Gut Feeling.

              Research conducted by UCLA scientist has revealed that diet affects the microbes in human guts which in turn affects how humans feel emotionally. There was little evidence at first to prove the hypothesis, “You are what you eat.” This new study consisted of 36 women, a third of them were on a diet with lots of yogurt and probiotics. Another third of them ate a substance that looked like yogurt but did not have probiotics. The other third did not consume any probiotics at all. The women received MRIs before and after the four week trial. The MRI was used to scan their brain function; when they were relaxed and when they were put under emotional stress. The scientists wanted to see if diet affected brain function.

                The data showed that the women who ate the yogurt that contained probiotics had a decrease in function in the insula (which processes the internal bodily sensations) and in the somatosensory cortex. These women also had a decrease in the engagement in the certain parts of the brain: emotion, cognition, and sensory areas. The other women who were in the other two dietary categories showed an increase or were stable in all the same areas.

                It was surprising to the scientists that there was such a range in the data. They expected to see change in the emotional part of the brain but not in the sensory or cognition. This new discovery will lead to more research aimed at finding new strategies to prevent digestive, neurological, and mental illnesses.

                Microbes never cease to amaze me, they do so much in our bodies and we still know very little about them. This research could lead to amazing treatments; imagine someone being cured of Alzheimer’s by simply changing their diet and gut flora. 

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130528180900.htm

Antibiotics have seemed to save our lives against deadly diseases, but are they now ruining our chances to fight off resistant microbes? This article written by Arjun Srinivasan talks about the effects of over usage of antibiotics. Scientists have known that antibiotics would someday stop working because bacteria and other microbes share their DNA and are able to resist antibiotics. Medical researchers want to save lives and reduce the cost of medicinal treatments. It will take many years to develop a new drug or antibiotic that will be one step ahead of the resistant microbes.

For now scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have come to the conclusion that medical personal need to limit their “handing out” of antibiotics. In the past antibiotics were prescribed to almost anyone with any symptoms of an illness. It is now proven that over prescribing antibiotics has contributed to the resistant strains of bacteria and other microorganisms.

                There is need for improvement according to the CDC, “One in three prescriptions written for the drug vancomycin included a potential error, such as prescribing without proper evaluation.” There is not much room for errors because antibiotics have led to a huge increase of antibiotic resistant microbes. The new improvements are called antibiotic stewardship; it will help save lives and preserve antibiotics. These stewardship programs will ensure that patients are accurately diagnosed, are given the correct antibiotic, given the right dosage, and for the correct duration time. This will help to limit the microbes from becoming stronger faster. It should also help with medical costs and waste.

                Microbes work fast and are smart, they have become resistant to every antibiotic drug that is on the market. Even when new drugs arise, it will not take them long to figure out how to avoid destruction. The CDC and the new stewardship programs will help to control the spread of resistant microbes. It will also help people with illnesses recover. 

 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-we-stop-the-end-of-effective-antibiotics/

Trypanosoma brucei gambiense belong to the protozoa they cause the African sleeping sickness. They are usually found in tsetse flies. They infect the human blood and cause headaches, disturbance with the sleep cycle, swelling of the brain. It can eventually lead to death if it is not treated properly.

Scientists have recently been able to track tsetse flies that are carrying the genome trypanosome and watch the protozoa cells mate. Scientists dyed the cells with two different fluorescent colors green and red. They used the dyes to see what the cells were doing, they wrapped their flagella together to bring the cells closer together. In the past it was thought that the cells simply divide in order to reproduce. Now scientists are arguing that they also swap genes while they are reproducing. Swapping genes allows them to make their DNA stronger and create new strains of the disease. Some of these strains can resist certain antibiotics and are harder to treat.

This new research will help scientists understand the Trypanosoma brucei gambiense cells better and will help them to create stronger antibiotics. This research can also help in other areas of medicine because there might be more pathogens that use sex to swap genes. Scientists will be able to treat diseases easier and faster when they know how strong a pathogen will be.

I think this research can be very useful because it is hard to track pathogens. This will allow us to better understand their reproducing methods. We will be able to defeat them easier and keep ourselves healthier. Microbial biology is a relatively new science and it has taken us a few years to discover that we live symbiotically with many microbes. It will take us a few years to fully appreciate this science and what the tiny microorganisms can do for us.   

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140103204500.htm

 

 

New research might make it possible for us to track gene-spliced microbes in the environment. Some scientists are studying microbes and their behaviors; this new research might help them to see how the microbes spread. Gene-spliced microbes are microorganisms that have been altered with other microbes’ genes. For example scientists at Boyce Thompson Institute took the enzyme called luciferase from organisms in the sea and transplanted it into Rhizobium. Rhizobium is bacteria that live in the roots of soybeans. After the scientists grew the soybeans they uprooted them to find little nodules that were emitting a blue-green light. This light is usually spotted in the dark.

                This article presents two controversial issues, the first being the production of gene-spliced microbes and the second is making them glow in the dark. I think that some gene-spliced microorganisms might be beneficial to the environment but it is hard to tell what the consequences of altering their genes will cause in the future. The main reason for altering genes in microbes is to convert harmful microorganisms to ones that will benefit the environment. The reason behind making them glow in the dark is so that way the scientists will be able to track them. I can agree that tracking microbes is a great way to study them and their behaviors.

                This project will take many years to develop because there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. The scientists will also need to get approval by the Environmental Protection Agency and the government. It will be interesting to see where this research will end up in the future.

http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.unm.edu/nytimes/docview/426302891/C0832B215B0F428DPQ/5?accountid=14613

www.dailymail.co.uk 

 

We are always trying to keep our hygiene up to standard this includes showering, fresh breath, and overall cleanliness. We are always trying to rid of bacteria and microbes that live on our skin, because we want to be healthy and clean.  A new study shows that balancing good bacteria with bad bacteria in the mouth can reduce bad breath. Bad breath is very common, usually due to the dryness of the mouth. Microbes hiding on our tongues and under the gum line emit gases that cause rotten breath. We try different methods such as brushing after every meal, using mouthwash, and scraping our tongues and gums.  A new study explains that we should be balancing the good bacteria with the bad bacteria.

There are different microbes on the teeth, gum, and tongues; this study will help us to understand which environments foster which bacteria. We need to be able to determine where the good bacteria live and where the bad resides. This will help us to determine how to balance the gas omitting bacteria with some beneficial bacteria.

This research will aid adults and children with brushing strategies and the mouth will stay healthy longer. Our mouths are the first step in our digestive system, they are important and we need to protect our teeth. As much as we like to protect our teeth we also want to keep our breath smelling fresh.

Most adults care about their hygiene especially their breath, because it is easy to detect when someone has bad breath. Brushing and mints can only calm the problem for a little while. This research will help to eliminate bad breath all together.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/beat-bad-breath-keep-mouth-bacteria-happy/?page=1

Wastewater converted into energy

            Microbes are known to do many things, such as start diseases and support our immune systems. A new study done by Willy Verstraete explains that some microbes are able to turn waste compounds into energy. In our day and age we are seeing how energy is costly and depleting. It would be great if we could implement tiny microbes to turn our waste into efficient usable energy. This process is going to take many years to develop and it will take a lot of research before it is applied. These tiny powerful microbes “break down the organic material in waste streams and produce electrons in the process,” (Biello). It would be great if we could turn our insignificant waste into much needed energy.

            Everything in our daily lives costs us to use energy. We plug our phones, computers, televisions, refrigerator, and etc. into the wall so it can receive energy. We have to buy gas just so we can drive across town. We throw away our trash and waste as we continue our daily lives. It would be great if we could increase our energy sources to match our waste outputs. If tiny microbes could do that job it would be a great opportunity for human life to flourish while waste is being converted into reliable energy. It will take years of research for this project to develop and it will probably have to undergo approval from the government. As for now it sounds like a great way to clean up our Earth, especially our water, while producing usable.

                  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/microbes-convert-wastewat/

http://www.utilities-me.com/article-529-wastewater-byproduct-holds-profit-potential/#.UvuWQfCYaM8

Analyzing Microbes in Hospitals

            Microbes are tiny, most of the time, unicellular organisms, they live everywhere.  They are on every surface imaginable even on and in the human body. Microbial ecology is a recent science; researchers are trying to figure out everything they can about the dynamic sing celled organisms. The article titled “Cleansing the Clinic” is written about the Hospital Microbiome Project. The team included in this article is headed by Jack Gilbert. Their goal is to take data samples of a newly built hospital, nurses, staff, patients, and commonly touched areas, in order to gain more knowledge about microbes, and their paths. The scientists hope to learn more about how to keep dangerous microbes out of hospitals and how to keep the rooms cleaner. This article appeals to audiences using credibility and reason.

            This article was written by Beth Marie Cole, she has taken the time to interview and conduct research about microbes and the hospital microbiome project. Jack Gilbert is a highly credible researcher from the University of Chicago. He has dedicated his whole life to microbial ecology and would like to improve the health of hospitals to ultimately improve the human health. Jack and his team have developed a hypothesis that states, “That bugs from long-term patients will become acclimated to their rooms, whereas rooms with shorter-term patients will be more susceptible to shifting populations,” (Cole). They have decided to take samples daily of all participating patients, staff, and commonly touched areas of the hospital. They would like to determine the pathways of microbes and how they affect the environment of the hospitals. They do know that microbes are brought in by all patients and staff, and each person can carry microbes out of the hospital as well. Their ultimate goal is to, “inform the design of methods to promote healthy microbial communities that elbow out pathogens—a kind of probiotic supplement for your hospital room,” (Cole). This study could help humans protect themselves against microbes.

            Most people in hospitals care about their health and the health of others around them. People check into hospitals to get better and sometimes are concerned with catching a worse disease. Nurses and staff are also concerned with patients’ health and their own. If the hospital microbiome project could reveal helpful data to keep hospitals cleaner and patients health, people would have a sense of relief. New cleaning methods could arise from the data and could help to sanitize the area and keep patients healthy.

            Jack Gilbert and his team have a developed a hypothesis that could potentially be successful in providing new theories about microbes and human health. Cole wrote a successful article about how Gilbert’s hard work will benefit human life. This article appeals to readers using reason and credibility. This study will provide some answers and might raise some questions, but ultimately will improve health all around the world.

 

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/33730/title/Cleansing-the-Clinic/