Fingerprints have led to many a criminal’s downfall. Tips of our digits leave evidence for a very long time helping detectives link the perp to the crime. Alas, gloves are now de rigeur for all but the clumsiest. Now forensic scientists may have a new tool for their investigations: microbes. As explored in IPA’s “Cloudy […]
Clinical Corner
Probiotics May Thwart Mental Changes in HIV
Infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) brings numerous harms, not least a dysbiosis leading to: microbial translocation chronic immune activation changes in tryptophan metabolism These toxic effects are felt by the central nervous system (CNS) and are poorly understood. Concerning tryptophan–an essential (not made by the body) amino acid provided by diet– an enzyme indolamine-2,3-dioxygenase […]
Probiotics: A Look at Dose and Response
As of 2001, probiotics have been defined by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) as “live micro-organisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.” The health benefit of probiotics has seen its reach extend beyond the gut and across organs and metabolic systems. Still, little is known about what is […]
Bacteriocins: Time To Harness The Power?
In a 2016 article Bacteriocin production: a relatively unharnessed probiotic trait? a group of researchers in Cork, Ireland led by James W. Hegarty, are making a case for bacteriocins. What are bacteriocins? Peptides produced by bacteria that can act against other similar bacteria; the producers remain immune. High in diversity: size, structure, mechanisms of action. Receptors […]
Pancreatic Cancer: Possible Role for Probiotics
Pancreatic cancer is a killer. In spite of advances in garnering its mechanism, the same cannot be said for treating this most fatal of cancers. Researchers are looking to the microbiome. Changes in diet, infection or lifestyle may disturb the normal symbiotic karma between host and the microbiota leading to cancer in the pancreas. As […]
In Old Age, Our Altered Microbiomes Can Lead to Disease
The aging microbiome bumps into challenges its younger self may not have: chronic diseases, exposure to group living, multiple medications and changes in dentition and swallowing that disrupt diet. Yale Medical School Professor Vincent Quagliarello, MD discussed the vagaries of the microbiome in older adults recently at the Harvard Probiotics Symposium. There are “a myriad […]