Bifidobacteria represent one of the most numerous groups of bacteria found in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals. In man, gastrointestinal bifidobacteria are associated with health effects and for this reason they are often used as functional ingredients in food and pharmaceutical products. Such applications may benefit from or require a clear and reliable bifidobacterial species identification. The increasing number of available bacterial genome sequences has provided a large amount of housekeeping gene sequences that can be used both for identification of bifidobacterial species as well as for understanding bifidobacterial evolution. In order to assess their relative positions in the evolutionary process, fragments from seven conserved genes, clpC, dnaB, dnaG, dnaJ1, purF, rpoC and xfp, were sequenced from each of the currently described type strains of the genus Bifidobacterium. The results demonstrate that the concatenation of these seven gene sequences for phylogenetic purposes allows a significant increase in the discriminatory power between taxa.

The use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AASs) by professional and recreational athletes is increasing worldwide. The underlying motivations are mainly performance enhancement and body image improvement. AAS abuse and dependence, which are specifically classified and coded by the DSM-5, are not uncommon. AAS-using athletes are frequently present with psychiatric symptoms and disorders, mainly somatoform and eating, but also mood, and schizophrenia-related disorders. Some psychiatric disorders are typical of athletes, like muscle dysmorphia. This raises the issue of whether AAS use causes these disorders in athletes, by determining neuroadaptive changes in the reward neural circuit or by exacerbating stress vulnerability, or rather these are athletes with premorbid abnormal personalities or a history of psychiatric disorders who are attracted to AAS use, prompted by the desire to improve their appearance and control their weights. This may predispose to eating disorders, but AASs also show mood destabilizing effects, with longterm use inducing depression and short-term hypomania; withdrawal/discontinuation may be accompanied by depression. The effects of AASs on anxiety behavior are unclear and studies are inconsistent. AASs are also linked to psychotic behavior. The psychological characteristics that could prompt athletes to use AASs have not been elucidated.

Recent demonstration that probiotics administration has positive effects on mood state in healthy populations suggests its possible role as an adjunctive therapy for depression in clinical populations and as a non-invasive strategy to prevent depressive mood state in healthy individuals. The present study extends current knowledge on the beneficial effects of probiotics on psychological well-being, as measured by changes in mood (e.g., cognitive reactivity to sad mood, depression, and anxiety), personality dimensions, and quality of sleep, which have been considered as related to mood. For this double-blind, placebo-controlled study 38 healthy volunteers assigned to an experimental or control group assumed a daily dose of a probiotic mixture (containing Lactobacillus fermentum LF16, L. rhamnosus LR06, L. plantarum LP01, and Bifidobacterium longum BL04) or placebo, respectively, for 6 weeks. Mood, personality dimensions, and sleep quality were assessed four times (before the beginning of the study, at 3 and 6 weeks, and at 3 weeks of washout). A significant improvement in mood was observed in the experimental group, with a reduction in depressive mood state, anger, and fatigue, and an improvement in sleep quality. No between-groups differences were found. These findings corroborate the positive effect of probiotics on mood state and suggest that probiotics administration may improve psychological well-being by ameliorating aspects of mood and sleep quality.

The bacterial heat shock response is characterized by the elevated expression of a number of chaperone complexes and transcriptional regulators, including the DnaJ and the HrcA proteins. Genome analysis of Bifidobacterium breve UCC 2003 revealed a second copy of a dnaJ gene, named dnaJ 2 , which is flanked by the hrcA gene in a genetic constellation that appears to be unique to the actinobacteria. Phylogenetic analysis using 53 bacterial dnaJ sequences, including both dnaJ 1 and dnaJ 2 sequences, suggests that these genes have followed a different evolutionary development. Furthermore, the B. breve UCC 2003 dnaJ 2 gene seems to be regulated in a manner that is different from that of the previously characterized dnaJ 1 gene. The dnaJ 2 gene, which was shown to be part of a 2.3-kb bicistronic operon with hrcA, was induced by osmotic shock but not significantly by heat stress. This induction pattern is unlike those of other characterized dnaJ genes and may be indicative of a unique stress adaptation strategy by this commensal microorganism.

This meta-analysis confirms that during executive functioning OCDpts show a functional deficit of the right caudate body, which could represent a major neural functional correlate of their illness.

The "phiKMV-like viruses" comprise an important genus of T7 related phages infecting Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The genomes of these bacteriophages have localized single-strand interruptions (nicks), a distinguishing genomic trait previously thought to be unique for T5 related coliphages. Analysis of this feature in the newly sequenced phage phikF77 shows all four nicks to be localized on the non-coding DNA strand. They are present with high frequencies within the phage population and are introduced into the phage DNA at late stages of the lytic cycle. The general consensus sequence in the nicks (5'-CGACxxxxxCCTAoh pCTCCGG-3') was shown to be common among all phiKMV-related phages.

Bacteriophages are responsible for significant material and time losses in the dairy industry. This because these viruses infect the selected lactic starter cultures used for milk fermentation, i.e., the first stage toward cheese production. Standard detection techniques are time- and labor-consuming, causing huge costs related to production plant sanitation and product wasting. A new type of biosensor for early detection of bacteriophage contamination is highly demanded by the milk processing market, and inkjet-printed electrochemical sensors could be the answer. Inkjet printing is a well-known technology that has been revisited in recent years, using silver nanoparticle (AgNP) based inks for low-cost and easy fabrication of sensing and biosensing systems on flexible and eco-compatible substrates. In this research, we studied inkjet printing for the manufacturing of both interdigitated electrodes arrays (IDEAs), and a versatile system to monitor bacterial cultures by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). In particular, we studied this biosensing system for the detection of bacteriophages by comparing its performance with standard microbiological methods. We performed electrical and morphological characterizations of the devices produced with a consumer-use inkjet printer with commercial AgNPs ink on flexible substrates, such as office paper, polyethylene (PET), and photo paper. We used light microscopy optical analysis, profilometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging to define the objects resolution, their real dimensions, and thickness. We also investigated the devices’ conductivity and layout, by EIS measurements with a standard buffer solution, i.e., phosphate buffered saline (PBS). Finally, we tested our system by monitoring Lactococcus lactis cultures and bacteriophage infection. We compared the results to those obtained by two standard microbiological methods in terms of response time, proving that our technique requires less than half the time of other methods and no specialized personnel.

Bacterial 16S rRNA genes transduced by bacteriophages were identified and analyzed in order to estimate the extent of the bacteriophage-mediated horizontal gene transfer in the wastewater environment. For this purpose, phage and bacterial DNA was isolated from the oxidation tank of a municipal wastewater treatment plant. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences cloned from a phage metagenome revealed that bacteriophages transduce genetic material in several major groups of bacteria. The groups identified were as follows: Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Actinomycetales and Firmicutes. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences in the total bacterial DNA from the same sample revealed that several bacterial groups found in the oxidation tank were not present in the phage metagenome (e.g. Deltaproteobacteria, Nitrospira, Planctomycetes and many Actinobacteria genera). These results suggest that transduction in a wastewater environment occurs in several bacterial groups; however, not all species are equally involved into this process. The data also showed that a number of distinctive bacterial strains participate in transduction-mediated gene transfer within identified bacterial groupings. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis confirmed that profiles of the transduced 16S rRNA gene sequences and those present in the whole microbial community show significant differences.