Antidepressant may cause antibiotic resistance

A key ingredient in common antidepressants such as Prozac could be causing antibiotic resistance, according to new University of Queensland (UQ) research. A study led by Jianhua Guo, PhD, from UQ’s Advanced Water Management Center, focused on fluoxetine, a prescription drug used to help people recover from depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder or eating disorders. Guo said while overuse and misuse of antibiotics are ...

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Strawberries could help reduce harmful inflammation in the colon

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a set of painful conditions that can cause severe diarrhea and fatigue. Treatments can include medications and surgery. But now researchers report that a simple dietary intervention could mitigate colonic inflammation and improve gut health. In this case, a strawberry — or rather, less than a cupful of strawberries — a day could help keep ...

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Discovery of long-lived macrophages in the intestine

Macrophages are specialised immune cells that destroy bacteria and other harmful organisms. KU Leuven scientists, Belgium, have come to the surprising conclusion that some macrophages in the intestines of mice can survive for quite some time. Most importantly, these long-lived macrophages are vital for the survival of the nerve cells of the gastrointestinal tract. This sheds new light on neurodegenerative ...

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Is an anesthesiologist needed for routine colonoscopies? Maybe not.

For many Americans, the prospect of a colonoscopy is unnerving and patients often find comfort knowing sedation will make the procedure as simple as a brief nap. Around the world, however, up to 80 percent of routine colonoscopies are done without any sedation at all. So, is an anesthesiologist really necessary in the U.S. for healthy people? One may be ...

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A telephone for your microbiome

More than 1,000 species of bacteria have been identified in the human gut, and understanding this incredibly diverse “microbiome” that can greatly impact health and disease is a hot topic in scientific research. Because bacteria are routinely genetically engineered in science labs, there is great excitement about the possibility of tweaking the genes of our intestinal interlopers so that they ...

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