Writing Exercise #15

If I were able to decide which projects received funding I would be most excited about funding projects related to early microbial exposure, the immune systems role, and how that relates to allergies, asthma, and other diseases. I may be bias because this was what my journal club presentation was on, but I think it’s fascinating how the immune system works with our natural microbiome to ensure we don’t react to it. There has been significant research on the role of regulatory T cells in developing tolerance to the gut microbiome just like we develop tolerance to food, but I think it would be fascinating to know more about the respiratory microbiome and how we develop tolerance to those microbes. I think it might reveal a lot about asthma and infectious diseases. The respiratory tract is the most common site of infection and learning about our natural microbiome could potentially play a role in decreasing infectious disease. Just like probiotics aide the gut, they might also aide the respiratory tract. This would be significant in the world of health care because of the massive prevalence of respiratory infections.

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Writing Exercise #14

Many non-infectious diseases can be influenced by micro-organisms. This includes most intestinal and diseases of the gut such as Chron’s disease due to the massive influence of the gut-microbiome on the body. Allergies and asthmas may also be influenced by certain commensal microbes on any border site, but specifically the gut and skin. In addition, there is an association between the human microbiome and mental health diseases such as depression and anxiety.

Looking back at Writing Exercise #1 the main difference that I notice between then and now is that I had chosen very specific diseases that I thought might have a correlation. I have learned that there is a vast majority of non-infectious diseases associated with microorganisms, including mental illness. One of the biggest take-aways I have from this class is how important it is to take care of our gut-microbiome. Between the gut-brain axis and microbes’ role in allergies and disorders of the gut, it plays a massive role in our health.

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Writing Exercise #13

  1. Can experiments detect differences that matter?

This is important in interpreting scientific literature because data must be scientifically significant to indicate a relationship between two things. If the difference from the control is tiny, that does not reveal anything to us.

2. Does the study show causation or correlation?

This is especially important in interpreting scientific literature because it is very easy to find a correlation between things if you are looking for it. There may be a correlation between people that like ice cream and people that like coffee, but liking ice cream doesn’t cause someone to like coffee. Causation shows that there is a direct link between two factors.

3. What is the mechanism?

It is important to know the mechanism of how related things work because it often reveals to us that there are many more factors playing a role than just the ones you are looking at and it often opens the door for more research. It isn’t enough to know there is a correlation between two things, we want to know how one influences the other.

4. How much do experiments reflect reality?

Proper experimentation is what gives scientific work validity. If an experiment proves something but can’t be reflected in real life it means nothing to us. We need an experiment to be as close to reality as possible so that when it is applied to humans from mice for example, we know the relationship they are trying to prove is accurate.

5. Could anything else explain the results?

Confounding factors exist in nearly everything we study. It is very rare to find a relationship between two factors that is not influenced by something else. What you are studying may be the primary reason, but it is likely influenced by something else as well. For example, weight loss is not only influenced by the amount of calories you eat. Genetics, sleep, and many other things influence it as well, so it is vital in scientific research to look at what else might be causing results. This is why controls are so important so you make sure you are looking at the factor of interest specifically.

I would argue that the most important in discussing controversy is “What is the mechanism?” This may not be the most obvious first choice but I think knowing the mechanism of how something works displays the most knowledge about that topic. If you know the mechanism, you can see where confounding factors might exist, you can determine correlation vs causation, and you can argue ways that changing this factor would influence the outcome. I think knowing the mechanism answers almost all of the other questions. It is the hardest thing to determine and therefore requires the most evidence to support it which is essential when discussing controversies.

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Writing Exercise #12

Microbial communities in the body can influence the brain in a lot of ways. The gut-brain axis refers to the communication between the gut and the brain and since microbes play a large role in the gut they have an impact on this communication. Certain microbes may induce the release of specific neurotransmitters that impact mood or cognition which influences mental health states. If microbes impact receptors in the gut in any way it can influence the brain which can alter mental health states. In the reverse concept, the brain and mental health can also influence microbial communities in the gut. Some mental illnesses greatly increase or decrease certain hormones and neurotransmitters which can impact the gut. There is also something to be said about the physical symptoms that certain mental health states induce. For example, someone with anxiety may experience a lot of nausea which can impact the gut microbiome. To go one step further, some of the medications provided for mental illnesses may also influence the gut microbiome. Overall, the brain and the gut have a strong two-way connection.

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Writing Exercise #11

Reading and critiquing someone else’s paper was a very reflective experience for me. I learned that as writers we have certain tendencies and patterns that are sometimes good and sometimes aren’t. I also learned that there is a very specific range for the amount of detail necessary when describing research as evidence for your argument. Some people explain every step and figure researchers used while others just summarized their findings without providing any proof. It is important to find that happy medium. Something else I will apply to my own writing as I revise is paragraph organization. As the writer you are an expert so it is easy to understand how everything you are saying relates to your thesis, but the reader doesn’t have the same insight. It is sometimes necessary to explicitly write out how the evidence you just provided shows why your opinion is correct. Overall, I think the experience will help me revise my own writing with a different perspective.

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Writing Exercise #10

Peer Review refers to the process of scientific articles being assessed by other professionals in the same field of study. Peer-reviewed journals require this process for articles to be published. This is to establish the credibility of the article. Authors can have significant bias without meaning to, so have a second perspective peer review the research is essential. There are still cons to peer review. It is hard to be unbiased and professionals in the same field may have a vested interest in specific results. Whether they realize it or not, they may use confirmation bias to “prove” the credibility of research even if it isn’t their own. Although this is a concern, it is still very important for articles to be intensely critiqued before being published because the general public likely trusts anything an article posted in a scientific journal says.

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Writing Exercise #9

There are many different ways changes in human behavior can limit microbial exposure. Starting at birth, C-sections limit the microbial exposure provided by the vaginal canal. As we grow up and into adult life, spending very little time outdoors, a limiting diet, and not spending time around people could all limit our microbial exposure. An example of this would be someone who is homeschooled. So many pathogens thrive in classrooms which we jokingly refer to as “petri dishes” but they are important in the development of the immune system. There is a fine line between developing immunity and too much microbe exposure, but it is important, especially in early life, to develop tolerance and immune memory.

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Writing Exercise #8

One of the most surprising things I’ve learned about so far is how microbes can be indicators of so many diseases even if they aren’t the cause of them or necessarily infectious. This has to do with the fact that microbes thrive in very niche environments and sometimes diseases can induce specific factors to allow those microbes to grow. What I would like to learn more about is if there have been any proven microbes that aren’t a cause of a disease but nearly always are present in higher or lower densities due to the disease. We’ve discussed several articles that hint at this type of relationship, but there hasn’t been any yet that absolutely confirm the presence of certain microbes as indicators. This could be such an important concept in the field of medicine, in terms of testing early for diseases or simply cheaper testing. I especially wonder if certain microbes could be used to catch some types of cancer early. I’m not sure what the mechanism would be for having greater proliferation have a positive or negative effect on a microbe, but it would be an interesting concept to pursue.

Cancer as a disease has to do with the excessive proliferation of cells without regulation. What I want to know more about is how that might induce an environment where microbes can thrive or in other scenarios may decrease the prevalence of certain microbes. It seems like it would be more likely that tumors inhibit microbial communities from thriving, but I could also see how certain secretions or cancerous indicators may be beneficial for certain microbes. For example, in gastric tumors, the gut microbial community could be changed. I also think it microbe indicators could be effective in anticipation of the development of certain cancers rather than a later indicator. I also think some specific cancers would be better identified due to where they exist. For example, dental and intestinal cancers might be easier to study because they have a closer correlation with microbial communities, but others might have indirect associations as well. Overall, I would like to learn more about the connection between microbial communities and cancer.

Reflection: Based on these free writes I can see I am definitely interested in the idea of how microbes can be indicators of disease. I am not totally sold on doing my final paper essay on cancer and microbes, but it could be a good start. I am looking forward to learning more about all of the above topics even if I don’t write my essay on any of them. To begin preparing for my final paper I will probably start looking for scientific articles that have definitive research about microbes as indicators, but especially heavily studied topics. I will also start to look into what kind of disease I may like to write about, because a lot of projects like this require a fair amount of background research, so I would like to do it on a disease that interests me.

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Writing Exercise #7

Much of a newborn child’s microbial community has to do with their mother. When a child is in the womb it receives nutrients from it’s mother but also gets certain antibodies and microbes as well. When the child is born it gets similar things from breastfeeding so whatever the mother is consuming also has an effect on the child. Some factors the mother could be exposed to that affect the newborn’s microbial community include alcohol, smoking, or perhaps things that have a positive effect like probiotics. The newborn could also be exposed to certain factors if the mother uses a bottle that leaks chemicals into breast milk or in certain temperatures, microbial communities could grow. Something else interesting to think about in terms of breast feeding is how clean the mother is. If a child is breast feeding and ingests harmful bacteria, that could affect it’s microbial communities. Overall, there are a lot of factors that can influence a newborn’s microbial communities and much of that has to do with its mother.

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Writing Exercise #6

My personal philosophy about how and when antibiotics should be taken is fairly simple… when proven necessary. My family has always taken medication usage very seriously. We’ve always been specifically careful about using pain medication, but antibiotics as well. My mom is prone to UTIs, but always makes sure to go and get a urinalysis before taking prescribed antibiotics. In my personal experience I have only had to use antibiotics once for pink eye, but I went to a doctor and made sure it was bacterial rather than viral and I did the full course of antibiotics before stopping. I have learned about that dangers of not completing antibiotic treatments in other classes as well as from my parents. I don’t think antibiotics are the end all be all of treatments, but I do think in specific scenarios they are vital to prevent further disease such as kidney infection in the case of UTIs

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