In my experience with the peer review process, it helped me better understand the main goals for writing the paper. It gave me a chance to know more about how my classmates approached them. I usually look at how others address their every single idea about their papers and try to apply it to my paper. I can also learn what kind of words choice people make that I could adapt to my own paper to make it more professional or readable. I also look at the information they use to support their thesis. I personally have difficulty organizing information in my paper. By reading others papers, it gives me a chance to check if I provide enough information to support my ideas. Peer reviewing helps me get a better understanding on what kind of thought the reader have while they are reading this kind of paper, and what kind of common confusions are in the paper, so I can avoid those mistake.
Writing Exercise #10
Peer reviewing is very important because it allows others to evaluate the constants in the article is true and scientifically accurate. It is usually finished by people working on the similar topics.
The benefit for peer review is that it allows the editors to give advice for the article to be more readable to an audience outside of the scientists who preformed the experiment. With more people doing the peer reviewing, the more reliable the article will be. However, peer reviewing could take time and causing the submission on the paper to get push back.
writing exercise #9
Potential risk factors could be:
- Formula feeding instead of being exposed to microbes in breast milk
- Infant being born through c-section and not exposed to vaginal microbes in delivery
- A kid that never plays outside (in dirt)
- Parents that don’t get there kids vaccinated to be exposed to viruses that like virulence factors
- Antibiotic therapy not being used in the right way
- Over use of antimicrobial household products like (detergents, soaps, kitchen cleaners etc.)
writing exercise #8
the most interesting thing I have learned is that the gut-brain commuication can influence the colonization of microbiome of babies. When I was doing the research for the writing exercise #7, the most information I got was about the usage of antibiotics or the mode of delivery. Researches have done plenty of studies on the external factors, but it looks like we still need more efforts on the internal factors.
Gut-brain communication occurs via interactions between the gut microbiome and PIN pathways, including cytokines, endocrine, and neural pathways. Powerful inflammatory stimulus such as LPS can go cross the intestinal interface and get the peritoneal cavity. This may stimulate a inflammatory response.
I may start my final essay by doing the research first. After I get a general idea about what I am going to put into my essay, I will write down a outline. I may do some further researches during the process of writing.
writing exercise #7
- mode of delivery
babies born by C-section transfer less bacteria from their mothers, and they go less diversity of their gut microbiome
- feeding patterns
breast feeding stimulates the growth of Bifidobacterium and Bacteroides
- prenatal antibiotic exposure
prenatal antibiotics exposure lowers the colonization and diversity of gut microbiome of babies
writing exercise #5
Taking nutritional supplements is a intentional choice that may have impact on my microbial communities. Supplements such as dietary fiber, may promote the growth of probiotics in our gut.
The choice of food we eat can have non-intentional impact on our microbial communities. For example, when we get travel to a foreign country, the local food we eat may break the balance of our gut communities, and make us get sick. Another example is that we happen to eat some food that was polluted by some harmful bacterial during the producing process. It is really dangerous if the bacterial get colonized in our gut since some bacterial are lethal.
Writing Exercise #6
So far, I only took antibiotics for twice. First time I took antibiotics, I was about 2 months old. I got pneumonia after a bad cold. The situation was totally out of control because I had a high fever at the same time. My mom had no choice and took me to the hospital. I took antibiotics for few days and the pneumonia got controlled.
The second time I took antibiotics was due to serious bacterial infection of a wound on my leg. I had a physical education test two weeks later, I needed to make sure the infection would not affect my final grade so I took antibiotic injection for one week. The infection get cured quickly, and I did not get any side effects after the injection.
From these experience, I learned that antibiotic treatment is a high-efficiency way to control most bacterial inflammation. For patients who do not use antibiotics frequently, it will take effect in a short time. My parents do not support the usage of antibiotics in daily life, they believe antibiotics are harmful to gut microbiomes. To them, they will never choose antibiotic treatment unless in urgency. For example in my second experience, they brought me some external anti-inflammation ointment to see if they could work. After we found the inflammation was getting worse and worse, they finally took me to the hospital.
Writing Exercise #4
- usage of probiotics – Probiotics play an important role in the immunity system. They can compete with pathobionts by consuming nutrients they need, and they can exclude pathobionts from colonizing in the gut. Probiotics also produce beneficial bioactive compounds, such as butyrate, vitamins or growth substrates. They can secrete compounds that inhibit or kill pathobionts.
- usage of antibiotics – Antibiotics is widely used as a treatment for a large range of diseases, especially in developing countries. People can get access to antibiotics easily in the grocery store pharmacy. Antibiotics quickly kill most of bacteria and destroy the balance of our inner environment. Frequently exposure to antibiotics will it harder for us to restore our gut microbiome.
- diet – Food we consume will affect the gut microbiome. For example, consuming more food riched in insoluble fiber will stimulate the growth of probiotics.
- exposure to bacteria – Especially for babies, the exposure to the outside world can help them to set up their own microbiome system quickly.