Human microbiome project

jenrio

This kind of study was impossible/very expensive to do just a few years ago.   But now it produces wealth of information.     First on healthy people and healthy bacterias.   Some day for cancer patients and bacterias.   I wonder if there's difference.

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/14/health/human-microbiome-project-decodes-our-100-trillion-good-bacteria.html?pagewanted=all 

Anonymous

Hi Jenrio, really interesting.  I watched a documentary not long ago and the test was for someone not to wash for a whole week and then using some sort of machine to highlight the bacterial flora on the whole body.  My God, it was scary !  

Check this out: http://www.textbookofbacteriology.net/normalflora.html

Maybe, bacteria is what cancer sniffing dogs detect ?  I don't want to gross out anyone, but apparently cancer wards have a particular scent, not pleasant.  Apparently, people with cancer exude a certain aroma 

Anyhoo, I take my probiotics and don't miss a beat 

jenrio

Interesting idea about a cancer sniffing dog.   Diabetes sniffing dog would be very very easy...   But cancer sniffing dog would be so cool.    We count dog barks every day to see whether we should 

a.  get an ultrasound

b.  get chemo

c.  exercise/eat healthy etc etc

d.  go to ER

Or a dog-on-a-chip to tell us a home test of anything we want...   I'd love it! 

pupmom

Jenrio, lol! Finally my little doggie can earn her keep! 

Anonymous

Just in case you were jiving me....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5o9eotnuNE

jenrio

Yokiemom, you must send Yokie to medical school, stick a lab coat on him and give him a nice bone for his oncologist salary!

Maud,  cool video.   I'm pretty sure that dogs can sniff out:  sugar, ketone (diabetics), estrogen for BC, bacterial sepsis etc.   Notice how the original article quoted a director from a "cancer prevention" institute.   They didn't state why, but I'm pretty sure some researchers made the connection too.

Another video linked from your original:   dogs sniffing 8 urine samples of cancer patients:  bladder cancer 56% time.   I bet colorectal cancer is detectable from poop.   also an anecdotes of a dog sniffing a lady's breast, the rest is history...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPQrk8OYI9Y&feature=relmfu 

Anonymous

Awesome, dogs are my heroes !!

This is the story of the lady with BC whom the doctor in your video referred to:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=H6E3EBAVL1g

pupmom

I will have to get right on that! 

On a serious note, I have heard for years that dogs can sniff out cancer. Also, when, as an undergrad, I worked part time as a ward clerk in a hospital, I would hear from nurses that cancer patients did have a distinct odor. Sadly, in those days pain meds for cancer patients were strictly limited. I would hear cancer patients crying out from their rooms, and the nurses would just shrug and say we can't do anything it's not time for their pain meds yet. Arrrrrgh! 

Anonymous

Multilingual bacteria...ouf !

http://www.ted.com/talks/bonnie_bassler_on_how_bacteria_communicate.html 

jenrio

  thanks for the awesome TED video.   Must-watch.   Cancer, like bacteria, also speaks languages.   We need to figure out either how to kill cancer, or speak their language and tell them in no-uncertain terms:   S-T-O-P or D-I-E

curveball

@ jenrio, it's entirely possible. It has only been a few years since the discovery that ulcers are caused by a bacterium, and (?) a few decades since the cancer-causing ability of human papilloma virus was discovered. Who knows what these studies may reveal?

Anonymous

Jenrio, your observation is very interesting.  Apparently, tumour cells are smart little buggers.

"Traditionally, it has been thought that tumor cells shed telltale proteins into the blood or elicit an immune response that can lead to changes in blood-protein levels. "What is new here is that the predominant protein signals we see in blood originate from complex interactions and crosstalk between the tumor cells and the local host microenvironment," Kemp said

http://www.fhcrc.org/en/news/releases/2011/07/systems_biology_at_aggresive_breast_cancer.html

Well, they're working on the cancer genome and should be done in a decade, not a day too soon 

"The description and interpretation of genomic abnormalities in cancer cells have been at the heart of cancer research for more than a century. With exhaustive sequencing of cancer genomes across a wide range of human tumors well under way, we are now entering the end game of this mission. In the forthcoming decade, essentially complete catalogs of somatic mutations will be generated for tens of thousands of human cancers"

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/331/6024/1553.abstract?sid=c330cd74-d5da-427d-9f67-3eb46294c297 

jenrio

Systemic biology tries to figure out the language between cells, bacterial or cancer.    One day the cure may well come from these directions.    Massive data is being generated from the genome and proteomics fields, we need a lot of people to make sense of it all and look for cures.

I was thinking about the dog sniffing a lady's breast.   I imagined the lady going to her PCP, who says: "you want a mammo because your dog told you so?"   Haha.  

I was checking out TED more.   This is a disgusting talk, so listen, don't watch if you feel squeamish:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/elizabeth_murchison.html

Amazingly, the cancer is really an immortal cell from an ancestral animal.    Now I wonder how can we make a MBC cure out of this.

Anonymous

Jenrio, your link doesn't work for me, try doing a return right after the very last letter in your link. My links did not work either until I tried this and they work now.

In case you're interested:

http://ebookbrowse.com/cancer-is-not-a-disease-its-a-survival-mechanism-pdf-d230265691

ok, now I'm having trouble linking, let me see what I can do.  Unless you just want to copy and paste in your browser

ETA: Here's a summary of the book:

http://www.body-equilibrium.com/articles/cancerarticle.pdf

jenrio

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/science/studies-of-human-microbiome-yield-new-insights.html?pagewanted=all

 

Sequel to the Human biome project:   Tending the microbial garden.

Choice bits:

 

Nonetheless, he sees a few promising probiotic treatments. A growing number of doctors are treating C. difficile with fecal transplants: Stool from a healthy donor is delivered like a suppository to an infected patient. The idea is that the good bacteria in the stool establish themselves in the gut and begin to compete with C. difficile.  This year, researchers at the University of Alberta reviewed 124 fecal transplants and concluded that the procedure is safe and effective, with 83 percent of patients experiencing immediate improvement as their internal ecosystems were restored 

 

No kidding! 

 

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Anonymous

brrrrrrrr Jenrio, you've got me grossed out Lol

Thanks but not thanks, I'll stick with my probiotics, in fact, I'll double the dose  

jenrio

Imagine the researchers presenting their poop-transplant results with a straight face   And their proud parents and their very impressed offsprings.   ROFL

Let me jump aboard my hobby horse again.   Support research, support clinical trials and donate your *samples*... 

Anonymous

LOL ...donate your 'samples'....now I'm ROFL with you