Friday, September 21, 2012

Peranan Kuman : Kita semakn Memerlukan Kuman

Crucial Colonizers Western Lifestyle Disturbing Key Bacterial Balance

Research on indigenous populations in the Amazon is showing just how much the Western lifestyle has unbalanced crucial microbial flora in our bodies.Zoom
REUTERS
Research on indigenous populations in the Amazon is showing just how much the Western lifestyle has unbalanced crucial microbial flora in our bodies.
Trillions of bacteria living in and on the human body play a vital role in preserving health. But C-section births, antibiotics and excessive hygiene have been disturbing our microbial balance and possibly contributing to intestinal ailments, obesity, allergies and autism.
Deep in the Amazon basin, where traditional hunter-gatherers still live, researchers gave the indigenous population a lesson in biology. They used posters to explain to the inhabitants of the rain forest that a human being is never alone. Invisible, tiny creatures known as bacteria live on and inside our bodies -- and they can be quite useful.
The lesson was part of a project to research the bacteria of the local people. "When we asked them for samples of their feces, the people laughed," said one of the participating biologists, Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, from the University of Puerto Rico. Researchers succeeded in winning their trust, and the inhabitants of 10 huts allowed them to take swab samples, not only from their stool, but also from their hands, feet, noses and mouths. The search for microbes aims to shed light on the nature of mankind's original bacterial flora. These indigenous test subjects have had almost no contact with outside civilization. Their bacteria are a virtually unadulterated product of evolution. Microorganisms help digest food, supply the body with vitamins, train the immune system and ward off harmful pathogens.
But how do these tiny benefactors fair when their host is exposed to a Western lifestyle? To answer this question, researchers not only took swabs from the traditional people living in the rainforest, but also from people in more highly developed locations in the Amazon basin, in larger settlements, in the Peruvian provincial capital Iquitos, and in Manaus, a Brazilian city with a population of nearly 2 million.
The 200 collected samples are still being analyzed in an American laboratory. But results might indicate that a Western lifestyle is harmful to bacterial colonists. Indeed, the use of antibiotics along with the rising number of cesarean section births, the increasing popularity of small families and excessive hygiene are threatening the microscopic helpers. "We believe these changes (in the microbial diversity) might be behind some of the most common diseases associated with modernity," says Dominguez-Bello.
Similar concerns are shared by Martin Blaser, a professor of microbiology at New York University in Manhattan, who also took part in the expedition to the Amazon region. "Our bacteria are not accidental; we have them for a reason," says Blaser. "Some of these useful guys are disappearing. As a consequence, human physiology is changing and therefore human health."
Physicians and biologists used to merely view these infinitesimally small creatures as pathogens, bacilli that weigh only 0.000000000001 grams but can kill a human being weighing 100,000 grams. But for some time now, scientists have recognized the vital importance of these microorganisms that accompany us every day. A balance between these permanent residents and their human hosts is crucial to maintaining what we call good health.
"We always looked at the bad guys," says Willem de Vos, a microbiologist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. "But now we're looking at the good guys to understand how they preserve our health."
The Human Superorganism
Until recently, researchers had not yet discovered all the things that creep and crawl inside and over the surface of our bodies. Since many microorganisms could not be cultivated in a Petri dish, they remained unknown. But now these colonists can be identified based on minute samples of genetic material. Thanks to advanced methods, microbiologists can use even the tiniest traces of DNA -- such as in a fleck of skin or on dental plaque -- to identify different species of bacteria.
In Europe, China and the United States, researchers have catalogued the colonists of hundreds of people. According to these findings, every human being lives in a microbial bubble. In addition to viruses, protozoa and fungi, more than 100 trillion bacteria, belonging to over 1,000 species, colonize the surface and deep layers of skin on our bodies (see graphic). They possess more than 100 times as many genes as their large host.
From a microbiologist's point of view, Homo sapiens is not an individual but, rather, a superorganism that only thrives because the members of this community have been living together since primeval times. Intestinal bacteria contribute 36 percent of the small molecules that are present in human blood. These tiny organisms process vegetable sugar molecules and thus meet 10 percent of the caloric intake requirements of the human ecosystem. The aggregate of all inhabitants of the body, the so-called human microbiota, constitutes an independent organ. Weighing in at 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds), it's heavier than the brain and has a biochemical activity that is comparable to the liver's.
This superorganism has evolved over millions of years -- and doesn't cope well with some of the innovations of the modern world. Antibiotics, for instance, may destroy dangerous bacteria, but beneficial ones also unfortunately suffer. Only two treatment cycles of the synthetic antibiotic ciprofloxacin are enough to deal a painful blow to the microbiota. Although the intestinal bacteria eventually grow back, it's now known that they don't regain their original degree of diversity.
Nevertheless, antibiotics continue to be carelessly prescribed to patients. In the US, the average child will have taken antibiotics between 10 and 20 times by the time he or she reaches the age of 18. This has prompted New York-based researcher Martin Blaser to refer to the "disappearing human microbiota." In medical journals, alarmed physicians have warned that the body's naturally healthy symbiosis is, in many cases, transforming into a debilitating microbial imbalance known as dysbiosis.
Dangerous Microbial Imbalances
People affected by such microbial imbalances are often prone to allergic disorders, chronic inflammation of the small intestine, intestinal cancer, Type 2 diabetes and pathological obesity. Recent studies indicate that an impoverished flora could even be a contributing factor for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis and autism.
The sophisticated, yet delicate nature of microbial life becomes apparent right at birth. When a newborn slides through the birth canal, it is automatically inoculated with lactobacilli from the mother's vagina -- precisely the bacteria that the infant requires to digest the mother's milk.
But during a C-section, this natural colonization can no longer take place. The baby is colonized at random, often by airborne bacteria from surfaces within the delivery room.
The microbiota of C-section children differ from their naturally born peers even a full seven years after birth. "The disappearance of microbes that play physiological roles early in life is particularly worrisome," says Blaser. "Perhaps they are missing in certain phases of the child's development."
What's more, a study of 1,255 mother-child pairs in Massachusetts indicated an increase in body weight. Of the children who were born in a natural manner, 7.5 percent were obese at the age of three -- compared to 16 percent of the C-section children.
Based on experiments with animals, Blaser has discovered that an abnormal bacterial colonization can cause excess weight. The New York physician fed mice a steady low dose of antibiotics for weeks, and then studied their colonization patterns. The drugs had changed the composition of the intestinal bacteria -- and thus also the animals' metabolism. The bacteria in treated mice activated more genes that transform sugar into fat.
Farmers are familiar with this phenomenon. They mix antibiotics into pig, cattle and chicken feed to promote growth and fatten up the animals more quickly -- a practice that is now banned in Germany. Blaser assumes that the drugs have the same effect on children. "Instead of the continuous, low-dose antibiotics that are administered on the farm, we are giving our children short, high-dose pulses," he warned in an article in Nature Reviews Microbiology in 2009.
A study of 11,000 children published in the International Journal of Obesity came to the same conclusion. According to the findings, children who were treated with antibiotics during the first six months of their lives have a 22 percent higher probability of being obese at the age of three.
In addition to increased body weight, a dysbiosis may also be connected with the susceptibility to allergic disorders and inflammation of the intestine. The immune system needs contact with intestinal bacteria in order to be able to differentiate between foreign cells and the body's own cells. If the diversity of bacteria is diminished, the immune system learns the wrong lessons. It classifies the body's own cells as foreign cells, which triggers allergic reactions.
Many people with autism have an abnormal digestive tract, as well. No one knows exactly why this is, but individuals with autism apparently have different intestinal bacteria than people without autism. For instance, they are missing the beneficial rod-shaped bacteria of the Bacteroides genus. Researchers at Columbia University, in New York, believe this allows harmful microbes to multiply. They examined the intestinal flora of 23 autistic children -- and discovered in 12 of the samples so-called Sutterella bacteria, which don't belong there.
Enriching Microbial Flora
There are now more than 25 different diseases and syndromes -- ranging from Alzheimer's and arteriosclerosis to depression and rheumatism -- that have been linked to an abnormal microflora.
This is good news for the food industry. It already sells so-called probiotic drinks and yogurts that contain lactic acid bacteria and allegedly improve the intestinal flora. But independent studies claim this is nonsense, saying that the bacteria ingested with the food usually don't even manage to colonize the intestinal tract. Experiments on humans have shown that, regardless of whether the test subjects ate probiotic yogurt every day or not, it had no influence on the composition of their microbiota.
A more promising method is to transplant bacteria from the stool of a healthy individual to a recipient. During fecal bacteriotherapy -- also known as fecal microbiota transplantation, or FMT -- the donated material is checked for parasites, such as tapeworms, stirred in a saline solution and administered via a tube or an enema. The method is already recommended for the treatment of chronic diarrhea. Researchers say that it could one day also be used to treat obesity and diabetes.
Willem de Vos, from Wageningen University, recently conducted a study with 18 men who were obese and had an abnormal sugar metabolism. Half of the patients had feces from slender, healthy donors flushed into their intestines. The others constituted the control group and were given samples of their own stool.
Six weeks later, the overweight subjects who had received foreign matter had a richer intestinal flora. No less than 16 bacterial strains had shown vigorous growth. The individuals' sugar metabolism had also normalized. By contrast, there were no such changes among the individuals in the control group. Now, de Vos is looking for particularly beneficial bacterial strains that he intends to use to develop a groundbreaking microbiota transplant. He can draw on a collection of over 5,000 samples. But these stem from people from countries like Germany, Finland and the US -- and may have been ruined by a Western lifestyle.
Microbe hunters Dominguez-Bello and Blaser have perhaps been searching at just the right location. They hope that the formula for the best fecal therapy will come from the rainforests of South America.
Translated from the German by Paul Cohen

Thursday, September 06, 2012


 

Jewcology: Praying for a sustainable world

By EVONNE MARZOUK
09/05/2012 16:46

It's time to think of prayer as a tool for environmental change, rabbis say.

Earth Photo: Wikicommons
“Change your light bulb!  Call your senator!  Buy a hybrid car!” Today’s environmental movement seems to focus strongly on doing. There are things to buy, actions to take, policies to advocate. 

It is rare for environmentalists to think of prayer as a tool for change. Yet Jewish teachings express a very different view of prayer. Prayer is one of the key tools that God has given us to change the world, and it is our responsibility and opportunity to pray for the health of the earth and human civilization living on it and with it.

At the moment before humans were first created, the Torah expresses an important lesson about our role in creation:

Now all the plants (siah) of the field were not yet on the earth and all the herbs of the field had not yet sprouted, for God had not yet sent rain upon the earth and there was no man to work the soil.” (Gen. 2:5) 

Rashi comments based on the Talmud:

“For what is the reason that God had not yet sent rain, because there was no man to work the land and there was no one to acknowledge the goodness of the rain, and when man came and knew that they (the rain) are a need for the world, he prayed for them and they came down, and the trees and grasses sprouted.” 



In this understanding of our creation story, the very first task of the person is recognizing God, and then praying to God on behalf of creation. As Rabbi Daniel Kohn explains (based on Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook), one of the first acts of humans on this planet was to care for creation – by praying for it.  

Traditionally, Jews pray three times a day.  The Talmud identifies Isaac as instituting the afternoon prayer service, based on the verse: “And Isaac went out to su’ah in the field before evening” (Gen. 24:63). The word “su’ach” is unclear, but the Sages conclude that he was praying based on the linguistic similarity between this word and another reference for prayer in the Psalms.

Based on this, Rabbi Natan Sternhartz teaches: “Meditation and prayer are called 'sichah.' A plant or shrub is called 'si'ach.' When the plants of the field begin to return to life and grow, they all yearn to be included in one's sichah, in meditation and prayer." This implies that not only does God want our prayers for the creation – the natural world is seeking them, as well. 

Perhaps reflecting the importance of the prayer-human-creation relationship, the liturgy of Jewish prayers is filled with nature imagery and recognition of our dependence on natural resources. Nature takes on symbolic roles in relationship to humanity, to God, and to righteous activities for which we are encouraged to strive:

“A righteous person will flourish like a date palm, like a cedar in the Lebanon he will grow tall. Planted in the house of Hashem, in the courtyards of our God they will flourish. They will still be fruitful in old age, vigorous and fresh they will be.” 

Jewish prayers also help us recall and appreciate the beauty and consistency of nature, and how much we rely upon it and its Creator. This constancy is alluded to in the Psalm (repeated each morning in the Jewish liturgy):

“He who illuminates the earth and those who dwell upon it, with compassion; and in His goodness renews daily, perpetually, the work of creation.” 

These nature-centric verses in the Jewish liturgy remind us to be grateful to God for providing the natural world we live in, and themselves serve as a prayer for continued blessing of natural resources. 

Many of us long to make a difference in healing the world today.  According to Jewish mystical teachings, our desire to make a difference comes from our souls. Prayers are the language of the soul, and by praying we can affect ourselves and the world around us.  It is also a basic Jewish understanding that when we pray, God listens and acts on the physical reality based on our prayer. Jewish tradition is filled with descriptions of these types of effective prayers.  

Jewish teachings help us realize that a moment spent in prayer is an active moment, with the power to make a difference. When we pray with a community, we become connected to the needs of the community and the rest of the world. To pray on behalf of the entire planet is to summon the entire earth within us.

Prayer is a vision for what can become, with a heart full of hope, inspiring a brighter future.  Today, perhaps the most important thing for us all to pray for is the health of the earth and of a return to balance within human civilization. 

These materials are posted as part of Jewcology’s “Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment,” in partnership with Canfei Nesharim. Learn more at http://www.jewcology.com/content/view/Year-of-Jewish-Learning-on-the-Environment.

Evonne Marzouk is the founder and Executive Director of Canfei Nesharim: Sustainable Living Inspired by Torah.

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

21 Ways Rich People Think Differently

World's richest woman Gina Rinehart is enduring a media firestorm over an article in which she takes the "jealous" middle class to task for "drinking, or smoking and socializing" rather than working to earn their own fortune.

What if she has a point?

Steve Siebold, author of "How Rich People Think," spent nearly three decades interviewing millionaires around the world to find out what separates them from everyone else.

It had little to do with money itself, he told Business Insider. It was about their mentality.

"[The middle class] tells people to be happy with what they have," he said. "And on the whole, most people are steeped in fear when it comes to money."

Flickr / C. Pajunen1. Average people think MONEY is the root of all evil. Rich people believe POVERTY is the root of all evil.

"The average person has been brainwashed to believe rich people are lucky or dishonest," Siebold writes.

That's why there's a certain shame that comes along with "getting rich" in lower-income communities.

"The world class knows that while having money doesn't guarantee happiness, it does make your life easier and more enjoyable."

2. Average people think selfishness is a vice. Rich people think selfishness is a virtue.

"The rich go out there and try to make themselves happy. They don't try to pretend to save the world," Siebold told Business Insider.

The problem is that middle class people see that as a negative––and it's keeping them poor, he writes.

"If you're not taking care of you, you're not in a position to help anyone else. You can't give what you don't have."

Getty Images3. Average people have a lottery mentality. Rich people have an action mentality.

"While the masses are waiting to pick the right numbers and praying for prosperity, the great ones are solving problems," Siebold writes.

"The hero [middle class people] are waiting for may be God, government, their boss or their spouse. It's the average person's level of thinking that breeds this approach to life and living while the clock keeps ticking away."

4. Average people think the road to riches is paved with formal education. Rich people believe in acquiring specific knowledge.

"Many world-class performers have little formal education, and have amassed their wealth through the acquisition and subsequent sale of specific knowledge," he writes.

"Meanwhile, the masses are convinced that master's degrees and doctorates are the way to wealth, mostly because they are trapped in the linear line of thought that holds them back from higher levels of consciousness...The wealthy aren't interested in the means, only the end."

I Love Lucy screencap5. Average people long for the good old days. Rich people dream of the future.

"Self-made millionaires get rich because they're willing to bet on themselves and project their dreams, goals and ideas into an unknown future," Siebold writes.

"People who believe their best days are behind them rarely get rich, and often struggle with unhappiness and depression."

6. Average people see money through the eyes of emotion. Rich people think about money logically.

"An ordinarily smart, well-educated and otherwise successful person can be instantly transformed into a fear-based, scarcity driven thinker whose greatest financial aspiration is to retire comfortably," he writes.

"The world class sees money for what it is and what it's not, through the eyes of logic. The great ones know money is a critical tool that presents options and opportunities."

7. Average people earn money doing things they don't love. Rich people follow their passion.

"To the average person, it looks like the rich are working all the time," Siebold says. "But one of the smartest strategies of the world class is doing what they love and finding a way to get paid for it."

On the other hand, middle class take jobs they don't enjoy "because they need the money and they've been trained in school and conditioned by society to live in a linear thinking world that equates earning money with physical or mental effort."

8. Average people set low expectations so they're never disappointed. Rich people are up for the challenge.

"Psychologists and other mental health experts often advise people to set low expectations for their life to ensure they are not disappointed," Siebold writes.

"No one would ever strike it rich and live their dreams without huge expectations."

BarackObamadotcom via YouTube9. Average people believe you have to DO something to get rich. Rich people believe you have to BE something to get rich.

"That's why people like Donald Trump go from millionaire to nine billion dollars in debt and come back richer than ever," he writes.

"While the masses are fixated on the doing and the immediate results of their actions, the great ones are learning and growing from every experience, whether it's a success or a failure, knowing their true reward is becoming a human success machine that eventually produces outstanding results."

10. Average people believe you need money to make money. Rich people use other people's money.

Linear thought might tell people to make money in order to earn more, but Siebold says the rich aren't afraid to fund their future from other people's pockets.

"Rich people know not being solvent enough to personally afford something is not relevant. The real question is, 'Is this worth buying, investing in, or pursuing?'" he writes.



 

11. Average people believe the markets are driven by logic and strategy. Rich people know they're driven by emotion and greed.

Investing successfully in the stock market isn't just about a fancy math formula.

"The rich know that the primary emotions that drive financial markets are fear and greed, and they factor this into all trades and trends they observe," Siebold writes.

"This knowledge of human nature and its overlapping impact on trading give them strategic advantage in building greater wealth through leverage."

12. Average people live beyond their means. Rich people live below theirs.

"Here's how to live below your means and tap into the secret wealthy people have used for centuries: Get rich so you can afford to," he writes. 

"The rich live below their means, not because they're so savvy, but because they make so much money that they can afford to live like royalty while still having a king's ransom socked away for the future."

richkidsofinstagram.tumblr.com13. Average people teach their children how to survive. Rich people teach their kids to get rich.

Rich parents teach their kids from an early age about the world of "haves" and "have-nots," Siebold says. Even he admits many people have argued that he's supporting the idea of elitism.

He disagrees.

"[People] say parents are teaching their kids to look down on the masses because they're poor. This isn't true," he writes. "What they're teaching their kids is to see the world through the eyes of objective reality––the way society really is."

If children understand wealth early on, they'll be more likely to strive for it later in life.

14. Average people let money stress them out. Rich people find peace of mind in wealth.

The reason wealthy people earn more wealth is that they're not afraid to admit that money can solve most problems, Siebold says.

"[The middle class] sees money as a never-ending necessary evil that must be endured as part of life. The world class sees money as the great liberator, and with enough of it, they are able to purchase financial peace of mind."

Kim Bhasin / Business Insider15. Average people would rather be entertained than educated. Rich people would rather be educated than entertained.

While the rich don't put much stock in furthering wealth through formal education, they appreciate the power of learning long after college is over, Siebold says.

"Walk into a wealthy person's home and one of the first things you'll see is an extensive library of books they've used to educate themselves on how to become more successful," he writes.

"The middle class reads novels, tabloids and entertainment magazines."

16. Average people think rich people are snobs. Rich people just want to surround themselves with like-minded people.

The negative money mentality poisoning the middle class is what keeps the rich hanging out with the rich, he says.

"[Rich people] can't afford the messages of doom and gloom," he writes. "This is often misinterpreted by the masses as snobbery.

Labeling the world class as snobs is another way the middle class finds to feel better bout themselves and their chosen path of mediocrity."

Flickr / Wei Tchou17. Average people focus on saving. Rich people focus on earning.

Siebold theorizes that the wealthy focus on what they'll gain by taking risks, rather than how to save what they have.

"The masses are so focused on clipping coupons and living frugally they miss major opportunities," he writes.

"Even in the midst of a cash flow crisis, the rich reject the nickle and dime thinking of the masses. They are the masters of focusing their mental energy where it belongs: on the big money."

18. Average people play it safe with money. Rich people know when to take risks.

"Leverage is the watchword of the rich," Siebold writes.

"Every investor loses money on occasion, but the world class knows no matter what happens, they will aways be able to earn more."

Flickr / Ibrahim Iujaz19. Average people love to be comfortable. Rich people find comfort in uncertainty.

For the most part, it takes guts to take the risks necessary to make it as a millionaire––a challenge most middle class thinkers aren't comfortable living with.

"Physical, psychological, and emotional comfort is the primary goal of the middle class mindset," Siebold writes.

World class thinkers learn early on that becoming a millionaire isn't easy and the need for comfort can be devastating. They learn to be comfortable while operating in a state of ongoing uncertainty."

20. Average people never make the connection between money and health. Rich people know money can save your life.

While the middle class squabbles over the virtues of Obamacare and their company's health plan, the super wealthy are enrolled in a super elite "boutique medical care" association, Siebold says.

"They pay a substantial yearly membership fee that guarantees them 24-hour access to a private physician who only serves a small group of members," he writes.

"Some wealthy neighborhoods have implemented this strategy and even require the physician to live in the neighborhood."

Getty Images21. Average people believe they must choose between a great family and being rich. Rich people know you can have it all.

The idea the wealth must come at the expense of family time is nothing but a "cop-out", Siebold says.

"The masses have been brainwashed to believe it's an either/or equation," he writes. "The rich know you can have anything you want if you approach the challenge with a mindset rooted in love and abundance."

From Steve Siebold, author of "How Rich People Think.