The COVID-19 outbreak disproportionately affected the elderly and areas with higher population density. Among the multiple factors possibly involved, a role for air pollution has also been hypothesized. This nationwide observational study demonstrated the significant positive relationship between COVID-19 incidence rates and PM2.5 and NO2 levels in Italy, both considering the period 2016–2020 and the months of the epidemic, through univariate regression models, after logarithmic transformation of the variables, as the data were not normally distributed. That relationship was confirmed by a multivariate analysis showing the combined effect of the two pollutants, adjusted for the old-age index and population density. An increase in PM2.5 and NO2 concentrations by one unit (1 µg/m3) corresponded to an increase in incidence rates of 1.56 and 1.24 × 104 people, respectively, taking into account the average levels of air pollutants in the period 2016–2020, and 2.79 and 1.24 × 104 people during March–May 2020. Considering the entire epidemic period (March–October 2020), these increases were 1.05 and 1.01 × 104 people, respectively, and could explain 59% of the variance in COVID-19 incidence rates (R2 = 0.59). This evidence could support the implementation of targeted responses by focusing on areas with low air quality to mitigate the spread of the disease.

Background: Nickel (Ni) oral consumption may elicit systemic reactions in patients affected by systemic nickel allergy syndrome (SNAS), including gastrointestinal symptoms, which in turn are associated with gut dysbiosis. We evaluated the effects of a low-Ni diet alone or in combination with the oral consumption of appropriate probiotics on Ni-sensitivity and urinary dysbiosis markers in SNAS patients. Methods: n = 51 patients with SNAS and concomitant intestinal dysbiosis were enrolled in the study. According to the urinary indican/skatole levels, quantified through a colorimetric and a high-performance liquid chromatographic method, respectively, patients were assigned to a dysbiosis type/grade and followed a low-Ni diet for three months. Along with the diet, 22 patients also consumed probiotics based on the dysbiosis type. In particular, a Lactobacilli- or Bifidobacteria-containing formulation was administered to patients with fermentative or putrefactive dysbiosis, respectively, while a broad-spectrum probiotic formulation containing both Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria was administered to patients with mixed dysbiosis. After three months, patients were invited to repeat the Ni-stimulation and the dysbiosis tests. Results: The fermentative dysbiosis group represented the largest group followed by the mixed dysbiosis group, while only two patients had putrefactive dysbiosis. Overall, at three months of treatment in general (diet alone with or without probiotics), the Ni-sensitivity and dysbiosis levels were strongly ameliorated. The association of a low-Ni diet with a specific probiotic oral supplementation was significantly more effective in decreasing dysbiosis levels or reaching eubiosis than with diet alone. Conclusion: Our results, while confirming the benefits of a low-Ni diet in SNAS patients, strongly support that appropriate adjuvant treatment with probiotics significantly helps to improve intestinal dysbiosis or restore a healthy microbiota.

No abstract

To date several studies address the important role of gut microbiome and its interplay with the human host in the health and disease status. However, the selection of a universal sampling matrix representative of the microbial biodiversity associated with the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, is still challenging. Here we present a study in which, through a deep metabarcoding analysis of the 16S rRNA gene, we compared two sampling matrices, feces (F) and colon washing feces (CWF), in order to evaluate their relative effectiveness and accuracy in representing the complexity of the human gut microbiome. A cohort of 30 volunteers was recruited and paired F and CWF samples were collected from each subject. Alpha diversity analysis confirmed a slightly higher biodiversity of CWF compared to F matched samples. Likewise, beta diversity analysis proved that paired F and CWF microbiomes were quite similar in the same individual, but remarkable inter-individual variability occurred among the microbiomes of all participants. Taxonomic analysis in matched samples was carried out to investigate the intra and inter individual/s variability. Firmicutes, Bacteroidota, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteriota were the main phyla in both F and CWF samples. At genus level, Bacteirodetes was the most abundant in F and CWF samples, followed by Faecalibacterium, Blautia and Escherichia-Shigella. Our study highlights an inter-individual variability greater than intra-individual variability for paired F and CWF samples. Indeed, an overall higher similarity was observed across matched F and CWF samples, suggesting, as expected, a remarkable overlap between the microbiomes inferred using the matched F and CWF samples. Notably, absolute quantification of total 16S rDNA by droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) revealed comparable overall microbial load between paired F and CWF samples. We report here the first comparative study on fecal and colon washing fecal samples for investigating the human gut microbiome and show that both types of samples may be used equally for the study of the gut microbiome. The presented results suggest that the combined use of both types of sampling matrices could represent a suitable choice to obtain a more complete overview of the human gut microbiota for addressing different biological and clinical questions.

Background: Self-reported chemical sensitivity (SCS) is characterized by adverse effects due to exposure to low levels of chemical substances. The clinical manifestations of SCS are similar to the allergy, and a high percentage of individuals with both diseases have been found. Various genes, especially genes of importance to the metabolism of xenobiotic compounds, have been associated with SCS. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether allergic individuals with chemical sensitivity differed from allergic patients without chemical sensitivity with regard to the distribution of genotype and phenotype of CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP2D6 polymorphisms. Methods: A total of 180 patients were enrolled for this study. A questionnaire was employed to collect information on individual chemical sensitivity, while the Skin prick test and the PATCH test were used to verify the presence of an allergic condition against inhalants or contact allergens, respectively. For the evaluation of the CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP2D6 polymorphisms, we used a strategy based on the amplification of the entire gene coupled to direct genomic DNA sequencing analysis. Results: Overall, a total of 15 different CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP2D6 haplotypes were identified in our population. If the 5 CYP2C9 and the 2 CYP2C19 identified alleles correspond to the previously described ones, 4 of the 8 CYP2D6 haplotypes, detected in the study group, present new SNPs combinations. These new suballeles were categorized as CYP2D6*2M Sa­lento Variant 1, CYP2D6*35B Salento Variant 2, CYP2D6*41 Salento Variant 3, and CYP2D6*4P Salento Variant 4 due to the presence of the key SNPs 2,850 C>T, 31G>A, 2,988 G>A, and 1,846 G>A, respectively. When the allergic individuals are divided into 2 groups according to their SCS score, we observed that the distribution of the CYP2D6 phenotypes was significantly different between the 2 groups. Conclusions: Our idea is that the application of the questionnaire that we have adopted has enabled us to diagnose a degree of chemical sensitivity, which results as comorbid of the allergic disease and in which a condition of poor or intermediate metabolizes for the detrimental CYP2D6 alleles, could represent a discriminant between the chemical sensitivity and the health state.