I follow a few groups that deal with probiotics in general. This is my periodic extract of interesting random notes, sometime with slightly off the wall comments (to get people thinking!”

• “humans harboring a type of Staphylococcus bacterium-S. lugdunensis-in their noses have a lower abundance of S. aureus, the kind that can cause nasty infections.” [Scientific American]  “First we had shyte transplants, now we are heading to nose goobers transplants!”. Actually only 20% were found to have this bacteria. Coming soon — nasal probiotic sprays!
• “Nail-Biters, Thumb-Suckers Have Fewer Allergies … “The findings support the ‘hygiene hypothesis,’ which suggests that being exposed to microbes as a child reduces your risk of developing allergies….  a set of articles published this month in Perspectives in Public Health takes issue with the idea that modern ideals of cleanliness are harming our health, arguing that this view hinders efforts to combat the rise in allergies and chronic inflammatory diseases. “[the Scientist]
• “Kids often acquire cavity-causing bacteria from non-family members, researchers report at the American Society for Microbiology annual meeting.” [The Scientist]
• “Food that travels faster through the gut results in bacteria producing less harmful by-products in the digestive system, resulting in a healthier gut environment, according to a study…. diet rich in fiber and plenty of water” [Nature]
• “Vitamin D3 may increase bacterial richness in the upper gastrointestinal tract and reduce opportunistic pathogens, says a new study from Austria.” [European Journal of Nutrition]
• “Certain food additives may interfere with your gut bacteria, causing changes that boost inflammation in the intestines and potentially promote the development of some chronic diseases, a new study suggests. In the study, researchers looked at ingredients called emulsifiers, which are added to many processed foods, including ice cream and peanut butter,”[Transactional Microbiome]
• “While there is some evidence from previous reviews that probiotic interventions may benefit those with disease-associated imbalances of the gut microbiota, there is little evidence of an effect in healthy individuals.” [Genome Medicine]
• “Intestinal bacteria that can boost bravery or trigger multiple sclerosis: An increasing body of research results confirms the importance of the “gut-brain axis” for neurology and indicates that the triggers for a number of neurological diseases may be located in the digestive tract.” [European Academy of Neurology]
• “Metagenomic profiling revealed that the low-dose chemical exposure resulted in significant changes in the overall bacterial composition, but in adolescent rats only. Specifically, the individual taxon relative abundance for Bacteroidetes (Prevotella) was increased while the relative abundance of Firmicutes (Bacilli)was reduced in all treated rats compared to controls. Increased abundance was observed for Elusimicrobiain DEP and MPB groups, Betaproteobacteria in MPB and MIX groups, and Deltaproteobacteria in TCS group. Surprisingly, these differences diminished by adulthood (PND 181) despite continuous exposure, suggesting that exposure to the environmental chemicals produced a more profound effect on the gut microbiome in adolescents.” [Microbiome]
• “Probiotic strain Lactobacillus gasseri activates ‘multiple actions’ that may work in synergy to prevent obesity, Japanese research in rats has suggested.” [British Journal of Nutrition]
• “Frailty (old age) was associated with species and genus abundance. Species more abundant with frailty included Eubacterium dolichum and Eggerthella lenta. Also, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii was less abundant in frailer individuals.” [Gut Microbiota]
• “Mice raised under specific pathogen-free conditions in a lab do not model the natural exposure of animals and humans to environmental commensals and pathogens. Now, two studies show that exposing mice to their natural environment, or infecting them with specific pathogens, results in an immune system that better resembles that of adult humans.” [Nature] — i.e. many studies with mice may yield  misleading or even false results.
• “The absence of one specific bacterial species[Lactobacillus Reuteri] in the gut is associated with the development of social behaviour that falls within a range of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), according to a study in mice.” [Economist]
• “Primates, Gut Microbes Evolved Together” [The Scientist] “When the researchers compared the phylogenetic trees of hominids to the trees of the bacterial species from the fecal samples, they found that both trees reflected the same evolutionary branching. In other words, most of the bacterial species in humans were not found in the ape samples. The researchers saw that for two of the three bacterial families, species were clearly present only in one modern day hominid, suggesting a distinct co-evolution for two of the three bacterial families with their hosts.” This echo my belief that your personal DNA and your personal gut bacteria have evolved together.
•  “This study demonstrated that increased intestinal permeability [leaky gut] may be induced by bacteriophages that affect the microbiota.” [Gut Pathogens] The ” bacteriophage cocktail was active againstStaphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., Proteus spp., Pseudomonas spp., E. coli, K. pneumonia, andSalmonella spp”; i.e. the body response to the above infections (creating bacteriophages) may induce leaky guts in some as a side effect. Removal of those infections would stop the production of bacteriophages  and thus could heal leaky guts.
• “We further showed that there were 7 (3 negative and 4 positive correlation) OTUs significantly correlated with all the three types of cognitive abilities, at the order level, including Bacteroidales, Clostridiales, Desulfovibrionales,..” [Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease]
• “found that inducing strokes in mice altered the animals’ gut microbiota, triggering an immune response that traveled back to the brain and worsened the severity of the lesions.” [The Scientist]
• “Compared with untreated mice, adult mice treated with antibiotics showed significantly fewer newly formed brain cells (i.e. reduced neurogenesis) in the hippocampus region of the brain, and subsequently their memory also deteriorated ..it has been previously reported that antibiotic-induced gut dysbiosis may lead to impaired cognition in mice, little is known about the link between the brain, the local and systemic immune system, and the gut microbiota. ” [Gut Microbiota]
• In “the healthy control group. Bacteroides, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria increased in level, whereas that of Firmicutes was reduced in major depressive disorder groups compared with the healthy control group.” [Gut Microbiota]
• “intestinal microbiota changes promote a pro-inflammatory environment in systemic lupus erythematosus SLE patients…it has been found that enriching SLE gut microbiota with two Clostridia strains (Ruminococcus obeum DSM25238 and Blautia coccoides DSM935) along with Bifidobacterium bifidum LMG13195, which have a Treg-inducing function, reduced the Th17/Th1 balance and prevented Th over-activation. [Gut Microbiota]