disease, indicate that interactions between genome, gut microbiome and environmental influences should be considered in the study and management of cardiovascular disease. Metabolic profiles could provide valuable information about treatment outcomes and could contribute to a more personalized approach to therapy..”

When a monstrously virulent strain of never-before-seen E. coli suddenly appeared in Germany last month, the rush to decode became an immediate focus. Several groups became engaged simultaneously to crack the genome of the underlying bug and then followed a huge crowd-sourcing effort on the internet as soon as the genome sequences were made available. Given that reasonable data were made available by these authors within 60 hours of the outbreak, not much of the evolutionary history of the organism had been dissected and a great deal of the interpretation remained vague. An informed, scientific treatise was needed to help health control authorities and policy makers launch a serious mitigation campaign; this work, in that sense, constitutes the first official report on the genomic footprint of the underlying E. coli strain. The authors report chronological (step-wise) recombination of the genome in the outbreak strains over a period of ten years. This reveals the extraordinary capability of certain pathogens to recombine so that a devastating phenotype finally emerges with a multi-dimensional fitness advantage. Further, the study of Mellmann et al. demonstrates the might of present-day sequencing technologies such as Ion Torrent in enabling genome-guided epidemiology, diagnostics, and interventions.

I have no hesitation to say that the study carried out by Mellmann et al. is truly a technical masterpiece, a first time proof-of-principle, whereby, next generation sequencing could be harnessed in real-time when certain ‘gold standards’ such as serotyping failed miserably. This report has an important bearing on the new proposed field of ‘epidemic forecasting’ in which the spread potentials of a pathogen could be predicted based on genomic fingerprints – in other words, predicting if the infection will assume pandemic proportions.  The finding that the E. coli strains analyzed were enteroaggregative (EAEC) could explain this. EAECs could persist in recovered or subclinical cases and that they could be carried by the latter on travel routes worldwide.

One of the possible shortcomings of the study could be that it is silent on the mechanistic details of ‘adornment’ of these bacteria with several layers of fitness – multiple antibiotic resistance, acid tolerance, enteroaggregative capacity and shigatoxin production all bundled up in one ‘naturally’ chimeric strain in just 10 years is extremely dramatic!  The pace of evolution of the German outbreak strains has surpassed even Helicobacter pylori, an organism notorious for its speed of recombination, recasting its entire genome every forty years. We recently had an opportunity to sequence and look at H. pylori genomes hierarchically obtained across ten years. We did not find major insertion, deletion and substitution events.

Technology helped with the dissection of the E. coli epidemic in hours and days, but the editorial process also was seamless and prompt enough to enable rapid dissemination of results. Open and early access is very important for the dissemination of findings during epidemic times because much of the control and mitigation measures need planning in the light of latest research findings.

Background

Malnutrition, a major health problem, affects a significant proportion of preschool children in developing countries. The devastating consequences of malnutrition include diarrhoea, malabsorption, increased intestinal permeability, suboptimal immune response, etc. Nutritional interventions and dietary solutions have not been effective for treatment of malnutrition till date. Metagenomic procedures allow one to access the complex cross-talk between the gut and its microbial flora and understand how a different community composition affects various states of human health. In this study, a metagenomic approach was employed for analysing the differences between gut microbial communities obtained from a malnourished and an apparently healthy child.

Results

Our results indicate that the malnourished child gut has an abundance of enteric pathogens which are known to cause intestinal inflammation resulting in malabsorption of nutrients. We also identified a few functional sub-systems from these pathogens, which probably impact the overall metabolic capabilities of the malnourished child gut.

Conclusion

The present study comprehensively characterizes the microbial community resident in the gut of a malnourished child. This study has attempted to extend the understanding of the basis of malnutrition beyond nutrition deprivation.

I am hopeful Lothar and his team will succeed in their efforts. We discussed also the possibility that the new isolate being interoaggregative could become pandemic if certain patients turn chronic carriers and could take the bug with them on travel routes. The EU therefore should be proactive on containment of this outbreak within the boundaries of Germany. Lothar, (who is always surprised and amused on visibly unhygienic conditions in certain parts of India, such as heaps of garbage, open drains etc., and apparently healthy people with no institutionalized outbreaks! ) then laughed loud to say Indians could actually be immune to the EHEC like strains – so no worries!! and, I agree. So sometimes the cow dung around us could be ‘auspicious’ in many ways!