Obesity is a consequence of a complex interplay between the host genome and the prevalent obesogenic factors among the modern communities. The role of gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of the disorder was recently discovered; however, 16S-rRNA-based surveys revealed compelling but community-specific data. Considering this, despite unique diets, dietary habits and an uprising trend in obesity, the Indian counterparts are poorly studied. Here, we report a comparative analysis and quantification of dominant gut microbiota of lean, normal, obese and surgically treated obese individuals of Indian origin. Representative gut microbial diversity was assessed by sequencing fecal 16S rRNA libraries for each group (n=5) with a total of over 3000 sequences. We detected no evident trend in the distribution of the predominant bacterial phyla, Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. At the genus level, the bacteria of genus Bacteroides were prominent among the obese individuals, which was further confirmed by qPCR (P less than 0.05). In addition, a remarkably high archaeal density with elevated fecal SCFA levels was also noted in the obese group. On the contrary, the treated-obese individuals exhibited comparatively reduced Bacteroides and archaeal counts along with reduced fecal SCFAs. In conclusion, the study successfully identified a representative microbial diversity in the Indian subjects and demonstrated the prominence of certain bacterial groups in obese individuals; nevertheless, further studies are essential to understand their role in obesity.

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Background-Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery (RYGB) benefits patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and BMI>35 kg/m 2 , but its effectiveness in diabetics with BMI<35 kg/m 2 is unclear. Asian Indians suffer high risks of T2DM and cardiovascular disease (CVD) at relatively low body mass index (BMI) levels.

The question of hemispheric lateralization of neural processes is one that is pertinent to a range of subdisciplines of cognitive neuroscience. Language is often assumed to be left lateralized in the human brain, but there has been a long running debate about the underlying reasons for this. We addressed this problem with fMRI by identifying the neural responses to amplitude and spectral modulations in speech, and how these interact with speech intelligibility, to test previous claims for hemispheric asymmetries in acoustic and linguistic processes in speech perception. We used both univariate and multivariate analyses of the data, which enabled us to both identify the networks involved in processing these acoustic and linguistic factors, and to test the significance of any apparent hemispheric asymmetries. We demonstrate bilateral activation of superior temporal cortex in response to speech-derived acoustic modulations in the absence of intelligibility. However, in a contrast of amplitude-and spectrally-modulated conditions that differed only in their intelligibility (where one was partially intelligible and the other unintelligible), we show a left-dominant pattern of activation in insula, inferior frontal cortex and superior temporal sulcus. Crucially, multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) showed that there were significant differences between the left and the right hemispheres only in the processing of intelligible speech. This result shows that the left hemisphere dominance in linguistic processing does not arise due to low-level, speech-derived acoustic factors, and that MVPA provides a method for unbiased testing of hemispheric asymmetries in processing.

Bariatric surgery is recommended for Indian patients with body mass index (BMI) >32.5 kg/m2 with at least one comorbidity and >37.5 kg/m2 without a comorbidity. In laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, bleeding and leakage from the staple line are common post-operative events. Peri-Strips Dry® with Veritas® (PSD-V) is used in staple-line reinforcement. This was a single-investigator, multicenter, randomized study of 100 patients undergoing standard sleeve gastrectomy with a 34 or 36 French bougie. Patients were randomized 1:1 to PSD-V or control groups; no buttress material was used in the control group. The primary objective was to assess complication rates (any staple-line bleed or leak from the intra-operative visit through day 30) associated with sleeve gastrectomy. Surgical time (from first incision to closure of last incision) and the number of clips and/or sutures used to control bleeding were also assessed. Fewer staple-line bleeds were observed in the PSD-V group than the control group (23/51 [45.1 %] vs 39/49 [79.6 %] patients; p = 0.0005), and the bleeding was of a lower severity (p = 0.0002). No staple-line leaks were observed. Surgical time was shorter in patients who received PSD-V (58.8 vs 72.8 min; p = 0.0153), and fewer patients required hemostatic clips and/or sutures (10/51 [19.6 %] vs 33/49 [67.3 %] patients; p < 0.0001). Fewer patients in the PSD-V than the control group experienced adverse events (2/51 [3.9 %] vs 5/49 [10.2 %] patients). The use of PSD-V reduced the incidence and severity of staple-line bleeding and was associated with a reduction in surgical time compared with no staple-line reinforcement.