Month: June 2019

PROMPT: Imagine yourself as the head of a funding agency (like the National Institute of Health) in which your job is to look at proposals for research projects and decide what projects to award funding to. Based on your readings this term, discuss a research project (or projects) that you would be most excited about funding as they relate to learning more about microbial influences on human health. As part of your response, consider what are we likely to learn from the project and how that might be important in future healthcare decisions.

If I was the head honcho of a funding agency like that of the National Institute of Health, I would most likely award funding to a project that aims to determine the specified importance of microbial exposure in America in modern day. The reason I would fund a project of this nature, is because I believe it is so extremely important to understand how microbial diversity in the gut microbiome is on human health. However, we already think that the see the importance of the microbiome on human health, so this leaves other areas to be explored. Microbial diversity and exposure to microbes, are what I believe to be the major player here in human health. I would fund a project that places focus on hygiene practice in America and the correlation with microbial diversity in the gut microbiome. I believe that Americans may be too clean and inside too often. We have almost eliminated microbial exposure from dirt, grass, soil, etc. because we aren’t outside near as much as our ancestors were. Also, the cleaning products used regularly in American households are so strong that they work to eliminate all microbes in the home. There are already statistically significant studies that have concluded that those who live on farms are less susceptible to allergic disease because they have more microbial exposure on a daily basis than the ordinary person. So, I think that Americans may be entirely too clean, and that there are changes that are needed to be made in the near future if we want to continue to lead healthy lives as a global population, deep into the future.

PROMPT: Part 1: Set a timer for 3 minutes, and make a list of as many human non-infectious diseases that you can think of that are influenced by microorganisms.

• Depression
• Anxiety – Other mental health disease
• Alzheimer’s
• Obesity
• Atherosclerosis
• Diabetes
• Inflammatory Bowel Disease, GERD, Gastric Ulcers
• Gastric Cancer
• Allergic Disease
• Asthma
• Immunodeficiency Diseases

Part 2: Refer back to your Writing Exercise #1 that you completed the first week of class. Reflect and discuss how your responses have changed from week 1 to week 10, and what the most important topics you will take away with you once you have completed the course.

After my reflection on the initial writing exercise, I noticed that my new list was both longer and easier for me to list just based off of my own knowledge and memory. When I composed the first list, I remember having to search the web to help myself narrow down exactly what might be influenced by microorganisms. After going through the course, I learned a lot about microorganisms and just how they can affect our bodies. What I learned is that the gut microbiome has a very large influence on our health and how our bodies operate and respond to their environments.

The main thing that I learned is that there are many indirect connections that microorganisms have with our bodies. Indirect connections have been pinpointed as the driving force for many of the issues that I listed above, especially in the most recent years. We have learned in this course, that the relationships between microbes in the gastrointestinal tract and human health are much more important than we have ever thought that they were. We are starting to see that microbial influence on non-infectious disease works in reciprocation as well, and both are extremely important to be aware of. Research has started to show in recent years, that certain non-infectious diseases may also have a large impact on the diversity and colonization of the microbial cells in the gut as well.

I have taken some things away from this class that I am sure will help me as my life goes on, especially in my career. The most important thing that I have taken away from this course is that the gut microbiome is extremely and incredibly complex. Not only is it complex, but scientists have only just begun to peel back those layers of complexity, and we are quickly realizing that we hardly know anything about the processes and mechanisms of the gut microflora, or the extent of the influences that microbial cells have on human health.

 

PROMPT: Describe how microbial communities in the body could influence brain and mental health states. Then, describe how brain and mental health states could influence microbial communities in the body. In what ways might these promote health and/or disease?

The human gut microbiome is home to over 100 trillion microorganisms, most of which researchers have no real idea of the functions of. We do know, however, that the gut microbiome is an extremely influential being in the human body. In recent studies, the microbiome has been labelled by some as, an entire new organ system in the body. The reason for this is that we have been finding in recent years, that the gut microbiome is influential on things such as allergic disease, gastrointestinal cancer and other GI illnesses, asthma, obesity, and even human mental health. The microbiome could certainly influence brain and mental health states, given all of its functions. The gut microflora help to assist in digestion, absorb nutrients, produce vitamins for overall health and immune system function and efficiency. These are a list of several things that ma contribute to human mental health state. The gut microbiome also has a major influence on the gastrointestinal tract. Poor bacterial diversity in the gut has been known to lead complicated gastrointestinal diseases. The science is still very new, and there is little really known about the influence of the gut microbiome, but it is extremely clear that the bacterial abundance has some kind of influence on the brain and states associated with it.

Studies have shown in recent years also, that the brain can actually influence the microbial communities in the body. One of the things that I was able to read about is that the main influential factor from the brain on the gut is known to be stress/stressful situations. Stress related incidences, such as early life stress have been proven to lead to mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety. Another interesting point to be made is that many researchers claim that stress may greatly alter the microbial communities in the gut. Sexual and/or psychological abuse can certainly lead to high stress incidence. High stress results in an influx of cortisol in the brain, which has been linked to being influential on bodily functions including the immunological and metabolic systems.