Bacteria found in children’s upper respiratory systems could help fight chronic middle ear infections, the leading cause of preventable hearing loss and deafness in Indigenous communities. The University of Queensland’s Dr. Seweryn Bialasiewicz said this discovery helped explain a long-held…
Read More
Bathroom Blues: Inexpensive Dye Tracks Digestive Transit Time
When it comes to measuring gut transit time, blue dye could be a cost-effective and simple alternative to other, more burdensome methods. The approach, which only requires fasting followed by eating dyed food, revealed an association between microbiome composition and…
Read More
Discovering DNA methylation from bacteria and microbiome using nanopore technology
Journal name: Nature Methods Title of the article: Discovering multiple types of DNA methylation from individual bacteria and microbiome using nanopore sequencing Corresponding author: Gang Fang, PhD Bottom line: Bacterial DNA methylation occurs at diverse sequence contexts and plays important…
Read More
Defining the Parkinson’s microbiome strengthens links to gut health
Researchers from the Quadram Institute have carried out a meta-analysis of the gut microbiome in Parkinson’s disease, giving the clearest picture to date of the changes associated with the condition. By re-analyzing data from ten different studies, a common pattern…
Read More
Novel host-viral-microbiome interactions during COVID-19 may determine outcome
The current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been spreading rapidly for over a year. Though primarily a respiratory illness, its manifestations are often protean and may be life-threatening….
Read More
New research aims to explore functions of bile acids in the gut stem cell niche
Examining gut health from a different angle, Flinders University’s Associate Professor Robyn Meech is looking at what can trigger colon cancer – and she believes bile acids may provide a significant piece of the puzzle. Image Credit: Flinders University Associate…
Read More
9 out of 10 U.S. infants experience gut microbiome deficiency
A new peer-reviewed study reveals that the vast majority of U.S. infants may be suffering from a substantial deficiency in an important bacterium key to breast milk digestion and immune system development, as well as protection against gut pathogens linked…
Read More
How the vaginal microbiome may affect HIV prevention
Healthy Lactobacillus bacteria in the vagina are critical for women’s health, but the accumulation of additional bacterial genera can imbalance the vaginal ecosystem. Such an imbalance may result in bacterial metabolism of drugs designed to prevent HIV infection, thereby decreasing…
Read More
Your gut microbiome may be linked to dementia, Parkinson’s disease and MS
Within our body and on our skin, trillions of bacteria and viruses exist as part of complex ecosystems called microbiomes. Microbiomes play an important role in human health and disease – and even help us maintain a healthy metabolism and…
Read More
‘Oral’ bacteria may disrupt the balance of the vaginal microbiome
Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is an imbalance of the vaginal microbiome that can lead to adverse health outcomes, including increased likelihood of potential pathogens colonizing the vagina, yet the mechanisms underlying these processes are poorly understood. A study published in PLOS…
Read More