"A collection of short essays about health, life and the co-evolution of humans and our microbes"--Cover.

Anemones and fish, ants and acacia trees, fungus and trees, buffaloes and oxpeckers--each of these unlikely duos is an inimitable partnership in which the species' coexistence is mutually beneficial. More specifically, they represent examples of defensive mutualism, when one species receives protection against predators or parasites in exchange for

Every human body carries a secret cargo: a huge population of microorganisms living in the mouth, on the skin, in the gut. They help digest our food. They make essential vitamins. They break down toxins and metabolise drugs. They exert an invisible influence on our hormones, our immune systems, perhaps even our brains. This is the human microbiome – a living, shifting system of previously unimagined importance and complexity. In this first book-length account of this new realm of human biology, award-winning science writer Jon Turney explores the microbiome in detail, charting its birth and development, investigating how it works, and assessing its many implications for our health, including its potential to shed new light on conditions such as bowel diseases, cancer, allergies and asthma. He considers the potential impacts of our modern disinfectant and antibiotic obsessions, and ponders a future of designer microbiomes and mood-altering probiotics. This book will make you think again about your relationship with your body, your habits – even your sense of who and what you are – as it reveals what it means to be a 21st century superorganism.

What counts as an individual in the living world? What does it mean for a living thing to remain the same through time, while constantly changing? These questions are the province of immunology, one of the most dynamic fields in biology. Immunology answers these questions with its theory of "self" and "nonself" which has dominated the field since the 1940s. Thomas Pradeu argues that this theory is inadequate, because immune responses to self constituents and immune tolerance of foreign entities are the rule, not the exception. Instead Pradeu advances an alternative theory, the continuity theory, which offers a new way to answer the question of what triggers an immune response. It also echoes the recent realization that all organisms, and not only higher vertebrates, have an immune system. Pradeu's main thesis is that the self-nonself theory should be abandoned, but that immunology still proves to be decisive for delineating the boundaries of the organism. Articulating an evolutionary and an immunological perspective, he offers an original conception of the organism. Tolerance of the fetus by the mother and of countless bacteria on the body's surfaces proves that every organism is heterogeneous, that is, made of entities of different origins. In other words, every organism appears as a chimera , a mixed living thing-the cohesiveness of which is ensured by the constant action of its immune system. The Limits of the Self, will be essential reading for anyone interested in the definition of biological individuality and the understanding of the immune system.

This advanced textbook provides a unique overview of the microbial communities (normal indigenous microbiota) inhabiting those regions of the human body that are exposed to the external environment, including the skin, eyes, oral cavity and the respiratory, urinary, reproductive and gastrointestinal tracts. In order to understand why particular organisms are able to colonise an anatomical region and why the resulting microbial community has a particular composition, an ecological approach is essential. Consequently, the key anatomical and physiological characteristics of each body site are described throughout the book. The crucial roles of the indigenous microbiota in protecting against exogenous pathogens, regulating the development of our immune system and mucosae, and providing nutrients are also discussed. The involvement of these organisms in infections of healthy and debilitated individuals are discussed throughout and methods of manipulating the composition of the indigenous microbiota for the benefit of human health are also described.

Livestock production is changing worldwide. Amongst the changes are those instigated by legislation such as restrictions on antibiotics and antibiotic growth promoters, well fare regulations, etc., all forcing livestock producers to adapt to new husbandry, management, nutrition and healthcare techniques. Food safety is an explosive political issue. The expectations and demands of the informed consumer have altered perceptions of risk and brought food safety to the very front and centre of politics. The gastrointestinal tract is essential in the maintenance of health, wellbeing and production in livestock. The above changes impact feed formulation. The industry looks for alternatives to maintain intestinal health and maximise animal performance, whilst complying with increasingly stringent legislation. This requires a good understanding of the physiological processes involved. In this book, the current knowledge in the major monogastric production species (pigs and chicken) is reviewed by renowned experts in the field. It describes infectious and non-infectious challenges as well as the complex interaction between innate, cellular and humoral immunity and performance. The problems that this complexity poses concerning the identification of important factors for intestinal health are discussed. 'Intestinal health' also reviews promising new approaches such as the use and development of validated biomarkers, and the application of omics techniques and systems biology.

This edited volume contains a collection of reviews that highlight the significance of, and the crucial role, that microorganisms play in the human life cycle and considers the microbiology of the host in different regions of the body during the aging process.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of metabonomics and gut microbiota research from molecular analysis to population-based global health considerations. The topics include the discussion of the applications in relation to metabonomics and gut microbiota in nutritional research, in health and disease and a review of future therapeutical, nutraceutical and clinical applications. It also examines the translatability of systems biology approaches into applied clinical research and to patient health and nutrition. The rise in multifactorial disorders, the lack of understanding of the molecular processes at play and the needs for disease prediction in asymptomatic conditions are some of the many questions that system biology approaches are well suited to address. Achieving this goal lies in our ability to model and understand the complex web of interactions between genetics, metabolism, environmental factors and gut microbiota. Being the most densely populated microbial ecosystem on earth, gut microbiota co-evolved as a key component of human biology, essentially extending the physiological definition of humans. Major advances in microbiome research have shown that the contribution of the intestinal microbiota to the overall health status of the host has been so far underestimated. Human host gut microbial interaction is one of the most significant human health considerations of the present day with relevance for both prevention of disease via microbiota-oriented environmental protection as well as strategies for new therapeutic approaches using microbiota as targets and/or biomarkers. In many aspects, humans are not a complete and fully healthy organism without their appropriate microbiological components. Increasingly, scientific evidence identifies gut microbiota as a key biological interface between human genetics and environmental conditions encompassing nutrition. Microbiota dysbiosis or variation in metabolic activity has been associated with metabolic deregulation (e.g. obesity, inflammatory bowel disease), disease risk factor (e.g. coronary heart disease) and even the aetiology of various pathologies (e.g. autism, cancer), although causal role into impaired metabolism still needs to be established. Metabonomics and Gut Microbiota in Nutrition and Disease serves as a handbook for postgraduate students, researchers in life sciences or health sciences, scientists in academic and industrial environments working in application areas as diverse as health, disease, nutrition, microbial research and human clinical medicine.

According to the National Institutes of Health, there are sixty to seventy million people affected by digestive diseases in the United States. The old proverb tells us “you are what you eat,” and the latest science shows that this may be truer than we even thought. Diet has a profound effect on both physical and mental health. Most of the body’s immune system is in the gut, so pathology and dysfunction in the gut and imbalanced gut flora can cause neuroinflammation and possibly even neurodegenerative disease over time. Featuring contributions from dozens of experts on gut disorders and related physical, mental, and behavioral health, this book will fascinate you as you read about the intriguing world of bad bugs, cytokine storms, and the environment in your belly that influences your brain. From the microscopic world of Clostridium to the complex communities of biofilm, Bugs, Bowels, and Behavior emphasizes one simple fact: The gut is connected to the brain.

Individually and collectively, resident microbes play important roles in host health and survival. Shaping and shaped by their host environments, these microorganisms form intricate communities that are in a state of dynamic equilibrium. This ecologic and dynamic view of host-microbe interactions is rapidly redefining our view of health and disease. It is now accepted that the vast majority of microbes are, for the most part, not intrinsically harmful, but rather become established as persistent, co-adapted colonists in equilibrium with their environment, providing useful goods and services to their hosts while deriving benefits from these host associations. Disruption of such alliances may have consequences for host health, and investigations in a wide variety of organisms have begun to illuminate the complex and dynamic network of interaction - across the spectrum of hosts, microbes, and environmental niches - that influence the formation, function, and stability of host-associated microbial communities. Microbial Ecology in States of Health and Disease is the summary of a workshop convened by the Institute of Medicine's Forum on Microbial Threats in March 2013 to explore the scientific and therapeutic implications of microbial ecology in states of health and disease. Participants explored host-microbe interactions in humans, animals, and plants; emerging insights into how microbes may influence the development and maintenance of states of health and disease; the effects of environmental change(s) on the formation, function, and stability of microbial communities; and research challenges and opportunities for this emerging field of inquiry.