The effectiveness of probiotics may vary from patient to patient

According to a study, the benefits of probiotics depend on the strain, dosage, and condition being treated. The paper was written by Dr. Daniel J. Merenstein, a professor of family medicine at Georgetown University, and his colleagues. 

“Just as we know that not all antibiotics are equally effective for all infections, so, too, effectiveness among probiotics can — and often does — vary for any given condition,” they wrote. They also state that the effectiveness of the probiotics may vary from patient to patient. 

Merenstein and his colleagues advise that physicians recommending probiotics for their patients should first look for scientific evidence for which one to use. According to them, simply advising that patients take probiotics isn’t really helpful when that person might be looking for a product that may help them with a specific condition.

Probiotics are mostly safe. However, they can cause harm to live bacteria in some cases. This can be particularly true for people with an unsettled immune system. Many people also use probiotics for improving the health of their gut. However, such a diet can alter the structure of the gut microbe at times. In fact, anyone with any health condition should first consult a doctor before blindly taking probiotics. 

Thus, be careful and prudent while taking probiotics. In general, health experts recommend following a low-fat and high-fiber diet to always keep your digestive system healthy.
 

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Vancomycin may boost effectiveness of radiation therapy to fight cancer

In a study, researchers have found that giving a dose of the common antibiotic Vancomycin not only helped immune cells kill tumours that were directly treated with radiation, but also kill cancer cells that were further away in the body. The antibiotic vancomycin alters the gut microbiome in a way that can help prime the immune system to more effectively attack tumour cells after radiation therapy.

More than half of all patients with solid tumours undergo  radiation therapy at some point during their treatment. In recent years, multiple studies have shown that giving patients higher doses of radiation over the course of fewer treatments- called hypo-fractionated radiotherapy- can induce a stronger immune response in patients. In addition, hypo-fractionated doses have the ability to impact other tumours cells in the body that weren't directly treated with radiation. This is known as the abscopal effect.

Our study shows that vancomycin seems to boost the effectiveness of the hypo-fractionated radiation itself on the targeted tumour site while also aiding the abscopal effect, helping the immune system fight tumours away from the treatment site, said the  senior author. 

Researchers chose vancomycin for a few specific reasons. First, it mostly targets gram-positive bacteria, making it disruptive to the gut microbiome. Second, it's a large molecule, which means it stays in the gut and does not circulate to the rest of the body the way other antibiotics do. The fact that it is not systemic limits the impact it has on the rest of the body's microbiome.

In this study, researchers found vancomycin specifically improved the function of dendrite cells, which are the messenger cells that T cells rely on to know what to attack. While researchers used melanoma, lung and cervical cancer models for this work, they note the approach could have implications for a wide variety of cancer types. This study also builds off the team's previous research, which showed a similar effect in T cell therapies, meaning it adds to a growing body of evidence.

Still, the researchers note this study only scratches the surface when it comes to understanding the connection between the makeup of the gut microbiome and its impact on radiotherapy-induced immune responses to cancer. They say further research is needed to understand the implications of specific strains or clusters of bacteria.

However, what's clear is that antibiotics play a role and can potentially impact treatments and outcomes for cancer patients, the author said. The researchers are planning a phase 1 study to translate this approach into the clinic.

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Food Additive in Frozen Meat, Crackers Worsens Flu

A common food additive found in many products, including frozen meat, crackers and fried foods, could weaken the human immune system against flu, which accounts for 290,000-650,000 deaths globally every year, say researchers.
Besides increasing the severity of flu symptoms, the study found exposure to the compound — tert-butylhydroquinone (tBHQ) — could reduce effectiveness of flu vaccine through its effects on T cells, a vital component of the immune system.

During the study, mice fed tBHQ-spiked diet were slower to activate both helper T cells and killer T cells, causing slower clearance of the virus.

"Our studies showed mice on a tBHQ diet had a weakened immune response to influenza (flu) infection," said a researcher.

"In our mouse model, tBHQ suppressed function of helper and killer T cells. It led to more severe symptoms during a subsequent influenza infection," he said.

When the mice were re-infected with a different but related strain of influenza, those on the tBHQ diet had a longer illness and lost more weight. This suggests that tBHQ impaired the "memory response" that typically primes the immune system to fight a second infection, he said.

tBHQ is an additive used to prevent spoilage, with a maximum allowed concentration of 200 parts per million in food products.

Since tBHQ is not always listed on ingredient labels, the best way to limit tBHQ exposure is to be conscious about food choices. A low-fat diet and less consumption of processed snacks will help reduce tBHQ consumption, he suggested.

Annual flu shot significantly reduces the length and severity of the illness and prevents influenza infection.

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Sweat can reduce anti-bacterial properties of brass objects

Human sweat can reduce the effectiveness of bacteria-fighting brass objects in hospitals and schools after just an hour of coming into contact with them, according to a new study.

University of Leicester researchers discovered that sweat can cause corrosion of protective qualities of door knobs and taps within an hour of contact.

 Copper found in everyday brass items such as door handles and water taps has an antimicrobial effect on bacteria and is widely used to prevent the spread of disease.

Dr John Bond from the University of Leicester's Department of Chemistry found that peoples' sweat can, within an hour of contact with the brass, produce sufficient corrosion to adversely affect its use to kill a range of microorganisms, such as those which might be encountered in a hospital and which can be easily transferred by touch or by a lack of hand hygiene.

"The antimicrobial effect of copper has been known for hundreds of years. It is thought to occur as a result of a charge exchange between copper and bacteria, which leads to a degradation of the bacteria DNA," Bond said.

"We have discovered that the salt in sweat corrodes the metal, forming an oxide layer on its surface, which is the process of corrosion - and this corrosive layer is known to inhibit the effect of the copper.

"We have shown that it is possible for sweat to produce an oxide layer on the metal within an hour of contact," Bond said.

"While it is well known that sweat corrodes brass, this is the first study to quantitatively analyse the temporal corrosion of copper alloys such as brass in the first few hours after contact between fingerprint sweat concentrations of salt and the metal," he said.

"My short term advice is to keep the brass in public environments free from corrosion through regular and thorough cleaning. In the longer term, using copper alloys with corrosion inhibitors included in the alloy would be a good choice," Bond said.

"While more research is needed in the study of sweat and brass corrosion, anywhere that needs to prevent the spread of bacteria, such as public buildings, schools and hospitals should be looking at using copper alloy on everyday items to help in avoiding the spread of disease," he said.

The study was published in the journal Applied Surface Science.

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