Autism Spectrum Disorder, Immune System and Related Disorders, Microbial Colonization, Nature, Human, Visual Impairment, Well-Being, Psychological
Conditions
Keywords
Biodiversity, Well-being, Planetary health, Commensal microbiome, Immune system
Brief summary
Biodiversity is essential for nature and human well-being. Land use has reduced biodiversity in cities, which weakens the functionality of the urban ecosystems and the well-being of citizens. This may also increase the risk of immune-mediated disorders among urban dwellers. In Biodiversity interventions for assisted living centers (BIWE 2), microbial biodiversity interventions are performed to increase biodiversity in urban housing units for people with autism spectrum disorder, disabled people and elderly. Results from the intervention trials are combined with publicly available land cover and ecological data. These are analyzed from the viewpoint of shifts in ecosystems and human well-being and immune regulation, ecological quality, and urban planning. The investigators set up an intervention study in which yards of the housing units are rewilded with diverse vegetation and decaying deadwood and plant residuals. The investigators aim to evaluate the effect of rewilding, and yard management practices on commensal microbiome, cortisol levels and well-being and salivary cytokine levels, and gene pathways.
Detailed description
Our specific aims are: To assess if rewilding diversifies health-associated skin microbiota and is associated with salivary cytokine levels, gene pathways, cortisol levels and commensal microbiota. Assess whether there are patterns in the microbiome associated with the salivary cytokine levels and hair cortisol levels. Assess whether rewilding affects health and psychological measures. The investigators will recruit approximately 36 study subjects living in assisted housing units in urban areas and aged between 18-82.
Interventions
OTHERRewilding
Yards of the assisted living centers will be modified with berry bushes, fruit trees, perennial yard plants, meadow flowers, cultivation boxes, organic mulch materials, decaying deadwood, leaf compost and organic plant growing media with high microbial diversity.
Sponsors
Tampere University
Natural Resources Institute Finland
Study design
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 82 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Person lives in assisted living center
Exclusion criteria
* Immunosuppressive medications * Immune deficiencies * a disease affecting immune response (colitis ulcerosa, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, diabetes) * cancer diagnosis within the last year or on-going cancer treatment
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Skin Gammaproteobacteria | Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year | Change in skin gammaproteobacterial diversity |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Salivary cytokines | Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year | Interleukin-6 and -10 measured from saliva |
| Skin bacteria | Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year | Changes in skin bacteria are analyzed with Illumina 16s rRNA sequencing. |
| Saliva microbiota | Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year | Changes in saliva microbiota are analyzed with shotgun sequencing. |
| Saliva gene pathways | Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year | Changes in salivary gene pathways are analyzed with shotgun sequencing. |
| Cortisol levels | Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year | Cortisol levels measured from hair samples |
| Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale | Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year | Increase in Warwick-Edinburhg Mental Wellbeing scale score during the study period that indicates better mental well-being. Minimum 14, maximum 70. |
| Depression Scale | Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year | Decrease in depression scale score during the study period that indicates lower levels of depression symptoms. Minimum 0, maximum 70. |
| Nature Relatedness Scale | Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year | Increase in Nature Relatedness scale during the study period that indicates stronger sense of connectedness to nature. Minimum 6, maximum 30. |
| Changes in nature contacts | Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year | Increase in time that study subjects are in contact with nature during the study period. |
| Infectious diseases | Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year | Infectious diseases are recorded with questionnaires. |
| Perceived Stress Scale | Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year | Decrease in perceived stress scale score during the study period that indicates lower perceived stress levels. Minimum 0, maximum 40. |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Associations between environmental factors and primary and secondary outcomes | Baseline, 3 month, 1 year, 2 year, 3 year, 4 year, 5 year | associations between environmental factors (vegetation, deadwood, and polypore richness, land cover categories and other yard characteristics), yard management practices, activities at the yard, salivary cytokine and hair cortisol levels, prevalence of infectious diseases, psychological parameters, and microbial measurements (diversity, and taxonomic and functional features). |
Countries
Finland
Outcome results
None listed