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The developing premature infant gut microbiome is a major factor shaping the microbiome of neonatal intensive care unit rooms

Overview of attention for article published in Microbiome, June 2018
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (89th percentile)
  • Average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source

Mentioned by

blogs
1 blog
twitter
25 X users
peer_reviews
1 peer review site

Citations

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65 Dimensions

Readers on

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148 Mendeley
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Title
The developing premature infant gut microbiome is a major factor shaping the microbiome of neonatal intensive care unit rooms
Published in
Microbiome, June 2018
DOI 10.1186/s40168-018-0493-5
Pubmed ID
Authors

Brandon Brooks, Matthew R. Olm, Brian A. Firek, Robyn Baker, David Geller-McGrath, Sophia R. Reimer, Karina R. Soenjoyo, Jennifer S. Yip, Dylan Dahan, Brian C. Thomas, Michael J. Morowitz, Jillian F. Banfield

Abstract

The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) contains a unique cohort of patients with underdeveloped immune systems and nascent microbiome communities. Patients often spend several months in the same room, and it has been previously shown that the gut microbiomes of these infants often resemble the microbes found in the NICU. Little is known, however, about the identity, persistence, and absolute abundance of NICU room-associated bacteria over long stretches of time. Here, we couple droplet digital PCR (ddPCR), 16S rRNA gene surveys, and recently published metagenomics data from infant gut samples to infer the extent to which the NICU microbiome is shaped by its room occupants. Over 2832 swabs, wipes, and air samples were collected from 16 private-style NICU rooms housing very low birth weight (< 1500 g), premature (< 31 weeks' gestation) infants. For each infant, room samples were collected daily, Monday through Friday, for 1 month. The first samples from the first infant and the last samples from the last infant were collected 383 days apart. Twenty-two NICU locations spanning room surfaces, hands, electronics, sink basins, and air were collected. Results point to an incredibly simple room community where 5-10 taxa, mostly skin-associated, account for over 50% of the amplicon reads. Biomass estimates reveal four to five orders of magnitude difference between the least to the most dense microbial communities, air, and sink basins, respectively. Biomass trends from bioaerosol samples and petri dish dust collectors suggest occupancy to be a main driver of suspended biological particles within the NICU. Using a machine learning algorithm to classify the origin of room samples, we show that each room has a unique microbial fingerprint. Several important taxa driving this model were dominant gut colonizers of infants housed within each room. Despite regular cleaning of hospital surfaces, bacterial biomass was detectable at varying densities. A room-specific microbiome signature was detected, suggesting microbes seeding NICU surfaces are sourced from reservoirs within the room and that these reservoirs contain actively dividing cells. Collectively, the data suggests that hospitalized infants, in combination with their caregivers, shape the microbiome of NICU rooms.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 25 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 148 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 148 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 28 19%
Researcher 21 14%
Student > Master 17 11%
Student > Bachelor 16 11%
Other 8 5%
Other 20 14%
Unknown 38 26%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 25 17%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 19 13%
Medicine and Dentistry 17 11%
Nursing and Health Professions 12 8%
Immunology and Microbiology 8 5%
Other 20 14%
Unknown 47 32%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 22. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 03 September 2019.
All research outputs
#1,695,217
of 25,529,543 outputs
Outputs from Microbiome
#614
of 1,775 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#34,908
of 341,912 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Microbiome
#28
of 51 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,529,543 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 93rd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,775 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 38.0. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 65% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 341,912 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 89% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 51 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 47th percentile – i.e., 47% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.