Project description:Interventions: Black seed capsule (containing fresh black seed powder) in the amount of 1000 mg three times a day (it is better to take black seed capsule 2 hours before or 2 hours after a meal)..
Primary outcome(s): Cancer antigen 19-9 (CA19-9). Timepoint: Baseline, 3 months following the treatment and the end of treatment. Method of measurement: Blood test.;Carcino Embryonic Antigen (CEA). Timepoint: Baseline, 3 months following the treatment and the end of treatment. Method of measurement: Blood test.
Study Design: Randomization: N/A, Blinding: Not blinded, Placebo: Not used, Assignment: Single, Purpose: Treatment.
Project description:Aging is associated with declining immunity and inflammation as well as alterations in the gut microbiome with a decrease of beneficial microbes and increase in pathogenic ones. The aim of this study was to investigate aging associated gut microbiome in relation to immunologic and metabolic profile in a non-human primate (NHP) model. 12 old (age>18 years) and 4 young (age 3-6 years) Rhesus macaques were included in this study. Immune cell subsets were characterized in PBMC by flow cytometry and plasma cytokines levels were determined by bead based multiplex cytokine analysis. Stool samples were collected by ileal loop and investigated for microbiome analysis by shotgun metagenomics. Serum, gut microbial lysate and microbe-free fecal extract were subjected to metabolomic analysis by mass-spectrometry. Our results showed that the old animals exhibited higher inflammatory biomarkers in plasma and lower CD4 T cells with altered distribution of naïve and memory T cell maturation subsets. The gut microbiome in old animals had higher abundance of Archaeal and Proteobacterial species and lower Firmicutes than the young. Significant enrichment of metabolites that contribute to inflammatory and cytotoxic pathways was observed in serum and feces of old animals compared to the young. We conclude that aging NHP undergo immunosenescence and age associated alterations in the gut microbiome that has a distinct metabolic profile.
Project description:Characterization of proteins critical to fungal cellulosome assembly for Anaeromyces robustus, Neocallimastix californiae and Piromyces finnis (cellulosomes are multi-protein complexes that tether plant biomass degrading enzymes together). These findings suggest that the fungal cellulosome is an independently evolved fungal complex that co-opted useful activities from bacterial neighbors within the herbivore rumen microbiome.