Project description:<p>Urethral microbiome of adolescent males is designed to characterize the microbial communities resident in the urethra of young men, to identify differences in these communities as a function of race/ethnicity, circumcision status, sexual exposures, and uro-genital symptoms. We collect detailed sexual behavior and symptoms data using cellular telephones with Internet access. Specimens are routinely collected at monthly intervals, and intermittently following reported symptoms, specific sexual exposures, or identification of a sexually transmitted infection. We also collect periodic samples from the penile coronal sulcus to better characterize its relationship to the urethral micriobial communities.</p> <p>Participants are ages 14 - 17 at enrollment, and prior history of sexual exposure is not required for participation. Parental permission is obtained for each participant. The planned duration of followup is up to 4 years allowing for prospective observation of both physical and behavioral maturation from middle adolescence into young adulthood.</p> <p>The overall objectives of the project are to better characterize the healthy male urethral microbiome, and to use this information to better understand acquisition of urethritis and sexually transmitted infections, as well as chronic genital pain and prostatitis syndromes that become common among young adults.</p>
Project description:<p>Urethral microbiome of adolescent males is designed to characterize the microbial communities resident in the urethra of young men, to identify differences in these communities as a function of race/ethnicity, circumcision status, sexual exposures, and uro-genital symptoms. We collect detailed sexual behavior and symptoms data using cellular telephones with Internet access. Specimens are routinely collected at monthly intervals, and intermittently following reported symptoms, specific sexual exposures, or identification of a sexually transmitted infection. We also collect periodic samples from the penile coronal sulcus to better characterize its relationship to the urethral micriobial communities.</p> <p>Participants are ages 14 - 17 at enrollment, and prior history of sexual exposure is not required for participation. Parental permission is obtained for each participant. The planned duration of followup is up to 4 years allowing for prospective observation of both physical and behavioral maturation from middle adolescence into young adulthood.</p> <p>The overall objectives of the project are to better characterize the healthy male urethral microbiome, and to use this information to better understand acquisition of urethritis and sexually transmitted infections, as well as chronic genital pain and prostatitis syndromes that become common among young adults.</p>
Project description:Background: The present study investigated a role of proteins from BET family (epigenetic readers) in schizophrenia-like abnormalities in MAM-E17 model of schizophrenia. Methods: An inhibitor of BET proteins, JQ1, was given during adolescence in postnatal days (P) 23-P30, and behavioral response (sensorimotor gating, recognition memory) and prefrontal cortex (mPFC) function (long-term potentiation (LTP), molecular and proteomic studies) were performed in adult males and females. Results: Deficits in sensorimotor gating and recognition memory were observed only in MAM-treated males. However, adolescent JQ1 treatment affected control, but MAM-treated groups in both sexes. Electrophysiological study showed an LTP impairment only in male MAM-treated animals, and JQ1 did not have any effect on LTP in the mPFC. In contrast, MAM did not affect immediate early gene expression (markers of neuronal and synaptic activity), but JQ1 altered them in both sexes. Proteomic study revealed alterations in MAM-treated groups only in males, while JQ1 affected both sexes. Conclusions: Prenatal MAM administration induced schizophrenia-like abnormalities only in males. In contrast, adolescent JQ1 treatment affected both sexes and induced behavioral changes in control groups, altered a markers of neuronal and synaptic activity and proteomic landscape in the mPFC of both groups (VEH- and MAM-treated). Thus, adolescent inhibition of BET family might change neuroplasticity in the mPFC.
Project description:Acute urethral injuries caused by urethral endoscopy and other mechanical injuries are the main reasons for secondary infection and late urethral stricture. However, there are no studies to explore the transcriptomic changes in urethral injury and the molecular mechanism of urethral injury, which is important for the treatment and cure of urethral injury. Therefore, we used RNA-seq and sRNA-seq profiles from normal and injured urethral tissues to identify and characterize differentially expressed mRNAs and miRNAs. In total, we found 166 differentially expressed mRNAs, of which 69 were upregulated, and 97 were downregulated in injured urethral tissues. The differentially expressed mRNAs were mainly involved in the positive regulation of epithelial cell differentiation, focal adhesion, cell adhesion molecules, protein activation cascade, complement activation, complement and coagulation cascades, and chemokine-mediated signaling pathway. Additionally, we found six upregulated and four downregulated miRNAs, respectively, in the injured urethral tissues. Notably, their target genes were involved in the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 binding, PI3k-Akt signaling pathway, and Notch signaling pathway. In summary, our results suggest that the cell damage response induced by mechanical injury activates the pathological immune response in a variety of ways in injured urethral tissues.
Project description:Background: Urethral stricture is related to scar tissue fibrosis, but its pathogenesis is still unclear. This study aims to explore the mechanism of circular RNA (circRNA) in the occurrence and development of urethral stricture. Methods: CircRNA microarray was employed to analyze circRNA expression profiles between human urethral scar tissue and normal urethral tissue. The first nine circRNA differentially expressed were selected for RT-qPCR detection. Urethral scar fibroblasts were isolated from human urethral scar tissue and cultured in vitro. The cells were transfected with si-circ_0047339, LV-circ_0047339, and miR-4691-5p mimic and their corresponding negative controls. Related gene and protein expression was measured by RT-qPCR, Western Blot and immunofluorescence staining, and the cell function was detected by CCK-8 and EDU assay. The targeting relationship between miR-4691-5p and circ_0047339 or TSP-1 was analyzed by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Results: The results of circRNA microarray showed that there were 268 differential genes between urethral scar tissue and normal urethral tissue (circRNA expression difference multiple ≥2 and p value≤0.05). The enrichment analysis of KEGG (Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes) showed that these circRNAs were significantly correlated with ECM-receptor interaction. The first nine differentially expressed circRNA were selected to predict the circRNA-miRNA network. RT-qPCR results showed that circ_0047339 was upregulated considerably in urethral scar tissue. After silencing circ_0047339, the proliferation of urethral scar cells decreased significantly, and the expression of collagen 1 (COL-1) and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) also reduced. Circ_0047339 as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) could increase the expression of TSP-1 by competitively binding miR-4691-5p. In addition, miR-4691-5p mimic transfection could inhibit the proliferation of urethral scar fibroblasts and the presentation of thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1), α-SMA and COL-1, while circ_0047339 overexpression eliminated this inhibition. Conclusion: Our results showed that the dysfunctional circ_0047339 might promote the growth and fibrosis of urethral scar fibroblasts through the ceRNA mechanism, thus promoting the development of urethral stricture via miR-4691-5p/TSP-1 axis.
Project description:Gut microbiome research is rapidly moving towards the functional characterization of the microbiota by means of shotgun meta-omics. Here, we selected a cohort of healthy subjects from an indigenous and monitored Sardinian population to analyze their gut microbiota using both shotgun metagenomics and shotgun metaproteomics. We found a considerable divergence between genetic potential and functional activity of the human healthy gut microbiota, in spite of a quite comparable taxonomic structure revealed by the two approaches. Investigation of inter-individual variability of taxonomic features revealed Bacteroides and Akkermansia as remarkably conserved and variable in abundance within the population, respectively. Firmicutes-driven butyrogenesis (mainly due to Faecalibacterium spp.) was shown to be the functional activity with the higher expression rate and the lower inter-individual variability in the study cohort, highlighting the key importance of the biosynthesis of this microbial by-product for the gut homeostasis. The taxon-specific contribution to functional activities and metabolic tasks was also examined, giving insights into the peculiar role of several gut microbiota members in carbohydrate metabolism (including polysaccharide degradation, glycan transport, glycolysis and short-chain fatty acid production). In conclusion, our results provide useful indications regarding the main functions actively exerted by the gut microbiota members of a healthy human cohort, and support metaproteomics as a valuable approach to investigate the functional role of the gut microbiota in health and disease.