BackgroundLung cancer is the leading cancer diagnosis worldwide and the number one cause of cancer deaths. Exposure to cigarette smoke, the primary risk factor in lung cancer, reduces epithelial barrier integrity and increases susceptibility to infections. Herein, we hypothesize that somatic mutations together with cigarette smoke generate a dysbiotic microbiota that is associated with lung carcinogenesis. Using lung tissue from 33 controls and 143 cancer cases, we conduct 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) bacterial gene sequencing, with RNA-sequencing data from lung cancer cases in The Cancer Genome Atlas serving as the validation cohort.ResultsOverall, we demonstrate a lower alpha diversity in normal lung as compared to non-tumor adjacent or tumor tissue. In squamous cell carcinoma specifically, a separate group of taxa are identified, in which Acidovorax is enriched in smokers. Acidovorax temporans is identified within tumor sections by fluorescent in situ hybridization and confirmed by two separate 16S rRNA strategies. Further, these taxa, including Acidovorax, exhibit higher abundance among the subset of squamous cell carcinoma cases with TP53 mutations, an association not seen in adenocarcinomas.ConclusionsThe results of this comprehensive study show both microbiome-gene and microbiome-exposure interactions in squamous cell carcinoma lung cancer tissue. Specifically, tumors harboring TP53 mutations, which can impair epithelial function, have a unique bacterial consortium that is higher in relative abundance in smoking-associated tumors of this type. Given the significant need for clinical diagnostic tools in lung cancer, this study may provide novel biomarkers for early detection.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13059-018-1501-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

ObjectiveTo investigate the efficacy of interventions designed to train and develop mental toughness (MT) in sport.DesignSystematic review and meta-analysis.Data sourcesJournal articles, conference papers and doctoral theses indexed in Embase, Scopus, PubMed and SPORTDiscus from inception to 22 November 2019.Eligibility criteria for selecting studiesObservational and pre–post experimental designs on the efficacy of physical and/or psychological interventions designed to promote MT in athletes.ResultsA total of 12 studies, published between 2005 and 2019, were included in the review. A majority of the studies included a sample comprised exclusively of male athletes (54.55%), MT interventions were primarily psychological (83.33%) and most studies measured MT via self-report (75%). The Psychological Performance Inventory (25%), the Mental Toughness Questionnaire-48 (16.67%), and the Mental, Emotional and Bodily Toughness Inventory (16.67%) were the most popular inventories used to measure MT. Methodological quality assessments for controlled intervention studies (k=7), single group pre-test–post-test designs (k=4) and single-subject designs (k=1) indicated that the risk of bias was high in most (75%) of the studies. The meta-analysis involving k=10 studies revealed a large effect (d=0.80, 95% CI 0.30 to 1.28), with variability across studies estimated at 0.56.ConclusionAlthough the findings of this review suggest there are effective, empirically based interventions designed to train MT in sport, practitioners should be aware of the level of validity of intervention research before adopting any of the MT training programmes reported in the applied sport psychology literature.

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Objective This article determines the differences in the distal gut and vaginal microbiome in African American (AA) women by prepregnancy body mass index and gestational weight gain (GWG) comparing women with and without obesity and by obesity class. Study Design We prospectively sampled the vaginal and distal gut microbiome in pregnant AA women at two time points during pregnancy. Samples were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing of the V4 region of the 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid gene. Results Distinct differences in vaginal and distal gut α-diversity were observed at time point 1 between women with and without obesity by total GWG. Significant differences in distal gut β-diversity were also found at time point 1 in obese women by GWG. Within the Bacteroides genus, a significant association was observed by total GWG among obese women which was absent in nonobese women. Women with class III obesity who experienced low GWG had the lowest abundance of distal gut Bacteroides and appreciably higher relative abundance of a consortia of vaginal taxa including Atopobium, Gardnerella, Prevotella, and Sneathia. Conclusion These results contribute new evidence showing that GWG in combination with obesity and obesity class is associated with an altered distal gut and vaginal composition early in pregnancy among AA women.

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