Gastrointestinal Health News and Research

Latest Gastrointestinal Health News and Research

Bacteriophage could help decrease mortality of patients with COVID-19

Bacteriophage can reduce bacterial growth in the lungs, limiting fluid build-up. This could decrease the mortality of patients affected by COVID-19, according to the peer-reviewed journal PHAGE: Therapy, Applications, and Research.

24 Jun 2020

Restoring ecosystems for better human health

Billions of people using the Earth's resources and changing or destroying ecosystems are not only creating the global environmental and climate crisis, but also compromising human health and long-term survival of our species, experts warn in an open letter to world leaders.

23 Jun 2020

Research shows tongue microbiome could help diagnose heart failure

Microorganisms on the tongue could help diagnose heart failure, according to research presented today on HFA Discoveries, a scientific platform of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1

23 Jun 2020

Defective maintenance puts intestinal health in danger

In order to keep the intestinal mucosa and the entire organism healthy, intestinal epithelial cells have developed various protective functions involving a number of maintenance mechanisms that protect cells from stress.

23 Jun 2020

Patient genetics associated with wound microbiome composition and healing

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers have determined that genetics may play a role in how wounds heal.

22 Jun 2020

Specific changes in DNA affect the existence and amount of gut bacteria, study finds

The role genetics and gut bacteria play in human health has long been a fruitful source of scientific enquiry, but new research marks a significant step forward in unraveling this complex relationship.

22 Jun 2020

Study finds overabundance of opportunistic pathogens in the guts of persons with Parkinson's

Parkinson's disease is a common, progressive and debilitating neurodegenerative disease. It currently cannot be prevented or cured.

18 Jun 2020

Cloning stem cells to develop treatments for Crohn's disease

For over a decade Wa Xian, research associate professor of biology and biochemistry at the University of Houston Stem Cell Center, has been perfecting technology for cloning stem cells. Now she is using it to take aim at pediatric Crohn's disease.

18 Jun 2020

DFG establishes interdisciplinary commission to strengthen pandemic research

Against the background of the current coronavirus pandemic, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is to establish an interdisciplinary commission for pandemic research.

18 Jun 2020

Study: Vitamin D can reduce side effects associated with chemotherapy

As many cancer patients will confirm, the chemotherapy prescribed to kill the disease is often more debilitating than the cancer itself, with a range of horrendous side effects.

18 Jun 2020

Study identifies a previously unknown mechanism that contributes to intestinal cancer

A MedUni Vienna study group has identified a previously unknown mechanism involved in the development of intestinal cancer: The bacterial microbiome activates the so-called immune checkpoint Ido1 in Paneth cells, a special cell that is only found in the gastrointestinal tract, thereby preventing local intestinal inflammation.

18 Jun 2020

A metabolomics approach to detect objective biomarkers of ASD

In a paper published online this week in Autism Research, scientists at NeuroPointDX, a division of Stemina Biomarker Discovery, Inc., in collaboration with researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute and academic and clinical institutions across the country, report new findings from the Children's Autism Metabolome Project or CAMP.

18 Jun 2020

Scientists develop peptides that restore balance in gut bacteria and reverse atherosclerosis

Now, a team of scientists at Scripps Research has developed new molecules that can restore the balance in gut bacteria in the intestines and as a result, lowers cholesterol levels and reverses the narrowing of the arteries, also known as atherosclerosis.

18 Jun 2020

NAU research centers receive grants from Flinn Foundation to support COVID-19 response

Scientists at two Northern Arizona University research centers--the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute and the Center for Health Equity Research--recently received grants totaling $175,000 from the Flinn Foundation in support of projects directed at responding to the COVID-19 threat.

17 Jun 2020

Multidisciplinary pediatric aerodigestive centers provide better outcomes with reduced costs

Children who choke when they drink or eat may have what's known as dysphagia, or a swallowing disorder -- one of the most common medical complaints seen in young children.

17 Jun 2020

'Microbial dark matter' can affect cholesterol levels in humans

In the darkest parts of the world where light fails to block out the unfathomable bounty of the stars, look up. There are still fewer specks illuminating the universe than there are bacteria in the world, hidden from sight, a whole universe inside just one human gut.

17 Jun 2020

Antibiotic X-206 effective against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro

The current study published on the preprint server bioRxiv aims to understand how these compounds affect SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. The researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark examined 11 natural PEIs, with a single synthetic analog, screening them for inhibitory activity against the CPE of SARS-CoV-2 infecting cultured cells with overexpression of TMPRSS2, a serine protease that is instrumental in cleaving the spike protein of the virus.

16 Jun 2020

Novel antisense drug shows promise to improve health of people with NAFLD

Using a first-of-its-class drug in a clinical trial, an international research effort headed by a scientist at University of California San Diego School of Medicine reports that inhibition of a key enzyme safely and effectively improved the health of persons with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a chronic metabolic disorder that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

16 Jun 2020

Scientists develop molecules that can remodel gut bacteria to a healthier state

Scientists at Scripps Research have developed molecules that can remodel the bacterial population of intestines to a healthier state and they have shown--through experiments in mice--that this reduces cholesterol levels and strongly inhibits the thickened-artery condition known as atherosclerosis.

16 Jun 2020

Vegetarians have lower BMI and are less extroverted than meat-eating people

According to a survey by the Allensbach Institute, more than 6.1 million Germans stated last year that they were vegetarians, 400,000 more than two years earlier.

15 Jun 2020