First bacteria we ever meet can keep us out of hospital
They have shown, for the first time, that good bacteria seem to halve the risk of young children being admitted to hospital with lung infections.
The researchers said it was a "phenomenal" finding and could lead to therapies that boost good bacteria in babies.
Our early encounters with microbes are thought to be crucial in how our immune system develops.
We come out of the womb sterile, but this doesn't last for long. All the nooks and crannies of the human body become home to a world of microbial life, known as the microbiome.
More than half your body is not human
Microbiome podcast: The Second Genome
Researchers at University College London and the Sanger Institute investigated the earliest stages in our body's colonisation by bacteria, fungi and more.
They collected stool samples from 1,082 newborns in the first week of life. The team then performed a massive genetic analysis on all the DNA in the samples to work out exactly which species were present and how common they were in each child.
They then tracked what happened to those babies, using hospital data, for the next two years.
One particular early inhabitant of the human body, Bifidobacterium longum, seemed to have a protective effect.
Only 4% of babies with this species would spend a night in hospital with a lung infection over the next two years. Babies with different starter-bacteria were two-to-three times more likely to need to stay in hospital.
It is the first data to show the formation of the microbiome affects the risk of infection.
"I think it's really phenomenal. It's amazing to be able to show this. I'm excited," Prof Nigel Field, from UCL, told the BBC.
The most likely culprit for children ending up in hospital is respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), but what joins the dots between this and B. longum?
That is the "million dollar question" for Prof Field.
We know B. longum starts off digesting breast milk which both contains food for the baby and encourages good bacteria.
The exact details have not yet been worked out, but either the bacteria themselves or the compounds they make by digesting food are interacting with the immune system "and are influencing the way in which the immune system matures and is able to recognise friend from foe," according to Prof Field.
The protective bacteria were found only in babies that came into the world via a vaginal delivery rather than a caesarean. Even then they were not discovered after every vaginal delivery.
The researchers say their findings do not justify the practice of vaginal seeding, where some new parents smear babies with a swab taken from the vagina.
How method of birth alters babies' bacteria
The good bacteria seem to be coming from the end of the mother's digestive system, an idea known in the field as the "first lick".
"I feel pretty confident in saying that vaginal seeding is not a good thing," said Prof Field.
However, the long-term ambition is to come up with microbial therapies – like a probiotic yogurt – that could be given to babies to set their microbiomes on a healthy path.
Prof Louise Kenny, from the University of Liverpool and a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, said: "A caesarean section is often a life-saving procedure, and can be the right choice for a woman and her baby."
She said that while the benefit was seen only in babies born vaginally, it was not in every child born that way so "further research is needed to create a full, nuanced picture".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
14 hours ago
- Newsweek
Couple Worried as Both Develop Mysterious Symptoms—Then Comes Realization
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. When a couple began feeling unwell, their minds immediately jumped to the worst. Debra DeAngelo, 66, and Joe DeAngelo, 67, both experienced COVID-19 twice in the past two years, as well as RSV—a common respiratory virus that can cause serious symptoms in older adults—they suspected the strange wave of fatigue and brain fog washing over them might signal the onset of long COVID. But the truth was far less dire—and much more amusing. "We were both barely functional. I even wondered if we were having simultaneous heart failure," Debra, an author from California, told Newsweek. Her Threads post about the debacle quickly gained traction, amassing 121,000 views. "We're both in our 60s, so bodies become highly irrational in this decade of life and pull unexpected tricks. But at the same time? Hmmmm," she said. Speaking to Newsweek, DeAngelo said it started on a Friday. Though the morning began normally, by midday both she and her husband were dragging and needed naps. Saturday was worse—they managed a few tasks in the morning, but she fell asleep mid-morning, something she'd only ever done during a bout with COVID. By Sunday, they felt fully unwell. But not in the typical sense—there was no fever, no cough, no body aches. Just overwhelming exhaustion and a foggy mental state. Both of them were genuinely concerned. Her husband even made a doctor's appointment, convinced something was terribly wrong. Then, DeAngelo stumbled on a clue. Going through receipts in her wallet, she found one from the market where they buy whole-bean coffee. "I glanced at the ticket to see what the final extortion rate was for coffee currently," she wrote. "And noticed the receipt said 'Decaf Breakfast Blend.' DECAF. The horror." Unknowingly, they had been drinking decaffeinated coffee all weekend. The market had reorganized its coffee section, placing the decaf Breakfast Blend in the spot where the regular blend had always been. DeAngelo hadn't seen the small print indicating the switch. "I couldn't believe I'd made such a mistake. I'd sooner buy used kitty litter than decaf for a morning beverage," she said. Suspicious, she returned to the store—and sure enough, the decaf had taken the prime shelf space once reserved for the fully caffeinated version. "These people are demons," she joked. "May they end up with used kitty litter in their coffeemakers." She then had to break the news to her husband—who, believing he was at death's door, was not amused. "Let's just say that I was not his favorite person at that moment," she said. To set things right, she bought Starbucks Breakfast Blend instead, now distrustful of the local market's bin placement. "Amazing—when we got our regular coffee, we stopped dying and life returned to normal," she said. The Power of Caffeine DeAngelo's hilarious misadventure struck a chord with many online—especially those who understand the impact of caffeine withdrawal. Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world. When people accustomed to regular doses suddenly stop consuming it, they can experience withdrawal symptoms within 12–24 hours, including headaches, fatigue, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and even flu-like symptoms. These symptoms can last for several days depending on the level of dependence, according to Healthline. A stock image showing a woman offering support to her partner who is under the weather. A stock image showing a woman offering support to her partner who is under the weather. Srdjanns74/iStock / Getty Images Plus On Threads, others shared similar experiences. "That's happened to us before! Amazing that coffee hasn't been banned or at least regulated because it has such noticeable impact on well being, energy, etc. As a caffeine addict myself, I have been known to take Excedrin in the am if no coffee is available," said Judith Fuller. "I once did a cold turkey caffeine detox for a week between jobs. I slept 16+ hours a day between night sleep and naps. My body needed it after surviving on caffeine and adrenaline for months but it was not compatible with being a functioning human," said Charlotte. "I permanently switched to decaf bc of my reliance on caffeine to just like, function," said Meg Miller. "Ha! That happened to us on a ski trip. My b in law bought decaf by mistake," said Anne Moore. Do you have any viral videos or pictures that you want to share? We want to see the best ones! Send them in to life@ and they could appear on our site.
Forbes
18 hours ago
- Forbes
Personality-Tuned Exercise Can Be Good For More Than Your Health
It goes back to the schoolyards of our youth: the sense that physical activities are a 'recess' from the real work of reading, writing and 'rithmetic. We grow a bit older and sports or gym class become a sidecar activity for most of us—not something we plan to build a career around. The careers we do build may place some physical demands on us, but if we take one of the 80% of jobs that are sedentary or are like most people who spend more than half of their time in front of a screen, exercising our bodies can seem unimportant or like something we 'should' do for our health but without any real bearing on our professional efficacy. So, when New Atlas recently reported on a study from University College London (UCL) on the connection between personality and physical activities, their orientation (and that of the study) was on what kind of activities each personality type would enjoy enough to stick with. That perspective is valid and matches the sidecar mentality around exercise; however, our work with FEBI patterns in the nervous system flips that around to show what kind of activities can strengthen one's personality and bring needed agility to one's leadership. Looked at this way, the UCL study further validates that personality is not some abstract, cognitive 'type' but deeply embedded in our bodies. We can run that mind-body connection in reverse, as it were, using our bodies in particular ways that give rise to four different and essential mindsets for leadership. What's more, guided by the UCL study, we can do that in ways that we're likely to stick with. The UCL study sought to establish connections between personality and preferences for different types of exercise, willingness to engage them, and results in fitness or stress levels. Participants were put through an 8-week at-home cycling and strength training program or in a control group. The cycling program varied from fast and intense to slow and easy and participants reported how much they enjoyed each part of the workout program. They also completed a Perceived Stress Survey and a personality assessment based on the Big Five traits identified by McCrae and Costa as: extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness and neuroticism (or negative emotions). As Flaminia Ronca, PhD, lead author on the study, summarized, 'We have found that personality can influence how we engage with exercise, and particularly which forms of exercise we enjoy the most.' While fitness results did not vary significantly across personality traits, the orientation toward exercise did, as summarized in Figure 1. Looking at these findings from a FEBI perspective, we shift into a model that emerged from physiology, not psychology. In the 1930's Josephine Rathbone characterized four large-scale patterns in the nervous system relating to the order in which nerves activate opposing muscle groups and how we carry residual tension in our bodies. Years later, Hunt and Fitt measured these four patterns using electrophysiology and Fitt went on to apply them in education and dance therapy. When choreographer and movement researcher, Betsy Wetzig learned of these patterns, she was struck by the link to personality and began cataloguing the connections. Learning about these patterns from Betsy, I recognized their connection to leadership and a principle from my training in Zen and martial arts: when you make something physical, you make it trainable beyond the capacity of the mind to train itself. The patterns were a perfect framework for helping people access the range of mindsets, skills and behaviors needed for successful leadership—or a successful life. While these four patterns have gone by different names, we call them by their dominant leadership characteristic: Driver, Organizer, Collaborator and Visionary. As written about elsewhere, we developed the FEBI assessment as a validated measure of these four patterns of personality. As part of our validation process, we did a correlation study with the Big Five model, which allows for useful connections to this UCL study. We found strong correlations between the four dominant factors of the Big Five model and the FEBI patterns, while the 5th factor, neuroticism, represented a set of dysfunctional expressions found in the other four patterns. We also found that extraversion came in two flavors: extraversion toward tasks (e.g., high activity, achievement striving) mapped to Driver, while social extraversion (e.g., gregarious, warmth) mapped to Collaborator. Organizer strongly correlated with Conscientiousness, while Visionary mapped to Openness. The correlations between the FEBI patterns and the factors and subscales of the Big Five model are summarized in Figure 2. In our work with FEBI as part of Zen Leadership development, we focus less on what's enduring in personality (i.e., a rigid 'type') and more on what's available through fluid use of each pattern as it's needed. While FEBI measures one's pattern order and most preferred (i.e., Home) pattern, every pattern is essential and has unique strengths. The expansive Visionary, for example, is best at seeing the big picture, thinking strategically and imagining futures ready to happen. The disciplined Organizer is great at giving those ideas form, developing plans, processes and next steps. The Collaborator excels in relationships and playfully bringing others along. The Driver brings determination and urgency to hitting targets and breaking through barriers. A probable mapping of the UCL exercise preference findings to FEBI Home patterns would predict: We know from our research into FEBI patterns that these exercise preferences also match what puts people into each of the patterns. For example, hard and fast, intense activities put the nervous system into Driver mode and it's not surprising that someone already strong in Driver would feel at home there. Other ways to enter and cultivate each of the patterns are shown in Figure 3. Years of coaching leaders with FEBI, often alongside feedback they've received from others, have shown that it's usually the case that the area they most want to work on (or are told to work on by others) is associated with one of their weaker patterns. For example, a leader strong in Driver and weak in Visionary might be praised in multi-rater feedback for their ability to hit the numbers but told they need to be more strategic. A high Visionary, low Driver leader might have a million great ideas but struggle to set priorities or get to the point. If we do activities only based on our enjoyment of them, there are some patterns we may never develop, which means there will be aspects of leadership and situations in life we'll never rise to. On the other hand, if we try to develop a weak pattern by doing something we don't enjoy, we may not stick with it long enough to make a difference. The UCL study and our work with FEBI suggest a productive blend: use what you enjoy to stretch into a pattern that matches what you need. Returning to our examples and applying FEBI coaching, the high Driver leader preferred intense activities but needed more of the big picture expansiveness that comes with Visionary. Reviewing the physical ways to cultivate Visionary, sailing had appeal as they had done that in their youth. Slow and easy was not their style but competitive sailing was something that would keep their interest. It met their preference for intensity, while also giving them practice seeing the big picture, reading the patterns of nature and being strategic. Conversely the high Visionary, low Driver leader needed more of the Driver's focus but was unlikely to stick with a high intensity practice. One of their existing practices was Tai Chi, done in a characteristically open and relaxed way. Punctuating their practice with moments of sharp intensity and then going back to relaxed openness gave them practice in momentarily focusing into Driver and then relaxing back into the bigness of Visionary. Over time they were better able to do the same thing in their work. In ways such as these, flipping the mind-body connection around so that the body equips us with the best-suited frame of mind, our leadership becomes more agile and effective. Moreover, our physical activities move from sidecar status to giving us real horsepower, which also gives them staying power in our lives. Tuning a practice to both what we enjoy and what we need, the body becomes a deeply effective trainer of the mind—not just something for 'recess.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Two life-saving medications that no one is using
In 2021, varenicline, the most effective single drug for quitting smoking, was withdrawn from the market in the UK because impurities were found at greater levels than is considered safe. Rapidly, varenicline (then sold under its brand names, Champix and Chantix) became unavailable. This was a disaster for public health. Research from University College London estimated that varenicline being unavailable resulted in about 1,890 more avoidable deaths each year because fewer people were successfully quitting smoking. But there was hope. Cytisine (also known as cytisinicline), a naturally occurring plant-based product that had been used for decades in Eastern Europe, and more recently to great effect elsewhere in the world, was licensed in the UK and made available from January 2024. Even so, there was an extended period when neither were available to people trying to quit smoking in the UK (and in other countries, too). But in the UK at least, things were looking up. Based on a limited but growing body of evidence, cytisine probably works as well as varenicline at helping people quit smoking, and it may be better tolerated with fewer side effects. It may also appeal to more smokers who may want to use a natural product rather than a drug designed in a lab. So, with varenicline withdrawn and a similarly effective treatment available, we should have seen lives saved as people who would have taken varenicline were encouraged to try cytisine instead. Why isn't anyone prescribing it? This didn't happen. Cytisine – despite now being licensed and available in the UK – is still shockingly underused. Since January 2024, only 0.2% of people trying to quit smoking have used it (the same proportion that used it in 2018, when it wasn't even officially available in the UK). Official NHS data from people accessing stop-smoking services in England confirm that only 0.7% were prescribed cytisine in 2024. So why is this? High-profile trials continue to show cytisine's effectiveness for quitting smoking (and even for quitting vaping). Maybe cytisine's relatively complex dosing schedule puts people off. Cytisine starts with six pills a day (one every two hours) and gradually tapers off over a few weeks: more confusing and less convenient than one-a-day varenicline. Another possibility is that the public's attention has shifted. With so much focus in recent years on vaping as a smoking cessation aid, prescription drugs for smoking cessation may have fallen off the radar. It could also be that GPs are reluctant to prescribe cytisine because of its cost and the assumption that local authorities should pay for it, not primary care. While it was once hoped that due to its low-cost availability in Eastern Europe, it would become the 'aspirin of smoking cessation drugs', the licensed product in the UK is now as or more expensive than other drugs. But the simplest explanation is probably the most accurate: not enough people know about cytisine. People who smoke, GPs, pharmacists and even stop-smoking services may not know it's an option. And if no one is talking about it, no one is prescribing it. And even if they do know about it, there may be a lack of confidence in using or prescribing it because it is a new drug. That's a problem. The UK government has made the shift from treating illness to preventing it a central part of its health strategy. Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the country and the world. If we're serious about prevention, then effective smoking cessation support must be top of the agenda. Now, varenicline is available again (without its brand names and reformulated to remove the impurities). This is welcome news, but only 1.1% of past-year smokers reported using varenicline. That's only a quarter of the number from before its withdrawal. This raises an important question: should we return to prescribing varenicline by default, or is it time to consider cytisine as a first-line treatment? Researchers are continuing to learn more about cytisine, but as the evidence in favour of cytisine grows, maybe it needs a PR campaign for both prescribers and people who smoke. None of this is to say that cytisine is a miracle cure, or that it will work for everyone. But that's true of every way to help people quit smoking. Quitting smoking is hard, and people trying to quit need more options, not fewer, and those options need to be visible and accessible. Jonathan Livingstone-Banks is a Lecturer & Senior Researcher in Evidence-Based Healthcare at the University of Oxford. Dimitra Kale is a Senior Research Fellow in Health Psychology at UCL. Lion Shahab is a Professor in Health Psychology at UCL. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
