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Post by Admin on Jul 7, 2015 9:15:00 GMT -4
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Post by Chris Yulo MS4 on Jul 7, 2015 10:46:07 GMT -4
This is mind-blowing. The idea that one's own gut flora affects one's behavior is very much an idea that belongs in a bad science fiction movie, and yet here is an article on the NY Times posing the idea as a fairly legitimate theory. What really got me thinking was the implications; by simply transplanting feces, you could potentially change one's neurodevelopment. That sounds disgusting, but it would be "more straightforward than altering [his] genes." You could treat autism with a transplant of flora. Obviously this might be more tricky than it sounds, altering an ecosystem is a difficult task, especially microflora in one's gut. I'd be interested to see where this goes as time moves on. Great read.
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Post by Hiren Darji on Jul 7, 2015 11:19:36 GMT -4
This article on “Can the Bacteria in Your Gut Explain Your Mood” is really fascinating and educational for me. I am shocked to know that six pounds of our total body weight is actually microbes. I would of never in million years imagined that gut microbes would play a communicate and alter the neurochemicals in our brain along with linking microbes to obesity and IBD. Especially with recent fecal transplants for GI related disease emerging as a treatments option this would be helpful information for patients and doctors to keep an eye on how not only keep an eye on digestive symptoms but also to monitor for neurotransmitters and see if there has been any change in their behavior. Possibility of using fecal transplant for psychiatric disease sounds like an amazing idea.
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Post by Farisa Ali on Jul 7, 2015 18:27:20 GMT -4
It's absolutely amazing that the gut microbiomes contain millions of genes so it is quiet possible there is a lot more to the bacteria then we can possibly ever know. I have heard about fecal transplants for patients with cdiff as a last resort but for personality transplants? One might find it very amusing to put ones micro flora into another and see their mental illness/behavior evolve; I think its pretty neat. Also Its actually not that far fetched that gut micro flora can produce certain neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, and GABA. It is already known that Vitamin K is produced by the gut flora. It's great that many more grants are being given to research facilities to learn more about the vast functions of our microbiomes and how it effects the human physiology and brain. I believe more research on our microbiomes will potentially tie in a lot of the missing pieces in some mental and medical illnesses such as anxiety, major depression, autism, and obesity.
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Kenechukwu Udechukwu
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Post by Kenechukwu Udechukwu on Jul 8, 2015 9:55:49 GMT -4
This is another interesting read!! By now, the idea that gut bacteria affects a person’s health is not revolutionary. Many people know that these microbes influence digestion, allergies, and metabolism. The trend has become almost commonplace: New books appear regularly detailing precisely which diet will lead to optimum bacterial health. When Lyte began his work on the link between microbes and the brain three decades ago, it was dismissed as a curiosity but now, National Institute of Mental Health had awarded four grants worth up to $1 million each to spur new research on the gut microbiome’s role in mental disorders, affirming the legitimacy of a field that had long struggled to attract serious scientific credibility - why did they have to take almost 25 years? I agree to the motion that we might look to these microbes as a diagnostic tool for neurodevelopment disorders. In a paper published two years ago in the journal Cell, Mazmanian and several colleagues fed B. fragilis from humans to mice with symptoms similar to autism. The treatment altered the makeup of the animals’ microbiome, and more importantly, improved their behavior: They became less anxious, communicated more with other mice, and showed less repetitive behavior. Exactly how the microbes interact with the illness—whether as a trigger or as a shield—remains mostly a mystery. Thanks to University College Cork, in Ireland, and McMaster University, in Ontario, for their contribution in the study of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science that has become one of the best-known experiments linking bacteria in the gut to the brain. Do I think it’s the future? Lyte thinks it’s a long way away. Well, only time will tell.
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Post by Prashanthi on Jul 8, 2015 12:59:33 GMT -4
We are aware of the role microbes play in their association with conditions such as obesity and IBD, however the theory that these organisms may play a role in contributing to human behavior is quite an interesting approach. Most of the studies performed seemed to indicate anxious behavior in specimens, however many variables could contribute to the behavior displayed by the rats. The link between these bacteria and autism was something I found very interesting regardless of the finding that gut bacteria have been theorized to secret neuro chemicals utilizing the same relay system as the brain. . The association between the levels of anxiety experienced with those exposed to Lactobacilli was also an intriguing finding. It may take time but it is promising to read that money is being given to the research and finding more specific underlying factors contributing to diseases that still require a lot of research, is always a positive thing.
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Post by Anoop Loke on Jul 8, 2015 21:14:20 GMT -4
Great Article! Its amazing how our mental health can be affected by so many factors. It makes sense now, how healthy eating can make you feel better also. It is amazing how our bodies function in synch with the bacterial flora in our body. It is really a fine balance. Bacterial flora in the wrong place can cause a havoc but the right flora in the right place is very beneficial for our bodies equilibrium. We knew the effects of beneficial bacterial in our body and its role in our health, but the fact that it can affect our mental health is amazing. Fecal transplants might replace Prozac in the future. They might be the next blockbuster drug. Im looking forward to see these study progress past preclinical trials.
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Post by Maria Bezares MS3 on Jul 8, 2015 22:45:24 GMT -4
Insightful article! The fact that the presence of certain microorganism in the gut may be influencing the brain functions might seem to be a fictional statement, but if science could prove it, it will, for sure, cause a twist in conventional psychiatry treatments. For me, it makes sense the fact that, if bacteria produce neurochemicals, the presence and concentration of bacteria in the gut could result in certain degree of influence of the brain functions, but, I think that scientist must prove that these bacteria could produce such big concentration of these chemicals to be capable of crossing the intestines, altering the blood brain barrier and brain functionality.
Personally, I think it was impressive the experiment of the mice that were forced to swim, while they measured the amount of time they reach “behavioral despair”. I think the fact that, when fed with Lactobacillus rhamnosus broth, mice behave in a similar way as if they were treated with medication, such as Prozac, is a strong positive evidence of the influence of bacteria in the gut over brain functions. If this experiment is valid, psychiatric diseases may be treated in the future as an imbalance of body normal flora, rather than merely the imbalance of neurotransmitter in the brain.
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Post by Minh Quach on Jul 9, 2015 1:24:26 GMT -4
This article is by far the most interesting article I have read since rotating here. Although most of us already knew that our gut has bacteria flora, which helps provide us specific vitamins and breakdown the macromolecules for us, what I didn't know was that whether they are present or not can be linked to several common illnesses such as obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, and side effects of prescription drugs. Another thing I learned from the article is that micro-organisms in our gut secretes chemicals that are the same substances out neurons uses to regulate mood like, dopamine, serotonin, and GABA. I find this interesting because these chemicals play a role in intestinal disorders which associates with major depression and anxiety. If we can somehow find the pieces to the puzzle in finding the right microbes in our gut then maybe one day we could use the current idea of fecal transplant to help treat those affected with psychiatric illnesses like depression and anxiety. With the current research findings, I am sure that the production of synthetic microbes from gut flora will be promising in the near future for the treatment of psychiatric illnesses.
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Post by Ugo Okeke, MS3 on Jul 9, 2015 9:33:01 GMT -4
This was a very fascinating article about feces. It is well known that feces contain neuro chemicals such as GABA, serotonin , dopamine among others, and I was not aware that the chemicals in the feces actually had an effect on animal activity. The excerpt that talked about how transplanting feces into the mouse that had more GABA, calmed the mouse into swimming longer was very intriguing. However, I do feel we are are a bit away from extensive fecal transplant in humans for psychiatric reasons. While the gut bacteria may have chemicals that can help patients with depression, bipolar, disorder, and maybe schizophrenia, there are a lot of neurotoxins in feces , and the risks and harm to the body are too hard to calculate without more research.
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Post by Christine Lomiguen on Jul 9, 2015 9:45:45 GMT -4
It seems like just yesterday that researchers were scrambling to complete the Human Genome Project, so it's very interesting to know that the Human Microbiome Project is underway. We see so many patients here at PACT Atlanta with anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders, and very often they say they have a "restless stomach", GERD, or other GI abnormalities. Before reading this article, I thought those GI complaints were related to their medical conditions, side effects from drug regimens, diseases that run in their family, part of a somatoform disorder, or even merely coincidence, but this article dares me to think otherwise. It will be interesting to see the results of their published research and any correlation of neurochemical levels or bacteria present in feces and their association with neurodevelopment and their influence on mental illness.
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Post by Christine Lomiguen on Jul 9, 2015 10:10:56 GMT -4
It seems like just yesterday that researchers were scrambling to complete the Human Genome Project, so it's very interesting to know that the Human Microbiome Project is underway. We see so many patients here at PACT Atlanta with anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders, and very often they say they have a "restless stomach", GERD, or other GI abnormalities. Before reading this article, I thought those GI complaints were related to their medical conditions, side effects from drug regimens, diseases that run in their family, part of a somatoform disorder, or even merely coincidence, but this article dares me to think otherwise. It will be interesting to see the results of their published research and any correlation of neurochemical levels or bacteria present in feces and their association with neurodevelopment and their influence on mental illness.
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Post by Babar Akhter on Jul 9, 2015 10:40:03 GMT -4
The article was interesting and given the evidence based on the experiments that were conducted by lyte and his teams on gut flora and the neuro chemicals present in the gut and how they extrapolated the conduction of neuro-signaling seems prominent and ground breaking. The teams at Mc Master and the CAL tech both have similar data on the effects of gut flora and its induction to mental development ties in the fact that there is a underlying relationship the amount of the serotonin, dopa, gaba and how it affects the moods. The correlation on exactly how much of it is present in the gut flora and its development of such condition has depression, anxiety, and other metal disorders seems likely because patients with these condition often complains of GI disturbances. Taking this general complaint along with the research that lyte and his team are conducting would reveal in the next couple of years exactly how and why the gut flora pack with these neuro chemicals convey signals they way do and shape the specific personalities they do when they are altered. Nonetheless this research will open the door to many other concerns such preventative measures that can be taken in utero to by pass any complications that would result in these various mood conditions.
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Post by NADER RAFFI on Jul 9, 2015 11:55:53 GMT -4
THIS ARTICE IS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING AND INTELLECTUALLY STIMULATIG ARTICLES IV READ.I CAN SEE WHY IT CREATED SO MUCH CONTROVERCY.I THINK MORE STUDIES NEED TO BE DONE.THE THEORY BEHIND NEUROSIGNALING MADE SENSE.EVEN THOUGH SO FAR THE EXPERIMENTS REVEAL POSITIVE CORRELATION,IN MY OPINION.THEFACT THAT SEROTONIN AND GABA AND DOPA EFFECT MOOD IS NOT NEW AS THE BASIS OF NEUROPHARMACOLOGY IN PSYCHATRY IS BASED ON THAT PREMISE.HOWEVER I MUST WONDER ABOUT THE CORRELATION BETWEEN MENTAL DISORDER AND GASTROINTESTINAL DISTURBUNCE.THE RESEARCH LYTE AND HIS TEAM ARE CONDUCTING WILL PROBABLY REVEAL THAT CORRELATION AND IF THAT POSITIVE CORRELATION WOULD TRANSLATE TO CAUSALITIES.THE TEAM AT MCMASTER CONFIRMED LYTE CONCLUSIONS.I HOPE THIS RESEARCH WILL BRING US TO A NEW ERA OF PREVENTATIVE MEASURES FOR PSYCHIATRIC AND MOOD DISORDERS
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Badursha Subramaniam
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Post by Badursha Subramaniam on Jul 9, 2015 13:52:13 GMT -4
This is a very interesting article. It was interesting how Lyte found that among those chemicals are the same substances used by our neurons to communicate and regulate mood, like dopamine, serotonin and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). These, in turn, appear to play a function in intestinal disorders, which coincide with high levels of major depression and anxiety. It was also interesting to read that Mazmanian said restrictive diets and antibacterial treatments seemed to help some children with autism: Altering the microbial composition might be changing the permeability of the intestine. But yet there's a question if autism is a disease in the brain or in the intestine. If it is actually a disease of intestine can it be treated?? Possibility of using fecal transplant for psychiatric disease sounds like something that would change a lot of things.
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