A growing body of evidence suggests that food insecurity is associated with adverse mental health outcomes such as depression and anxiety. In this study, the relationship between food insecurity and depression was examined using data from the 2005–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Food insecurity was assessed with the 18-item United States Food Security Survey Module with zero affirmative responses indicating high food security, 1 or 2 affirmative responses indicating marginal food security, and ≥3 affirmative responses indicating food insecurity. Depression was assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 with scores ≥10 indicating depression. Data were analyzed from 28,448 adult participants aged 20 or older. Food insecurity was present in 19.2% of the sample population (n = 5452). Food security status was significantly associated with gender, race, education level, marital status, smoking status, and BMI (Rao-Scott chi-square, p < 0.05). Fully food secure and very low food security adults experienced depression at a rate of 5.1% and 25.8%, respectively (Rao-Scott chi-square, p < 0.0001). Participants with very low food security had a significantly greater odds of depression than food secure adults, OR = 3.50 (95% CI: 2.98, 4.12). These findings suggest that food insecurity is a significant risk factors for depression in US adults over 20 years of age. To address this issue in our citizenry, police initiatives and public health interventions addressing both food access and mental health should be prioritized.

Background: Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis (SE) colonizes the ovary and oviduct of chickens without causing overt clinical signs which can lead to SE-contamination of the content and membrane of shell-eggs as well as hatchery eggs. The organism utilizes the Salmonella Pathogenicity Island-2 encoded type III secretion system (T3SS-2) to promote persistence in the oviduct of laying hens. In this study, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was carried out to determine the expression profiles of 14 known avian beta defensins (AvBDs) in primary chicken oviduct epithelial cells (COEC) before and after infections with a wild type SE strain and T3SS mutant SE strains carrying an inactivated sipA or pipB gene. Results: Based on the expression levels in uninfected COEC, AvBDs can be loosely grouped into three categories with AvBD4-5 and AvBD9-12 being constitutively expressed at high levels; AvBD1, AvBD3, and AvBD13-14 at moderate levels; and AvBD2 and AvBD6-8 at minimal levels. Infection with the wild type SE strain temporarily repressed certain highly expressed AvBDs and induced the expression of minimally expressed AvBDs. The pipB mutant, compared to the wild type strain, had reduced suppressive effect on the expression of highly expressed AvBDs. Moreover, the pipB mutant elicited significantly higher levels of the minimally expressed AvBDs than the wild type SE or the sipA mutant did. Conclusion: Chicken oviduct epithelial cells express most of the known AvBD genes in response to SE infection. PipB, a T3SS-2 effector protein, plays a role in dampening the β-defensin arm of innate immunity during SE invasion of chicken oviduct epithelium.

Nontyphoidal Salmonella strains are the main source of pathogenic bacterial contamination in the poultry industry. Recently, Salmonella enterica serovar Kentucky has been recognized as the most prominent serovar on carcasses in poultry-processing plants. Previous studies showed that flagella are one of the main factors that contribute to bacterial attachment to broiler skin. However, the precise role of flagella and the mechanism of attachment are unknown. There are two different flagellar subunits ( fliC and fljB ) expressed alternatively in Salmonella enterica serovars using phase variation. Here, by making deletions in genes encoding flagellar structural subunits ( flgK , fliC , and fljB ), and flagellar motor ( motA ), we were able to differentiate the role of flagella and their rotary motion in the colonization of broiler skin and cellular attachment. Utilizing a broiler skin assay, we demonstrated that the presence of FliC is necessary for attachment to broiler skin. Expression of the alternative flagellar subunit FljB enables Salmonella motility, but this subunit is unable to mediate tight attachment. Deletion of the flgK gene prevents proper flagellar assembly, making Salmonella significantly less adherent to broiler skin than the wild type. S . Kentucky with deletions in all three structural genes, fliC , fljB , and flgK , as well as a flagellar motor mutant ( motA ), exhibited less adhesion and invasion of Caco-2 cells, while an fljB mutant was as adherent and invasive as the wild-type strain. IMPORTANCE In this work, we answered clearly the role of flagella in S . Kentucky attachment to the chicken skin and Caco-2 cells. We demonstrated that the presence of FliC is necessary for attachment to broiler skin. Expression of the alternative flagellar subunit FljB enables Salmonella motility, but this subunit is unable to mediate strong attachment. Deletion of the flgK gene prevents proper flagellar assembly, making Salmonella significantly less adherent to broiler skin than the wild type. S . Kentucky with deletions in all three structural genes, fliC , fljB , and flgK , as well as a flagellar motor mutant ( motA ), exhibited less adhesion and invasion of Caco-2 cells, while an fljB mutant was as adherent and invasive as the wild-type strain. We expect these results will contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of Salmonella attachment to food products.

Background: Salmonellosis may be a food safety problem when raw food products are mishandled and not fully cooked. In previous work, we developed bioluminescent Salmonella enterica serotypes using a plasmid-based reporting system that can be used for real-time monitoring of the pathogen's growth on food products in short term studies. In this study, we report the use of a Tn7-based transposon system for subcloning of luxCDABE genes into the chromosome of eleven Salmonella enterica serotypes isolated from the broiler production continuum. Results: We found that the lux operon is constitutively expressed from the chromosome post-transposition and the lux cassette is stable without external pressure, i.e. antibiotic selection, for all Salmonella enterica serotypes used. Bioluminescence expression is based on an active electron transport chain and is directly related with metabolic activity. This relationship was quantified by measuring bioluminescence against a temperature gradient in aqueous solution using a luminometer. In addition, bioluminescent monitoring of two serotypes confirmed that our chicken skin model has the potential to be used to evaluate pathogen mitigation strategies. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that our new stable reporting system eliminates bioluminescence variation due to plasmid instability and provides a reliable real-time experimental system to study application of preventive measures for Salmonella on food products in real-time for both short and long term studies.

Since the implementation of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), the need for on-farm food safety risk assessment and management has greatly increased. In order to provide accurate risk assessments, attention should be focused on better characterization of the Salmonella isolation and identification techniques. In this work, we compared the isolation ability of 4 Salmonella-specific protocols: immunomagnetic separation (DB), tetrathionate (TT) broth, Rappaport-Vassiliadis R10 (RV) broth, and a secondary enrichment (TR) procedure as well as 2 selective solid media (brilliant green agar, BG; and xylose-lysine tergitol 4, XLT4). All 4 methods were compared in litter and drag swab samples that were collected weekly during the broiler grow out period in 7 houses. There were 65/126 (51.6%) pooled litter samples positive and 115/304 (37.8%) drag swab samples positive for Salmonella by at least one method. Of the 65 positive litter samples, DB, RV, and TT isolated 1 (2.7%), 31 (47.7%), and 23 (35.4%) of the samples as positive when using BG agar, respectively. The TR protocol identified 83.1% (54/65) of the positive samples as positive when using BG agar. In the drag swab samples, DB did not identify any samples as positive, whereas TT and RV found 28 (25.7%) and 26 (23.9%) of the 109 samples to be positive when using BG agar, respectively. Again, the TR protocol identified the highest percentage of positive samples (94.5%). An analysis of agreement, kappa, revealed that TT and RV did not always agree on which samples were positive, although the number of samples identified as positive by both were not different. A comparison between the 2 agar plates used, BG and XLT4, showed that they had high agreement when the secondary enrichment protocol was used, but agreement was only moderate to low when the other 3 methods were used.