Medical topics are not something I usually blog about, but I liked this one because what has happened here is exactly what has happened in so much of our – human – endeavors, and it stems from short term thinking.  In this case, short term thinking gave a solution that has lasted about say 80 years.

The European Union is presently spending about 1.5B euros per year “fighting” hyper-resistant bacteria, bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics. (AFP, 18 Nov 2009)

Fighting is the wrong word. The word should be “feeding“:  The EU is Feeding hyper-resistant bacteria.

Overuse of “destroy-all-in-sight” antibiotics is weeding out the weak bacterial strains and strengthening the strong, and about 25,000 people in the EU with a similar number in the USA die each year due to this approach.

Bacteria resistant to antibiotics simply eat their hosts alive. Nothing kills them, except of course, running out of food!  :o(

And the seed was sown with the development of the first antibiotic – Penicillin – by  1928.

So what is going on?

Selective condition, Darwinism, survival of the fittest. I said it above: killing the weak strains of bacteria, leaving a few behind, creates stronger and stronger strains…

And we’re the ones doing the selecting! Not on purpose of course.  Just with a bit of short term thinking.

The method developed by Fleming in 1928 was amazing in it’s day, and it has saved countess millions of folk from all manner little bug and germ. But we stopped when we should have kept thinking about what it was we were doing…

We didn’t think harder about how we were breeding stronger bacteria.

It’s a method of approach destined to create one outcome, eventually: A SUPER BUG! Sometime in the future…

(Is that Future Now? 1.5B euros buys a lot of bug poison).

I wonder where else we could apply the same kind of longer term thinking to create such an elegant solution… ;o)

Watch Bonnie’s presentation and find out how…

In the mean time, minimize your use of antibiotics – don’t take them if your doctor prescribes them for you, or really, really question why you should be taking them. Your body needs to develop it’s own antibodies, T-cells. That’s what it’s designed to do.  Don’t do it for yourself.  Do it for everyone: your family, friends, neighbors, everyone.

(OK, ok, if you look like like the living dead, have blood and puss oozing from every orifice, thrush flowering from your nostrils, then I suppose a course could be beneficial…)

Jeremiah Josey

blog

Their fossilised remains have been found in the rock, which was blasted out of Mars 16 million years ago as the solar system was forming.

The meteorite, called Allen Hills 84001, made headlines in 1996 after fossils were found in it. Scientists believed they were bacteria from Earth that contaminated the rock while it lay in the frozen wastes.

But a Nasa report now says there is strong evidence they originated on Mars, according to The Sun.

Dr Emily Baldwin, deputy editor of the UK’s Astronomy Now magazine, said: “Many scientists argued that what looked like fossils in the meteorite were really caused by the explosive event, such as an asteroid impact, that blasted the rock out of Mars in the first place.

“But the Nasa team is now saying they have proved that they could not have been produced by the blast itself.

“If the features turn out to have an extraterrestrial, biological origin and were not formed during the 13,000 years the meteorite spent lying on Earth, this will have profound implications for our understanding of how life evolved in the solar system.”

Prof Colin Pillinger, of the Open University, who was behind Britain’s ill-fated Beagle 2 probe to the planet that was lost on Christmas Day 2003, said: “This is good quality work and more compelling evidence to add to the mix. These guys have been plugging away at this for years. It is a very careful study by very reputable people.”

The Nasa study, led by Kathie Thomas-Keprta, found carbonate discs and tiny magnetite crystals inside the space rock. Scientists were able to use high resolution electron microscopes that were not available 13 years ago.

They concluded “unusual chemical and physical properties” in the meteorite were “intimately associated within and throughout these carbonate disks”. That, they said, was evidence of interaction with water on Mars more than 3.5 billion years ago.

Nasa is expected to announce the findings, from its Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, later this week.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6660045/Bacteria-from-Mars-found-inside-ancient-meteorite.html

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Long ago, in a galaxy far away, I installed custom spas.

One of these was in a condominium basement where space for the equipment was at a premium. So we mounted the air blower (you know, the thing that makes the water fizz like a carbonated cola) on the wall in the adjacent underground garage.

Not long after the tenants began moving in, an old woman, who bore a striking resemblance to Yoda in both appearance and syntax, complained, “stinks like GAHbage the jacuzzi.”

We had unknowingly mounted the blower directly above what turned out to be the location of the building’s dumpsters. It was sucking in the not-so-fragrant aroma wafting up from all manner of refuse residing below, infusing the spa with its essence.

Now, you don’t have to hail from another planet to know that water can carry contaminants. Just ask any parent who has placed her young child in the neighborhood swimming pool. That yellow water ain’t lemonade, folks.

Well, maybe it was at one time.

Transporting contaminants is one thing; but can water create them as well? What happens when you add water, a “natural” substance, to “natural” shampoos, called such because they contain, among other things, no preservatives?

“Natural” Water + “Natural” Shampoo = Contaminated Product

Eventually, that is.

Nature is the original recycler. Simply stated, water contains bacteria. Bacteria feed on plant and animal matter. It’s one of nature’s ways of breaking matter down to its primary components.

At the basic, molecular level all living things are recycled. Thus, when any living thing dies, including our bodies, the molecules of minerals and other elements that comprise it are gradually deconstructed through decomposition, to eventually become reconstructed as a part of some other living thing, plant or animal.

All shampoos (and conditioners) contain some form of plant matter; some even use animal protein. Add water, and the bacteria, like swarms of ravenous piranha, begin their feeding frenzy; the decomposition begins.

By the way, foreign matter, like dirt and hair, also carries those hungry little buggers, and when introduced into undiluted shampoo can likewise cause contamination.

Some shampoo manufacturers add a preservative, a natural or synthetic chemical that prevents bacterial spoilage. Unfortunately, many preservatives release formaldehyde, that fluid of funerial fame, which, incidentally, is used as a preservative to prevent bacterial spoilage of the human body.

Thus, while an unopened jug of “natural” shampoo may have a 3-4 year shelf life, when mixed with water it may only last 3-4 days, at best.

How can you tell when something has gone bad? The nose knows. Odor is a byproduct of decomposition. When the shampoo begins to smell like GAHbage or the conditioner reminds you of Jaba the Hutt’s breath just discard it.

The best adage is “when in doubt, throw it out.” No use risking a bad reaction from the your bather or the bathee just to save a few pennies worth of product.

Message in the Bottle

While there is much controversy over what may or may not leach out of plastic containers, plastic’s porosity means substances, like bacteria, can also be absorbed into the containers.

Bacteria can thrive in virtually any container under the right conditions.

Just ask Cody, who works in our warehouse. This past summer he left a large cup of a “natural” fruit smoothie in the office refrigerator over a weekend. The following Monday, seeking a refreshing respite from the sweltering heat, he slugged down a swig of the leftover nectar, only to notice a peculiar taste sensation.

Removing the lid to the cup he discovered that the surface of the drink had errupted into a putrid carpet of furry foam that was creeping up the outside of the straw like some alien life form.

Now, you probably don’t refrigerate your shampoo. But, if you have been careful to avoid spoilage, yet continually contend with contamination, the container could be the culprit. This can be especially troublesome to self-serve dog washes, where plastic bottles are repeatedly refilled with mixed shampoo.

Many helpful sites on the internet, such as eHow.com or howtocleanstuff.net (yes, a real web site), offer effective cleaning tips for plastic containers. Bleach, baking soda, and white vinegar are some of the more commonly recommended methods.

Of course, there comes the time in every plastic bottle’s life when you just have to apply the “when in doubt” rule mentioned earlier.

Plastic bottles are not immortal.

Neither are natural shampoos. Following a few simple safeguards, though, can help prevent irritated pets and irate customers.

You certainly don’t want bacterial gunk –or an angry Ms. Yoda –on your hands, do you?

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About the Author: Randy Pate, the managing partner of WAGS, although not a micro-biologist, is no stranger to odor. He showers almost regularly, mostly at the insistence of his wife.

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Estudo recente demonstrou que uma bactéria presente na pele de salamandras as protege, bem como a outros anfíbios, de infecções fúngicas. O fungo causador de doenças de anfíbios, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, causa uma doença de pele fatal para estes animais. Todavia, algumas espécies são imunes à infecção por  B. dendrobatidis. A proteção pode estar associada à presença de fatores de imunidade, peptídeos (pequenas proteínas) antimicrobianas, à presença de outros microrganismos protetores, além do comportamento dos animais. No caso da presença de microrganismos protetores, estes estabelecem com os anfíbios uma relação de mutualismo, ou seja, que ambos anfíbio e microrganismo são beneficiados pela relação de associação.

Uma das bactérias protetoras de anfíbios, Janthinobacterium lividum, produz a substância violaceína, que apresenta atividade antifúngica contra B. dendrobatidis. A mesma substância, violaceína, foi encontrada em três de sete salamandras selvagens encontradas pelos pesquisadores que realizaram o estudo. A concentração de violaceína na pele das salamandras, cerca de 18 μM, foi suficiente para inibir completamente o desenvolvimento do fungo B. dendrobatidis, e prevenir completamente a morbidade e mortalidade de anfíbios causada pelo fungo.

O estudo completo realizado por Matthew H. Becker, Robert M. Brucker, Christian R. Schwantes, Reid N. Harris, e Kevin P. C. Minbiole, “The Bacterially Produced Metabolite Violacein Is Associated with Survival of Amphibians Infected with a Lethal Fungus”, foi publicado na revista Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2009, volume 75, p. 6635-6638.

Image: Landmine in ground, Cambodia, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from Kyle Simourd's Flickr stream

Scientists at Edinburgh University have produced the bacteria using a technique called BioBricking, which manipulates packages of DNA.  This causes the bacteria to glow green in the presence of explosives.  The bacteria can be mixed into a colourless solution, which can be spread over an area, and will form green patches where mines are buried.

This will also allow for the solution to be sprayed over an area, meaning that aircraft could be used to cover danger areas with the solution.

BBC News : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8362066.stm

Time-lapse imaging in live zebrafish embryos reveals that cerebellar granule cells migrate in chain-like structures as discovered by a recent article [1] [Köster et al., PLoS, Nov. 2009]. Figure above – Granule cells taken from the cerebellum of a pigeon (above, B) are shown in this 1899 drawing by legendary neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal.

Did talk about sticky objects and self-organization in the past,  how positive and negative feedback’s  stigmergic-like agents integrated could promote changes and learning over a complex system.  Same happens to bacteria as also ants. On the other hand, we do know memes are also sticky (e.g. Chip Heath, Dan Heath, “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die“, Random House, ISBN 978-1-4000-6428-1, January 2007). What’s new however, is that there are increasing proofs that our own brains my follow similar mechanisms (as Douglas Hofstadter in the past did made some analogies with how brains could work and how ant colonies raid different environments). In this recent new study, Köster and colleagues [1] [PLoS, Nov. 2009] reveal crucial pieces of this puzzle, showing how (neuronal) cells orient themselves to migrate together (like bacteria, above). The team studied zebrafish, one of the workhorses of developmental neurobiology, because its transparent body allows researchers to track movements of cells inside of it. As explained by Mason Inman [2]:

[...] Neurons in the developing brain complete their own self-organized waltz, coordinating with their neighbors to migrate to the right spots to form the cerebellum, visual cortex, or other parts of the brain. In this issue of PLoS Biology, Reinhard Köster and colleagues show that some of these brain cells behave much like slime molds, coordinating with other cells of the same type to migrate in a herd. They found that one particular protein called Cadherin-2 is crucial in allowing the cells to adhere to their neighbors so they can coordinate their movements and all wind up in the right spot. [...] Slime molds provide a textbook example of self-organization. They live as single cells until food becomes scarce. Then, they broadcast chemical signals that trigger their mass assembly into a fruiting body, with some cells forming a stalk and others turning into spores that cast about in the winds to spread far and wide. [...] Neurons in the developing brain complete their own self-organized waltz, coordinating with their neighbors to migrate to the right spots to form the cerebellum, visual cortex, or other parts of the brain. In this issue of PLoS Biology, Reinhard Köster and colleagues show that some of these brain cells behave much like slime molds, coordinating with other cells of the same type to migrate in a herd. They found that one particular protein called Cadherin-2 is crucial in allowing the cells to adhere to their neighbors so they can coordinate their movements and all wind up in the right spot.[...]

[...] But the mechanisms behind this coordinated movement – in particular, how each cell adjusts its inner workings to move to the right place at the right time – are only now starting to be revealed, using imaging that tracks these cells in live animals as they develop. [...] To figure out what triggers the cells to line up and move together, the authors looked at what other kinds of cells were in the neighborhood. Many studies have shown that support cells, known as glial cells, often help guide neurons during these kinds of migrations. But during the first few days of the zebrafish embryo’s development, Köster and colleagues found, there were no glial cells along the granular cells’ migration route. That means these cells must go it alone, the team reasoned, with their own mechanism for signaling between each other to line up into chains and make their move. [...] Although the study focused on just one type of brain cell, the findings could explain how many types of neurons find their way to their proper spots as the brain develops. There are still some pieces of the puzzle missing, however. While the findings explain how the granule cells are able to coordinate and follow their neighbors, it’s still not clear how the first few cells to head out on the journey – those at the front of the “conga line” – get oriented in the right direction. This suggests there must be some kind of signal from surrounding cells to get them headed in the right direction, the authors argue – yet another level of organization. [...] , in Mason Inman (Nov., 2009) Migrating Brain Cells Stick Together, PloS. [2]

[1] Rieger S, Senghaas N, Walch A, Köster RW (Nov., 2009) Cadherin-2 Controls Directional Chain Migration of Cerebellar Granule Neurons. PLoS Biology.
[2] Mason Inman (Nov., 2009) Migrating Brain Cells Stick Together, PloS Biology.

For people who are on the hunt for bacterial vaginosis home remedies, as well as the odor it causes, forget about grabbing the first bottle of perfume, or various other cosmetic products you come across. Since many of these types of preparations have alcohol, just about all of the beneficial bacteria will be killed as well as the bad, and this will only make the problem much worse.

So, what I’m going to share is a natural cure for bacterial vaginosis. With this, you will be able to eliminate all of the bad bacteria that cause BV.

There are various home remedies for bacterial vaginosis that can be applied to lessen or stop vaginal odor naturally, and this includes wearing clothes that are made of 100% cotton, so that the skin of the vagina can breathe, and will not sweat so much.

Since you get excess fluids because of this condition, you should cleanse the area on a regular basis with water, to get rid of these fluids. Keep in mind, that even though this fluid is a cause of the sour smell, it is simply the body’s way of ridding it of the harmful bacteria by using your body’s natural immunity as a weapon. One of the greatest home remedies for bacterial vaginosis you can use, is keeping the vaginal area cleaned frequently with water, since this will get rid of the horrible smell that comes from the bad bacteria.

Applying vinegar, salt, and water to cleanse the area every once in a while is another very effective natural cure for bacterial vaginosis. This will get rid of the bad smell, and it will also kill the harmful bacteria, and set you on your way to getting rid of this unpleasant condition.

Check out this site for more information on Bacterial Vaginosis.

Doctors at Rush University Medical Center have a gut feeling that the bacteria found in the intestines may be linked to breast cancer.

That is why gastroenterologists at Rush University Medical Center are charting the presence of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa found within the gut and are exploring how microbial imbalances may impact diseases like breast cancer.

The human body contains billions of microorganisms, and microbial cells found in the human gut are estimated to outnumber human cells by ten-to-one in healthy adults.  However, little is known about the ways in which these minute life forms influence health and disease. 

“Similar to what has been done with human DNA, we want to map out the composition of these microorganisms from their DNA and analyze how they correlate to diseases and changes within the immune system,” said Dr. Ece Mutlu, gastroenterologist at Rush and principal investigator of the microbiota and breast cancer study.  “If we are able to find the microbes responsible for particular diseases, it may increase the likelihood of developing new diagnostic tests and treatments for diseases like breast cancer.”

Researchers will be using a technology for genomic sequencing called Multitag Pyrosequencing (MTPS) that allows them to examine, count and barcode hundreds of thousands of microorganisms per day within samples taken from various ecological systems including the human body.  Because of this new technology for genomic sequencing, researchers will be able to identify 50,000 or 60,000 microbes per sample.

Rush is currently recruiting study participants who are female, 30 years of age or older, and newly diagnosed with breast cancer before any treatment has begun.  Clinical data from the participant’s medical records will be taken.  Before a patient receives any cancer-related therapy, biopsies of the colon and stool specimens will be taken.

Broad and Informative

Enough to Make Your Hair Curl -NY Times

3634km for Cancer Treatment -Northern Rivers News

Oatmel for Best Natural Acne Treatment -Natural Medica

For Those Who Want Some More Information…

Broad and Informative

Bacteria Key to Healthy Skin -Web MD

Eek! Our Skin Is Full Of Bugs -Forbes

Study: Political Bent Affects How We View Skin Tone -NPR

If the smell of beets makes you gag but you simply can’t get enough sour crème and chive potato chips, your Mom may be to blame — and not because of what she fed you growing up. Several studies show that food preferences may be set even before you’re born, as early as 13 weeks after gestation. And those preferences derive from what your Mom ate while you were in the womb. 

Read more at Jon Barron’s Natural Health Blog

Turning waste into medicine

Turning chemical waste material into profit by selling it as medicines was not initially accepted. At the time, people took natural cures and occasionally consulted a doctor for something “serious.” The best way to gain general acceptance of these new waste-based medicines became obvious: standardize the education, training, and credentialing of medical doctors and then raise their economic status to a level where they would follow these insane policies. In 1900 doctors were the lowest paid professionals.

In 1904 Andrew Carnegie noted that workers in his factories made more money than most doctors. Working with Henry Pritchett, the president of MIT, Carnegie donated $10 million to set up the Carnegie Foundation. Originally it’s purpose was to be a pension fund for retiring professors. However, with money like that comes tremendous power. Carnegie used that power to control education. The name was changed to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Pritchett expanded its original purpose to be “a great agency devoted to strengthening American education through scientific inquiry and policy studies.”

Whenever a billionaire tells you they’re going to devote themselves to something for your betterment, better check your wallet. The Foundation became very successful, controlling educational standards. It worked like this; to qualify for the pension system, an institution had to meet the standards set by the Foundation. In it’s first year, 52 of the 421 colleges who applied were accepted. Eventually the Foundation would go on to exert enormous control over all the best educational institutions.

The Flexner Report

The Carnegie Foundation hired a non-physician teacher named Alexander Flexner to travel across the country and “observe” medical education. In 1910 his landmark study, known as the Flexner Report, was published. Based on his recommendations, the Foundation expanded it’s control from being merely a pension plan for professors to an entirely new area: research funding.

Schools that met the Foundation’s standards from the Flexner Report were awarded research funds and endowments. Those that did not got no funding. This created an enormous incentive model for these institutions to play along. Thus, the titans of industry came to dictate the type of medical care that would flourish in America and starved out the competing types of care.

Natural methods of healing, used traditionally for centuries, suddenly fell out of favor simply because a more “scientific” approach started getting funding. “Coincidentally” those schools receiving the funding began disseminating information supporting the products of the new pharmaceutical industry. Big universities in the medical industry that rule today were all aligned with the Carnegie Foundation at that time, these include:

Case Western Reserve
Carnegie Institute of Chicago
University of North Carolina
University of Chicago
Johns Hopkins
Harvard School of Medicine

Jealous of the Carnegie Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation was established. Also utilizing the consultation of Abraham Flexner, the Rockefeller Foundation developed national standards for medical schools that were seeking “philanthropic” support. In 1904 there were 5747 medical doctors. Just 15 years later, after the Flexner Report, by 1919, there were only 2658. In that same 15 year period, the number of medical schools went from 162 to 81. The model had been proven, Rockefeller was deciding who was going to control what was medicine and what was not.

The reason so many schools closed was that schools had to be connected to a large university. The universities had to be linked to clinical departments that had laboratories and a university hospital. Using Rockefeller Funds, Flexner was able to develop a small group of elite, clinically oriented, medical schools. The raw materials for the new drugs were ready to go. All that was lacking was an academic power-base to legitimize their development and general use.

The system of education, funding, research and the organizing principles of medicine that persists today was created in less than a generation. This is why simple folk medicine, which had been around for centuries, was marginalized almost overnight.

Carnegie and Rockefeller were able gain control of organized medicine and turn it into a successful industry, with its focus on market growth. But the model has an inherent contradiction: an industry concerned with disease is not about to put itself out of business by curing a disease. This is why all these years, effective inexpensive non-pharmaceutical remedies, like nutrition, have been systematically suppressed. It’s just good business.

This model was the perfect environment for the flailing Germ Theory which was revived for a second run. Despite the fact that it had been repudiated by its creator, and most of his contemporaries, was of no concern and no longer mentioned in circles expecting next year’s funding. Germ Theory fit well with the new market-oriented paradigm of medicine: if germs are out there causing diseases, better find drugs to kill them.

Up into the 1920s, the burgeoning medical industry was gaining strength. It was aided by the declining incidence of infectious diseases due to improved sanitation and nutrition, for which medicine took credit. That is a story unto itself, “The Sanctity of Human Blood” is a good source.

The organized medicine was becoming stronger with each passing year, as new institutions were built and funding was given out for those research projects that had the best potential for future market value. Then the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 killed millions proving that the new “scientific” approach had a lot to learn about disease prevention. There was no cure, as the virus traveled around the world.

The as yet proven Germ Theory came to be accepted as policy largely because any opposition to it had little chance of being published. This is similar to how fake food producers attack the competition, except in this case the competition is denied a platform. None the less, a small group of scientists, aware that the work of Bechamp was a much more reasonable view of physical reality, continued to develop research in the direction that the environment played a key role in the cause of disease. Corporate “science” was up and running though, fueled by money from the new drug markets, but the scientific method had been abandoned. The Germ Theory was anointed as the underlying dogma of a new medical religion. Doctors like J.H. Tilden, MD, and others, were apparently not willing to convert:

“…doctors fight the imaginary foe without ceasing. The people are so saturated with the idea that disease must be fought to a finish that they are not satisfied with conservative treatment. Something must be done, even if they pay for it with their lives, as tens of thousands do every year. This willingness to die on the altar of medical superstition is one very great reason why no real improvement is made in fundamental medical science.”
- Toxemia Explained 1926

1926? Sounds like today.

The First Wonder Drug

However, in 1928 the Germ Theory got a huge boost that has lasted to the present. Dr. Alexander Fleming, a British scientist, was annoyed to discover that his cultures were being destroyed by a certain mold. Over the next 14 years, scientists in England and America worked successfully to isolate and test penicillin, but did not publish to keep the work secret. But in 1942 a fire at The Cocoanut Grove, Boston’s oldest nightclub, killed and injured hundreds of people. Penicillin was rushed to Boston in time to prevent infection from burns in hundreds of patients. The news got out, and the race was on to mass-produce penicillin. By 1944, Merck was producing enough to satisfy all the demand from the American military.

This single event, the commercialization of penicillin, did more to bring credibility to organized medicine than anything else in its history to that point. To be able to prevent infection was a nearly miraculous and compelling power. Countless people had died from infection down through the ages. And finally here was proof of the Germ Theory: these patients had died from bad bacteria, and when the bacteria are killed with penicillin, the patients live.

However, mother nature was to show that she does not deal in black and white.

Mother Nature Always Bats Last

Even in his early research of penicillin, Fleming knew very well that living things could change and adapt when exposed to stress. He knew the dangers of resistance from overuse of penicillin, and warned against such overuse from the start, here in an interview Fleming gave to the New York Times in 1945:

” The greatest possibility of evil in self-medication is the use of too-small doses, so that instead of clearing up infection the microbes are educated to resist penicillin…”

The oldest living things on earth are bacteria and viruses. They are billions of years old. They have persisted through every change in the environment that has ever occurred: hot, cold, wet, dry, high oxygen, no oxygen, earthquakes, volcanoes, glaciers – they’ve seen it all. And they’re still around. Millions of plant and animal species of have come and gone because they couldn’t adapt.

Now suddenly in the 1940s, we start mass production and administration of a substance into the human population: penicillin, a substance which kills all bacteria. And ever since it’s introduction, bacteria have been doing their best to survive by adapting. Exposed to antibiotics, if bacteria can change and survive, they are said to be drug-resistant. Superbugs.

Since the 1940s, many antibiotics have been developed and today there are about 160 types. The problem is that most are just slightly different versions of a few main types. And resistance to those main types has increased year by year.

Drug resistance is now one of the leading causes of deaths in the U.S. More than 70,000 people die each year from it, according to the National Institutes of Health. Most of these people acquired the infection while they were in a hospital being treated for something else, according to the May 1997 documentary “The Coming Plague”. No known antibiotics can help these patients, and they die.

A 1992 study by the CDC’s Institute of Medicine showed that mortality from infectious disease has risen 22% worldwide from 1980-1992.

We can see the steady increase in drug resistance as Staphylococcus adapt:

• 1946, about 88% of staf infections could be cured by penicillin.
• 1950, only 61% of staph infections could be killed by penicillin
• 1982, fewer than 10% of staph cases could be cured by penicillin.
• Today it is less than 5%.

Who said DoTW! could only do human diseases? Why are you so special huh? Insects get sick too and someone has to care. I care. Also, by showing some sympathy about insect diseases maybe I will survive the invasion and subsequent enslavement of the human race by our most welcome and superior Insect Lords. I pledge to humbly serve thee.

Feed my Lord, grow strong

So why an insect pathogen?

Well, it’s fun to be different I guess. Also the bacteria I’m going to discuss, Photorhabdus luminescens, is fun to say. They also happen to be really interesting for a bunch of reasons:

• Can’t cause disease in insects without help from a friend
• A classic example of symbiosis
• Referred to as the ‘Angel Glow’, or something similar, by ‘the wounded’ anytime before World War II

See I told you they were interesting.

Photorhabdus: the bane of our insect overlords

We haven’t spoken much about life-cycles on the previous posts because generally we have been dealing in human pathogens which, for the most part, struggle to exist and cause disease in anything but humans. This life cycle is very simple human-human-human etc. Other pathogens such as the causative agent for malaria are spread by mosquitoes so the life cycle is more complicated. For Photorhabdus we have a very intriguing life cycle indeed.

Photorhabdus are a group of bacterial insect pathogens but other than that are not particularly fussy. This fact alone is quite interesting. Most pathogens have specialised to infect one or a small group related animals. There are few pathogens that can infect, say, all mammals equally. The other thing unusual about how the infection takes place is that the bacteria cant do it on their own, they require the assistance of a ‘taxi’ nematode (a family of multi-cellular, micro-organisms, look a lot like a microscopic worms in most cases) called Heterorhabditis. The nematode enters insects and proceeds to regurgitate the bacteria, which live in its intestine, into the insect. The bacteria thrive in the insect and quickly multiply and grow. During this time the nematode begins feeding on the bacteria whilst also growing and multiplying. Once the insect has died and its cadaver is entirely hollowed out the nematodes stop feeding on the bacteria and move off to another host, where the process starts again.

This figure shows the location of the bacteria (in fluoro green) at the various stages of the nematodes life cycle. If you like the pretty picture than that’s great, if you want a better explanation of what’s happening in the pics see the Waterfield et al. reference at the bottom.

Why would the bacteria and worm have developed this relationship together? Surely it would have been easier for the worm to evolve the ability to feed on the insect directly, and wouldn’t it make more sense if the bacteria didn’t grow just to be eaten by the worm again? This is where the classical model of symbiosis I mentioned comes in.

Symbiosis is observed when two dissimilar organisms actively co-exist, most often to the benefit of both organisms. When both organisms benefit from co-existing together it can also be called mutualism. In this case the bacteria in the environment are not guaranteed nutrients on which to grow, neither are nematodes. By working together they can each ensure their own survival as they now ‘rely’ on each other. In fact the nematode has evolved with such a preference for Photorhabdus feeding that now it absolutely requires it. This produces an interesting problem for the nematode, the insect is harbouring other bacteria which are potentially toxic to it. How can it ensure it only eats Photorhabdus? Lucky for the nematode the bacteria are on the case.

Upon being regurgitated the bacteria start to produce a range of anti-microbial factors that inhibit the growth of other bacteria. These include a family of bacteria specific toxins called pyocins. But how can the bacteria make sure they get eaten by Heterorhabditis and not some other worm? Again the bacteria have ‘thought’ about this. They also produce a number of molecules that kill nematodes, but not Heterorhabditis.

So the bacteria protect the worm from eating the wrong bacteria and also ensure it can only be eaten by the right worm. Pretty smart huh?

Well they have one more trick, and it’s awesome. They glow.

Why? We’re not actually sure but one of the strongest hypotheses around currently is that once the bacteria are present in very large numbers, like when the current insect corpse is running out of flesh, the glow of the large number of bacteria together attract other insects to the corpse, making the transition from the ‘spent’ host to a new host easier. Oh, the bacteria also produces a complex molecule capable of killing insects that attempt to scavenge the corpse, allowing super easy transition into a new host.

These are very cool bacteria.

Pictured: Not a glow worm. This is the hollowed out carcass of Manduca sexta or the Tobacco hawkmoth larvae glowing due to the highly concentrated and numerous quantity of Photorhabdus luminescens

There’s always a human angle…

Okay, so maybe I wasn’t being entirely honest when I made a big deal about the expectations of these columns being about human diseases only. Turns out the bacteria have an interesting human angle that in fact was the first thing that attracted me to them. Whilst it is recognised as a human pathogen it is typically asymptomatic and is extremely rare with only 14 reported cases in medical literature. So it’s not a human disease that interests me.

What I find interesting is that Photorhabdus has been suggested as the cause of a mysterious phenomenon called ‘Angels glow’. If you were looking for a set of conditions in which Photorhabdus, an insect pathogen that normally lives in the soil, might be able to grow in a human you would need a few things. Open wounds, where soil etc might be able to access the body’s rich nutrient supply, a lot of exposure to soil, poor nutrition, inadequate medical treatment would all be required, and where would you find these conditions met? Trench warfare.

Some soldiers reported that their wounds glowed and reports taken at the time suggest glowing wound rarely got infected and the patients had a much better prognosis. The glow was seen as a gift from the angels thus ‘Angels glow’. It is widely believed that the glow was Photorhabdusluminescens growing in the wounds of soldiers. The wounds didn’t become infected due to all the nasty stuff spewed out by the bacteria that killed off potential disease causing pathogens allowing the wounds to heal normally. It is expected the bacteria would eventually be removed by the immune system but persist long enough to prevent the growth of any nasties. Whilst it is convenient to attribute the phenomenon known as the ‘Angel glow’ to Photorhabdus we don’t have any remaining data to link the two definitively, what we have however does put it forward as the leading explanation.

One more thing about this bacteria and it’s human connection. What does the bacteria and nematode feed on? Insects. Where are insects a problem? Agriculture. This particular pairing of Heterorhabditis and Photorhabdus is currently in use as a biopesticide in a number of countries (including Australia). As it is not a manufactured chemical and there is currently a demand for organic produce, it is expected that the biopesticide industry, where natural predators for insect pests are used instead of standard herbicides and insecticides, will flourish due to its promotion as a natural alternative.

References

Gerrad J. et al., (2003). “Photorhabdus Species: Bioluminescent Bacteria as Emerging Human Pathogens?” Emerging Infectious Disease V9 (2)

Waterfield N. et al., (2009). “Photorhabdus and a Host of Hosts” The Annual Review of Microbiology V63

Dedicated to Smokers.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 20, 2009) — Cigarettes are “widely contaminated” with bacteria, including some known to cause disease in people, concludes a new international study conducted by a University of Maryland environmental health researcher and microbial ecologists at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France.

The research team describes the study as the first to show that “cigarettes themselves could be the direct source of exposure to a wide array of potentially pathogenic microbes among smokers and other people exposed to secondhand smoke.” Still, the researchers caution that the public health implications are unclear and urge further research.
“We were quite surprised to identify such a wide variety of human bacterial pathogens in these products,” says lead researcher Amy R. Sapkota, an assistant professor in the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health.
“The commercially-available cigarettes that we tested were chock full of bacteria, as we had hypothesized, but we didn’t think we’d find so many that are infectious in humans,” explains Sapkota, who holds a joint appointment with the University’s Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health and the department of epidemiology and biostatistics.
“If these organisms can survive the smoking process — and we believe they can — then they could possibly go on to contribute to both infectious and chronic illnesses in both smokers and individuals who are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke,” Sapkota adds. “So, it’s critical that we learn more about the bacterial content of cigarettes, which are used by more than a billion people worldwide.”
http://digg.com/d31Aa6o

A pair of feet have more than 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than two pints of sweat a day!

Most of us have a friend or relative who has the capability to clear a room when they take off their shoes. And, even the nicest smelling person can do a great job of stinking up a pair of shoes just by running a few miles in them.

So why do your feet have a stronger odour than the rest of you?

The main thing that feeds foot smell is sweat. With more than 250,000 sweat glands each, your feet are among the most perspiring parts of your body. In one day, each foot can produce more than a pint of sweat! Sweat is basically just salt and water, so it doesn’t have a distinctive smell of its own. The smell is actually caused by the bacteria on our skin that eat the sweat and excrete waste that has a strong odour. It’s perfectly normal to have bacteria on your skin, and it doesn’t ordinarily produce a noticeable smell, but sweat attracts bacteria and gives them a whole lot to feed on.

Of course we sweat all over. Our hands have a comparable number of sweat glands, for example, and most of the rest of our body is not particularly odiferous (the armpits, perhaps, being a notable exception). So what’s different about our feet? The answer is our socks and shoes. The sweat our feet produce can’t easily escape into the air like the sweat from our hands. It all collects on our skin and in our socks. The bacteria love this dark, damp feast and have a sort of feeding frenzy. When you take off your shoes, the smell that hits you is all the bacteria excretion that’s collected on your feet and in your socks and shoes.

The main reason some people’s feet (or more precisely, some people’s socks and shoes) smell worse than others is that some people sweat more than others. This is just one of the many variable physiological qualities of human beings. This is also why, sometimes your feet smell much worse than at other times, it all has to do with how much you sweat.

Tips to Reduce Foot Odour:

So, since foot odour is caused by bacteria digesting sweat, there are two main ways to reduce the stink.

You can:

Reducing the level of bacteria is really a matter of cleanliness. To control the bacteria population on you feet, you should:

To reduce the amount of sweat that collects in your shoes, you should:

If your foot odour is really bad and these solutions don’t help much, then you should probably see a doctor. There are a also number of prescription drugs that can treat serious foot odor, some by killing bacteria and some by reducing foot sweat.

But try the foot antiperspirant first.

Why vegetables for breakfast?

Just about everyone in the field of nutrition and cancer today agrees that the anticancer diet is composed primarily of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains. Specifically, we’re told that we should have 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day (and, I would add that at least five of those servings should be veggies). What I’ve found is that if I don’t have veggies at breakfast, it’s hard to have had five servings of vegetables in a day. But if I have some veggies for breakfast, it’s easy to have five or even six servings of veggies a day. And…furthermore, if veggies are good for you, it just makes sense that it’s good to give your body a veggie “infusion” all through the day – not just at dinner.

With a little pre-planning, having veggies for breakfast is easy – and delicious!

SAUTED HERB FLAVOR CUBES

I got the idea for this recipe from the Persian (Iranian) Kookoo Sabzi, a wonderful egg and herb omelet. While my recipe doesn’t contain eggs, it goes very well with eggs…and that’s the idea.

Ingredients

1 bunch green onions (scallions)

1/2  bunch fresh dill

1 bunch fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley

½ bunch fresh cilantro

1/2 teaspoon of turmeric, optional

• I have found that adding 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric (a potent anticancer spice) to this herb mixture doesn’t change the flavor, so I like to add the turmeric.

About 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black or white pepper, to taste

Food prep tips for food safety

Here’s how to get rid of the visible dirt and the invisible bacteria that’s in the dirt, including E. coli:

• Use two cutting boards — one for cutting the unwashed herbs and the other for slicing and chopping the rinsed herbs.
• Use two knives (chef’s knives work best) — one for cutting the unwashed herbs and the other for slicing and cutting the rinsed herbs — or just rinse your knife after you cut the unwashed herbs.

• Green onion – steps to cleaning properly
  

1. Trim off the root end of each green onion.
2. Cut the green onion in two, separating the green and white parts.
3. Thinly slice the green part of the green onion on the diagonal so as to expose as much surface area as reasonably possible. You will see dirt you never knew was there!
4. Place the sliced green onion into a large strainer with small holes (a metal mesh one works well) and place the strainer inside the basket of a salad spinner.
5. Now you are ready to give your green onions a good rinse. Here’s how: Fill the salad spinner up with cold tap water and using your hands agitate the herbs in the water. Then lift out the mesh strainer with the herbs in it and pour the dirty water out of the salad spinner.
6. Rinse one or two more times and pour off the dirty water after each rinse.
7. Place the lid on the salad spinner and spin dry the herbs in the mesh strainer. Note: Since a metal strainer is slightly heavy, you have to be careful when you spin the salad spinner or it will go out of control. To avoid having to be careful, I simply do the spinning in the corner of the sink (using the two sides of the sink to help keep the basket in place).
8. Now you have very clean and decently dried off sliced green onions!
9. Slice the white part of the green onion thinly, but not on a diagonal; it’s not necessary. Place the sliced white part into the mesh strainer inside the basket of the salad spinner, and spin dry.

• Bunches of Herbs — dill, parsley and cilantro
  

1. With the herbs still tied together in a bunch, use your knife to cut off the thick stems — all in one cut.
2. Set the stems aside for another use such as making soup stock.
3. Untie the herbs and place them into the plastic strainer basket inside the salad spinner.  Rinse and dry the herbs as explained above.
4. Chop the clean herbs.

Directions

Thinly slice the white and green parts of the green onion, keeping the white and green parts separate; set aside.

Chop the dill, including the tender stems; set aside.

Chop the parsley, including the tender stems; set aside.

Chop the cilantro, including the tender stems; set aside

• Place the less tender stems from the dill, parsley and cilantro in a plastic bag (the kind for the freezer) and freeze. Later you can use these stems and other vegetables when making a veggie soup stock.

Use a large heavy-bottomed sauté pan and cover the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of olive oil. Heat the oil over medium heat (or just a little hotter) and when the oil is hot add the white parts of the green onion and sauté until softened. Then add the green parts of the green onion and sauté for 30 seconds. Add the turmeric, if using, and mix it in. Then add all of the chopped herbs and sauté for about a minute or two. When the herbs are gently wilted but still nice and green, remove the pan from the heat.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Let this herb mixture cool and then scoop it up by the spoonful (an ice cream scoop or a cookie dough scoop works well) and put it into a silicon mini muffin pan (or an ice cube tray). Note: Press down on the herb mixture to compact it.

Freeze your green muffins (flavor “cubes”) until hard.

Remove the muffin pan from the freezer and let it warm up for a minute or so at room temperature. Then just pop your Sauted Herb Flavor Cubes out of the muffin pan and place them into a plastic bag suitable for the freezer. Keep frozen until ready to use. Then just take out one, two or more cubes and heat them in the microwave until defrosted and just hot enough to serve.

Many ways to use Sauted Herb Flavor Cubes

• Spread on toasted bread, including sourdough bread;
• Serve with scrambled eggs, egg whites or sauted tofu for great flavor and color.
• Mix with Sun-Dried Tomato Flavor Cubes and spread on toast or serve with eggs as suggested above;
• Mix into hummus or any bean spread/dip;
• Mix with a little goat cheese and spread on crackers or stuff into hollowed out cherry tomatoes;
• Garnish a butternut squash soup with these sauted herbs;
• Mix with green beans or peas for a gourmet touch.

Enjoy and be healthy,

~Leni

This book is a great resource for both students and teachers studying the Microworlds unit. Published by the National Academy of Sciences and the Smithsonian Institution, this highly credible book provides readers with a collection of articles covering the major concepts of the Microworlds unit, including an introduction to microscopes, descriptions of a variety of microorganisms, and discussions on how microorganisms and microscopes play an essential role in people’s lives today. The pictures within the articles are engaging, informative, and high in quality, with helpful captions to accompany each. At the end of each section are interesting facts and questions that push students to continue thinking about the topic. Overall, Microworlds is entertaining, easy to read, and meaningful for students as it constantly connects the material to their own lives, making it the perfect extension for the Microworlds unit.

Grade: 5

Have you ever eaten something so spicy that you’d suck a cock just to get something to drink? The chili that’s been sitting in my refrigerator was like that. Basically, my husband emptied about seven jars of cayenne into a stockpot and added crushed mice to taste. Oh, and mushrooms. We like mushrooms in our chili. In cases like this, we end up with enough food to fill a cheerleader’s well-greased asshole, and we eat it for days. I tend to pull the pot out, set it on the counter, and leave it there while I eat a bowl of sulfur and tiny bones, just in case I want seconds. My husband is convinced that I’m going to get food poisoning.

But I won’t, and neither will you. Food that has been out of the fridge for a while is not lethal. Neither is carpet grit, dust mites or tap water. You all have this idea that “impurities” and “toxins” and “free-radicals” are some kind of microscopic army of ninjas just waiting to deplete your body’s whatever-the-fuck. Half the bacteria you douse your hands in alcohol to kill don’t give a shit about you and your neuroses.

The advent of the vacuum cleaner began the process of shrinking mankind’s collective balls. All of a sudden, it isn’t enough to take the rugs out and hit them with a stick until they look less gray. Now you’ve got to get rid of all the “dirt you can’t see.” We used to give dishes a few swipes with cold water and lye soap and call it good. Now we’re in a state of complete panic if we see “water spots” on a glass. Our nuts are now so small that they’ve migrated into the pelvis, allowing the sack to hang in folds and form the wrinkled twat that has replaced our once virile danglers.

Human beings are animals, and animals are built to live in filth. You know what we’d be doing in the wild? Sleeping in the dirt, motherfucker! With ants! We’d be eating raw meat with hair on it and drinking from green, gelatinous pools. (Think your sister’s panties with less stagnant trucker cum.) A wild human would shit on the ground and let his hair grow into actual dreads and never wash his hands or pits. Basically the most disgusting homeless guy ever + the Canadian wilderness. But you know what? One swing of his healthy, red-blooded crotch conkers and a rabid bear with a 30-foot conjoined shark wouldn’t stand a chance.

If you want huge balls, you’ve got to start eating everything off the floor. And no 5-second rule bullshit. It needs to sit there until it’s stuck in the carpet fibers. Refuse all vaccines and sit directly on every toilet seat you can find. When someone sneezes, run over immediately and rub your face all over him. And if he’s already thrown the coveted mucous out in a tissue, retrieve it and lick up the manliness. You’ll need that hearty immune system when you’re trolling for gutter whores with your enormous bag hanging out the back window.

Woman just love taking care of themselves, it is a fact. Having all the latest products on the market is a must, but how many times do the little things that matter, actually get left out? The nails are one of the most ignored parts of the body, and worse, many women bite their nails.

Why Biting Your Nails Is Not Good For You:

Not only is biting your nails unhygienic, but if you do bite them, they are likely to grow back really jagged and uneven.

Do you know that when you bite your nails, you are ingesting a lot of germs? Studies have shown that under your nails, there is more bacteria there than if you were to lick a toilet seat. You definitely would not lick a toilet seat, so why bite your nails? Some men also find women who bite their fingernails, a turn off!

Imagine this scenario, you have taken a date home and things have progressed. You are running your hands through your dates hair, and all the sudden they notice your finger nails all chipped, broken and covered in dirt. They are hardly likely to find that a turn on, and they probably will not want to see you again.

The state of your nails can be an indicator of your overall general health, and if you use your hands a lot, especially whilst speaking, many people will see the state of them. With just a bit of care, your nails will thank you in the long run and it will be so much healthier for you than putting all that bacteria into your mouth. However, in order to look after your nails properly, you will need to understand them a little bit more and know what they need.

What is a Nail and How Can You Care For it?:

A nail consists of a hard protein called Keratin. They are basically on our fingers to protect them from any kind of trauma, and they even help to pick up small objects. Women see their nails more of a cosmetic purpose however, and they often have manicures to make them look their best.

Manicures are actually good for the nail, and as well as looking good, they also help to keep the nail healthy. In order to get the most out of your nails it is essential that you see a professional manicurist, instead of trying to do it yourself.

Basic hygiene is also not hard to do, yet it will keep your nails really healthy. Moisturizer is essential in aiding with the condition of your hands and nails, and you can buy specially designed polish which strengthens the nails. A good nail brush also comes in handy and using soap with it will really help to get rid of any bacteria. However, do not take that as a sign that you can now safely chew your nails. If you do have a problem with not being able to stop biting your nails, there are special products on the market which taste horrible, which are designed to stop your habit.

If you do not take proper care of your nails and you simply carry on biting them without cleaning them, you are potentially likely to get infections and cold sores within the mouth. Even if you have been doing it for years, the risk is always there that you will pass something on into the mouth. It is always better to be safe than sorry!

Overall, it really is so much better for your health if you stop biting your nails. They will look so much better, and you will not have to worry about putting off a potential date either! Usually nail biting is simply a habit, and with little work, it can be cured.