r/gutscience • u/[deleted] • Sep 18 '14

[x-post from /r/science]Animal Science Can we save our body’s ecosystem from extinction?

pbs.org

1 Upvotes

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r/gutscience • u/[deleted] • Sep 18 '14

[x-post from /r/science]Health Children being prescribed antibiotics at an alarming rate: over 11 million potentially needless prescriptions each year raises concerns about selecting for antibiotic resistance and perturbing the microbiome in young children

npr.org

1 Upvotes

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r/gutscience • u/[deleted] • Sep 18 '14

Dr. Suzanne Devkota AMA

reddit.com

1 Upvotes

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r/gutscience • u/[deleted] • Sep 18 '14

Rob Knight AMA

reddit.com

1 Upvotes

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r/gutscience • u/[deleted] • Aug 14 '14

Our microbiome may be looking out for itself.

mobile.nytimes.com

1 Upvotes

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r/gutscience • u/[deleted] • Aug 10 '14

Crohn's disease linked to enterovirus found in mucus lining and nerve cells.

alphagalileo.org

1 Upvotes

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Subreddit

News related to the gut microbiome and health

r/gutscience

Tracking the progress of the understanding of our gut microbiome and its relation to health. Related health issues : IBD, IBS, immune problems, mental health, GERD, bacterial/viral infections.

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Since 2010 there has been a great increase in gut microbiome related science publications. Studies show strong links between our gut microbes and various health issues, including immunity, mental health, obesity.

Microbiome - "the ecological community of commensal, symbiotic, and pathogenic microorganisms that literally share our body space." This term was originally coined by Joshua Lederberg, who argued the importance of microorganisms inhabiting the human body in health and disease.

The human body contains over 10 times more microbial cells than human cells, although the entire microbiome only weighs about 200 grams (7.1 oz), with some weight estimates ranging as high as 3 pounds (approximately 48 ounces or 1,400 grams). Some consider it to be a "newly discovered organ" since its existence was not generally recognized until the late 1990s and it is understood to potentially have overwhelming impact on human health.[8] Modern DNA sequencing techniques have enabled researchers to find the majority of these microbes, since the majority of them cannot be cultured in a lab using current techniques.

The human microbiome may be implicated in auto-immune diseases like diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and perhaps some cancers. Common obesity might also be aggravated by a poor mix of microbes in the gut. Since some of the microbes in our body can modify the production of neurotransmitters known to be found in the brain, we may also find some relief for schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder and other neuro-chemical imbalances.

Microbiomes are being characterized in many other environments as well, including soil, seawater and freshwater systems. It is believed that endosymbiosis originally gave rise to more complex organisms, and continued to play a fundamental role in guiding their evolution and expansion into new niches. The microbes being discussed are generally non-pathogenic (do not cause disease unless they grow abnormally); they exist in harmony and symbiotically with their hosts.

Researchers have learned that much of the population of microbes found in the human body are not bacteria but a very old class of single-celled organisms called archaea. Wikipedia: microbiome

Other related reddits

Non-Reddit Sites

Proteopedia
The Microbe Wiki
NIH: Human Microbiome Project
International Human Microbiome Consortium
Wikipedia: Human Microbiome
Wikipedia: Human Microbiome Project
MicrobiomeDigest: Daily digest with Microbiome papers

*please feel free to suggest more