The impact of diet and ethnicity on gut microbiota variation in irritable bowel syndrome: A multi-center study

Association Between Ethnicity and Treatment Preferences in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) poses a significant healthcare challenge, characterized by chronic gastrointestinal and extraintestinal symptoms impacting individuals' well-being. Treatment preferences may vary among patients from different ethnic groups, such as Arab and Jewish Israelis, necessitating tailored approaches.

METHODS

A bilingual (Hebrew/Arabic) questionnaire assessing patients' preferences regarding treatment goals was developed. It was administered online in Israeli IBS Facebook groups, as well as in two hospital gastroenterology clinics.

RESULTS

The study included 267 IBS patients (91 Arabs and 176 Jews). Demographic analysis revealed a higher proportion of females in both groups, with a significantly greater percentage among Jews compared to Arabs (84% versus 64.8%, respectively, P<0.001). The median age was 32 years for both Arabs and Jews (interquartile ranges of 26-42 and 24-62, respectively). Arabs exhibited higher rates of mixed-type IBS and constipation, while Jews had a higher prevalence of predominant diarrhea IBS. Arabs reported more bloating, higher rates of IBS-related comorbidities, and more medication usage. When asked to rate the importance of treatment goals, both populations preferred improvement in abdominal pain, bloating, and regular defecation, while assigning lower importance to improving difficulty in mental and/or physical aspects of intercourse, as well as arthralgia and myalgia. Arab patients assigned lower importance scores to various symptoms compared to their Jewish counterparts.

CONCLUSION

This study highlights the impact of ethnicity on patients' treatment goals. Understanding patients' preferences will enable tailoring an individual approach to each IBS patient.

Mindfulness is associated with the weight status, severity of disease, and severity of extra-intestinal symptoms among individuals with irritable bowel syndrome

Objectives

Considering the high prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), high medical costs, and the lack of complete treatment, paying attention to the psychological processes of these patients can lead to providing cognitive solutions to eliminate or reduce pain, and improve its consequences and psychological effects. Accordingly, the current study aims to evaluate the relationship between mindfulness and quality of life, IBS symptom severity, severity of extra-intestinal symptoms, and obesity among a cross-sectional sample of patients with IBS.

Method

In this analytical cross-sectional study, 110 adults with IBS were confirmed according to Rome IV criteria by a physician. They were selected using cluster sampling. Various questionnaires and tools, including sociodemographic, physical activity, 24-item Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire Short Form (FFMQ-24), IBS-Quality of Life Instrument (IBS-QOL), IBS Symptom Severity Scale (IBS-SSS), and IBS Extra-intestinal Symptom Severity Scale (IBS-EISSS) were applied. SPSS software version 23 (IBM SPSS Statistics, Armonk, USA) was used for data analysis.

Results

Inverse significant association was observed between the mindfulness score and BMI, Global IBS-SSS score, and Global IBS-EISSS score (p < 0.05). Moreover, the mindfulness score was inversely associated with weight in adjusted models (model 2: B = -0.16, p = 0.02; model 3: B = -0.21, p = 0.002). Mindfulness was associated with fewer odds of being overweight and obese in patients with IBS (OR = 0.93, CI: 0.87-0.98).

Conclusion

Mindfulness had a significant relationship with obesity, the IBS symptom severity, as well as severity of extra-intestinal symptoms among those who suffer from IBS.

Comparative analysis of fecal microbiota between diarrhea and non-diarrhea piglets reveals biomarkers of gut microbiota associated with diarrhea

Diarrhea poses a significant threat to the health and well-being of weaned piglets, leading to substantial morbidity and mortality and economic loss in the pig industry. However, the structural characteristics of the gut microbiota and the key genera associated with early diarrhea in piglets within large-scale production systems are poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the differences in the microbial community structure and the specific genera alteration between the healthy piglets and diarrhea piglets, and to identify the biomarkers of gut microbiota associated with diarrhea in piglets. A total of 250 fecal samples, including 130 healthy piglets (Duroc × Landrace × Large Yorkshire) in the Control group and 120 from diarrhea piglets in Diarrhea group, were collected from three large-scale farms as discovery cohorts and were used for 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Additionally, 150 fecal samples from another large-scale pig farm were collected for the validation trail. The Chao1 and ACE indices were obviously lower (P < 0.01) in the diarrhea piglets compared to the healthy ones. Principal coordinate analysis showed significant differences in the distance matrix of gut microbiota between the healthy and diarrhea piglets (Bray-Curtis: P = 0.001, Jaccard: P = 0.001). Eighty-five genera were differentially enriched (P < 0.001) between healthy and diarrhea piglets. Notably, Treponema, Sphaerochaeta, Escherichia-Shigella, Slackia, and Staphylococcus were identified as potential biomarkers of diarrhea susceptibility; Clostridium sensu stricto 1, Prevotella_9, Olsenella, Dorea, and Lachnospiraceae NK4A136 group were found to be beneficial for maintaining intestinal homeostasis. These differentially enriched genera of healthy and diarrhea piglets were further confirmed in the validation cohort. In conclusion, this study identified the diarrhea-associated and beneficial genera in the faces of piglet, providing a theoretical basis for the diagnosis and intervention of diarrhea in weaned piglets.

From-Toilet-to-Freezer: A Review on Requirements for an Automatic Protocol to Collect and Store Human Fecal Samples for Research Purposes

The composition, viability and metabolic functionality of intestinal microbiota play an important role in human health and disease. Studies on intestinal microbiota are often based on fecal samples, because these can be sampled in a non-invasive way, although procedures for sampling, processing and storage vary. This review presents factors to consider when developing an automated protocol for sampling, processing and storing fecal samples: donor inclusion criteria, urine-feces separation in smart toilets, homogenization, aliquoting, usage or type of buffer to dissolve and store fecal material, temperature and time for processing and storage and quality control. The lack of standardization and low-throughput of state-of-the-art fecal collection procedures promote a more automated protocol. Based on this review, an automated protocol is proposed. Fecal samples should be collected and immediately processed under anaerobic conditions at either room temperature (RT) for a maximum of 4 h or at 4 °C for no more than 24 h. Upon homogenization, preferably in the absence of added solvent to allow addition of a buffer of choice at a later stage, aliquots obtained should be stored at either -20 °C for up to a few months or -80 °C for a longer period-up to 2 years. Protocols for quality control should characterize microbial composition and viability as well as metabolic functionality.