Category: Health

{People who regularly smoke large amounts of cannabis have reduced bone density and are more prone to fractures, research has found.}

The study also found that heavy cannabis users have a lower body weight and a reduced body mass index (BMI), which could contribute to thinning of their bones.

Researchers say this could mean heavy users of the drug are at greater risk of osteoporosis in later life.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh assessed 170 people who smoke cannabis regularly for recreational purposes and 114 non-users.

The team used a specialised x-ray technique called a DEXA scan to measure the bone density of study participants. They found that the bone density of heavy cannabis users was about five per cent lower than cigarette smokers who did not use cannabis.

Fractures were more common in heavy users compared to non-users, the study found. Moderate users, however, showed no difference from non-users.

The researchers defined heavy users as those who reported smoking cannabis on 5000 or more occasions in their lifetime. In this study, however, the average heavy cannabis user had taken the drug more than 47,000 times. Moderate users had, on average, taken the drug about 1000 times.

Smoking cannabis is often associated with increased appetite so the researchers were surprised to find that heavy cannabis users had a lower body weight and BMI than non-users. This could be because cannabis may reduce appetite when taken in large amounts over a long period of time, the team says.

The study is the first to investigate bone health amongst cannabis users. Researchers say further studies are needed to better understand the link between use of the drug and thinning of the bones.

The study — funded by Arthritis Research UK — is published in the American Journal of Medicine.

Lead researcher Professor Stuart Ralston, of the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, said: “We have known for a while that the components of cannabis can affect bone cell function but we had no idea up until now of what this might mean to people who use cannabis on a regular basis.

“Our research has shown that heavy users of cannabis have quite a large reduction in bone density compared with non-users and there is a real concern that this may put them at increased risk of developing osteoporosis and fractures later in life.”

{A new study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that a specialized area of the mosquito brain mixes tastes with smells to create unique and preferred flavors. The findings advance the possibility, they say, of identifying a substance that makes “human flavor” repulsive to the malaria-bearing species of the mosquitoes, so instead of feasting on us, they keep the disease to themselves, potentially saving an estimated 450,000 lives a year worldwide.}

A report on the research appeared online on Oct. 3 in the journal Nature Communications. Malaria is an infectious parasite disease of humans and animals transmitted by the bite of the female Anopheles gambiae mosquito. In 2015, experts estimate it affected 214 million people, mostly in Africa, despite decades of mosquito eradication and control efforts. There is no malaria vaccine, and although the disease is curable in early stages, treatment is costly and difficult to deliver in places where it is endemic.

“All mosquitoes, including the one that transmits malaria, use their sense of smell to find a host for a blood meal. Our goal is to let the mosquitoes tell us what smells they find repulsive and use those to keep them from biting us,” says Christopher Potter, Ph.D., assistant professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Because smell is essential to mosquito survival, each mosquito has three pairs of “noses” for sensing odors: two antennae, two maxillary palps and two labella. The maxillary palps are thick, fuzzy appendages that protrude from the lower region of the mosquito’s head, more or less parallel to its proboscis, the long, flexible sheath that keeps its “feeding needle” under wraps until needed. At the very tip of the proboscis are the labella, two small regions that contain both “gustatory” neurons that pick up tastes and olfactory neurons for recognizing odorants.

To better understand how An. gambiae mosquitoes that cause malaria receive and process olfactory information from so many sensory regions, Potter’s team wanted to see where olfactory neurons from those regions go to in the brain.

They used a powerful genetic technique — never before accomplished in mosquitoes, according to Potter — to make certain neurons “glow” green. The green glowing label was designed to appear specifically in neurons that receive complex odors through proteins called odorant receptors (ORs), since OR neurons are known to help distinguish humans from other warm-blooded animals in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which carry the Zika virus.

“This is the first time researchers managed to specifically target sensory neurons in mosquitoes. Previously, we had to use flies as a proxy for all insects, but now we can directly study the sense of smell in the insects that spread malaria,” says Olena Riabinina, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow now at the Imperial College London. “We were pleasantly surprised by how well our genetic technique worked and how easy it is now to see the smell-detecting neurons. The ease of identification will definitely simplify our task of studying these neurons in the future.”

As expected, Potter says, the OR neurons from the antennae and maxillary palps went to symmetrical areas of the brain called antennal lobes, just as they do in flies. But Potter was quite surprised when he saw that the OR neurons from the labella went to the so-called subesophageal zone, which, he says, had never before been associated with the sense of smell in any fly or insect; it had only been associated with the sense of taste.

“That finding suggests that perhaps mosquitoes don’t just like our smell, but also our flavor,” says Potter. “It’s likely that the odorants coming off our skin are picked up by the labella and influence the preferred taste of our skin, especially when the mosquito is looking for a place to bite.”

Potter says the finding potentially offers researchers one more way to repel mosquitoes. The antennae and maxillary palps are more specialized for picking up long-range signals, while the labella come into direct contact with our skin. In fact, Potter says, before injecting their needlelike proboscis, mosquitoes use the labella to probe about on a victim’s skin. “We don’t really know why they do that, but we suspect that they’re looking for sensory cues that hint at easy access to a blood vessel,” he says. “This suggests that a combination of repellants could keep mosquitoes from biting us in two ways. One could target the antennal neurons and reduce the likelihood that they come too close, while another could target the labellar neurons and make the mosquitoes turn away in disgust — before sucking our blood — if they got close enough to land on us.”

The two-part genetic system Potter devised to generate the glowing neurons will make it much easier for his and other laboratories to mix and match genetically altered mosquitoes to generate new traits, he says. His group has already created a strain of An. gambiae mosquitoes whose OR neurons glow green upon activation. Scientists can thus see which neurons light up in response to a specific smell.

“Using this method, we hope to find an odorant that is safe and pleasant-smelling for us but strongly repellant to mosquitoes at very low concentrations,” says Potter.

His group was also able to compare the brains of male and female mosquitoes. Since only females use their sense of smell to find humans and males feed only on nectar, it was previously thought that males had just a rudimentary sense of smell. The Potter group found instead that males have the same level of complexity in their brains to detect odors as females but have fewer olfactory neurons. “It appears that males might just have a scaled-down version of a female’s sense of smell. So they can still smell everything a female smells, just not as well,” Potter says.

His group plans to study other types of neurons to better understand how signals from the mosquitoes’ three types of olfactory receptors interact to influence their behavior. For example, why is lactic acid not attractive on its own but highly attractive when mixed with carbon dioxide?

“We’d like to figure out what regions and neurons in the brain lead to this combined effect,” says Potter. “If we can identify them, perhaps we could also stop them from working.”

{The best way to fight cancer is to catch it in the early stages, when it’s more treatable. Many cancer signs can mimic symptoms of other diseases and this is why it’s important to know your body as a man and see a doctor when you notice any changes.}

{{Here are cancer symptoms no man should ignore}}

1. Difficulty in urinating, blood in urine or semen or unexplained erectile dysfunction can be symptoms of prostate cancer.

2. Persistent coughs that doesn’t go away, coughing up blood and always being short of breath could signal lung cancer especially if you smoke.

3. Chronic headaches that just don’t go away could be a sign of brain tumor, which causes pain by pressing on nerves.

4. If you have less appetite when you usually have a good appetite and you are can’t explain your sudden weight loss, this could signal the following cancers: esophageal, pancreatic, liver, colon and leukaemia.

5. Blood in your stool could be a symptom of colon cancer.

6. Changes in size to one or both of your testicles, swollen or extra heavy testicles or lump in your testicles could indicate testicular cancer.

7. You should check for throat or stomach cancer if you consistently have trouble swallowing and this is accomplished by weight loss or vomiting.

8. A heartburn that doesn’t go away or gets worse could be a symptom of stomach or throat cancer.

9. A fever that won’t go away could signal leukemia.

10. See your doctor if you are always tired no matter how much rest you get. Leukaemia and lymphoma commonly cause persistent fatigue.

11. Consistent stomach pain or feeling nauseous all the time are normally signs of ulcer but they are also symptoms of leukaemia, liver, pancreatic or colorectal cancer.

12. Men are prone to skin cancer because they spend more time in the sun and rarely wear sunscreen. If you notice a mole getting darker, larger, or becoming raised, it could be a sign of skin cancer.

Phil

{Children who develop asthma or allergies have an altered immune response to intestinal bacteria in the mucous membranes even when infants, according to a new study from Linköping University, Sweden, and Center for Advanced Research in Public Health, Spain. The results also suggests that the mother’s immune defence plays a role in the development of asthma and allergies in children.}

“The results confirm our idea that the intestinal flora (also known as the ‘intestinal microbiota’) early in life plays a role during the development of allergy symptoms. We believe that diversity among the bacteria contributes to strengthening the immune defence in the mucous membranes. In our new study we saw differences in the immune response against intestinal bacteria in children who subsequently developed allergy symptoms,” says Maria Jenmalm, professor of experimental allergology at Linköping University and one of the authors of the study.

The researchers investigated in detail the immune defence of the mucous membranes against different bacteria. Mucous membranes are present in the airways and gastrointestinal tract, where they come into contact with large amounts of bacteria and viruses. High concentrations of antibodies known as “IgA antibodies” are present in mucous membranes. They bind to microorganisms that they recognise and act as a barrier, preventing them from entering the body.

The researchers in the new study analysed stool samples from infants aged one month and again at 12 months. The first year of life has a profound influence on how the immune defence reacts later in life when challenged with bacteria, viruses and allergens. The researchers identified the intestinal bacteria and determined whether they had IgA bound to them or not.

“Children who subsequently developed allergies had a lower fraction of IgA antibodies bound to their intestinal bacteria when aged 12 months than children who did not. This difference may suggest that the barrier function of the mucous membranes is less effective in children who later develop allergies. The lack of IgA was particularly noticeable in children who developed asthma during the first seven years of life,” says Maria Jenmalm.

The researchers looked at the composition of the bacteria in the stools and used bioinformatic methods to study differences in IgA antibodies against intestinal bacteria between healthy and allergic children.

“There were clear differences in the types of bacteria that the immune defences of the two groups of children reacted against. We were interested to note that these differences were clear in infants as young as one month. This surprised us, since the IgA antibodies in children so young come largely from the mother, through breast milk. So it seems that the immune response of the mother and the antibodies that the child receives in breast milk are connected with the development of allergies. This is something we want to look at in more detail,” says Maria Jenmalm.

Maria Jenmalm has led the study together with Alex Mira at the Center for Advanced Research in Public Health, Valencia, Spain. The research has received financial support from donors that include the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, and MINECO in Spain.

{After analyzing 10 years of medical tests on more than 2,700 people in a federally funded heart disease study, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and elsewhere conclude that taking calcium in the form of supplements may raise the risk of plaque buildup in arteries and heart damage, although a diet high in calcium-rich foods appears be protective.}

In a report on the research, published Oct. 10 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the researchers caution that their work only documents an association between calcium supplements and atherosclerosis, and does not prove cause and effect.

But they say the results add to growing scientific concerns about the potential harms of supplements, and they urge a consultation with a knowledgeable physician before using calcium supplements. An estimated 43 percent of American adult men and women take a supplement that includes calcium, according the National Institutes of Health.

“When it comes to using vitamin and mineral supplements, particularly calcium supplements being taken for bone health, many Americans think that more is always better,” says Erin Michos, M.D., M.H.S., associate director of preventive cardiology and associate professor of medicine at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “But our study adds to the body of evidence that excess calcium in the form of supplements may harm the heart and vascular system.”

The researchers were motivated to look at the effects of calcium on the heart and vascular system because studies already showed that “ingested calcium supplements — particularly in older people — don’t make it to the skeleton or get completely excreted in the urine, so they must be accumulating in the body’s soft tissues,” says nutritionist John Anderson, Ph.D., professor emeritus of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and a co-author of the report. Scientists also knew that as a person ages, calcium-based plaque builds up in the body’s main blood vessel, the aorta and other arteries, impeding blood flow and increasing the risk of heart attack.

The investigators looked at detailed information from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, a long-running research project funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which included more than 6,000 people seen at six research universities, including Johns Hopkins. Their study focused on 2,742 of these participants who completed dietary questionnaires and two CT scans spanning 10 years apart.

The participants chosen for this study ranged in age from 45 to 84, and 51 percent were female. Forty-one percent were white, 26 percent were African-American, 22 percent were Hispanic and 12 percent were Chinese. At the study’s onset in 2000, all participants answered a 120-part questionnaire about their dietary habits to determine how much calcium they took in by eating dairy products; leafy greens; calcium-enriched foods, like cereals; and other calcium-rich foods. Separately, the researchers inventoried what drugs and supplements each participant took on a daily basis. The investigators used cardiac CT scans to measure participants’ coronary artery calcium scores, a measure of calcification in the heart’s arteries and a marker of heart disease risk when the score is above zero. Initially, 1,175 participants showed plaque in their heart arteries. The coronary artery calcium tests were repeated 10 years later to assess newly developing or worsening coronary heart disease.

For the analysis, the researchers first split the participants into five groups based on their total calcium intake, including both calcium supplements and dietary calcium. After adjusting the data for age, sex, race, exercise, smoking, income, education, weight, smoking, drinking, blood pressure, blood sugar and family medical history, the researchers separated out 20 percent of participants with the highest total calcium intake, which was greater than 1,400 milligrams of calcium a day. That group was found to be on average 27 percent less likely than the 20 percent of participants with the lowest calcium intake — less than 400 milligrams of daily calcium — to develop heart disease, as indicated by their coronary artery calcium test.

Next, the investigators focused on the differences among those taking in only dietary calcium and those using calcium supplements. Forty-six percent of their study population used calcium supplements.

The researchers again accounted for the same demographic and lifestyle factors that could influence heart disease risk, as in the previous analysis, and found that supplement users showed a 22 percent increased likelihood of having their coronary artery calcium scores rise higher than zero over the decade, indicating development of heart disease.

“There is clearly something different in how the body uses and responds to supplements versus intake through diet that makes it riskier,” says Anderson. “It could be that supplements contain calcium salts, or it could be from taking a large dose all at once that the body is unable to process.”

Among participants with highest dietary intake of calcium — over 1,022 milligrams per day — there was no increase in relative risk of developing heart disease over the 10-year study period.

“Based on this evidence, we can tell our patients that there doesn’t seem to be any harm in eating a heart-healthy diet that includes calcium-rich foods, and it may even be beneficial for the heart,” says Michos. “But patients should really discuss any plan to take calcium supplements with their doctor to sort out a proper dosage or whether they even need them.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, coronary heart disease kills over 370,000 people each year in the U.S. More than half of women over 60 take calcium supplements — many without the oversight of a physician — because they believe it will reduce their risk of osteoporosis.

{If you are a consumer of garlic, of course there are plenty of health benefits you stand to gain from garlic consumption. However, it can leave you with a bad breath which no one will like.
}
Researchers may have found a new solution to the halitosis problem experienced by many garlic consumers. A study published in the September issue of the Journal of Food Science found that eating raw apple or lettuce may help reduce garlic breath.

Researchers from the Ohio State University gave participants three grams of softneck garlic cloves to chew for 25 seconds, and then water (control), raw, juiced or heated apple, raw or heated lettuce, raw or juiced mint leaves, or green tea were consumed immediately. The volatiles responsible for garlic breath include diallyl disulfide, allyl mercaptan, allyl methyl disulfide, and allyl methyl sulfide. The levels of volatiles on the breath after consumption were analysed by selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry.

Raw apple and raw lettuce and decreased the concentration of volatiles in breath by 50 percent or more compared to the control for the first 30 minutes. Mint leaves had a higher deodorisation level compared to raw apple and raw lettuce for all volatile compounds measured. Apple juice and mint juice reduced the levels of volatiles, but not as effectively as chewing raw apple or raw mint. Both heated apple and lettuce produced a significant reduction of volatiles. Green tea had no deodorising effect on the garlic compounds.

According to the researchers, foods deodorise garlic breath through two mechanisms. First, enzymes in the raw foods help to destroy the odours, and then, phenolic compounds in both the raw and cooked foods destroy the volatiles. This is why raw foods were generally more effective because they contain both the enzymes and the phenolic compounds.

So eating raw apple and lettuce might just be what you need for that disapproving breath that comes with eating garlic.

{Study challenges idea of mandatory water intake.}

{A multi-institute study led by Monash University has revealed for the first time the mechanism that regulates fluid intake in the human body and stops us from over-drinking, which can cause potentially fatal water intoxication. The study challenges the popular idea that we should drink eight glasses of water a day for health.}

The study showed that a ‘swallowing inhibition’ is activated by the brain after excess liquid is consumed, helping maintain tightly calibrated volumes of water in the body.

Associate Professor Michael Farrell from the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute oversaw the work by University of Melbourne PhD student Pascal Saker as part of a collaboration with several Melbourne institutes.

“If we just do what our body demands us to we’ll probably get it right – just drink according to thirst rather than an elaborate schedule,” Associate Professor Farrell said.

Building on a previous study, the researchers asked participants to rate the amount of effort required to swallow water under two conditions; following exercise when they were thirsty and later after they were persuaded to drink an excess amount of water.

The results showed a three-fold increase in effort after over-drinking.

“Here for the first time we found effort-full swallowing after drinking excess water which meant they were having to overcome some sort of resistance,” Associate Professor Farrell said.

“This was compatible with our notion that the swallowing reflex becomes inhibited once enough water has been drunk.”

Associate Professor Farrell, who works in the Monash University Department of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure activity in various parts of the brain, focusing on the brief period just before swallowing.

The fMRI showed the right prefrontal areas of the brain were much more active when participants were trying to swallow with much effort, suggesting the frontal cortex steps in to override the swallowing inhibition so drinking could occur according to the researchers’ instructions.

“There have been cases when athletes in marathons were told to load up with water and died, in certain circumstances, because they slavishly followed these recommendations and drank far in excess of need,” he said.

Drinking too much water in the body puts it in danger of water intoxication or hyponatremia, when vital levels of sodium in the blood become abnormally low potentially causing symptoms ranging from lethargy and nausea to convulsions and coma.

Associate Professor Farrell said elderly people, however, often didn’t drink enough and should watch their intake of fluids.

The study, ‘Overdrinking results in the emergence of swallowing inhibition: an fMRI study,’ is published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It was carried out in collaboration with the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne and Baker IDI & Diabetes Heart Institute.

{Injuries to the spinal cord can cause paralysis and other permanent disabilities because severed nerve fibers do not regrow. Now, scientists of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) have succeeded in releasing a molecular brake that prevents the regeneration of nerve connections. Treatment of mice with “Pregabalin,” a drug that acts upon the growth inhibiting mechanism, caused damaged nerve connections to regenerate. Researchers led by neurobiologist Frank Bradke report on these findings in the journal Neuron.}

Human nerve cells are interconnected in a network that extends to all parts of the body. In this way control signals are transmitted from head to toe, while sensory inputs flow in the opposite direction. For this to happen, impulses are passed from neuron to neuron, not unlike a relay race. Damages to this wiring system can have drastic consequences — particularly if they affect the brain or the spinal cord. This is because the cells of the central nervous system are connected by long projections. When severed, these projections, which are called “axons,” are unable to regrow.

{{Reawakening a lost talent}}

Neural pathways that have been injured can only regenerate if new connections arise between the affected cells. In a sense, the neurons have to stretch out their arms, i.e. the axons have to grow. In fact, this happens in the early stages of embryonic development. However, this ability disappears in the adult. Can it be reactivated? This was the question Professor Bradke and co-workers asked themselves. “We started from the hypothesis that neurons actively down-regulate their growth program once they have reached other cells, so that they don’t overshoot the mark. This means, there should be a braking mechanism that is triggered as soon as a neuron connects to others,” says Dr. Andrea Tedeschi, a member of the Bradke Lab and first author of the current publication.

{{Searching through the genome}}

In mice and cell cultures, the scientists started an extensive search for genes that regulate the growth of neurons. “That was like looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack. There are hundreds of active genes in every nerve cell, depending on its stage of development. To analyze the large data set we heavily relied on bioinformatics. To this end, we cooperated closely with colleagues at the University of Bonn,” says Bradke. “Ultimately, we were able to identify a promising candidate. This gene, known as Cacna2d2, plays an important role in synapse formation and function, in other words in bridging the final gap between nerve cells.” During further experiments, the researchers modified the gene’s activity, e.g. by deactivating it. In this way, they were able to prove that Cacna2d2 does actually influence axonal growth and the regeneration of nerve fibers.

{{Pregabalin triggered neuronal growth}}

Cacna2d2 encodes the blueprint of a protein that is part of a larger molecular complex. The protein anchors ion channels in the cell membrane that regulate the flow of calcium particles into the cell. Calcium levels affect cellular processes such as the release of neurotransmitters. These ion channels are therefore essential for the communication between neurons.

In further investigations, the researchers used Pregabalin (PGB), a drug that had long been known to bind to the molecular anchors of calcium channels. Over a period of several weeks, they administered PGB to mice with spinal cord injuries. As it turned out, this treatment caused new nerve connections to grow.

“Our study shows that synapse formation acts as a powerful switch that restrains axonal growth. A clinically-relevant drug can manipulate this effect,” says Bradke. In fact, PGB is already being used to treat lesions of the spinal cord, albeit it is applied as a pain killer and relatively late after the injury has occurred. “PGB might have a regenerative effect in patients, if it is given soon enough. In the long term this could lead to a new treatment approach. However, we don’t know yet.”

{{A new mechanism?}}

In previous studies, the DZNE researchers showed that certain cancer drugs can also cause damaged nerve connections to regrow. The main protagonists in this process are the “microtubules,” long protein complexes that stabilize the cell body. When the microtubules grow, axons do as well. Is there a connection between the different findings? “We don’t know whether these mechanisms are independent or whether they are somehow related,” says Bradke. “This is something we want to examine more closely in the future.”

{When trying to make babies, there are certain mistakes couples make which can be easily avoided.}

Below are 7 common mistakes you should avoid when trying to get pregnant

{{1. Failing to have enough sex }}

It’s important you have enough s*x when seeking to make babies because you could easily miss the fertile period if s*x is limited. Don’t just wait to have s*x when you think you are ovulating.

{{2. Thinking the woman is the problem }}

Many men always blame the woman if they have difficulties making babies. It’s so wrong to think this way because 40% of infertility issues have to do with the man. Just because you pass out fluid during s*x doesn’t mean there is sperm in it.

{{3. Use of lubricants }}

Lubricants help s*x but using the wrong lubricant could also hurt your chances of making babies. Many commercial lubricants affect sperm motility which makes it harder for sperm to get to the egg for fertilization. Go for more natural lubricants like olive oil, baby oil etc.

{{4. Mistiming ovulation }}

Mis-timing ovulation can hurt your chances of making babies and many women actually mis-time ovulation. While on average, women ovulate 14 days after the first day of their period, it’s also important to note that cycle lengths vary and ovulation doesn’t always occur at the same time each month. Using an ovulation predictor kit is advised.

{{5. Waiting to have sex the day of your ovulation }}

After ovulation, the eggs can only be fertilised for 24 hours so if you mis-time it, you ruin your chances of making babies. Instead of waiting for the day of your ovulation to have s*x, having s*x during the few days leading to your ovulation is important as it increases your chances of getting pregnant because sperm can live for three to five days inside you.

{{6. Believing only certain sex position would get her pregnant }}

Believing only a certain position can get her pregnant is really wrong. It’s really wrong to believe missionary is the best position when seeking to get pregnant. Enjoy love-making with your partner while you seek to make babies.

{{7. Your health }}

Your general health is important and should be well taken care of when you are seeking to get pregnant. You should note that issues like weight, smoking, medications and stress can affect fertility and hurt your chances of getting pregnant.

{People who retain a particular bacterium in their gut after a bout of food poisoning may be at an increased risk of developing Crohn’s disease later in life, according to a new study led by researchers at McMaster University.}

Using a mouse model of Crohn’s disease, the researchers discovered that acute infectious gastroenteritis caused by common food-poisoning bacteria accelerates the growth of adherent-invasive E. coli (AIEC) — a bacterium that has been linked to the development of Crohn’s.

Even after the mice had eliminated the food-poisoning bacteria, researchers still observed increased levels of AIEC in the gut, which led to worsened symptoms over a long period of time.

The study, published in the journal PLOS Pathogens, was funded by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Crohn’s and Colitis Canada.

Crohn’s disease is a debilitating bowel disease characterized by the inflammation of the intestines. Today, one in every 150 Canadians is living with Crohn’s or colitis, a rate that ranks among the highest worldwide.

“This is a lifelong disease that often strikes people in their early years, leading to decades of suffering, an increased risk of colorectal cancer, and an increased risk of premature death,” said Brian Coombes, senior author of the study. At McMaster University he is a professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences and a researcher at the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research.

The study’s results, said Coombes, means that new diagnostic tools should be developed to identify AIEC-colonized individuals who may be at greater risk for Crohn’s disease following an episode of acute infectious gastroenteritis.

“We need to understand the root origins of this disease — and to use this information to invigorate a new pipeline of treatments and preventions. It has never been more pressing.”