Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen that causes high morbidity and mortality in cystic fibrosis (CF) and immunocompromised patients, including patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), severely burned patients, and patients with surgical wounds. Due to the intrinsic and extrinsic antibiotic resistance mechanisms, the ability to produce several cell-associated and extracellular virulence factors, and the capacity to adapt to several environmental conditions, eradicating P. aeruginosa within infected patients is difficult. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the six multi-drug-resistant pathogens (ESKAPE) considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an entire group for which the development of novel antibiotics is urgently needed. In the United States (US) and within the last several years, P. aeruginosa caused 27% of deaths and approximately USD 767 million annually in health-care costs. Several P. aeruginosa therapies, including new antimicrobial agents, derivatives of existing antibiotics, novel antimicrobial agents such as bacteriophages and their chelators, potential vaccines targeting specific virulence factors, and immunotherapies have been developed. Within the last 2–3 decades, the efficacy of these different treatments was tested in clinical and preclinical trials. Despite these trials, no P. aeruginosa treatment is currently approved or available. In this review, we examined several of these clinicals, specifically those designed to combat P. aeruginosa infections in CF patients, patients with P. aeruginosa VAP, and P. aeruginosa–infected burn patients.

Emerging evidence suggests that the gut microbiome plays an important role in the pathophysiology of both obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. We previously reported that dietary annatto-extracted tocotrienol exerts beneficial effects by modulating inflammatory responses in mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD). The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that tocotrienol supplementation when combined with an HFD would result in an altered gut microbiota composition. For 14 weeks, forty-eight male C57BL/6J mice were assigned to 4 groups-low-fat diet, HFD, HFD supplemented with annatto-extracted tocotrienol at 800 mg/kg diet (AT), and HFD supplemented with metformin at 200 mg/kg diet. Glucose homeostasis was assessed by glucose and insulin tolerance tests, serum and pancreas insulin levels, and histological assessments of insulin and glucagon in pancreatic tissue. The concentrations of adipokines were measured in white adipose tissues. For the gut microbiome analysis, cecal content was collected, DNA was extracted, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed. AT supplementation improved glucose homeostasis and lowered resistin, leptin, and interleukin-6 levels in white adipose tissue. Relative to the HFD group, AT-supplemented mice showed a decrease in the Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio and had a lower abundance of Ruminococcus lactaris, Dorea longicatena, and Lachnospiraceae family. The relative abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila was increased in the AT group compared to the low-fat diet group. The association between the metabolic improvements and the identified bacterial taxa suggests a potential metabolic modulation caused by AT supplementation through the gut microbiota composition in mice fed an HFD.

Fermented dairy products represent an excellent source for a wide range of probiotics with several health benefits that add to the positive value of conventional milk. Acidophilus milk is a regular milk enriched with Lactobacillus acidophilus, one of the beneficial bacterial species found in the colon, that renders the product to exhibit an immunostimulant, anti-hypercholesterolemic, anti-inflammatory, or chemopreventive effect especially against colon cancer; in addition, for lactose intolerance treatment. However, most of bacterial species are very demanding and require specific nutritional and environmental conditions to survive. Probiotics suggested levels in fermented milk range from 10⁶-10⁹ colony-forming units per milliliter (CFU/mL). The supplementation or fortification of acidophilus milk with different additives can improve not only the probiotics viability, nutritional value, and sensory properties but also its health benefits; this presents a strategy to improve its overall quality that has yet to be fully exploited by the dairy industry. Nowadays, several acidophilus milk products are flavored or sweetened with no detailed report on accompanied physical or chemical changes, which would ultimately affect consumer’s preference and consumption. The main goal of this review is to present an up to date overview of the different fortified acidophilus milk products in context of different probiotic species, additives, and flavor-promoting compounds generated during the fermentation process. Analysis of extrinsic factors (sensory profile) and intrinsic factors (physicochemical characteristics and flavors) can predict the consumers’ impression for new products and contribute to establishing a reference standard for the dairy industry towards the development of novel functional foods. Moreover, introduction to advanced analytical technologies exemplified in metabolomics technology is presented to determine acidophilus milk metabolites profile and distinguish different potential markers to be applied in the future in industrial section to improve the safety, quality, and authenticity of other fermented dairy products.