bacteria – Page 4

Weak Immune Systems Are Good?

On November 21, 2013

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baby_on_Back.jpg

In a recent article published, it is said that baby’s weak immune systems are good because they let in good bacteria. A recent study suggests that babies are deliberately vulnerable to bacterial infections in the months after birth. This vulnerability allows good microbes to enter the baby’s gut, skin, mouth and lungs. Perhaps we could use this system to treat infections in infants and change the way babies are vaccinated.

To test this theory that the weak immune systems let in good bacteria, scientist Sing Sing Way proposed a experiment. Coming from an infectious-disease background, the pediatrician from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital used mice to test this theory. He compared the immune cells in week-old mice to those in adult mice. The younger mice had a higher proportion of red blood cells. With this, he found that these cells suppress the immune response by making the enzyme arginase.

Sing Sing Way then gave the young mice antibodies that removed the red blood cells and stopped the production of arginase. When infected with Listeria Monocytogenes the mice’s immune systems fended off the bacterium. However without the arginase, the mice’s intestinal cells became inflamed. Ofer Levy, from Boston Children’s Hospital, concluded that reducing the inflammation must be the body’s reason for initially suppressing the immunity- “If there were no mechanisms to dampen inflammation, the newborn would fall apart”. What do you think of Levy’s conclusion and this new study?

Koalas in danger

By engan12

On February 27, 2012

In Student Post

We all know that species have been going extinct when faced with threats such as climate change, reduced habitat and diseases. A recent New York Times article reveals one such species that people have realized is in danger is the koala. Besides the loss of habitat and climate changes in Australia, a new bacterium has been found in wild koalas called chlamydia.

There are two strains now known which have been affecting the koala population in Queensland. The first is Chlamydia pecorum and the second is C. pneumoniae. The bacteria are transmitted through mating and birth and possibly fighting. Some of the symptoms are eye infections, which can lead to blindness that will make it hard for them to find eucalyptus leaves, respiratory infections, and cysts that cause female koalas to be infertile.

The bacteria is growing so much in the area of Queensland since many of the koalas there are infected with koala retrovirus which acts like H.I.V. in koalas making their immunes system shut down. There is no way to treat the retrovirus but researchers are trying to create a vaccine to prevent the spread of chlamydia. There is no set plan on how to distribute the vaccine yet but they are still trying to figure out what the most efficient method of vaccination will be after tests have been completed.

Would you like allergies with that C section?

By sweetasglucose

On January 11, 2012

In Student Post

New born delivery baby photo

Although winter is annoyingly cold, at least there are some upsides, Christmas, hot coco, and a break from allergy season. For some people,the months from March to September can be horrible…if they have allergies. Their bodies feels sickly, their noses feel itchy, and their snot is icky. The loud sneezing can be so embarrassing, and they begin to wonder what they did to deserve this cruel and unusual punishment? NOTHING! If you are one of those people, don’t feel bad, it isn’t YOUR fault. Like most things in life, you can blame it on your parents. For keeping you too clean?

Scientist in Denmark have related the amount of allergies people have to the lifestyle they had growing up. According to studies done at Gentofte Hospital, the more babies and infants are introduced to bacteria at a young age, the more likely they won’t be as allergic to things. “Reduced diversity of the intestinal microbiota during infancy was associated with increased risk of allergic disease at school age..But if there was considerable diversity, the risk was reduced, and the greater the variation, the lower the risk.” said Gentofte Hospital consultant Professor Hans Bisgaard.

The time to being exposing babies starts right at birth and up to three months later. Wait, does this mean after birth we should make babies visit EVERY wing in the hospital.

Stranger, the fact someone has allergies could rely on how they were delievered. In the womb, the infant is protected by the mother’s immune defences. As an infant is delivered it is surrounded by new bacteria. A study showed, that those babies who were born vaginally, and were exposed to all the bactieria in the mother’s rectum, have much less allergies than the babies from a C section who weren’t as exposed to the bacteria in their mother.

However, Professor Bisgaard isn’t stopping his research at connecting early life factors to allergies, he has also connected it to asthma and hay fever. Bisgaard’s continued research might be able to tie diseaseas such as obesity and diabetes to another early life factors as well.

Who knows what other things we’ll be able to fault are parents with in the future?

BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Tag: bacteria (Page 4 of 4)

Weak Immune Systems Are Good?

Koalas in danger

Would you like allergies with that C section?

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