Ernst Moro (1874-1951)--a great pediatric career started at the rise of university-based pediatric research but was curtailed in the shadows of Nazi laws

Nutrition and the gut-brain axis in neonatal brain injury and development

Early nutritional exposures, including during embryogenesis and the immediate postnatal period, affect offspring outcomes in both the short- and long-term. Alterations of these modifiable exposures shape the developing gut microbiome, intestinal development, and even neurodevelopmental outcomes. A gut-brain axis exists, and it is intricately connected to early life feeding and nutritional exposures. Here, we seek to discuss the (1) origins of the gut-brain access and relationship with neurodevelopment, (2) components of human milk (HM) beyond nutrition and their role in the developing newborn, and (3) clinical application of nutritional practices, including fluid management and feeding on the development of the gut-brain axis, and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. We conclude with a discussion on future directions and unanswered questions that are critical to provide further understanding and insight into how clinicians and healthcare providers can optimize early nutritional practices to ensure children not only survive, but thrive, free of neurodevelopmental impairment.

Probiotics, their action modality and the use of multi-omics in metamorphosis of commensal microbiota into target-based probiotics

This review article addresses the strategic formulation of human probiotics and allows the reader to walk along the journey that metamorphoses commensal microbiota into target-based probiotics. It recapitulates what are probiotics, their history, and the main mechanisms through which probiotics exert beneficial effects on the host. It articulates how a given probiotic preparation could not be all-encompassing and how each probiotic strain has its unique repertoire of functional genes. It answers what criteria should be met to formulate probiotics intended for human use, and why certain probiotics meet ill-fate in pre-clinical and clinical trials? It communicates the reasons that taint the reputation of probiotics and cause discord between the industry, medical and scientific communities. It revisits the notion of host-adapted strains carrying niche-specific genetic modifications. Lastly, this paper emphasizes the strategic development of target-based probiotics using host-adapted microbial isolates with known molecular effectors that would serve as better candidates for bioprophylactic and biotherapeutic interventions in disease-susceptible individuals.

Motor difficulties in young people who offend

BACKGROUND

Research suggests that motor difficulties may be closely associated with severe emotional and behavioural problems in children. However, there is limited research on the role of motor function in young adults who offend.

AIMS

To assess motor skills, balance, and primary reflex persistence in young people who offend, and to examine the relative association of different motor factors with self-reported levels of aggression.

METHODS

We recruited three groups of males (14-18 years); young people serving custodial sentences (n = 33) in a youth justice centre, and an IQ-matched comparison group (n = 36) and an average-IQ comparison group (n = 38) of non-offenders. All completed a standardised test of motor skills, clinical assessment protocols for balance and primary reflex persistence, and a standardised self-report behavioural rating scale.

RESULTS

The youth justice group showed significantly lower abilities in some motor skills and balance and significantly higher levels of primary reflex persistence and aggression than both comparison groups. In a multiple regression model, only manual dexterity (p = .032) and primary reflex persistence (p = .002) were significant predictors of aggression.

CONCLUSIONS

A broad range of motor difficulties are likely to occur in young people who offend. We discuss the implications of motor difficulties for approaches to rehabilitation of persistent offenders.

Historical aspects of human milk oligosaccharides

This review focuses on important observations regarding infant health around 1900 when breastfeeding was not considered a matter of importance. The discovery of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria and their relevance for health and disease was an important milestone leading to a decrease in infant mortality in the first year of life. At the same time, pediatricians realized that the fecal composition of breast-fed and bottle-fed infants differed. Observations indicated that this difference is linked to milk composition, particularly due to the milk carbohydrate fraction. Circa 1930, a human milk carbohydrate fraction called gynolactose was identified. This was the starting point of research on human milk oligosaccharides (HMO). In the following years, the first HMO were identified and their functions investigated. Studies after 1950 focused on the identification of various HMO as the bifidus factor in human milk. In the following 30 years, a tremendous amount of research was done with regard to the characterization of individual HMO and HMO patterns in milk. In this short introduction to the history of HMO research, which ends circa 1980, some outstanding scientists in pediatrics and chemistry and their pioneering contributions to research in the field of HMO are presented.