Bacterial culturomics is a set of techniques to isolate and identify live bacteria from complex microbial ecosystems. Despite its potential to revolutionize microbiome research, bacterial culturomics has significant challenges when applied to human gut microbiome studies due to its labor-intensive nature. Therefore, we established a streamlined culturomics approach with minimal culture conditions for stool sample preincubation. We evaluated the suitability of non-selective medium candidates for maintaining microbial diversity during a 30-day incubation period based on 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis. Subsequently, we applied four culture conditions (two preincubation media under an aerobic/anaerobic atmosphere) to isolate gut bacteria on a large scale from eight stool samples of healthy humans. We identified 8141 isolates, classified into 263 bacterial species, including 12 novel species candidates. Our analysis of cultivation efficiency revealed that seven days of aerobic and ten days of anaerobic incubation captured approximately 91% and 95% of the identified species within each condition, respectively, with a synergistic effect confirmed when selected preincubation media were combined. Moreover, our culturomics findings expanded the coverage of gut microbial diversity compared to 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing results. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the potential of a streamlined culturomics approach for the efficient isolation of gut bacteria from human stool samples. This approach might pave the way for the broader adoption of culturomics in human gut microbiome studies, ultimately leading to a more comprehensive understanding of this complex microbial ecosystem.

BACKGROUND: Two main approaches (organ culture and hypothermia) for the preservation and storage of human donor corneas are globally adopted for corneal preservation before the transplant. Hypothermia is a hypothermic storage which slows down cellular metabolism while organ culture, a corneal culture performed at 28-37 °C, maintains an active corneal metabolism. Researchers, till now, have just studied the impact of organ culture on human cornea after manipulating and disrupting tissues.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the current work was to optimize an analytical procedure which can be useful for discovering biomarkers capable of predicting tissue health status. For the first time, this research proposed a preliminary metabolomics study on medium for organ culture without manipulating and disrupting the valuable human tissues which could be still used for transplantation.
METHODS: In particular, the present research proposed a method for investigating changes in the medium, over a storage period of 20 days, in presence and absence of a human donor cornea. An untargeted metabolomics approach using UHPLC-QTOF was developed to deeply investigate the differences on metabolites and metabolic pathways and the influence of the presence of the cornea inside the medium.
RESULTS: Differences in the expression of some compounds emerged from this preliminary metabolomics approach, in particular in medium maintained for 10 and 20 days in presence but also in the absence of cornea. A total of 173 metabolites have been annotated and 36 pathways were enriched by pathway analysis.
CONCLUSIONS: The results revealed a valuable untargeted metabolomics approach which can be applied in organ culture metabolomics.

BACKGROUND: Many cultures believe that the first traces of human consciousness during the incarnation may be present before birth. Practices based on this belief exist in many cultures. However, formal scientific inquiry into the possibility of communicating with prenatal consciousness has never been explored.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate if it is possible to communicate with a hypothetical prenatal consciousness of the fetus during pregnancy.
METHODS: This exploratory study used mixed methods and a triple-blind design. People (i.e., mediums) who could allegedly communicate with eleven pregnant women\'s prenatal consciousness (N=11) collected answers to ten questions that were then verified from parental reports. Ten mediums participated, with three to eight mediums providing answers per pregnant woman.
RESULTS: More than 1,500 statements were generated from attempts to communicate with the prenatal consciousness. Quantitative analysis showed higher agreement in spontaneously reported information versus responses to structured questions, 69.40%, and 17.63%, respectively. These results did not differ by the number of mediums per pregnant woman (three to five versus six to eight). Qualitative analysis suggested that some sessions resulted in verifiable communication with the prenatal consciousness, while others did not.
CONCLUSIONS: The results, while preliminary and requiring follow-up studies, suggest the possibility to interact with a prenatal consciousness during pregnancy and the potential of novel scientific investigations into altered states of consciousness.

UNASSIGNED: Compare pain intensity at entry into the cervical os, during uterine distension and 15 min after the procedure, in patients undergoing diagnostic hysteroscopy with room temperature normal saline versus that with saline warmed to 38-40°C, using visual analog scale (VAS) score. Furthermore, compare the time taken and failed procedures between them.
UNASSIGNED: This was a randomized controlled, prospective study conducted at a Tertiary Care Center on 100 patients planned for diagnostic hysteroscopy with a 4 mm 30° hysteroscope using vaginoscopy technique. They were divided into two groups of 50 each, with control undergoing the procedure using normal saline at room temperature and the test with saline warmed to 38-40°C as distension medium. Primary outcomes were VAS at the point of entry into the internal os (T0), 1 min later (T1), and 15 min after the procedure (T15). Secondary outcomes were procedural acceptance, time taken, and failed procedures.
UNASSIGNED: The mean VAS in the control group at T0, T1, T15 was 3.31 (1.461;‒0.870-0.245), 2.46 (1.398;‒0.539-0.498), 0.75 (0.911;‒0.379-0.338), respectively, as compared to the test group of 3.62 (1.282;‒0.870-0.245), 2.48 (1.148;‒0.540-0.498), 0.77 (0.911;‒0.379-0.379), respectively. About 73.5% of controls and 68.8% in the test group were willing to undergo the procedure again. About 93.9% of controls would recommend it further as against 93.8% among the test controls. The time taken and number of failed procedures showed no statistical difference.
UNASSIGNED: No significant difference was noted in terms of outcomes measured by warming the distension medium.

Lanthanide metals are commonly used in technological devices including batteries, computers, catalysts and magnets. Despite their important properties, mining difficulties and pollution concerns limit the number of mines worldwide. Because of these concerns, biometallurgy is an attractive possibility for lanthanide extraction from recycled materials or from contaminated sites. Methylotrophs, bacteria that grow on reduced carbon substrates like methane and methanol, utilize lanthanides for a central reaction in their metabolisms. They must have some mechanism for uptake or trafficking, and are therefore excellent candidates for applying small molecules or proteins for selective lanthanide metal recycling. The haloalkaliphilic methanotroph \"Methylotuvimicrobium buryatense\" 5GB1C is the fastest growing methanotroph isolated to date, and thus has great industrial potential. The MxaFI enzyme complex uses calcium as a Lewis acid in conjunction with the pyroquinoline quinone cofactor to oxidize methanol, while the alternative enzyme XoxF uses lanthanide metals (e.g. lanthanum and cerium) for the same function. Lanthanide metals, abundant in the earth\'s crust, strongly repress the transcription of mxaF yet activate the transcription of xoxF, implying that XoxF may be the predominant methanol dehydrogenase in the bacterium\'s native environment. It may be that lanthanum interaction mechanisms are different from those in other microorganisms. In addition, the facile genetics in this strain and existing background information make it a good study organism for biological lanthanum uptake. The interesting physiology of this organism required empirical work to develop cultivation methods that allow robust assays of gene expression and measurement of lanthanum associated with cell biomass. In this chapter, we show that altering the metal chelator increased the availability of lanthanum to the cell as measured by the specific gene expression response. We also made further alterations to prevent lanthanum precipitation in medium for the growth of haloalkaliphiles.