Discover the Science of Health
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Washington University in St. Louis and the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute have discovered that acne bacteria, which thrive in the oily pores of skin, consist of “bad” strains associated with pimples and “good” strains that may protect the skin and keep it healthy. The finding may help dermatologists develop new, strain-specific treatments for acne. The research is published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed a new silk-based stabilizer that, in the laboratory, kept some vaccines and antibiotics stable up to temperatures of 140 degrees Fahrenheit. This provides a new avenue toward eliminating the need to keep some vaccines and antibiotics refrigerated, which could save billions of dollars every year and increase accessibility to third world populations.
Disease has changed over the last one hundred years. A Perspective 200th Anniversary Article in the New England Journal of Medicine compares the way Americans die today versus a century ago [1].
Microbes inhabit just about every part of the human body, living on the skin, in the gut, and up the nose. Sometimes they cause sickness, but most of the time, microorganisms live in harmony with their human hosts, providing vital functions essential for human survival. For the first time, a consortium of researchers organized by the National Institutes of Health has mapped the normal microbial makeup of healthy humans, producing numerous insights and even a few surprises.
Two recent research studies contribute to the growing body of evidence that the population of microbes residing in our intestines plays vital roles in our health. One is a meta-analysis of studies done to determine if taking probiotics alongside antibiotics can alleviate antibiotic associated diarrhea; results are reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association [1]. The other evaluated the effects of red wine on the different species of bacteria in the gut; it appears in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition [2].
