During menopausal transition, the imbalance of estrogen causes body weight gain. Although gut microbiome dysbiosis has been reported in postmenopausal obesity, it is not clear whether there is any difference in the microbiome profile between dietary-induced obesity and postmenopausal obesity. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed intestinal samples from ovariectomized mice and compared them with those of mice with high-fat diet-induced obesity. To further evaluate the presence of menopause-specific bacteria-gene interactions, we also analyzed the liver transcriptome. Investigation of the 16S rRNA V3-V4 region amplicon sequence profile revealed that menopausal obesity and dietary obesity resulted in similar gut microbiome structures. However, was exclusively observed in the ovariectomized mice, which indicated that menopausal obesity resulted in a different intestinal microbiome than dietary obesity. Additionally, several bacterial taxa ( species, , and species) were found when the ovariectomized mice were treated with a high-fat diet. A significant correlation between the above-mentioned menopause-specific bacteria and the genes for female hormone metabolism was also observed, suggesting the possibility of bacteria-gene interactions in menopausal obesity. Our findings revealed the characteristics of the intestinal microbiome in menopausal obesity in the mouse model, which is very similar to the dietary obesity microbiome but having its own diagnostic bacteria.

Cryptotanshinone (CT), a major tanshinone of medicinal plant Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, demonstrated strong antibacterial activity against clinic isolated methicillin and vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA and VRSA) in this experiment. The CT was determined against clinic isolated MRSA 1–16 with MIC and MBC values ranging from 4 to 32 and 8 to 128 μg/mL; for MSSA 1-2 from 16 to 32 μg/mL and 64 to 128 μg/mL; for VRSA 1-2 from 2 to 4 μg/mL and 4 to 16 μg/mL, respectively. The range of MIC50 and MIC90 of CT was 0.5–8 μg/mL and 4–64 μg/mL, respectively. The combination effects of CT with antibiotics were synergistic (FIC index <0.5) against most of tested clinic isolated MRSA, MSSA, and VRSA except additive, MRSA 4 and 16 in oxacillin, MRSA 6, 12, and 15 in ampicillin, and MRSA 6, 11, and 15 in vancomycin (FIC index < 0.75–1.0). Furthermore, a time-kill study showed that the growth of the tested bacteria was completely attenuated after 2–6 h of treatment with the 1/2 MIC of CT, regardless of whether it was administered alone or with ampicillin, oxacillin, or vancomycin. The results suggest that CT could be employed as a natural antibacterial agent against multidrug-resistant pathogens infection.

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Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is characterized according to the presence or absence of nasal polyps (NPs) and displays nasal microbiota dysbiosis. However, optimal sampling methods of the nasal microbiome in CRS have not been identified. We aimed to assess the microbial composition in patients with CRS, comparing different sampling methods (swab and tissue biopsy), tissue types (uncinate tissue and NP), and disease subtypes. Samples were obtained by swabbing the middle meatus and taking a biopsy of uncinate tissue (UT) in patients with CRS with (CRSwNP, N = 8) or without NP (CRSsNP, N = 6) and controls (N = 8). NPs were also harvested in CRSwNP. DNAs were extracted from fifty-two samples and analyzed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. As a result, a great interpersonal variance was observed in nasal swabs, while UT samples presented distinct microbiome with low inter-personal differences. Moreover, the UT microbiomes were further differentiated into three clusters which are associated with disease status (control, CRSsNP, and CRSwNP). Compared to UT, NP revealed a unique microbiome profile with significantly less bacterial diversity. Prevotella was the genus whose abundance was negatively correlated with disease severity in NP. In conclusion, tissue samples are better specimens than nasal swabs for assessing the microbiomes of CRS patients. Several bacteria in UT and NP tissues revealed an association with clinical severity of CRSwNP.

A yellow, rod-shaped, non-motile, gram-negative, and strictly aerobic bacterial strain, designated LPB0005(T), was isolated from a marine gastropod, Reichia luteostoma. Here the genome sequence was determined, which comprised 3,395,737 bp with 2,962 protein-coding genes. The DNA G+C content was 36.3 mol%. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that the isolate represents a novel genus and species in the family Flavobacteriaceae, with relatively low sequence similarities to other closely related genera. The isolate showed chemotaxonomic properties within the range reported for the family Flavobacteriaceae, but possesses many physiological and biochemical characteristics that distinguished it from species in the closely related genera Ulvibacter, Jejudonia, and Aureitalea. Based on phylogenetic, phenotypic, and genomic analyses, strain LPB0005(T) represents a novel genus and species, for which the name Cochleicola gelatinilyticus gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is LPB0005(T) (= KACC 18693(T) = JCM 31218(T)).

Fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccharide that is primarily extracted from brown seaweeds which has been broadly studied in recent years due to its numerous biological properties, including anticoagulant, antithrombotic, antitumor, and antiviral activities. In this study, fucoidan was evaluated against clinic isolated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) 1 -20, either alone or with antibiotics, via broth dilution method and checkerboard and time kill assay. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs)/Minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) values for the fucoidan against all the tested bacteria ranged between 64 -512/256 -2048 microg/mL, for ampicillin 32 -1024/64 -1024 microg/mL and for oxacillin 8 -64/16 -256 microg/mL respectively. Furthermore, the MIC and MBC were reduced to one half-eighth as a result of the combination of the fucoidan with antibiotics. 2 -6 hours of treatment with 1/2 MIC of fucoidan with 1/2 MIC of antibiotics resulted from an increase of the rate of killing in units of CFU/mL to a greater degree than was observed with alone. These results suggest that fucoidan could be employed as a natural antibacterial agent against multi-drug bacteria.