Feces – BioQuakes

Tag: Feces

New research recently published in the Journal of Archaeological Science reveals a key—albeit seemingly unlikely—indicator for the health of the Inca Empire: llama droppings. Led by paleoecologist Alex Chepstow-Lusty of the University of Sussex, a group of researchers has been able to accurately track the rise and fall of the Incan Empire by examining the oribatid mite population in Marcacocha, tiny spider relatives that once gorged on the feces of llamas passing through the region. Now a dried-up wetland in the mountains, Marcachoca was a small lake over 200 years ago, and a popular rest stop for Incan llama caravans on their way to and from the ancient city of Ollantaytambo. Thousands of llamas carrying trade goods like maize, salt, feathers, and coca leaves would descend upon Lake Marcacocha, where they would water themselves, drink, and defecate along the edges of the pool. Washed into the lake, their dung was then consumed by the resident, half-millimeter long mites. When the mites died, they sank into the lake mud, preserving their corpses and allowing Alex Chepstow-Lusty to discover them in a sediment core centuries later. Of course, the more llamas that passed through Marcacocha, the more poop the mites had to eat and thus the larger their populations could grow. Conversely, a decline in the llama population would correspond to a decline in the mite population.

After counting the number of mites in each layer of the core, Chepstow-Lusty found that their population skyrocketed when the Incan Empire dominated the Andes from 1438 C.E. to 1533 C.E.—the “golden age” of the Incan Empire. Francisco Pizzaro’s conquest of the empire, however, initiated a massive die-off of Indigenous people and their animals alike, and, as a result, the number of mites took a nosedive. The mite population rose again once Old World animals such as cows, pigs, and horses were brought to the area, but ultimately began to decline again around 1720, when a smallpox epidemic decimated the region.

Llama overlooking Machu Picchu, the most familiar icon of Inca civilization

Surprisingly, the researchers’ investigation of a second poop-eating microorganism, a genus of fungus called Sporormiella, contradicted the results offered by both the mite analysis and the historical record. Since Sporormiella live on herbivores and often reveal insights on the extinctions of large plant-eater populations, scientists often use Sporormiella spore counts to estimate the historical populations of big herbivores. However, the new study demonstrates that other factors can affect fungus populations in different environments, so relying solely on Sporormiella counts can give a misleading picture of population sizes. In the context of Marcacocha, Sporormiella counts responded to fluctuations in the lake’s water level, but didn’t correlate well with the chronology of the Inca Empire. “The spores may be saying more about the environmental conditions of the lake at that time,” according to Chepstow-Lusty, “rather than about the herbivores that may have been living around it.” Ultimately, moving forward, the researchers plan to conduct similar mite studies in Peru and other global locales to see if the technique holds its reliability. If proven reliable, the technique could be a powerful tool for uncovering the fate of other lost civilizations.

Everyone Poops (for approximately 12 seconds)

By evodrewtion

On October 11, 2017

In Student Post

Everyone poops. Despite sometimes causing discomfort and being the subject of juvenile humor, pooping is a necessary, crucial function of our body that removes wastes and can share a lot about a person’s health. All animals poop: Lions, tigers, bears. Celebrities like Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian, they poop, too. Every species has their own unique way of pooping, with a variety of sizes, shapes, smells, and consistencies. Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have analyzed these differences between animals’ feces and have gained insight on these varieties with a focus on the speed at which animals poop at.

The experiment began at Zoo Atlanta where two undergraduates had the glorious task of examining 34 different species’ poop measuring their density and viscosity. In addition, the animal feces were placed in a rheometer in order to test the consistency of each.

The main finding of the experiment concerned the speed of poop. They found that all animals dedicate in approximately the same amount of time, 7 seconds, despite the varieties is size, consistency, etc. The scientists have found that the reason larger animals, with larger feces, poop at a much faster rate than small animals is because they have thicker mucus lining their large intestine. This mucus is slippery and allows for poop to easily pass; thicker amounts allow pooping to happen faster.

Deficiencies in large intestine mucus can lead to chronic constipation or bacterial infections.

Another source has identified an equation for the speed of poop: “the time it takes to poop is equal to said poop’s length divided by its velocity.” For example, an elephant poops at a rate of 6 cm/sec whereas dogs poop at a rate of 1 cm/sec.

As a young child, I read a book called Everyone Poops. This wonderful children’s story set to normalize pooping and show that all living things are connected in this way. I am delighted that not only does everyone poop, but everyone poops for about 12 seconds.

Do you feel more connected to other animals knowing we all poop for about the same amount of time?

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APooping_Elephant_in_Delhi_Zoological_National_Park.jpg Author: Shubhaish kanodia

Original Article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-physics-of-poop/

What a Smelly Solution to a Smelly Predicament!!!!

By benadryl

On January 9, 2016

In Student Post

The newest developments in scientific and medical research have been focused around a rather smelly purpose.

Fecal transplants are all the rage… and yes, it is what is sounds like. A fecal transplant occurs when the feces of a healthy donor are surgically transplanted into the colon of an individual who has various imbalances in the bacterial assortment of their gut. The feces with a healthy bacteria levels pass through the colon of the sick individual, replacing their “bad bacteria” with “good bacteria”, restoring the bacterial balances back to the way they should be.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poop.jpeg

You may ask yourself, why can’t you just take some antibiotics to kill the dominating bacteria and even things out?

Well the problem is just that. Bacterial imbalances are usually caused by antibiotic use that kill one type of bacteria and not another, so taking more antibiotics on top of that would just add to the problem.

The transplant of fecal matter is an icky procedure but has shown to cure many more ailments other than JUST bacterial imbalances. Fecal transplants have showed to help various metabolic diseases, neuropsychiatric disorders, autoimmune diseases, allergic disorders, and even tumors.

E. Coli. – one of the most common bacterias in not only your colon, but also your whole body, is a key player in the Fecal Microbiota Transplantation

One specific study of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) in metabolic syndromes, mixed microbiota from the feces of a lean donor with a sample of unhealthy, self-collected feces. After the mixed feces were then reinserted into the gut, the resultant excrement of the patient displayed increased insulin sensitivity and increased number of healthy butyrate-producing intestinal bacteria. In a sense, the resultant doo doo showed signs of improved health for the patient. Another report of FMT displayed favorable outcomes in abating the effects of:

Parkinson’s disease – a progressive disorder of the nervous system that negatively affects movement
Multiple Sclerosis – an autoimmune nervous system disease in which the human immune system attacks the central nervous system
Myoclonus Dystonia – a nervous and musculoskeletal disorder that results in involuntary and spontaneous muscle twitching and jerking
Chronic fatigue Syndrome – a cerebral disorder in which the brain excretes neurotransmitters that transmit the information to feel tired and fatigued. Can be extremely dangerous when mixed with everyday activities such as cooking and driving.
Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura – a vascular disorder that results in excessive bleeding, internal hemorrhaging, and bruising from low levels of blood platelets.

While many think that poop is simply waste that ought to be disposed of immediately, the beneficial effects that Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) have spread all over the body. From regulating the bacterial levels in the colon, to helping alleviate the symptoms of various autoimmune, vascular, muscular, nervous, and skeletal diseases.

Who would’ve thought that putting poop BACK into the colon would be a healthy thing to do!?!?!

Original Article: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/22/fmt-film/

Funny, yet extremely informative, animation and additional article: http://www.openbiome.org/about-fmt/

Stress and your Gut Microbiota

By organelle

On January 9, 2016

In Student Post

Stress. It’s something all people deal with- whether in large or small amounts- we all know what it feels like. Stress doesn’t always mean staying up to pull an all-nighter and barely making the deadline for a paper, it can be just the anxiousness of flying and getting all your things packed before a trip. In general, stress messes with our immune systems in a lot of different ways. There’s a lot of research on the different ways that stress can affect our bodies ranging from our brains to our hearts. New research has shown another way that stress affects our immune systems: through our gut microbiota. What is our gut microbiota? Formally called gut flora, our gut microbiota is the microbe population living in our intestine. Research has revealed that this microbe population is extremely sensitive to any change in our lifestyles, stress included.

The number one thing that affects our gut flora is our diet. Our bodies are very sensitive to what we eat and how active we are. Problems in giving our bodies proper nutrition and exercise can result in mental health problems, diabetes, obesity, or cancer. Stress, however, has been shown to have a very big impact on our gut. An article reported in Medical Daily described a study done on wild squirrels. The researchers examined squirrel microbiomes and their stress hormone levels. They found that the more stressed a squirrel was, the less variety of bacteria in their gut. They concluded that a healthier squirrel would have more diverse gut bacteria. They assume the same is true for humans, but will have to test to verify. On a side note, they also conducted a test where they found that pregnant women under stress were found to transfer negative effects of stress to their children through vaginal microbiota.

Here is a possibly stressed squirrel (although he seems happy eating the nuts).

Yet another study was conducted and published through The Atlantic on gut microbiota- specifically on “traveler’s constipation.” You might be wondering why I’m mentioning this because, let’s face it- who wouldn’t want to be traveling on a flight to the Bahamas right about now? For our gut, however, this can pose a lot of stresses we wouldn’t think about. About 40% of people say they suffer from travelers constipation, so let’s find out what this is all about. Firstly, on vacation our eating habits change. Whether this means coming home for the holidays and binge eating cookies, or eating a lot less than you normally eat, your gut is sensitive to both. Another, more surprising effect is the change of scenery- your gut is extremely sensitive to change of setting. Anytime you leave your general habitat, in fact, it throws your gut flora off balance- especially if the time zone changes because it messes up routine. For some, the mere thought of traveling can cause difficulty with their bowel movements. Sitting on planes or in a car for long periods of time can also really mess with your gut because part of what helps us “go” is moving around. This is why exercise can actually help you to go to the bathroom. All of these things are things we might not really think about because we don’t understand why it happens or we might not even realize it’s happening sometimes.

Our gut is often called the “second brain”, because millions of neurons line the intestines so it really does play a role in your mental state. Diet and exercise are extremely important in maintaining a healthy gut. Doctors and researchers have have recommended sleep, a lot of water, yogurt, probiotics or other fermented foods, foods high in fiber and meditation and mindfulness. These two might be surprising, but it makes sense. If our gut really is our “second brain” we should take really good care of our mental health through meditation, being mindful, and even therapy.

BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Tag: Feces

The Answer, My Friend, is … in Llama Poop?

Everyone Poops (for approximately 12 seconds)

What a Smelly Solution to a Smelly Predicament!!!!

Stress and your Gut Microbiota

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