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A recent study involving 684 adults has uncovered a significant connection between gut microbiota, aging, and bone health, particularly in relation to osteoporosis. The study emphasized how gut bacteria may influence bone mineral density (BMD). The study revealed significant associations between microbial pathways related to L-arginine biosynthesis and butyrate production with higher BMD. L-arginine is an amino acid that is essential for nitric oxide (NO) production, which has been shown to inhibit osteoclast-mediated bone resorption, ultimately promoting bone health. These findings suggest that enhancing the production of L-arginine and butyrate through gut bacteria could be an important strategy in maintaining...

What if the breakthrough in battery recycling wasn’t high-tech—but prehistoric? The bacteria used by Cell Cycle thrive at body temperature. - Cell Cycle ================================================================== As the world braces for a flood of end-of-life lithium batteries from electric vehicles and electronics, recycling systems are struggling to keep pace. Current methods are often expensive, energy-intensive, and environmentally taxing. But a small UK startup believes the solution might lie in nature’s oldest engineers: bacteria that have been around for tens of millions of years. Cell Cycle, a startup under the SER Group, has developed a novel approach called LithiumCycle that uses engineered microbes...

Mariangela Hungria, a microbiologist in Brazil, spent decades looking for bacteria in the soil that could act like fertilizer, boosting farmers' harvests. But she faced a lot of skepticism. "When I started my career, everybody was like, 'You're crazy! You will never succeed. This will never be possible,'" she recalls. Today, her work was rewarded with the World Food Prize, which recognizes advances in agriculture and nutrition. Bestowed by the World Food Prize Foundation since 1987, it comes with a cash award of $500,000. Hungria has spent her entire career as a scientist with the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA),...

Scientists could be on the verge of a medical breakthrough in understanding what's driving a rise in blood cancers among older adults. Research has long suggested that the colony of trillions of bacteria living in our digestive systems – known as the gut microbiome – could be the key to our overall health. The more diverse those microscopic colonies are, the better our immunity to a host of diseases from heart disease to dementia. But US researchers have now discovered that patients with leukemia — an aggressive form of blood cancer — have higher levels of one specific bacteria in...

The microbial community living within our large intestine is a highly dense and complex ecosystem. While some of these microbes cause illness and disease (such as bacteria and viruses), others are friendlier to us and help keep us in good health. Akkermansia muciniphila is one of these friendly bacteria. One of the important roles it plays in our gut is maintaining the function of our gut barrier. But when there's an imbalance of A. muciniphila in the gut, it can lead to problems with our health. This unusual bacteria lives in our large intestine and survives off of mucin—the layer...

Dying of dysentery is now more than just a video game meme in Oregon. In a disgusting turn of events straight out of the “Oregon Trail” game, the diarrhea-inducing malady dysentery is making a stomach-churning comeback in a densely populated region of the state. Cases of the hyper-contagious bacterial disease have surged in Multnomah County, with health officials reporting 40 cases of the wretched sickness in January, according to the Multnomah County Health Department, KOIN reported. The infection, also known as shigellosis, can spread through exposure with infected feces, contaminated food or water, or sexual contact – with person-to-person the...

Eating an orange a day may lower a person's depression risk by 20%, according to a study. That might be because citrus stimulates the growth of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (F. prausnitzii), a type of bacteria found in the human gut, to influence production of the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine—two biological molecules known to elevate mood. We found that eating one medium orange a day may lower the risk of developing depression by about 20%. And the effect seems to be specific to citrus. When we look at people's total fruit or vegetable consumption, or at other individual fruits such as apples...

Bacillus subtilis bacteria with green fluorescence indicating a lack of magnesium. (Ashley Moon, Süel Lab, UC San Diego) New tactics in controlling infection are sorely needed, with antibiotic-resistant bacteria expected to claim as many as 2 million lives each year by 2050. US and Spanish researchers have now discovered at least some bacteria pay a steep price for their resistance – a cost that we may be able to exploit to fight infection. "We discovered an Achilles heel of antibiotic-resistant bacteria," says molecular biologist Gürol Süel from the University of California, San Diego. "We can take advantage of this cost...

A gruesome flesh-eating bacteria, thought to be transmitted by an iconic Aussie animal, is spreading in one state, and health experts warn “everyone” is at risk. Victoria’s Health Department released a grim alert on Friday for Buruli Ulcer, which is a bacterial skin infection that damages soft tissue and can cause serious disfigurements. “Lesions typically present as a slowly enlarging painless lump or wound which can initially be mistaken for an insect bite,” Victoria’s chief health officer Professor Ben Cowie said on Friday. “Case numbers so far this year are higher compared to previous years. “The disease is spreading geographically...

Cyanobacteria use an AM radio-like mechanism to regulate their genes, with the cell division cycle acting as a “carrier wave” and their circadian clock modulating the pulse strength to integrate signals from these two rhythms. This discovery explains how cells coordinate these oscillatory processes and may have applications in biotechnology and synthetic biology. Credit: SciTechDaily.com Cyanobacteria use an AM radio-like principle to coordinate cell division with circadian rhythms, encoding information through pulse amplitude modulation. Cyanobacteria, an ancient group of photosynthetic bacteria, have been discovered to regulate their genes using the same physics principle used in AM radio transmission. New research...

A new study has revealed that gut bacteria may play a key role in aging, and that specific microbes could be targeted to promote healthy aging. Aging is a complex, multi-factorial phenomenon with progressive decline in several physiological functions. As Singapore faces a rapidly growing aging population, researchers are seeking ways to understand the aging process and identify key lifestyle and dietary factors to encourage healthy aging. As part of this effort, the team conducted the first large-scale study on over 200 octogenarians (people aged 80–89) in Singapore. Their investigation revealed how the gut microbiome changes with age, highlighting key...

An antibiotic developed some 80 years ago before being abandoned and forgotten could again offer exciting new solutions, this time to the emerging threat of drug-resistant superbugs. Half of the bacteria-killing drugs we use today are variations of compounds that were found nearly a century ago, during the 'golden age' of antibiotics. One called streptothricin was isolated in the 1940s, drawing attention for its potential in treating infections caused by what are known as gram-negative bacteria. Unlike gram-positive bacteria, these microbes lack a robust cell wall that many antibiotics target. Finding alternatives has been one of the big challenges for...

More than a dozen bacterial species among the hundreds that live in people's mouths have been linked to a collective 50% increased chance of developing head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), a new study shows. Some of these microbes had previously been shown to contribute to periodontal disease, serious gum infections that can eat away at the jawbone and the soft tissues that surround teeth. The new analyses looked at the genetic makeup of oral microbes collected from healthy men and women. Of the hundreds of different bacteria that are routinely found in the mouth, 13 species were shown...

New research has revealed high-altitude air in Earth’s atmosphere is teeming with living organisms, a discovery that challenges our views on the dispersal of microbes and their relationship to human health. The findings, made by an international collective of climate, health, and atmospheric specialists based in Japan and Spain, has revealed Earth’s atmosphere is populated with a surprisingly diverse array of living bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Discovered at altitudes as high as 1,000 to 3,000 meters, the organisms included several potential human pathogens, revealing their ability to travel over great distances and prompting new concerns about their impact on health...

Early life exposure to 'forever chemicals' in the environment permanently disrupts the gut microbiome in mice, contributing to the development of metabolic disease in later life, according to new research. The results suggest that human exposure to these chemicals during early childhood may be contributing to the recent epidemic of metabolic disorders, including obesity and type 2 diabetes among adults. The researchers focused specifically on 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran (TCDF), a widespread persistent organic pollutant (POP) that is a byproduct of waste incineration, metal production, and fossil-fuel and wood combustion. TCDF accumulates in the food chain, and humans are primarily exposed through consumption...

Olympic swimmers may have found a possible cure to beating the E. coli-riddled Seine River that has been one of the huge storylines at the 2024 Paris Olympics — a can of Coca-Cola. Several world-class athletes swear that the sugary soda has helped them stave off bacteria and any infection they could get from competing in the open waters. “There’s no harm in drinking a Coke after a race,” New Zealand’s Ainsley Thorpe told the Wall Street Journal after the Women’s Triathlon last week. “If you Google it, it says it can help.” Doctors say there is no medical backing...

A recall of Boar's Head deli meat products has been widely expanded over concerns that they may be linked to a fatal listeria outbreak in the U.S., federal officials said Tuesday. Another 3,500 tons of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products sold under the Boar's Head and Old Country brands have been added to the initial recall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. This is in addition to approximately 103 tons of Boar's Head products that were recalled last week. The recall now includes a total of 71 products that were produced between May 10 and July 29, the USDA said....

A team of researchers has discovered that dietary fiber plays a crucial role in determining the balance between the production of healthy and harmful substances by influencing the behavior of bacteria in the colon. Different types of bacteria inside our colon compete to utilize an essential amino acid called tryptophan. The research reveals that when we eat a lot of dietary fiber, gut bacteria help turn tryptophan into healthy substances. But if we don't eat enough fiber, tryptophan can be converted into harmful compounds by our gut bacteria. "The gut bacterium E. coli can turn tryptophan into a harmful compound...

A team of researchers has identified specific bacteria in the gut that are associated with both mice and humans developing an addiction to food that can lead to obesity. They have also identified bacteria that play a beneficial role in preventing food addiction. Prof. Martín-García used the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS 2.0) to diagnose food addiction. She and her colleagues investigated the gut bacteria in mice who were and were not addicted to food and found an increase in bacteria belonging to a group called the Proteobacteria phylum and a decrease in bacteria belonging to the Actinobacteria phylum in...

Hervana’s hormone-free tablets, now under development, won’t disrupt a woman’s cycle and also offer protection from sexually transmitted diseases. Rachel Teitelbaum is pursuing a dream. A dream that could revolutionize contraception and improve the lives of countless women. She’s found that by sending the right signal to lactobacilli — a type of bacteria naturally present in the female reproductive tract — she can prompt it to produce an antibody that stops sperm dead in their tracks. She and her small team of researchers in Israel are developing a non-hormonal once-a-month tablet that will be as effective as the Pill, but...