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Scientists catalog zoo of bacteria inside our guts
Associated Press ^ | Mar 3, 2010 | SETH BORENSTEIN

Posted on 03/03/2010 3:22:06 PM PST by decimon

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To: bigheadfred

The mysterious part of this discovery is, how the little cages got in there.


21 posted on 03/03/2010 7:27:58 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Freedom is Priceless.)
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To: decimon

22 posted on 03/03/2010 8:10:41 PM PST by LibFreeOrDie (Obama promised a gold mine, but will give us the shaft.)
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To: LibFreeOrDie
Those are cute! Where can I buy them for my daughter who's into health-related topics?

Cheers!

23 posted on 03/03/2010 8:46:39 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: decimon

Finally in the last line they are accurately called flora. Makes us more like a botanical garden than a zoo. This could be a case of “blame the headline writer.”


24 posted on 03/03/2010 8:53:56 PM PST by firebrand
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To: grey_whiskers

http://www.giantmicrobes.com/


25 posted on 03/03/2010 10:03:02 PM PST by LibFreeOrDie (Obama promised a gold mine, but will give us the shaft.)
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To: ARepublicanForAllReasons

Stupidest comment ever.

Not at all.

Guesstimates would say the average adult human to be somewhere between 50-100 trillion cells.

But you have one hundred TIMES that many bacteria.


26 posted on 03/03/2010 10:20:24 PM PST by djf (Who says "The stuff of life" is not stuff? Mostly it's people who have the most stuff.)
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To: djf
But you have one hundred TIMES that many bacteria.

Guess it's time for a shower!

27 posted on 03/03/2010 10:40:28 PM PST by ARepublicanForAllReasons (Give 'em hell, Sarah!)
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To: ARepublicanForAllReasons

Many of them are good.

There are bacteria in the gut that make a chemical. A chemical that if you didn’t have it, your clotting ability would go crazy.

It was never at least early on identified as a vitamin, because just about everyone has enough of it from the bacteria, so deficiencies were unknown - but now they know.

Vitamin K.

Alot of the good bacteria pretty much are happy to just hang out, they crowd out any bad stuff from getting in.

Your immune system is constantly being refined and tuned - something like 70 percent of a humans immune system lives in their gut - where there is a possibility of being infected by something you eat.

I think I read something somewhere about bacteria having a positive affect on Vitamin E metabolism also.

So they’re not all bad!


28 posted on 03/03/2010 11:12:44 PM PST by djf (Who says "The stuff of life" is not stuff? Mostly it's people who have the most stuff.)
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To: djf
Many of them are good.

I know bacteria in our intestines are necessary for life. But I did need a shower!

I eat lots of yogurt and sourdough bread to keep my intestines producing vitamins. And I've grown addicted to bran muffins, they clean out the intestines, cutting down the likelihood of getting those danm polyps, like Reagan had surgery for.

Now you remind me it's time to take my daily dose of vitamin E. Tx.

-- ARFAR

29 posted on 03/04/2010 1:17:50 AM PST by ARepublicanForAllReasons (Give 'em hell, Sarah!)
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To: PeteB570

Yogurt feeds ON the little buggers.


30 posted on 03/04/2010 7:21:43 AM PST by a fool in paradise
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To: ARepublicanForAllReasons
"...Who will be the first bacteria to win the Noble Prize in Biology?..."

Well, smart aleck, I cast my vote for the little guys that ferment my beer. They have performed a valuable service and have brought a lot of joy to all humanity.

31 posted on 03/04/2010 7:38:14 AM PST by I Buried My Guns
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To: I Buried My Guns

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy” Ben Franklin


32 posted on 03/04/2010 7:41:12 AM PST by allmendream (Income is EARNED not distributed. So how could it be re-distributed?)
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To: a fool in paradise

Yogurt contains lots of little buggers on it’s own.

;-)


33 posted on 03/04/2010 10:34:03 AM PST by PeteB570 (Airborne, the only way to get to work in the morning.)
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To: SunkenCiv
The mysterious part of this discovery is, how the little cages got in there.

Was gonna tell ya last night. But I didn't want to interfere with your good night's sleep. They bring in the expurts from the penile colony...

34 posted on 03/04/2010 11:40:18 AM PST by bigheadfred (BE WHO YOU ARE. SAY WHAT YOU FEEL. Those who matter don't mind.Those who mind don't matter)
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To: bigheadfred

Or maybe a Doctor of Proctology...


35 posted on 03/04/2010 2:05:14 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Freedom is Priceless.)
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To: Habibi

What are the symptoms of sterile gut, how does one get it and what is the cure? Thanks in advance, Sir.


36 posted on 03/04/2010 2:26:57 PM PST by txhurl
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To: SunkenCiv

Isn’t that the degree you have to get to practice law? Makes sense.


37 posted on 03/04/2010 2:41:48 PM PST by bigheadfred (BE WHO YOU ARE. SAY WHAT YOU FEEL. Those who matter don't mind.Those who mind don't matter)
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To: txhurl

The symptoms of sterile gut are.....unpleasant. Diarrhea, gas, etc. It’s caused by the loss of intestinal flora, due to being killed of by something (in my case a course of antibiotics). This floral “shift” causes pH shifts, and other things that your guts don’t like. Now, as to the cure....it’s more of the good bacteria that likes to live in your GI system. Now some regimens involve actually ingesting pills with those bacteria in them (poop pills?). I hardly think that would be necessary as we are continually exposed to these bugs in our daily life. Your intestines will eventually be dosed with the proper bacteria to repopulate your system.

Now remember, you asked. A gastroenterologist (GI doctor) would give a better description no doubt, but what I’ve provided is “a quick and dirty”, so to speak. ;-)

Thank goodness for those little bugs. Without them, what would we do?


38 posted on 03/04/2010 6:30:46 PM PST by Habibi ("It is vain to do with more what can be done with less." - William of Occam)
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To: Habibi
I hardly think that would be necessary as we are continually exposed to these bugs in our daily life. Your intestines will eventually be dosed with the proper bacteria to repopulate your system.

In earlier times this would be true since there used to be a lot of food prepared with lactobacilli. Many times, though, after having gut flora depleted by a strong antibiotic regimen, the gut is often overgrown by Clostridium difficile. This infection can be long-lived, very difficult to get rid of, and result in damage to the mucosal lining.
39 posted on 03/04/2010 7:12:18 PM PST by aruanan
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