Biochemical Phenomena, Metabolism, and Nutrition Commons^™

Weaning Drives Microbiome-Mediated Epigenetic Regulation To Shape Immune Memory In Mice, Li Yang, Robert C Peery, Shirui Zhou, Xiaomin Chen, Leah M Farmer, Fabiola Gutierrez, Stephanie Fowler, Lanjing Zhang, Julia M Salamat, Karen Riggins, Jiejun Shi, Lanlan Shen

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

During weaning, the transition to solid food diversifies the gut microbiome, triggering a programmed immune response critical for long-lasting mucosal immunity. Previous work showed that the gut microbiome mediates epigenetic development in intestinal stem cells (ISCs) during suckling, but what happens during weaning is unclear. Here, genome-wide profiling revealed that weaning-driven microbiome changes shape the DNA methylome and transcriptome of murine ISCs in an IFNγ-dependent manner. Specifically, we observe demethylation of enhancer elements essential for MHC class II genes, which results in a transcriptional memory that persists through differentiation into adulthood. IFNγ blockade, or low-dose penicillin to target Gram-positive bacteria, …

3'Utr Mapping Reveals Alternative Polyadenylation In Right Ventricular Failure, Rahul Neupane, Kartiga Natarajan, Erik E Suarez, Henry J Pownall, Kai-Lieh Huang, Eric J Wagner, Ajay Kumar Verma, Rambabu Majji, Hari Krishna Yalamanchili, Ashrith Guha, Rajarajan A Thandavarayan

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Misregulated Alternative Splicing In Endometriosis: A Role For Aberrant Mrna Variants In Endometriotic Cell Growth, Venkata Naga Goutham Davuluri, Michelle Dias, Roxanna Llinas, Kamath Neha, Pooja Popli, Shannon M Hawkins, Chandrakant Tayade, Elise T Courtois, Hari Krishna Yalamanchili, Ramakrishna Kommagani

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological disorder marked by the growth of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterus, often leading to pelvic pain, inflammation, and infertility. Despite its global prevalence, diagnosis remains delayed, and effective non-surgical treatments are lacking. While recent transcriptomic studies have identified mRNA transcript changes in ectopic lesions, the contribution of alternative pre-mRNA splicing, a key posttranscriptional regulatory layer, remains largely unknown. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of alternative splicing (AS) events in endometriotic lesions using transcriptomic data. We uncovered distinct alterations in alternative splicing events are associated with endometriosis, highlighting a previously underappreciated layer of …

Investigating Corollaries Between Streptococcus Gallolyticus Subsp. Gallolyticus Virulence And Colorectal Cancer, Tyler G. Myers

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

Streptococcus gallolyticus subsp. gallolyticus (Sgg) is a gram-positive, non-beta-hemolytic bacterium that belongs to the Lancefield group D of streptococcal pathogens. For the past several decades, associations between Sgg bacteremia and colorectal cancer (CRC) have been apparent, with gastroenterologists routinely recommending colonoscopies for positive cases of Sgg in either blood or stool samples. However, current research has not wholly established whether Sgg acts as a causative agent of CRC or if pre-existing cancers make the lumen of the colon more hospitable to its colonization. Regardless, Sgg has been implicated in the modulation of host inflammatory pathways and subsequent remodeling …

Inverse Associations Of Serum Total Omega-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids And Linoleic Acid With Biomarkers Of Inflammation: A Cross-Sectional Analysis, Kevin C Maki, Xiwei Chen, Meredith L Wilcox, Carol F Kirkpatrick, Liana L Guarneiri, Orsolya M Palacios, Erika T Beidelman, Anna Lm Macagno, David B Allison

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: Observational evidence supports associations between higher consumption of omega-6 (n-6) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) with reduced risks for cardiometabolic diseases. However, some have hypothesized that higher n-6 PUFA intake may be proinflammatory.

Objectives: The purpose of this cross-sectional analysis using baseline data from the Aegis cohort was to examine associations of serum total n-6 PUFA and linoleic acid concentrations with biomarkers of inflammation.

Methods: Serum concentrations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), glycoprotein acetyls, serum amyloid A (SAA), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1), and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) were assessed as biomarkers of inflammation. Univariate Pearson correlation coefficients …

A Case Of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease With Multiple Bilateral Spontaneous Retroperitoneal Hemorrhages, Masato Mizuta, Tatsuya Suwabe, Yuki Oba, Akinari Sekine, Masayuki Yamanouchi, Hiroki Mizuno, Eiko Hasegawa, Takehiko Wada, Makoto Fukuda, Motoaki Miyazono, Naoki Sawa, Yoshifumi Ubara

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

We experienced a 45-year-old male with ADPKD who developed spontaneous retroperitoneal hemorrhages with hypertension in the right subcapsular renal space without trauma. After his condition worsened with conservative management, he was treated by renal transarterial embolization (TAE). Over the next eight years, he experienced bilateral bleeding at three different sites and underwent repeated endovascular treatment with renal TAE to stop the bleeding. After the fourth occurrence, the patient underwent hemodialysis. Although renal cysts and urinary tract bleeding occur frequently in ADPKD, retroperitoneal hemorrhage is rare; however, TAE is both effective and a good way to preserve renal function.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And Risk Of All-Cause And Cause-Specific Mortality: A Nationwide Population And Sibling-Controlled Cohort Study In Taiwan, Chih-Wei Hsu, Yang-Chieh Brian Chen, Liang-Jen Wang, Mu-Hong Chen, Yao-Hsu Yang, Chih-Sung Liang, Edward Chia-Cheng Lai

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Aims: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may shorten life expectancy, but evidence for Asian populations and cause-specific mortality remains limited. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between PTSD and mortality risk in an Asian population.

Methods: We used Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (2000-2022) to assemble a cohort of 28,777 individuals with incident PTSD and 115,108 age- and sex-matched unexposed individuals, plus a sibling cohort of 13,305 affected patients and 22,030 unaffected siblings. Cox models estimated adjusted hazard ratios (AHRs) for all-cause, unnatural-cause (suicide and accidents) and natural-cause mortality, with progressive adjustment for sociodemographic factors, comorbidity …

Circulating Ketone Bodies And Incident Cardiovascular Outcomes And Mortality: Insights From The Uk Biobank, Parag Anilkumar Chevli, Saeid Mirzai, Richard Kazibwe, Jeff Kingsley, Alexis C Wood, Joseph Yeboah, Leandro Slipczuk, Anurag Mehta, Harpreet S Bhatia, Ambarish Pandey, Michael D Shapiro

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: Ketone bodies (KB) are endogenous energy sources synthesized by the liver in response to metabolic stress. Their associations with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), heart failure (HF), and mortality and their potential beneficial or harmful effects have yet to be determined. This study aimed to examine the association between KB and incident cardiovascular outcomes and mortality in a large general population cohort free from ASCVD and HF at baseline.

Methods: This analysis included 90 987 participants (mean age 56.4 ± 8.1 years; 54.7% women) from the UK Biobank without prevalent ASCVD or HF. KB were measured by nuclear magnetic resonance …

The Role Of Top-Down Appetite Self-Regulation In The Development Of Healthy Eating Behaviors Among Children: A Narrative Review And Socialization Framework, David J Bridgett, Sheryl O Hughes, Matthew Broussard, Daniela Mccourt, Christina M Croce, Jennifer O Fisher

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Appetite self-regulation (ASR) among children is thought to have a fundamental role in shaping the development of healthy eating behaviors, dietary intake, and growth during childhood. Parallel to developmental frameworks for understanding "general" self-regulation among children, ASR has been described as involving children's use of "top-down" cognitive processes to moderate "bottom-up" biological drives around food approach and avoidance in the interest of achieving desired eating behaviors or outcomes. Whereas bottom-up ASR processes during early childhood are well characterized, particularly in the context of dysregulation and obesity risk, the role of top-down ASR processes in the development of healthy eating behaviors …

Perceptions And Use Of Behaviour Change Interventions For Physical Activity In Chronic Respiratory Disease In The Republic Of Ireland, Ciara Hanrahan, Joseph G Mcveigh, Terence M O'Connor, Thierry Troosters, Julie Broderick

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Objectives: Behaviour change interventions may support physical activity behaviour in people with chronic respiratory disease. The most effective interventions for long-term physical activity behaviour change in this cohort remains unclear. This aim of this study was to explore the use and perceptions of behaviour change interventions by both providers of physical activity programmes for people with chronic respiratory disease and by people living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in The Republic of Ireland.

Design: Two anonymous online and paper-copy cross-sectional surveys, piloted and mapped to the COM-B model of behaviour change, were distributed via social media and relevant gate-keepers …

Pre- And Postnatal Exposure To Pm2.5 And No2 And Blood Pressure In Children: Results From The Echo Cohort, Yu Ni, Andrew Law, Xingyu Gao, Adam A Szpiro, Christine T Loftus, Miranda Jones, Logan C Dearborn, Marnie F Hazlehurst, Allison R Sherris, Sindana Ilango, Kaja Z Lewinn, Nicole R Bush, Qi Zhao, Leonardo Trasande, Joseph T Flynn, Daniel A Enquobahrie, Ruby H N Nguyen, Tom O'Connor, Arpita K Vyas, Mingyu Zhang, Hooman Mirzakhani, Alison Hipwell, Anne Starling, Alicia K Peterson, Akhgar Ghassabian, Assiamira Ferrara, Judy Aschner, Scott Collingwood, Margaret R Karagas, Michelle Katzow, Annemarie Stroustrup, Mehtap Haktnair, Tina V Hartert, Brittney M Snyder, Sophia Jan, Anne Marie Singh, Dana Dabelea, Angela M Malek, Jennifer K Straughen, Carlos A Camargo, Miatta A Buxton, Rosalind Wright, Kecia Carroll, Keia Sanderson, Daphne Koinis Mitchell, Viren D'Sa, Christine Hockett, Anne L Dunlop, Shohreh F Farzen, Sunni L Mumford, Akram N Alshawabkeh, Hudson P Santos, Xueying Zhang, Zhongzheng Niu, Nan Ji, Carrie Breton, Donghai Liang, Catherine J Karr, Echo Cohort Consortium

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: There is growing interest in understanding the link between early life exposures to ambient air pollution and childhood blood pressure; however, existing findings, largely from single site/cohort studies, are inconclusive.

Methods: We examined the association between exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and blood pressure measured at age 5-12 years in 4863 U.S. children from 20 pregnancy cohorts of the NIH ECHO cohort. Point-based residential exposures were derived from spatiotemporal models with a biweekly resolution and averaged over each trimester, the whole pregnancy, and child age 0-2 years. We converted systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood …

The Role Of Top-Down Appetite Self-Regulation In The Development Of Healthy Eating Behaviors Among Children: A Narrative Review And Socialization Framework, David J Bridgett, Sheryl O Hughes, Matthew Broussard, Daniela Mccourt, Christina M Croce, Jennifer O Fisher

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Appetite self-regulation (ASR) among children is thought to have a fundamental role in shaping the development of healthy eating behaviors, dietary intake, and growth during childhood. Parallel to developmental frameworks for understanding "general" self-regulation among children, ASR has been described as involving children's use of "top-down" cognitive processes to moderate "bottom-up" biological drives around food approach and avoidance in the interest of achieving desired eating behaviors or outcomes. Whereas bottom-up ASR processes during early childhood are well characterized, particularly in the context of dysregulation and obesity risk, the role of top-down ASR processes in the development of healthy eating behaviors …

Influence Of Weekend Social Jetlag On Glucose Tolerance Testing, Ariana Khzarjyan, Srushti Wagh, Graham Mcginnis

Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences Student Research

Background: Circadian rhythms regulate physiological and metabolic functions across a 24-hour cycle. However, modern lifestyles often disrupt these rhythms. A common example is weekend schedule shifts, when people sleep and wake later than on weekdays, a phenomenon referred to as social jetlag (SJL).

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to; 1) determine whether chronic SJL leads to impaired glucose tolerance, and 2) determine if acute changes in glucose tolerance occur following a weekend of social jetlag (SJL).

Methods: Fifteen male C57BL/6 mice on a normal chow diet were used in this study. To model social jetlag (SJL), mice were …

Sex-Specific Differences In Mediobasal Hypothalamus In Response To Nutritional States, Jonathan C Bean, Jinjing Jian, Tzu-Chiao Lu, Hailan Liu, Kristine Conde, Darah A Threat, Sanika V Jossy, Megan E Burt, Jingjing Cheng, Yue Deng, Xing Fang, Xiaoyu Geng, Junying Han, Yongxiang Li, Hesong Liu, Qingzhuo Liu, Yutian Liu, Yuhan Shi, Longlong Tu, Mengjie Wang, Xu Xu, Yuxue Yang, Meng Yu, Xinming Liu, Meixin Sun, Fuhui Wang, Olivia Z Ginnard, Yongjie Yang, Yang He, Chunmei Wang, Yanyan Qi, Hongjie Li, Yong Xu

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

The arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus plays a central role in sensing and integrating nutritional, hormonal, and neural signals that regulate feeding, energy homeostasis, growth, and reproduction, all of which show pronounced sex differences. However, the cellular mechanisms underlying these responses remain poorly understood. We performed snRNA-seq of the mediobasal hypothalamus, focusing on the arcuate nucleus, in female and male mice under different nutritional states. Analysis of 42 cell types revealed that Agrp neurons were most sensitive to nutritional changes, dopaminergic neurons showed strong sex-specific differences, and KNDy neurons were highly responsive to both sex and nutrition. Pomc neurons displayed …

Propofol In Chronic Cannabis Users: A Mechanistic Link To Cannabinoid Hyperemesis?, Jonmark I. Dolendo, Sonia Frick, Jia Q. Yang, Brad A. Haubrich

Annual Research Symposium

Purpose: Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) is characterized by cyclic nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain in chronic cannabis users, often relieved by exposure to hot water. Propofol, a widely used GABAergic anesthetic with antiemetic properties, has paradoxically been implicated in exacerbating hyperemetic episodes in some cannabis users. With the growing legalization of marijuana and social acceptance to its recreational use it is believed that this phenomenon will be more ubiquitous to clinicians. This review aims to investigate the mechanistic and clinical evidence linking propofol administration to CHS and to summarize strategies for prevention, diagnosis, and management.

Methods: PubMed and EBSCO were …

When Nutrition Fails: Modeling Protein Malnutrition-Driven Vulnerability In Hepatic Drug Metabolism And Inflammatory Stress, Vijitha D. Kantety, Victor Jiminez Jr.

Annual Research Symposium

Background

Protein malnutrition remains a major global health problem and frequently co-occurs with alcohol use, opioid exposure, and infectious disease, particularly in low- and middle-income settings. The liver is central to both metabolism and inflammatory regulation, yet the effects of a malnutrition-like nutrient environment on hepatic responses to combined metabolic and inflammatory insults are not well defined. Cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4), a key enzyme involved in opioid metabolism, is highly sensitive to inflammatory signaling and may be especially vulnerable under conditions of nutritional deficiency. This project aims to 1) develop an in vitro model of nutritionally competent versus amino acid–restricted …

Charting A New Era To Modernize United States Infant Formula Regulation, Douglas G Burrin, Amy B Hair, Sharon M Donovan

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Community Participatory Co-Design And Development Of A Digital Diabetes Prevention Education Program For Hispanic Families With Obesity: Mixed Methods Study, Sandra Mihail, Marbelly Partida, Lizette Villanueva, Debbe Thompson, Teresia M O'Connor, Salma M Musaad, Maria J Redondo, Erica G Soltero

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: Digital health interventions (DHIs) can extend the reach of disease prevention interventions; however, few are evidence-based, theoretically grounded, or developed for high-risk youth and families. Co-design approaches engage end users in the design and development of the DHI, which can lead to increased accessibility and engagement.

Objective: This study aimed to describe the adaptation of an evidence-based diabetes prevention program for remote, digital delivery.

Methods: The adaptation of the in-person intervention was guided by a modified Inclusive Digital Health Intervention Design to Promote Health Equity framework and conducted in collaboration with Hispanic adolescents (n=23) with obesity (BMI ≥95th percentile) …

A Framework For Assessing The Trustworthiness Of Scientific Research Findings, Brian A Nosek, David B Allison, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Marcia Mcnutt, A Beau Nielsen, Susan M Wolf

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Vigorous debate has erupted over the trustworthiness of scientific research findings in a number of domains. The question "what makes research findings trustworthy?" elicits different answers depending on whether the emphasis is on research integrity and ethics, research methods, transparency, inclusion, assessment and peer review, or scholarly communication. Each provides partial insight. We offer a systems approach that focuses on whether the research is accountable, evaluable, well-formulated, has been evaluated, controls for bias, reduces error, and whether the claims are warranted by the evidence. We tie each of these components to measurable indicators of trustworthiness for evaluating the research itself, …

Performance Of An Automated Sleep Scoring Approach For Actigraphy Data In Children And Adolescents, Pin-Wei Chen, Erica C Jansen, Christopher M Cielo, Ariel A Williamson, Margaret Banker, Michael Kaye, Peter X K Song, Karen E Peterson, Alejandra Cantoral, Martha María Téllez-Rojo, Cathy Goldstein, Khadija Zanna, Akane Sano, Jennette P Moreno, Heidi Kalkwarf, Babette S Zemel, Jonathan A Mitchell

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Study objectives: GGIR is an R package for processing raw acceleration data to estimate sleep health parameters. We aimed to (1) assess the performance of three sleep algorithms within GGIR against PSG for detecting sleep/wake in clinically referred, typically-developing children (criterion validity); and (2) describe GGIR-derived sleep estimates from typically developing children enrolled in multiple cohort studies (face validity).

Methods: For criterion evaluation, children (8-16 years, N = 30) wore an actigraphy device for one night during in-lab polysomnography with performance assessed using epoch-by-epoch analyses. For face validity evaluation, four community/free living datasets were used: (1) Bone Mineral Accretion in …