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Friendly Fungus Protects Our Mouths From Invaders
sciencehabit writes "When we talk about the human microbiome, bacteria usually get all the press. But microscopic fungi live in and on us, too. New research shows that a little-known fungus called Pichia lives in healthy mouths and may play an important role in protecting us from an infection caused by the harmful fungus Candida. The friendly fungus makes a substance that may even lead to a new anti-fungal drug."
Yes.
It's stuff that matters. In fact health matters a lot.
...once the drug industry synthesizes the fungus Monsanto will kill off the moths.... and by out the rights holder.
We already knew ourselves to be essentially colony life forms riddled with remnant retroviruses and ancient symbionts such as mitochondria, but it's damn interesting to see just how deeply integrated we are into the extremely complex biosphere all around us. It's a little depressing, perhaps, but eventually the boffins will accumulate a body of knowledge that may finally sort out all the ridiculous little things that can and will go wrong with human bodies in the murk of general ignorance. Obesity, cancer and all manner of weird and supposedly unexplained ailments -- they could simply be unknown quirks of how our innumerable symbionts and parasites interact with our basic DNA programming. -_-
A truly excellent pizza parlor is a delight unto the heavens. Treasure the sauce and the toppings!
I wonder what effect if any mouthwash (with and without alcohol in it) has on this type of fungus.
You can't handle the truth.
I named my fungus Wilbur.
I understand you might only have experience of the one gender, but women also suck dicks. TFA mentions Candida and thrush which tends to affect women more than men, so cunnilingus is probably a more common route to getting too much Candida thriving in your mouth.
In summary, you'd have to be some kind of idiot to think this is agenda-driven science.
You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
For some of the bee colonies, the workers and the queen have genetic relatedness of 0.75, our body cells have r=1 between blood cells and gonads. Thus the insect colony is a looser agglomeration and our bodies are tighter agglomerations. Between parent and children the relatedness factor r=0.5, between cousins r= 0.125. uncles/aunts to nephews/nieces r= 0.25. In societies where first cousin marriage is encouraged, the general relatedness of the population could be much higher. Though it was not unknown in Europe (Einestein, Darwin married their first cousins) it is more common in the East. Even then most of them allow only children of a brother and sister to marry, not children of two brothers or children of two sisters. The only exception is the Ottoman empire which made marriage between children of brothers legal/halal/kosher. (Since Ottoman empire was Islamic many people confuse this practice with Islam. But in Muslim countries that were never ruled by the Ottomans this practice is very rare). Places that were once ruled by the Ottoman empire you could have whole villages or clans where all males have exactly the same y chromosome and have very high degree of relatedness. Such populations would pledge allegiance to the clan and take great personal sacrifices for the sake of their clans or tribes or villages or their shieks.
You could see the level of personal sacrifice made by individual animals or cells as a continuum plotted on genetic relatedness factor r. Our cells pledge very tight allegiance to the germline cells, ants/bees somewhat looser, human societies with very high relatedness have high patriotic feelings and personal sacrifices for the sake of community.
Trying to impose a western style democracy of a society with a mean value r on to other societies with an order of magnitude different r would not work easily. Giving autonomy and self governance for people/tribes/clans with high degree of relatedness, but subject to collective punishments and rewards would be considered sacrilege in the West. But such practices are more likely to succeed, pacify the population and lead to peace.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Probiotics and alternative medicine people have said things like this for decades. Modern life, with antibiotics for non-life threatening illnesses, and things to kill bacteria at every turn, is one big living experiment. Little things that have big consequences that are really unknown:
Antiseptic Mouthwash Raises Heart Attack Risk
http://www.medicaldaily.com/an...
Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
The dentist told me not to use mouthwash recently, and here's a good scientific reason apparently. I told them I used it about once a month but they said please use it only when we prescribe it to you.
I also learned you can mess with them by drinking red wine before going to the appointment, they're like "wtf is that on your tongue?".
Same goes for skin, as well. Wash your hands, but you don't have to "nuke bacteria from orbit." A lot of it is good for you and is there for a reason.
Scientists Discover That Antimicrobial Wipes and Soaps May Be Making You (and Society) Sick
http://blogs.scientificamerica...
Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, religion destroys spirituality
This discovery could prove marvelous for people whose cancer treatments means their immune system has been blown away. Antibiotics to treat their infections often destroy friendly flora, resulting in runaway Candida infections. Using a friendly fungus to fight an destructive one could make a big difference.
Old egg salad sandwiches make you super intelligent and strong as an ox.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
All fungi can fuck off. Seriously.
The friendly fungus makes a substance that may even lead to a new anti-fungal drug."
Leading to overuse, abuse and a reduction in effectiveness, I also wonder how much mouthwash really helps over the long term as some bacteria adapts to the conditions and these "friendly fungi" may not.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
I think it's kind of cool this may lead to an explanation for licking one's wounds.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
try the medicated talc. I fought that shit for weeks and weeks using creams and sprays with little success then got rid of it with a $5 canister of medicated talc I think it was the CVS store brand
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
Some has or will come up with a test for this fungus, the Pichia Test. Dentists will take a swab of your mouth and either perform the test or send the swab off for analysis. If you don't have the fungus you can come back and be inoculated with Pichia. This might be something like inoculating the bowels of patients with the bacteria they're missing because of anitbiotic treatments that killed off their digestive system flora. Of course, skeptics will figure dentists are being coerced by some three letter government agency to collect DNA samples for whatever purpose they want.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
Terbinafine (Lamisil) is the most effective compound against that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...
1 week of exposure is enough to eradicate all traces of the fungi that cause athlete's foot. Lamisil Once is very effective if you're lazy or forgetful.
If you prefer 'natural' methods, you can apply (or soak in) a sufficiently acidic solution of citric acid or vinegar for two weeks. Skip a day and the two-week counter resets, as the method relies on the fungi not reproducing until they all die naturally. The same goes for most anti-fungal treatments, by the way (which is why Lamisil Once is so effective).
While we're on the subject of fungi: dandruff is often caused by the fungus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M... (globosa), which feeds on the lipids on your scalp.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z... is quite effective in dealing with the fuckers, without requiring a prescription from your doctor.
...a little-known fungus called Pichia lives in healthy mouths and may play an important role in protecting us from an infection caused by the harmful fungus Candida.
I really can't help it but when I read this, it sounded to me like someone is already writing a script for the next Hollywood summer action blockbuster. :-)
Ezekiel 23:20
Sometimes I'm grateful that I probably won't be around to see the worst consequences of our foolish use of technology!
Yeah lets go sterilize everyone's mouth of the Pichia they've carried for generations of humans, so Candidas doesn't develop immunity to its byproducts.
Someone had to do it.
What does this have to do with the books I had at school?
http://www.candida.co.nz/
Of course.
Mmmm! Tasty fungus
You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
My allergist isn't a big fan of zinc pyrithione. Selenium sulfide shampoos, OTOH, have worked far better for my seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp (also possibly caused by a fungus...specifically, a normal member of the skin ecosystem that gets out of control on some people) than zinc pyrithione ever did. I've noticed it works even better when used in concert with a prescription topical steroid. You want to absolutely minimize use of the steroid, but the one-two punch is strong enough that I can get away with only using the steroid once a month.
Stop learning! Only you can prevent esoterrorism.
By researchers studying the human microbiome.
What's fascinating to me about all this new information is watching how the medical community is going to integrate it. I mean, we now have proof that antibiotic use, microbicides, anti fungals, and so many modern medical and industrial methods have a long-term consequence that are very ugly and far-reaching.
Now watch as industry subverts and suppresses scientific discovery in order to ensure long term shareholders profits.
My allergist isn't a big fan of zinc pyrithione.
Because? I'm genuinely interested.
Selenium sulfide shampoos [...] have worked far better for my seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp
Mm, I had not yet encountered that one. After a bit of googling, I found this good overview: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm... (the substance specific appreciation is at the end).
Some quick Wikitumbling has informed me that more than 100 species of this Pichia are known. I am curious as to which Pichia I want in my mouth to protect me. Of course some (maybe all?) Pichia is also known kill other molds that produce Aflatoxins which are " among the most carcinogenic substances known" . So where is the industry selling me Pichia (and other fun fungus/biomatter) in my yogurt (or better yet in a "green" mouthwash) so that I might both lower my chances to get cancer and defeat yeast infections? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...