Malnutrition refers to a person’s status as under- or overnourished, and it is usually associated with an inflammation status, which can subsequently imply a different health status, as the risk of infection is increased, along with a deterioration of the immune system. Children’s immune systems are generally more susceptible to problems than adults. In the situation of malnutrition, because malnourished children’s immune systems are compromised, they are more likely to die. However, little is known about the underlying mechanism of altered immune functioning and how it relates to starvation. Nutritional interventions have been reported as cost-effective strategies to prevent or treat the development of malnourishment, considering the link between food intake and health, especially in children, and also the susceptibility of this population to diseases and how their health status during childhood might affect their long-term physiological growth. The ingestion of specific nutrients (e.g., vitamins or oligoelements) has been reported to contribute to the proper functioning of children’s immune systems. In this review, we aim to describe the basis of malnutrition and how this is linked to the immune system, considering the role of nutrients in the modulation of the immune system and the risk of infection that can occur in these situations in children, as well as to identify nutritional interventions to improve their health.

Thalassosaline waters produced by the concentration of seawater are widespread and common extreme aquatic habitats. Their salinity varies from that of sea water (ca. 3.5%) to saturation for NaCl (ca. 37%). Obviously the microbiota varies dramatically throughout this range. Recent metagenomic analysis of intermediate salinity waters (19%) indicated the presence of an abundant and yet undescribed gamma-proteobacterium. Two strains belonging to this group have been isolated from saltern ponds of intermediate salinity in two Spanish salterns and were named “Spiribacter”.

Olive (Olea europaea) leaves, a by-product of olive oil production, represent a promising source of bioactive peptides. In this study, the peptidome of an olive leaf protein hydrolysate (OLPH) obtained via enzymatic hydrolysis with Alcalase was identified and analyzed for the first time. Liquid Chromatography coupled to Trapped Ion Mobility Spectrometry and Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-TIMS-MS/MS) analysis revealed over 7000 peptide sequences. Peptides with PeptideRanker scores above 0.79 were selected for in silico evaluation of antimicrobial potential, including physicochemical characterization and molecular docking. Several peptides—such as NYPAWGY, SSKGSLGGGF, QWDQGYF, and SGPAFNAGR—exhibited strong predicted antimicrobial potential, supported by favorable interactions with bacterial, viral, and fungal targets in docking simulations. Correlation analysis revealed that physicochemical features, such as net hydrogen, amphipathicity, and isoelectric point, were positively associated with predicted antimicrobial activity. These findings highlight the potential of olive leaf-derived peptides as natural antimicrobial agents and support the valorization of olive by-products as a sustainable source of functional ingredients for applications in food safety and health. Further experimental validation is needed to confirm the efficacy and mechanism of action of the identified peptides.

Eight colonies of live microbes were isolated from an extensively surface-sterilized halite sample which had been retrieved from a depth of 2000 m from a salt mine in the Qianjiang Depression, Hubei Province, PR China. The eight colonies, obtained after 4 weeks of incubation, were named JI20-1^T–JI20-8 and JI20-1^T was selected as the type strain. The strains have been previously described, including a genomic analysis based on the complete genome for strain JI20-1^T and draft genomes for the other strains. In that study, the name Halobacterium hubeiense was suggested, based on the location of the drilling site. Previous phylogenomic analysis showed that strain JI20-1^T is most closely related to the Permian isolate Halobacterium noricense from Alpine rock salt. The orthologous average nucleotide identity (orthoANI) and digital DNA–DNA hybridization (dDDH) percentages between the eight strains are 100–99.6 % and 99.8–96.4 %, respectively. The orthoANI and dDDH values of these strains with respect to the type strains of species of the genus Halobacterium are 89.9–78.2 % and 37.3–21.6 %, respectively, supporting their placement in a novel extremely halophilic archaeal species. The phylogenomic tree based on the comparison of sequences of 632 core-orthologous proteins confirmed the novel species status for these haloarchaea. The polar lipid profile includes phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester, phosphatidylglycerol sulfate, and sulfated galactosyl mannosyl galactosyl glucosyl diether, a profile compatible with that of Halobacterium noricense. Based on genomic, phenotypic, and chemotaxonomic characterization, we propose strain JI20-1^T (=DSM 114402^T = HAMBI 3616^T) as the type strain of a novel species in the genus Halobacterium, with the name Halobacterium hubeiense sp. nov.