What's that stench?!

Do you sometimes have a smelly feet and quite embarrassed of it? Foot odor is quite a problem for some people. Foot odor is a type of body odor that affects the feet of humans and is generally considered to be an unpleasant or unsettling smell. The main cause is foot sweat (also see focal hyperhidrosis). Sweat itself is odorless, but it creates a beneficial environment for certain bacteria to grow and produce bad-smelling substances. These bacteria are naturally present on our skin as part of the human flora. The front part of the foot is where it produces the most sweat. Therefore, more smell is created with factors causing more sweating, such as wearing shoes with inadequate air ventilation for many hours. Socks generally do not cause foot odor on their own, but when worn along with shoes, socks can help to trap the hair on the feet, especially on the toes, may contribute to the odor's intensity by adding increased surface area in which the bacteria can thrive. Given that socks directly contact the feet, their composition can have an impact on foot odor. Polyester and nylon are common synthetic materials used to make socks, but generally provide less ventilation than cotton or wool do when used for the same purpose. Wearing polyester or nylon socks may increase the amount of perspiration because they do not let the feet breathe as well as cotton. This may intensify foot odor, although polyester and nylon can help reduce blisters by keeping the perspiration away from the foot. Cotton's natural antibacterial properties can reduce odors better than synthetics although many synthetic socks are treated with chemicals to help reduce odor. Since the insides of shoes are typically not washed (unlike socks), and since socks also help to absorb perspiration from feet, wearing closed-toe shoes without socks allows sweat to accumulate excessively inside shoes, enabling bacteria to grow over time. Bacterial growth is facilitated in this case because closed-toe shoes do not receive adequate air ventilation (especially in the toe area, where the feet produce the greatest amount of sweat), so the sweat cannot evaporate while the shoe is being worn, in addition to there being no socks to absorb the sweat. Dead skin cells, dirt and oils can also accumulate in the shoe from the foot over time which can increase odor inside the shoe. Mold and fungus are also more likely to form if socks are not worn which can increase odors and other foot issues. If closed-toe shoes (such as ballet flats or heels) must be worn without socks, the best prevention of foot odor is to slip the shoes off momentarily, at least part-way, whenever the feet start to feel "hot" or sweaty, to allow sweat to evaporate from the feet and shoes. Foot powders are also available to manage moisture and reduce odor. Maintaining good foot hygiene is the best way to prevent foot odor as it eliminates odor causing bacteria and removes dead skin cells as well as sebum. Avoid putting on shoes with dirty feet and dirty socks. When walking barefoot, feet should be cleaned with soap and water before putting shoes on. Always wear clean, dry socks when wearing shoes. Socks should be changed daily or more frequently if feet sweat excessively. Avoid socks that are 100% synthetic. Cotton/synthetic blends are generally best. Use sodium bicarbonate as a home-remedy against foot odor and for the prevention of foot odor. While there are a number of other remedies, sodium bicarbonate is the least expensive. However, the extent of the antimicrobial effect on the odor-causing bacteria is unclear. Swabbing feet twice daily with isopropyl alcohol - found at your local drug store - for two weeks is an inexpensive and highly effective cure. Remove footwear periodically to allow shoes to air out and to allow perspiration to evaporate. Some powders and activated charcoal insoles, such as odor eaters, have been developed to prevent foot odor by keeping the feet dry. Special cedarsoles and socks with silver fibers can be recommended for this purpose because of their antibacterial characteristics. Using boric acid powder is an effective way for both treatment and prevention of the odor. I do have smelly feet sometimes when I don't properly clean my foot due to some issues. It's embarrassing and you hope that people can't smell it but apparently they can discreetly. At least there are some ways to prevent it.

There's something in the water, I say.

Have you ever tried drinking tap water or unfiltered? It's quite a way to get yourself sick. One of the infection you can get is Cholera. Cholera is an infection in the small intestine caused by a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are quite simple yet unsettling. Watery diarrhea and vomiting are the main symptoms and may result dehydration and in severe cases grayish-bullish skin or even death in some cases. Cholera is typically transmitted by either contaminated food or water. In the developed world, seafood is the usual cause, while in the developing world it is more often water. Most cholera cases in developed countries are a result of transmission by food. This occurs when people harvest oysters in waters infected with sewage, as Vibrio cholerae accumulates in zooplankton and the oysters eat the zooplankton. Cholera has been found in two animal populations: shellfish and plankton. People infected with cholera often have diarrhea, and if this highly liquid stool, colloquially referred to as "rice-water", contaminates water used by others, disease transmission may occur. The source of the contamination is typically other cholera sufferers when their untreated diarrheal discharge is allowed to get into waterways, groundwater or drinking water supplies. Drinking any infected water and eating any foods washed in the water, as well as shellfish living in the affected waterway, can cause a person to contract an infection. Cholera is rarely spread directly from person to person. Both toxic and nontoxic strains exist. Nontoxic strains can acquire toxicity through a temperate bacteriophage. Coastal cholera outbreaks typically follow zooplankton blooms, thus making cholera a zoonotic disease. Although cholera may be life-threatening, prevention of the disease is normally straightforward if proper sanitation practices are followed. In developed countries, due to nearly universal advanced water treatment and sanitation practices, cholera is no longer a major health threat. Yet for the countries that lacks these advanced water treatment and practices, there are ways they can prevent cholera such as:Sterilization,Water purification, Finding sources, And treatment on the sewage. It's been quite a long time since I drank in a unfiltered water, but I didn't have the knowledge on that time that you could get sick by drinking on it. Now that I have known about this, I should get myself check with a doctor. I'm quite afraid that I might have some unspeakable things right inside of me.

One Bite does it all

First of all who hates mosquitoes? I know I do. Those little bastards trying to suck out your blood. And you kill them, they pop out blood which is quite gross and sometimes it is your own blood. One thing that mosquitoes have is Dengue. Dengue is a virus that cause Dengue fever and it is common within tropical-area countries. Typically, people infected with dengue virus are asymptomatic (80%) or only have mild symptoms with uncomplicated fever. Others have more severe illness and other 5% is life threatening. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains and a rash. The incubation period ranges from 3 to 14 days but it is usually 4 to 7 days. There are three phrases in the course of infection: febrile, critical, and recovery. Within the febrile period, it involves high fever, which goes up over 40 degrees Celsius and pain and a headache. Nausea and vomiting may also occur. A rash that is describes as ‘’island of white in a sea of red’’ may do appear. Some petechiae may appear on this point. A mild bleeding from the mucous membranes of the mouth and nose may appear as well. In some people, as fever gets worse, they proceed to critical phrase. During this time, there is a leakage of plasma from the blood vessels that last one or two days. It may results to fluid accumulation in the chest and abdominal cavity as well as depletion of fluid in the circulation and decreased blood supply to vital organs. It rarely occurs to children and young adult. The recovery phrase occurs next with resorption of the leaked fluid into bloodstream and last for two or three days. The improvement is quite striking since it was accompanied with severe itching and slow heart rate. Another rash may do occur, follow by peeling of the skin. A fluid overload may also appear; if it affects the brain, it may cause a low level of consciousness or seizures. A feeling of fatigue may last for a week in adults. Unfortunately, there are no approved vaccines for dengue virus. Yet there are ways to prevent from getting it. You get rid of open stagnant water, Wear clothing that fully covers the skin, using mosquito net while sleeping, and using mosquito repellant. I was born in a tropical-area country. Of course, during my days of childhood, I would have to wear full clothes since those days Dengue was in urge of outbreak. But of course, It's also hot so sometimes I would be half-naked.I would literally see mosquitoes hovering around me, ready to attack in search of blood. If you happen to be in a vacation around those tropical countries, mosquitoes are the most annoying thing you'll ever experience in day or night.

Panda What?!

I have to come clean when it comes to pandas, they are so damn cute and just makes you want to hug them. Even though pandas are becoming endangered animals, there are things that are unique to these creatures. For instance, they have problems when it comes to mating as they are solitary. Even though 80 percent of their diet comes from bamboos,they are still considered by technical decision as carnivores (members of Order Carnivora). A fully developed panda consumes an average of 25 pounds of fibrous plants each day. As one questions comes into mind, how do pandas digest their food without having those special enzymes that herbivores have in common? Fuwen Wei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and his colleagues thought that Pandas might be getting help from gut microbes. By collecting samples from feces in various types of pandas in China, they studied genes of bacteria that are within those samples and what types of bacteria are likely to be in the pandas' gut. As they look for more clues, they found out that they are 85 different species of bacteria in the pandas' gut, but one them intrigues Wei's team and that is the species in the genus Clostridium.

As we all know, species within the genus Clostridium are quite known to cause human diseases. Some are free-living bacteria, and some are also important pathogens. A well known species of Clostridium is Clostridium Tetani which causes Tetanus. One thing that is quite compelling about this genus Clostridium is that they play an essential role of breaking down cellulose for these pandas. This is a groundbreaking discovery by Wei's team on the search within the pandas' gut. As pandas don't have the special enzymes needed to break down cellulose from eating plants, these species of Clostridium sure did one hell of a job to break down those cellulose and help pandas digest their food. They also have few adaptations in their bamboo diet: they have pseudo thumbs that helps them get a grip of branches, and strong teeth and jaws which help them chew quite better. Even though most of the cellulose simply passes through their digestive system as a study in 1982 founds out that 92 percent of the cellulose consumed ended up in the feces, they still eat enough calories for a day and live a simple life.

I found this information is mind blowing. I have always thought pandas are actually herbivores but with this information I have found, I was wrong the whole time. One thing that comes through my mind, is that where does the other 20 percent of their diet come from? Did it come from humans giving away foods or do they rarely eat meat as well? Also, when and why did they switch and start eating bamboo? And are captive pandas able to survive on a more varied diet or do they really have to eat just bamboo? Lots of question needed to be answered, yet for now, no one could tell. Work Cited: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-a-carnivore-survives-on-bamboo-111994217/?no-ist=

Are you smarter than a microbe?

You may think that microbes are just tiny microorganisms that is within you and everywhere else but there are more than you think. Some of these microbes are strong; others can hibernate for a long time even thousands of years or live within environments that most of the other life forms would be gone in a blink of an eye. It is quite compelling that many of these bacteria and protists do hold a remarkable intelligence. These microbes don't even have nervous system! They only have a brain. There are ground breaking evidences of this intelligent markings for these microbes.

By communication, bacteria releases chemicals in order to communicate to others. Although, we haven't fully understand the course of this action but one of the most straightforwards was done by a Bacillus subtilis. Bacillus subtilis is a rod-shaped, gram-positive, catalase-positive bacterium. They have been known to survive extreme environmental conditions by having the ability to form tough and hard endospore. If a Bacillus subtilis individuals are striving in a low-food area, they release those chemicals around them. It's a signal to their neighbors that there is small amount food or get out or we'll both die together. In response to these, other bacterias push themselves away from the area and also changing the course of the colony.

The chemical that is being released by a bacterium is called an autoinducer. Autoinducers are chemical signaling molecules that are produced and used by same type of bacteria participating in quorum sensing. Quorum sensing is the ability to coordinate gene expression according to the density of their local population or community. These microbes also have the ability to make decisions with the help of quorum sensing. Each bacterium releases chemical(autoinducers) into the surrounding area-a chemical which each bacterium will be able to detect through their receptors on the outer wall. And if there's a community of bacteria around, all of them will also release the same chemical and if reaches a certain level, it will trigger a change in their behavior. As for the bad guys, pathogenic and disease-causing bacteria sometimes use quorum sensing to decide when to attack on their host. When they gather enough numbers, they will overwhelmed and attack the immune system or other systems and your body. Their actions or ways also might give us clues on how to fight back against them. This is also how we treat people better and more efficient by understanding their ways of living, weaknesses and many more.

As we have known as well, microbes do tend to form communities or colonies. When they do, they form biofilm which most likely to be found in the water pipes, kitchen surfaces, teeth, and etc. They also been found on the human digestive system- anywhere where there is a large amount of water. Many different species live with or within these colonies, make themselves useful by taking down waste, co-operating to look for food sources and defending each other from external threats such as antibiotics. Microbes can be also unpredictable and yet fascinating. They kind of the same like us. They organize or think just like a human in a group. We, as humans in a country or communities, we tend to help each other to make a better place for everyone, adapt and so on just like what these microbes are doing. They are more becoming smarter and more intelligent as time passes through. But as a question comes into my mind, what if these microbes become smarter beyond the unimaginable that they would pose as a threat to us humans when that time would happen? Could they evolve into something more than a microbes? No one knows for sure but when that time comes, I hope we are ready for it. Cited: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17390-why-microbes-are-smarter-than-you-thought.html

Baby's first bacteria depends on delivery

As time passes from the day that you were born, have you ever wondered what microbes you could've picked up when you were born C-section? As new survey reveals a new discovery, Babies that were born by C-section has different bacteria on their skins, nose, mouth and rectum than babies being born vaginally. This research also adds evidence to those babies born by C-section that are missing out on beneficial bacteria passed on their mothers. This beneficial bacterias that are being passed on from the mothers are quite important. Babies without those bacterias may not be able to strengthen their immune system not just that but the other systems as well.

As previous research suggests, that babies born via C-section may be more vulnerable to developing allergies, asthma and other immune system-related problems than babies born in traditional way. With this evidence, babies may develop even more than allergies and such. Deadly problems related to their health could develop in that way. I never knew that there would be a difference of getting microbes from being born in C-section or the traditional way. It quite saddens me for these babies that didn't received those good bacteria that were being passed on by their mothers. Those bacteria could have been a great help for their immune system and other systems as well. They would've live in a simple way of life as they grow up, not being afraid of what they are allergic to, and other things. I wish that they would've been an another way aside from C-sction so those babies could receive those beneficial bacteria and within that process as well, there would be no problems of bringing danger to their mothers.

Microbes within the seafloor

Have you ever wondered if there are microbes living within sea floor? Well, researchers have found evidence that they are microbes living within the sea floors with a remarkable low metabolic rates. These microbes takes a little amount of oxygen that they barely qualify or made it to the category of being alive. As researchers have said, they may have lived for 86 million years with minimum energy requirement needed to stay alive. Although these microbes have not been identified or yet unknown, it is quite intriguing to find these microbes within the sea floor. Knowing that these microbes are unknown, it could have the potential of being dangerous or the other way around. It may not affect us since we quite have a large distance between us humans and microbes on the seafloor. This new information do helps us know that they are microbes within the seafloor. As far as we know about microbes, they have existed within the air, the ground,most of the body parts of the human body, in general mostly everywhere. Also, with in these areas, light doesn't penetrate that much to the sea floors in which cases, these microbes have live mostly without light. In these kind of environment, they may have changed their ways of living unlike any other microbes. They may have changed into having different characteristics or appearances within those area as well. As questions comes in mind, should we treat these microbes as friends or foes? What if these microbes made contact within us, could they be dangerous or not? Could they evolve upon contact with a new environment where there is more oxygen and could have the potential of being deadly? Lot of questions needed to be answered, but as of now, no one knows.