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Bacterial Therapy
Bacterial therapy is the therapeutic use of bacteria to treat diseases. Bacterial therapeutics are living medicines, and may be wild type bacteria (often in the form of probiotics) or bacteria that have been genetically engineered to possess therapeutic properties that is injected into a patient. Other examples of living medicines include cellular therapeutics (including immunotherapeutics), activators of anti-tumor immunity, or synergizing with existing tools and approaches. and phage therapeutics, or as delivery vehicles for treatment, diagnosis, or imaging, complementing or synergizing with existing tools and approaches. Development Development of bacterial therapeutics is an extremely active research area in the fields of synthetic biology and microbiology. Currently, there is a large focus on: 1) identifying bacteria that naturally produce therapeutic effects (for example, probiotic bacteria), and 2) genetically programming bacteria to produce therapeutic effects. Des ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tumor-homing Bacteria
Tumor-homing bacteria are facultative or obligate anaerobic bacteria (capable of producing ATP when oxygen is absent or is destroyed in normal oxygen levels) that are able to target cancerous cells in the body, suppress tumor growth and survive in the body for a long time even after the infection. When this type of bacteria is administered into the body, it migrates to the cancerous tissues and starts to grow, and then deploys distinct mechanisms to destroy solid tumors. Each bacteria species uses a different process to eliminate the tumor. Some common tumor homing bacteria include '' Salmonella, Clostridium, Bifidobacterium, Listeria'', and ''Streptococcus''. The earliest research of this type of bacteria was highlighted in 1813 when scientists began observing that patients that had gas gangrene, an infection caused by the bacteria '' Clostridium'', were able to have tumor regressions. Tumor-inhibition mechanisms Different strains of tumor homing bacteria in distinct environme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biological Engineering
Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically-viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number of pure and applied sciences, such as mass and heat transfer, kinetics, biocatalysts, biomechanics, bioinformatics, separation and purification processes, bioreactor design, surface science, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and polymer science. It is used in the design of medical devices, diagnostic equipment, biocompatible materials, renewable energy, ecological engineering, agricultural engineering, process engineering and catalysis, and other areas that improve the living standards of societies. Examples of bioengineering research include bacteria engineered to produce chemicals, new medical imaging technology, portable and rapid disease diagnostic devices, prosthetics, biopharmaceuticals, and tissue-engineered organs. Bioengineering ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bacteria And Humans
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit soil, water, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust. Bacteria are vital in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients such as the fixation of nitrogen from the atmosphere. The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of dead bodies; bacteria are responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process. In the biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, extremophile bacteria provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, such as hydrogen sulphide and methane, to energy. Bacteria also live in symbiotic and parasitic relationsh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Living Medicine
A living medicine is a type of biologic that consists of a living organism that is used to treat a disease. This usually takes the form of a cell (animal, bacterial, or fungal) or a virus that has been genetically engineered to possess therapeutic properties that is injected into a patient. Perhaps the oldest use of a living medicine is the use of leeches for bloodletting, though living medicines have advanced tremendously since this time. Examples of living medicines include cellular therapeutics (including immunotherapeutics), phage therapeutics, and bacterial therapeutics, a subset of the latter being probiotics. Development of living medicines Development of living medicines is an extremely active research area in the fields of synthetic biology and microbiology. Currently, there is a large focus on: 1) identifying microbes that naturally produce therapeutic effects (for example, probiotic bacteria), and 2) genetically programming organisms to produce therapeutic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dysbiosis
Dysbiosis (also called dysbacteriosis) is characterized by a disruption to the microbiome resulting in an imbalance in the microbiota, changes in their functional composition and metabolic activities, or a shift in their local distribution. For example, a part of the human microbiota such as the skin flora, gut flora, or vaginal flora, can become deranged, with normally dominating species underrepresented and normally outcompeted or contained species increasing to fill the void. Dysbiosis is most commonly reported as a condition in the gastrointestinal tract. Typical microbial colonies found on or in the body are benign or beneficial. These appropriately sized microbial colonies carry out a series of helpful and necessary functions, such as aiding in digestion. They also help protect the body from infiltration by pathogenic microbes. These beneficial microbial colonies compete with each other for space and resources. However, when this balance is disturbed, these colonies exhibi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), also termed bacterial overgrowth, or small bowel bacterial overgrowth syndrome (SBBOS), is a disorder of excessive bacterial growth in the small intestine. Unlike the colon (or large bowel), which is rich with bacteria, the small bowel usually has fewer than 100,000 organisms per millilitre. Patients with bacterial overgrowth typically develop symptoms which may include nausea, bloating, vomiting, diarrhea, malnutrition, weight loss and malabsorption, which is caused by a number of mechanisms. The diagnosis of bacterial overgrowth is made by a number of techniques, with the gold standard being an aspirate from the jejunum that grows in excess of 105 bacteria per millilitre. Risk factors for the development of bacterial overgrowth include dysmotility; anatomical disturbances in the bowel, including fistulae, diverticula and blind loops created after surgery, and resection of the ileo-cecal valve; gastroenteritis-induced alterations to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Gastrointestinal Microbiota
Gut microbiota, gut microbiome, or gut flora, are the microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses that live in the digestive tracts of animals. The gastrointestinal metagenome is the aggregate of all the genomes of the gut microbiota. The gut is the main location of the human microbiome. The gut microbiota has broad impacts, including effects on colonization, resistance to pathogens, maintaining the intestinal epithelium, metabolizing dietary and pharmaceutical compounds, controlling immune function, and even behavior through the gut–brain axis. The microbial composition of the gut microbiota varies across regions of the digestive tract. The colon contains the highest microbial density recorded in any habitat on Earth, representing between 300 and 1000 different species. Bacteria are the largest and to date, best studied component and 99% of gut bacteria come from about 30 or 40 species. Up to 60% of the dry mass of feces is bacteria. Over 99% of the bacter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tumor-infiltrating Immune Cell
Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) are white blood cells that have left the bloodstream and migrated towards a tumor. They include T cells and B cells and are part of the larger category of ‘tumor-infiltrating immune cells’ which consist of both mononuclear and polymorphonuclear immune cells, (i.e., T cells, B cells, natural killer cells, macrophages, neutrophils, dendritic cells, mast cells, eosinophils, basophils, etc.) in variable proportions. Their abundance varies with tumor type and stage and in some cases relates to disease prognosis. TILs can often be found in the tumor stroma and within the tumor itself. Their functions can dynamically change throughout tumor progression and in response to anticancer therapy TILs are implicated in killing tumor cells. The presence of lymphocytes in tumors is often associated with better clinical outcomes (after surgery or immunotherapy). Detection and characteristics TILs can be found between the tumor cells, as TILs in the stroma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bacteria Involved In Causing And Treating Cancers
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats. Bacteria inhabit soil, water, Hot spring, acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep biosphere of Earth's crust. Bacteria are vital in many stages of the nutrient cycle by recycling nutrients such as the nitrogen fixation, fixation of nitrogen from the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere. The nutrient cycle includes the decomposition of cadaver, dead bodies; bacteria are responsible for the putrefaction stage in this process. In the biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, extremophile bacteria provide the nutrients needed to sustain life by converting dissolved compounds, such as hydrogen sulp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colonisation (biology)
Colonisation or colonization is the process in biology by which a species spreads to new areas. Colonisation often refers to ''successful'' immigration where a population becomes integrated into an ecological community, having resisted initial local extinction. In ecology, it is represented by the symbol ''λ'' (lowercase lambda) to denote the long-term intrinsic growth rate of a population. One classic scientific model in biogeography posits that species must continue to colonize new areas through its life cycle (called a '' taxon cycle'') in order to achieve longevity. Accordingly, colonisation and extinction are key components of island biogeography, a theory that has many applications in ecology, such as metapopulations. Scale Colonisation occurs on several scales. In the most basic form, as biofilm in the formation of communities of microorganisms on surfaces. In small scales such as colonising new sites, perhaps as a result of environmental change. And on larger scales w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
