Intestinal luminal microbiota likely contribute to the etiology of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a common disease in preterm infants. Microbiota development, a cascade of initial colonization events leading to the establishment of a diverse commensal microbiota, can now be studied in preterm infants using powerful molecular tools. Starting with the first stool and continuing until discharge, weekly stool specimens were collected prospectively from infants with gestational ages ≤32 completed weeks or birth weights≤1250 g. High throughput 16S rRNA sequencing was used to compare the diversity of microbiota and the prevalence of specific bacterial signatures in nine NEC infants and in nine matched controls. After removal of short and low quality reads we retained a total of 110,021 sequences. Microbiota composition differed in the matched samples collected 1 week but not <72 hours prior to NEC diagnosis. We detected a bloom (34% increase) of Proteobacteria and a decrease (32%) in Firmicutes in NEC cases between the 1 week and <72 hour samples. No significant change was identified in the controls. At both time points, molecular signatures were identified that were increased in NEC cases. One of the bacterial signatures detected more frequently in NEC cases (p<0.01) matched closest to γ-Proteobacteria. Although this sequence grouped to the well-studied Enterobacteriaceae family, it did not match any sequence in Genbank by more than 97%. Our observations suggest that abnormal patterns of microbiota and potentially a novel pathogen contribute to the etiology of NEC.

In humans and obligatory social animals, individuals with weak social ties experience negative health and fitness consequences. The social buffering hypothesis conceptualises one possible mediating mechanism: during stressful situations the presence of close social partners buffers against the adverse effects of increased physiological stress levels. We tested this hypothesis using data on social (rate of aggression received) and environmental (low temperatures) stressors in wild male Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) in Morocco. These males form strong, enduring, and equitable affiliative relationships similar to human friendships. We tested the effect of the strength of a male’s top three social bonds on his faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) levels as a function of the stressors’ intensity. The attenuating effect of stronger social bonds on physiological stress increased both with increasing rates of aggression received and with decreasing minimum daily temperature. Ruling out thermoregulatory and immediate effects of social interactions on fGCM levels, our results indicate that male Barbary macaques employ a tend-and-befriend coping strategy in the face of increased environmental as well as social day-to-day stressors. This evidence of a stress-ameliorating effect of social bonding among males under natural conditions and beyond the mother-offspring, kin or pair bond broadens the generality of the social buffering hypothesis

The daunting task required of the gut-barrier to prevent luminal pathogens and harmful substances from entering into the internal milieu and yet promoting digestion and absorption of nutrients requires an exquisite degree of coordination between the different architectural units of this barrier. The complex integration and execution of these functions are superbly carried out by the intestinal mucosal (IM) surface. Exposed to trillions of luminal microbes, the IM averts threats by signaling to the innate immune system, through pattern recognition receptors (PRR), to respond to the commensal bacteria by developing tolerance (hyporesponsiveness) towards them. This system also acts by protecting against pathogens by elaborating and releasing protective peptides, cytokines, chemokines, and phagocytic cells. The IM is constantly sampling luminal contents and making molecular adjustments at its frontier. This article describes the topography of the IM and the mechanisms of molecular adjustments that protect the internal milieu, and also describes the role of the microbiota in achieving this goal.

Patient age is an effect modifier on the risk of antidepressant-associated manic conversion. Treatment with antidepressants is associated with highest conversion hazards among children aged 10 to 14 years.

Methylphenidate was often efficacious in treating hyperactivity associated with pervasive developmental disorders, but the magnitude of response was less than that seen in typically developing children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Adverse effects were more frequent.

Highlights• Wild male Barbary macaques formed stable, strong, differentiated social bonds.• Strong bonds endured even through intensely competitive mating seasons.• Rank and bond strength predicted which bystander males were recruited to coalitions.• Males rejected recruitment from weakly bonded and low-ranked recruiters.• Supporter selection is based on two independent criteria. Cooperation in coalitions against coresident males has been shown to increase male reproductive success directly via increased mating success (levelling coalitions) or indirectly via increased dominance success (rank-changing coalitions). Two mechanisms guiding coalitionary supporter selection have been proposed. First, supporter selection may depend on the supporters available, whereby an animal chooses the highest ranking supporter present to maximize their chance of winning. Second, males may also select supporters based on the strength of the social bond they share with them. Different studies on male Barbary macaques, Macaca sylvanus, have produced support for both mechanisms but crucial assumptions and predictions remained untested. The aim of this study was to test predictions derived for both mechanisms after establishing whether Barbary macaque males formed social bonds. We observed two wild groups of macaques in Morocco (>2000 h focal animal data) and recorded the identity of males recruited to join a coalition, of all bystanders, and of the coalitionary target. We demonstrate for the first time that male Barbary macaques formed strong, equitable social bonds that were stable for 2 years. Corroborating earlier studies we found that males selected supporters by more than one criterion, namely by the strength of their social bonds to the potential ally and by their dominance rank position among potential supporters. The animals who received recruitment signals were more likely to reject the recruitment invitation the weaker their social bond to the recruiter was and if the target was higher ranking than the recruiter. In a subset in which we examined only levelling coalitions that would flatten the mating skew, males only used the mechanism that would maximize the feasibility of the coalition by more frequently selecting the highest ranked bystander. These results suggest that males flexibly apply different criteria for supporter selection depending on the context of the conflict. Keywords bystander; coalition; Macaca sylvanus; male-male competition; recruitment; social bonds Social relationships among animals living in stable social groups are competitive as well as affiliative, since group members compete for access to resources while establishing social bonds with both kin and nonkin (Cords, 1997, Hinde, 1976, Hinde, 1983, Massen et al., 2010, Silk, 2005and Silk, 2007. If dyadic affiliative relationships are differentiated within a social group, those relationships that are characterized by high frequencies of affiliative interactions, a relatively balanced directionality of exchange and temporal stability can be construed as...

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most common severe gastrointestinal emergency that affects premature newborns. This disease often has a rapid onset with few, if any, antecedent signs that can be used to reliably predict its occurrence.

BACKGROUND This analysis explored the prevalence and correlates of pain in patients enrolled in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). METHODS Patients in two MMT programs starting a hepatitis care coordination randomized controlled trial completed the Brief Pain Inventory Short-Form and other questionnaires. Associations between clinically significant pain (average daily pain ≥ 5 or mean pain interference ≥ 5 during the past week) and sociodemographic data, medical status, depressive symptoms, and health-related quality of life, and current substance use were evaluated in multivariate analyses. RESULTS The 489 patients included 31.8% women; 30.3% Hispanics, 29.4% non-Hispanic blacks, and 36.0% non-Hispanic whites; 60.1% had hepatitis C, 10.6% had HIV, and 46.8% had moderate or severe depressive symptomatology. Mean methadone dose was 95.7 mg (SD 48.9) and urine drug screening (UDS) was positive for opiates, cocaine, and amphetamines in 32.9%, 40.1%, and 2.9%, respectively. Overall, 237 (48.5%) reported clinically significant pain. Pain treatments included prescribed opioids (38.8%) and non-opioids (48.9%), and self-management approaches (60.8%), including prayer (33.8%), vitamins (29.5%), and distraction (12.7%). Pain was associated with higher methadone dose, more medical comorbidities, prescribed opioid therapy, and more severe depressive symptomatology; it was not associated with UDS or self-reported substance use. CONCLUSIONS Clinically significant pain was reported by almost half of the patients in MMT programs and was associated with medical and psychological comorbidity. Pain was often treated with opioids and was not associated with measures of drug use. Studies are needed to further clarify these associations and determine their importance for pain treatment strategies.