The rapid decline of ecosystems on the Earth is deploring. It is a multifaceted problem and a pillar of the problem is constituted by the overconsumption and mismanagement of plastics. Plastics released to nature crumble into smaller particles that infiltrate into trophic, feeding, chains in ecosystems and accumulate in the members of the system. ...
A recent article from the Washington Post highlights that gut microbiome-exercise interplay. In the past, studies showed the essential role that our gut microbiome, the intricate ecosystem of microbes that live in our gastrointestinal tract, plays in maintaining our overall health. These tiny bacteria perform crucial roles in maintaining our health, affecting all from...
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing public health concern, with the potential to render many of our current antibiotics ineffective. A recent study draws conclusions on the potential role of livestock waste and treated wastewater as reservoirs for AMR. The study investigated the presence and abundance of AMR genes in livestock waste and treated...
Gulf War illness (GWI) is a chronic condition significantly affecting veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War. GWI is characterized by a range of symptoms, including fatigue, pain, cognitive impairment, and gastrointestinal issues. Despite extensive research, the underlying causes of GWI are still not fully understood. A recent study sheds some light...
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a burden on healthcare and remains a poorly understood disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. While the exact cause of CFS remains unknown, recent research has suggested that the gut microbiome may have a role in the development and progression of the disease. In this guide, we...
Obesity prevalence has been skyrocketing since the 1970s globally, with the Eastern Mediterranean region being no exception. For instance, obesity is prevalent in 20% of Saudi Arabian adults, with an elevated prevalence in females. The increase of obesity rates in adult females of reproductive age is particularly worrying, given new evidence suggesting links between...
The gut microbiome hosts many different microorganisms. There are more bacteria in the human gut than the stars in the Milky Way… From bacteria, to viruses and eukaryotes, these microbes are key players in the etiology of a number of diseases, such as cancer, depression, and diabetes. These microbes may even influence the host...
In metagenomics, biological specimens are sometimes collected from host tissue that contains a high ratio of host to bacterial DNA. When shotgun metagenomics sequencing data are generated for these specimens, they normally contain a large fraction of host reads compared to microbial reads. Analyzing microbiome data with a high host ratio of reads can lead...
A complete analysis of the microbiome should combine taxonomic profiling with functional characterization to discover the full potential of an entire community of microorganisms. However, research teams often require specialized training and extensive computational infrastructure to establish an in-house suite of tools for processing shotgun metagenomic data – and even with the right know-how, the...
The gut microbiome has clear implications for health and disease. Recent evidence of this comes from a US FDA vote for approval of the microbiome-based drug RBX2660, created by Rebiotix Inc, A Ferring Company, to treat potentially deadly bacterial infections with Clostridium difficile (Cdiff). Cdiff is a common gut bacteria that may cause severe diarrhea...
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