Author: kauffmam

“What choices do you make in terms of food/nutrition/product use and consumption that may have an impact on your microbial communities? Consider choices that are intentional, and choices that are perhaps non-intentional”

I have never really thought about my microbial community on a day to day basis before taking this course. After reading the past few weeks, however, I’m definitely going to be more careful in my regular diet. The only times I’ve been conscientious about my gut health is when I’m on antibiotics–my mom always told me that I should eat yogurt and drink kefir. I’m assuming now it’s because the antibiotics go in and can kill off some of your good bacteria, so it’s good to replenish it a bit by supplementation. I don’t like yogurt and never eat it– or really any dairy for that matter. However, I think it’s probably a good idea to start because of some of the probiotics benefits. Some of these benefits as heard in the lecture video this week include increasing the short chain fatty acids that aid in gut cells absorbing nutrients more efficiently as well as aiding against pathogens.

 

Paul A. Agius, Researcher for Mother and Child Health at La Trobe University, amongst colleagues, led research titled “Human papillomavirus and cervical cancer: Gardasil® vaccination status and knowledge amongst a nationally representative sample of Australian secondary school students” (2015) that declares student knowledge in Australian secondary schools regarding HPV and related health risks was lacking. Agius collected the data through a cross-sectional stratified cluster sample of kids in secondary schools across Australian by having the students fill out true/false statements on HPV and cervical cancer which ultimately showed that only a third of the students knew what HPV was, and only one fourth of students understood the association of HPV and cervical cancer. This research serves the purpose of increasing knowledge about what HPV actually is in terms of sexually transmitted infections, and not just a random vaccine to prevent cancer as has been advertised in the past. Agius and colleagues that aided in the paper are targeting public health audiences to raise more awareness on what HPV is as an STI as well as the damaging effects it can cause.

Reference:

Agius PA, Pitts MK, Smith AMA, Mitchell A. 2010. Human papillomavirus and cervical cancer: gardasil vaccination status and knowledge amongst a nationally representative sample of Australian secondary school students. Vaccine 28:4416-4422

Our microbiome coevolves with us, so it is safe to say that the way we treat our bodies definitely affects the many organisms living within us.

Some things we can do to influence changes in our microbial gut community:

Probiotics/Prebiotics: Ingesting microorganisms to influence a healthier gut in either new production or for already existing organisms to produce antimicrobials: beneficial

Antibiotics: can be detrimental by killing/changing the microbial environment

Antimicrobials: beneficial because only gets rid of certain organisms. Doesn’t affect the organisms who produce it

*Health, age, location and diet also all affect our microbial gut environment… I’m going to say these can be both detrimental and/or beneficial due to how one is taking care of themselves. It is seen in the elderly and in obese patients that they have a different environment when compared with a control group…

“As a healthcare professional, a colleague asks your opinion as to which HPV strains should be covered in a new treatment. Based on your reading from the Sarid and Gao 2011 article, what would your recommendation be, and when should the treatment be administered? What evidence supports your opinion? Keep in mind a cost/benefit analysis, as the cost of developing a vaccine for each strain can get very pricey! (You should not indicate “all of them” in your answer, unless you have strong supportive evidence):”

According to Sarid and Gao’s (2011) article, I would recommend treatment for HPV strains: 16, 18, 31, 45, 33, 35, 39, 51 52, 56, 58 and 59. Although this is a lot of strains, some are considered high risk and the others have been associated with cervical cancer at some point in time. Although it may begin to get pricey, it’s stated in the article that HPV causes almost ALL cases of cervical cancer. Therefore, if there’s treatments/vaccines that can prevent all these different strains from being transmitted, it’s wroth the money. Especially because it is known already what the detrimental effects are. Although this is many strains, it is not all the strains that may be associated with carcinogenic effects. The reason I did not include those is because there is still a lot of associations and work that goes into determining if something indeed has a negative effect. What I think about most regarding preventative treatments is if we eradicate certain strains, will these other strains that we’re unsure of take over and cause similar issues? Some even as extreme as cancer? This is where it gets foggy in knowing what is best for creating vaccines and treatments.

Relating to the powerpoint assigned this week, microorganisms don’t only just cause infectious diseases like influenza, but they  also potentially relate to chronic illnesses like cancer and diabetes and even mental health issues. From using google to reading through the resources provided on canvas, it seems like the world correlates microorganisms with infectious diseases only, but this class seems to be about delving more into how microorganisms can indeed cause noninfectious diseases such as:

Heart disease, cancers, kidney failure, diabetes