BHS323

Alzheimer’s Association – Help fight alzheimer’s

This foundation spends lots of time, energy, and money to fight Alzheimers and bring awareness to a disease that can’t be seen, it is only felt. But felt it sure is, felt around the world by so many people who watch in agony as their loved ones deteriorate slowly.

Researchers have already done a lot of work uncovering what causes memory loss. More funding will encourage further research. The trick will be to connect the research with what we know about as scientists of microbiology – about how microbiota and gut behavior play such a role and are such an affect throughout the entire body.

Part 1: Set a timer for 3 minutes, and make a list of as many human non-infectious diseases that you can think of that are influenced by microorganisms.

Crohn’s disease, Polio, Congestive health failure, gangrene, GERD, heartburn, pancreatitis, irritable bowel syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, stomach ulcers, diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer’s, sundowners effect, gum disease, periodontal disease.

Part 2: Refer back to your Writing Exercise #1 that you completed the first week of class. Reflect and discuss how your responses have changed from week 1 to week 10, and what the most important topics you will take away with you once you have completed the course.

WOW.

I remember what I wrote in week 1 and this doesn’t even compare. I still may have gotten a few weird answers in there but I just thought through the entire digestive tract and picked up so many diseases that we get, that are affected by bacteria or viral infection and are not infectious. This was eye-opening. I have learned so much in this class from our readings and from our discussions.

In W. P. Hanage’s article, he discusses the importance of five key questions when interpreting scientific literature:

• Can experiments detect differences that matter?
• Does the study show causation or correlation?
• What is the mechanism?
• How much do experiments reflect reality?
• Could anything else explain the results?

Explain the significance that each of these questions have on interpreting scientific literature. Which is most helpful when discussing controversy, and why?

That’s why you experiment, no? The whole point of doing experiments is to separate by different factors so you can see different outcomes. Sometimes data is insignificant. I guess it depends on the experiment.

Causation is when one thing causes the other thing and correlation is when two things occur at the same time but not necessarily if they cause the other the occur or vice versa. If you’re performing a study, you’re trying to see how and what the outcomes are about. So it’s important to know the causation before the correlation would even matter or be significant.

Understanding the mechanism will provide answers about how to manipulate the process any any given step in the middle. The mechanism helps us to understand the method of how things comes about. It is how we learned cures for many diseases because the mechanism is where we’ve been able to insert changes or alterations in order to prevent further action.

Scientists go above and beyond to make their research emulate reality so that the results will actually be applicable to their real life subjects.

There will always be outliers. There will always be things we can’t explain. This is the anonymity and magic of science. It is incredibly complex, often beyond our comprehension.

Describe how microbial communities in the body could influence brain and mental health states. Then, describe how brain and mental health states could influence microbial communities in the body. In what ways might these promote health and/or disease?

Gut health is connected to diarrhea, vomiting, and constipation. All of these symptoms are uncomfortable and undesirable. Being sick has a negative impact on mental health – it can be embarrassing and make you feel like disconnecting from other people. That is more of a social factor but I do believe that the precursor emotional components stem off of the physical discomfort that accompanies being sick with gastrointestinal issues.

It was weird going through someone else’s paper. They both obviously put lots of time into making it accurate and connecting research to their idea. I didn’t want to be too critical because I respect the work they did to put that together. I tried to give constructive feedback and comments.

I gave the same feedback to both people and that was to add an opener and a closer paragraph because as an observer, I needed help understanding the main point and then the closer would have really helped to tie-up the final thoughts.

I will make sure to add those to my final review paper.

Peer review is to add credibility to research. It gives the opportunity of other scientists to review the research and fact check so that when it is reviewed by other people, they have more confidence in its accuracy and the fact that many people have looked through the material with a fine toothed comb.

A con of peer review is if the reviewer is not an expert or inept in that particular field, so their feedback could be inaccurate or out of context.

List and describe as many changes in human behaviors as you can think of that contribute to decreased exposure to microbes.

Hand washing

Cover your cough

Stay home or away from people when you feel sick

Use hand sanitizer

Cough into your elbow, not your hands

Sanitize surfaces that you touch – try not to cross contaminate items

Clean off your phone and surface items

Cook your food completely using heat

Don’t consume expired food products

This writing exercise is designed to help you begin to think about a topic you are interested in pursuing for your final essay project in the course. 

Step 1: Free write: What are some of the most interesting or surprising things you’ve learned and/or want to learn more about, in regards to microbes and human health? Set a timer for 5 minutes and type out your response. Please don’t edit or worry about correct grammar/spelling/sentence structure… just write!

I have never thought so much about how our actions and food decisions affect our overall health. The gut really is the second brain. The research we’ve read and uncovered shows so many ways that the balance in our guts affects so many other systems and processes in our body. We need to have a balance in our body so that other processes can work efficiently. The brain depends on activity functioning normally. It’s really a complex process, mores than I ever imagined.

Complex Process –

We’ve learned that there is a lot of communication between the gut environment based on the balance there is inside our guts. If the gut balance is off, other processes won’t be triggered or vice versa, meaning some processes will be overly triggered. I think the response to this situation is when we have gastrointestinal symptoms like heartburn and diarrhea. Some people’s body’s just can’t process or tolerate certain foods and we should learn to be conscious of the signals our body is telling us how to help be healthy.

In the vein of the gut as our second brain, a lot of people have connect mental health aspects to the flora and fauna of our gut environment. In my final paper, I want to dive further into whether or not or how they are connected. My sister is a nurse and her thoughts on this topic are that she’s worked in nursing homes and people with memory loss have “behaviors” when their stomach has issues or some of those symptoms like a UTI or diarrhea. That makes me think there is some connection.

There are many opportunities for a small fragile baby to become exposed to harmful viruses and bacteria. They depend on their mother for immunity and protection while in the womb. That being said, babies are not 100% immune to those kinds of thing.

A baby’s gut environment is going to be affected by their mother. Whether or not a mother feeds their baby breast milk or formula will affect their diet and their delicate microbiota.

The mother’s diet will affect the breast milk too. This is how some kids develop different tastes in food and different natural ability to tolerate and process different foods.

Describe your personal philosophy about how and when you have taken, or would take, antibiotics. What experiences or prior knowledge do you have that shaped that personal philosophy?

When I was younger, I definitely took antibiotics when I was sick. I would absolutely take antibiotics and I do feel strongly about compliance. My mom is a nurse and I constantly hear about how difficult it is for patients and our world community (actually) that people don’t always take antibiotics as they’re prescribed. 

People usually stop taking the medication when they start to feel better, but the infection still rages on and they should continue to completion. This also helps with reducing the potential for mutation and antibiotic resistance which has impact on our world community.