These findings suggest that exercise training induces compositional and functional changes in the human gut microbiota that are dependent on obesity status, independent of diet and contingent on the sustainment of exercise.

Allen J. and Cochrane A. (2007) Beyond the territorial fix: regional assemblages, politics and power, Regional Studies 41, 1161-1175. The idea of regions as territorially fixed in some vital political sense is a stubborn conception, one that is both mobilized to pursue selective interests and to establish regional identities. To assert that regions are political constructs, however, is not to say that such bounded, territorial entities enclose all the political relations that produce them. This paper puts forward a relational view of the region based upon an assemblage of political actors, some public, some private, where elements of central and local government are 'lodged' within the region, not acting above or below it. Using examples drawn from governing agencies across and beyond the south-east of England, it is shown how a more diffuse form of governance has given rise to a spatially discontinuous region. This is grounded in an exposition of the political assemblage that is Milton Keynes today, with its provisional, cross-cutting mix of institutional agencies, partnerships, businesses and interest groupings engaged in a 'politics of scale' exercise to fix the region. Allen J. et Cochrane A. (2007) Au-dela de la delimitation territoriale fixe: les regroupements regionaux, la politique et le pouvoir, Regional Studies 41, 1161-1175. D'un important point de vue politique, l'idee que la region constitue une zone bien delimitee fixe est une notion obstinee, dont on se sert afin de poursuivre des interets particuliers et d'etablir des identites regionales. Cependant, affirmer que la region est une structure politique ne veut pas dire que de telles delimitations territoriales embrassent tous les rapports politiques qui les creent. Cet article cherche a avancer un point de vue relationnel de la region fonde sur un regroupement d'agents regionaux politiques, les uns publics, les autres prives, ou des elements des administrations centrale et locale se sont 'loges' au sein de la region et n'agissent ni au niveau superieur, ni au niveau inferieur. A partir des exemples puises dans des agences publiques a travers et au-dela du Sud-est de l'Angleterre, on montre comment une forme de gouvernance plus diffuse a donne naissance a une region geographiquement discontinue. Cela est fonde sur une presentation d'un regroupement d'aujourd'hui, a savoir Milton Keynes, etant donne son melange provisoire d'agences institutionnelles, de partenariats, de commerces et de groupes d'interet qui se chevauchent et qui s'engagent dans une action de 'politique a l'echelle' afin de bien delimiter la region. Region;Regroupements;Pouvoir;Politique;Gouvernance;Reseaux Allen J. und Cochrane A. (2007) Jenseits der territorialen Festlegung: regionale Versammlungen, Politik und Macht, Regional Studies 41, 1161-1175. Die Idee der Regionen als in einem wesentlichen politischen Sinn territorial festgelegt ist eine hartnackige Vorstellung, die sowohl zur Durchsetzung selektiver Interessen als auch zur Festlegung regionaler Identitaten mobilisiert wird. D...

The gastrointestinal tract contains trillions of microbes (collectively known as the gut microbiota) that play essential roles in host physiology and health. Studies from our group and others have demonstrated that exercise independently alters the composition and functional capacity of the gut microbiota. Here, we review what is known about the gut microbiota, how it is studied, and how it is influenced by exercise training and discuss the potential mechanisms and implications for human health and disease.

We have previously shown that voluntary wheel running (VWR) attenuates, whereas forced treadmill running (FTR) exacerbates, intestinal inflammation and clinical outcomes in a mouse model of colitis. As the gut microbiome is implicated in colitis, we hypothesized that VWR and FTR would differentially affect the gut microbiome. Mice (9-10/treatment) were randomly assigned to VWR, FTR, or sedentary home cage control (SED) for 6 wk. VWR were given running wheel access, whereas FTR ran on a treadmill for 40 min/day at 8-12 m/min, 5% grade. Forty-eight hours after the last exercise session, DNA was isolated from the fecal pellets and cecal contents, and the conserved bacterial 16S rRNA gene was amplified and sequenced using the Illumina Miseq platform. Permutational multivariate analysis of variance based on weighted UniFrac distance matrix revealed different bacterial clusters between feces and cecal contents in all groups (P < 0.01). Interestingly, the community structures of the three treatment groups clustered separately from each other in both gut regions (P < 0.05). Contrary to our hypothesis, the α-diversity metric, Chao1, indicated that VWR led to reduced bacterial richness compared with FTR or SED (P < 0.05). Taxonomic evaluation revealed that both VWR and FTR altered many individual bacterial taxa. Of particular interest, Turicibacter spp., which has been strongly associated with immune function and bowel disease, was significantly lower in VWR vs. SED/FTR. These data indicate that VWR and FTR differentially alter the intestinal microbiome of mice. These effects were observed in both the feces and cecum despite vastly different community structures between each intestinal region.

Biosecurity, as a response to threats from zoonotic, food‐borne and emerging infectious diseases, implies and is often understood in terms of a spatial segregation of forms of life, a struggle to separate healthy life from diseased bodies. While an ensuing will to closure in the name of biosecurity is evident at various sites, things are, in practice and in theory, more intricate than this model would suggest. There are transactions and transformations that defy easily segmented spaces. Using multi‐species ethnographic work across a range of sites, from wildlife reserves to farms and food processing plants, we argue for a shift of focus in biosecurity away from defined borderlines towards that of borderlands. The latter involves the detachment of borders from geographic territory and highlights the continuous topological interplay and resulting tensions involved in making life live. We use this spatial imagination to call for a different kind of biopolitics and for a shift in what counts as a biosecurity emergency. As a means to re‐frame the questions concerning biosecurity, we argue for a change of discourse and practice away from disease ‘breach points’ towards the ‘tipping points’ that can arise in the intense foldings that characterise pathological lives.