A comprehensive knowledge of the types and ratios of microbes that inhabit the healthy human gut is necessary before any kind of pre-clinical or clinical study can be performed that attempts to alter the microbiome to treat a condition or improve therapy outcome. To address this need we present an innovative scalable comprehensive analysis workflow, a healthy human reference microbiome list and abundance profile (GutFeelingKB), and a novel Fecal Biome Population Report (FecalBiome) with clinical applicability. GutFeelingKB provides a list of 157 organisms (8 phyla, 18 classes, 23 orders, 38 families, 59 genera and 109 species) that forms the baseline biome and therefore can be used as healthy controls for studies related to dysbiosis. This list can be expanded to 863 organisms if closely related proteomes are considered. The incorporation of microbiome science into routine clinical practice necessitates a standard report for comparison of an individual’s microbiome to the growing knowledgebase of “normal” microbiome data. The FecalBiome and the underlying technology of GutFeelingKB address this need. The knowledgebase can be useful to regulatory agencies for the assessment of fecal transplant and other microbiome products, as it contains a list of organisms from healthy individuals. In addition to the list of organisms and their abundances, this study also generated a collection of assembled contiguous sequences (contigs) of metagenomics dark matter. In this study, metagenomic dark matter represents sequences that cannot be mapped to any known sequence but can be assembled into contigs of 10,000 nucleotides or higher. These sequences can be used to create primers to study potential novel organisms. All data is freely available from https://hive.biochemistry.gwu.edu/gfkb and NCBI’s Short Read Archive.

A comprehensive knowledge of the types and ratios of microbes that inhabit the healthy human gut is necessary before any kind of pre-clinical or clinical study can be performed that attempts to alter the microbiome to treat a condition or improve therapy outcome. To address this need we present an innovative scalable comprehensive analysis workflow, a healthy human reference microbiome list and abundance profile (GutFeelingKB), and a novel Fecal Biome Population Report (FecalBiome) with clinical applicability. GutFeelingKB provides a list of 157 organisms (8 phyla, 18 classes, 23 orders, 38 families, 59 genera and 109 species) that forms the baseline biome and therefore can be used as healthy controls for studies related to dysbiosis. The incorporation of microbiome science into routine clinical practice necessitates a standard report for comparison of an individual’s microbiome to the growing knowledgebase of “normal” microbiome data. The FecalBiome and the underlying technology of GutFeelingKB address this need. The knowledgebase can be useful to regulatory agencies for the assessment of fecal transplant and other microbiome products, as it contains a list of organisms from healthy individuals. In addition to the list of organisms and abundances the study also generated a list of contigs of metagenomics dark matter. In this study, metagenomic dark matter represents sequences that cannot be mapped to any known sequence but can be assembled into contigs of 10,000 nucleotides or higher. These sequences can be used to create primers to study potential novel organisms. All data is freely available from https://hive.biochemistry.gwu.edu/gfkb and NCBI’s Short Read Archive.

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> We analyzed randomized clinical trials (RCTs) evaluating the efficacy of combined therapy with low-level light therapy (LLLT) and topical minoxidil for treatment of androgenetic alopecia (AGA). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A literature search within PubMed identified RCTs evaluating hair regrowth following LLLT and minoxidil. Selection criteria were 600–1,100 nm wavelengths, treatment time ≥16 weeks, and objective evaluation for hair regrowth. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Five RCTs compared LLLT with minoxidil (2% or 5%) to 5% minoxidil treatment or LLLT treatment. One study showed combination therapy of LLLT, and 5% minoxidil improved hair density more than monotherapy. Another found combination LLLT with 2% minoxidil induced hair regrowth equivalent to 5% minoxidil. Similarly, another study described LLLT with 5% minoxidil versus minoxidil monotherapy to increase the number of hairs with no statistical difference between groups. One trial found that combination group increased hair regrowth in the first 2 months. The last study found a statistically significant increase in hair density with combined therapy compared to monotherapy. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> The studies describe either superiority or equivalence of combination therapy to minoxidil monotherapy for AGA. Early outcomes appear to support the superiority of combination therapy, but this advantage wanes at the end of the study periods.