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Published19 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Nick TriggleHealth correspondentPaying dental practices 25% more to see patients would help keep dentists in the NHS, the profession’s leaders say.The British Dental Association said increasing the activity rate from £28 to £35 in England would be just enough to stem the flow of dentists to the private sector in the short term.They warned government plans set out in February did not go far enough.But ministers defended the reforms and said they were working on a wider overhaul of the whole dental contract.They said the measures set out in the dental reform plan last month had already increased payments as well as introducing premium rates to take on new patients and a £20,000 golden hello for dentists to work in the areas with the worst access.Dentist shortages to be tackled with cash incentiveDriving hundreds of miles for dentist ‘unacceptable’A BBC investigation in 2022 found nine in 10 NHS dental practices across the UK were not accepting new adult patients for treatment on the NHS.It found the lack of NHS appointments had led people to drive hundreds of miles in search of treatment, pull out their own teeth without anaesthesia or resort to making their own improvised dentures.While the number of NHS treatments has started to rise, it is still below pre-pandemic levels.Dental practices are paid what is called a unit of dental activity (UDA) rate.Basic check-ups are classed as one UDA while complex work, such as bridges, crowns and dentures, is classed as 12 UDAs.In evidence to the House of Commons’ Health Committee, BDA leader Shawn Charlwood said: “We aren’t being greedy. It is completely affordable. You simply cannot recruit at the low UDA rate.”The BDA said the higher payments would be used to increase the wages of staff, including dentists, nurses and therapists, rather than leading to more profit for dentists that own the practices.Mr Charlwood said he believed increasing the rate would have a “significant impact” but it could only be an interim measures as an overhaul of the dental contract was needed.Thea Stein, of the Nuffield Trust think-tank, said retention of the workforce was a major issue and agreed the government plans still did not go far enough and would leave the sector “grappling” with the problems it was facing.But health minister Andrea Leadsom said the measures that were being put in place under the dental reform plan should help incentivise dentists to stay in the NHS.But she added: “We will be monitoring [the impact] carefully.”She said the government was already working towards a more substantial reform of the dental contract to address recruitment in the longer term.More on this storyMouth-cancer deaths fear over NHS dentist shortagePublished8 November 2023Woman takes 200-mile round trips for NHS dentistPublished14 July 2023Full extent of NHS dentistry shortage revealedPublished8 August 2022Related Internet LinksBritish Dental AssociationHealth and Social Care CommitteeThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Published2 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Kelum RupasingheBy Brian FarmerBBC News, EssexThe grieving parents of a toddler have said they will discuss their next move with a lawyer after a hospital admitted she had received “sub-standard” care.A consultant at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, apologised to Ivy Rupasinghe’s family at an inquest into her death.Two-year-old Ivy had been sent home with a prescription for antibiotics.Coroner Lincoln Brookes did not blame the hospital for Ivy’s death but said there had been “various shortcomings”.Image source, Brian Farmer/BBCThe inquest at Chelmsford on Monday heard how Ivy had been sent home with the prescription after waiting about six hours at the hospital’s emergency department in October 2022.Dr Adeyemi Kareem had thought she had tonsillitis.Ivy’s father Kelum Rupasinghe, 49, and mother Thuy Lam, 37, who live in Harlow, had not been given antibiotics for her before leaving the hospital. The coroner heard the department had run out of penicillin on an “extremely busy” day.Ivy’s story at a glanceIvy was born on 8 March 2020 – the month the first Covid-19 lockdown beganIvy became unwell on 5 October 2022, with a temperature, a cough and vomitingShe was taken to a GP on 6 October 2022. The GP thought she had a viral flu and suggested Calpol or paracetamolOn 8 October 2022 her parents spotted a rash and took her to the Princess Alexandra Hospital. A doctor in an emergency department thought she had tonsillitisIvy’s condition worsened on 9 October 2022. Her parents took her back to the hospital and she went into cardiac arrest during the journey. She was resuscitated at the hospital then moved to an intensive care unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.She died at Addenbrooke’s on 19 October 2022 after her parents agreed to let doctors turn off a life-support machineIvy went into cardiac arrest the following day and died, in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, less than two weeks later after suffering multiple organ failure and brain damage.No complaint was made about the care Ivy received at Addenbrooke’s.Post-mortem tests showed she had contracted the Epstein-Barr virus – which causes glandular fever – the coroner was told.Consultant paediatrician Edward Haworth, based at the Princess Alexandra, conducted an investigation following Ivy’s death, the inquest heard.”Ivy should not have been sent home,” he said.”I have apologised before and I apologise again. The care she received was sub-standard.”‘Caused harm’The consultant said a “number of things” had been put in place, which he hoped would prevent a repeat of such a “scenario”.He said he thought Ivy would probably have continued to deteriorate even if she had been admitted.But he said he still thought she had been caused “harm”.Another Princess Alexandra consultant, Nicola Ray, said what happened to Ivy was “less than best practice”.But Dr Ray thought Ivy would still have died had she been admitted. Dr Kareem had left the hospital shortly after Ivy’s death, the coroner was told.’Easy solution’Lawyer Robert Barker, of MR Law in Harlow, who represented Ivy’s parents, told the inquest: “It’s difficult to see how Ivy was provided with a basic standard of care.”Mr Brookes said there had been “various shortcomings” which hospital bosses had “rightly admitted”.”it seems to me he (Dr Kareem) saw what he expected to see – what he wanted to see,” said Mr Brookes.”An easy solution to the problem.”The coroner concluded that Ivy’s death had been as a result of multi-organ failure caused by the Epstein-Barr virus.Mr Rupasinghe told the BBC, after the inquest, that the family would seek legal advice before “taking things further”.”I don’t know,” he said. “We are just here to get justice.”Ivy’s mother broke down as she added: “Our family is completely broken.”Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830Related Internet LinksCambridge University Hospitals – Addenbrooke’sPrincess Alexandra HospitalThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Image source, Helen BlytheJake ZuckermanBBC NewsRichard MaddenBBC NewsPublished2 hours agoChildren with food allergies are being “put at risk” because schools are not doing enough to manage the danger, a Lincolnshire-based organisation has claimed.Helen Blythe from Stamford started the Benedict Blythe Foundation in memory of her five-year-old son Benedict who collapsed and died at school in December 2021.She has now called for stronger legislation to prevent future incidents.The Department for Education said all schools are required to make arrangements to support children with allergies.Mrs Blythe said the death of her son should be a warning to schools and parents.”He [Benedict] woke up, it was the first of December. He opened his advent calendar, went off to school happy and healthy and didn’t come home again,” she said.The foundation bearing Benedict’s name said allergy management varies widely across English schools.It found one in three schools do not have an allergy policy in place, almost half rely on children having their own autoinjector pen and a quarter of schools provide no training on allergy symptoms, anaphylaxis or what to do in an emergency.Mrs Blythe said: “Current legislation makes only modest requests of schools and falls far below the recommended good practice outlined by clinicians, allergy charities and coroners.“Measures need to be put in place to keep children with allergies in England safe. What is in place now is not good enough. Pupils and their families deserve better.”The foundation called on the Government to provide £5m funding needed for schools to implement safety measures and checks.The Department for Education said: “We understand the seriousness of severe allergies and we are clear that children with medical conditions should be properly supported to enjoy a full education and be safe at school.”Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Facebook,

Since its inception, this murky term has straddled the dual role of disciplining and inspiring.When Joel Bervell thought about professionalism as an undergrad, he thought of “Grey’s Anatomy.” Specifically, he thought about how residents on the show were expected to be, although often were not: on time, prepared for their cases and respectful to everyone around them.“That was the only standard that I had of what it meant to be a doctor — especially someone like me, who doesn’t come from a family of doctors,” said Mr. Bervell, 28, a fourth-year medical student at Washington State University. Mr. Bervell, who is Ghanian American, is one of the first Black medical students at the medical college, which opened in 2017.From the moment students set foot in medical school, they are instilled with the concept of medical professionalism: their sacred responsibility to conduct themselves with the values of a profession that is granted automatic trust in society. “It is the first thing they tell you: You are now literally a medical professional,” Mr. Bervell said.The same metric can be used to determine whether or not a med student becomes a doctor at all.Starting in their third year, Mr. Bervell learned, he and his classmates would be regularly assessed on their professional behavior, along with other attributes like communication skills. Faculty, staff and other students could also report specific concerns about an individual’s professionalism, resulting in write-ups the contents of which could become attached to their permanent records, following them like scarlet letters.The problem, as many medical students have also learned, is that where “professional” is vague, “unprofessional” is even more so. Depending on who makes the call, unprofessional behavior can mean hugging your program director, letting a bra strap show, wearing braids, donning a swimsuit over the weekend or wearing a “Black Lives Matter” sweatshirt in the E.R.As a result, professionalism exists at two levels, as both a lofty standard of behavior and a (sometimes literal) list of dos and don’ts that blur ethics and appearance. That second meaning can prove particularly pernicious to residents of color, said Dr. Adaira Landry, an adviser at Harvard Medical School and co-author on a recent journal article on the “overpolicing” of Black residents.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Published4 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingThis video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.By Marie-Louise ConnollyBBC News NI health correspondentA pensioner given hospital treatment for pneumonia in his kitchen has described it as “tremendous”.Sean Daly, 78, had an electrocardiogram (ECG) and intravenous fluids, hooked up by a coat hanger, a day after being discharged from Daisy Hill Hospital.The retired barber said it was a bonus knowing he had helped free up a bed.The Southern Health Trust said its Acute Care at Home service had prevented almost 14,000 hospital admissions in 10 years.It has also enabled early discharge for almost 2,000 people, according to the trust.Mr Daly, who was a barber for 52 years, had back pain and was feeling “very unwell” about a week before he collapsed in February.He developed a temperature, and was taken by his family to Daisy Hill’s Emergency Department where he was admitted. Once stabilised, the following day the hospital asked about the possibility of home care. Care at home? Yes please”The nurse came and asked how I would feel about getting the same treatment at home.”I said yes please. When anyone gets the chance to go home – they go home,” he said.Mr Daly said having the medical team including a pharmacist “dropping in” felt like visits from family for which he was grateful. ‘More staff and resources needed’Dr Patricia McCaffrey, divisional medical director for older people services at the Southern Trust, said more staff and resources were needed to sustain and grow the home care service across Northern Ireland. “We need extra staff and more resources and a shift of resources from acute hospitals to the community,” Dr McCaffrey said. Acute care describes treatment delivered in a hospital environment by nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, and pharmacists. The home care service in the Southern Trust has been operating for 10 years, but according to Dr McCaffrey it is still not regarded an established model of care and has not been properly funded.Similar models, which allow more people to be treated at home, are being rolled out in three other health trusts, but not the Northern Trust. Specialist nurse, Catherine Havarn, said treating people like Mr Daly at home made sense because it took some pressure off the emergency department. Ms Havarn, who joined the Southern Trust team in 2017, makes around six home visits a day and would be in regular contact with specialists at Daisy Hill. She has been a nurse for almost 15 years, and said the number of older people in the area with more than one medical condition was increasing, putting pressure on general practice (GP) and emergency services.Ms Havarn said she did the same tests on Mr Daly as would have been done in a hospital ward but the risk of delirium and acquired hospital infection were reduced because he was at home. “We were in a couple of times a day when he was on an intravenous antibiotic,” she said. “We took his bloods, blood pressure, checked his medication and just kept a close eye on him.”We are very busy; we are covering the whole of the Southern Trust [area] and have had a large recruitment of staff – we find that older people prefer being looked after in their own house.” What is the Acute at Home Service?The consultant led community scheme supports patients mainly over the age of 65 aims to:Help people stay safe and as independent as possible at homeProvide acute medical care at homeAvoid unnecessary admission to hospitalEncourage quicker discharge once a patient is medically fit to go homeDespite the service, emergency departments continue to be under pressure, especially during winter. Dr McCaffrey said it was making difference but was not enough and that health trusts were constrained by resources. “This service is undoubtedly reducing some of the pressure on acute services but we are dealing with an increasing elderly population with a lot of core morbidities [illnesses] so demand is always increasing.”We need to be able to plan our services in advance, so we need more resources,” Dr McCaffrey added. More on this story12-hour A&E waits in winter ‘becoming normalised’Published15 FebruaryWhat could have been for healthcare in NI?Published28 December 2023Extra Stormont money ‘not enough for health issues’Published24 November 2023

Published4 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingBy Graeme Ogston & Louise CowieBBC Scotland NewsWhen Lisa Melrose’s daughter Evie fell ill in October 2022, it was like no illness the mum-of-three had ever seen. Calpol and Nurofen were having no effect and the six-year-old was displaying worrying symptoms.Lisa said: “I’d never seen a child hallucinate before or become sort of listless and so incredibly lethargic.”We’ve been through sickness bugs, tonsillitis and broken bones but none of these compared with what happened with Evie.”It was very frightening.”Evie, from Dundee, was diagnosed with Strep A – a bacteria that can cause a variety of illnesses.Symptoms include nausea and vomiting, a rash, sore throat and flu-like symptoms.Scientists at Dundee University are now leading a £2.3m project to develop the world’s first vaccine for Strep A.At the time Evie fell ill, the UK was in the grip of an outbreak which claimed the lives of dozens of children – including three in Scotland.After she was diagnosed, Evie was prescribed antibiotics and took a few days to recover.Her mum Lisa works as a baby sensory teacher, with 200 youngsters across her classes. She found that her experience was a common one.She said: “I asked each class to put their hands up if they had had experience of a baby or a young child in their house who had had Strep A.”I had 35 parents or carers say they’d had that within their household. “Their little ones were very ill and some ended up having to go to out-of-hours or hospital.”Dundee mum Fiona Robertson’s five-year-old son Blair had Strep A, which developed into scarlet fever. Doctors said his oxygen levels were not good, so he was given an inhaler and put on oxygen.Fiona said: “As soon as they took him off, his oxygen levels went down again and that’s when they said we need to get an ambulance and take him to Ninewells Hospital.”It’s a really scary experience.”The team from Dundee University’s school of life sciences is teaming up with experts from London and South Korea in an effort to develop vaccines for the bacteria.What is Strep A?Image source, BSIP/Getty ImagesGroup A streptococcal (GAS) infection is caused by strains of the streptococcus pyogenes bacteriumThe bacteria can live on hands or the throat for long enough to allow easy spread between people through sneezing, kissing and skin contactMost infections cause mild illnesses such as “strep throat” or skin infectionsIt can also cause scarlet fever and in the majority of cases this clears up with antibioticsOn rare occasions the bacteria can get deeper into the body – including infecting the lungs and bloodstream. It is known as invasive GAS (iGAS) and needs urgent treatment as this can be serious and life-threateningThe work is part of a £2.3m project supported by the Right Foundation, a research funding agency.Dr Helge Dorfmueller is leading the Dundee University collaboration.He said it was “very challenging” to find a vaccine that protected patients from outbreaks in different countries because they could involve very different bacteria.But he said the project was identifying “key components of vaccine development” which could make it successful.This research will be followed by clinical trials and the aim is to have at least one vaccine on offer within the next decade.

There are basic resources every baby needs for the best possible chance to develop as healthy well-functioning human.
Start with good nutrition, breast milk if possible. That baby is going to need stimulation, lots of looking, reciprocal interactions, exposure to language and interesting stimuli. If at all possible, you should live in a place where you don’t have to constantly be looking over your shoulder in fear while you coo at the baby. Lastly, you must help the baby learn how to regulate themselves including developing regular circadian rhythms and sleep.
In short, focus on the “Thrive 5,” five conditions to ensure an infant in the first year of life has what they need for healthy development. Those conditions include environmental stimulation, nutrition, neighborhood safety, positive caregiving and regular circadian rhythms and sleep.
Simple, and yet, it has not yet been prioritized for many reasons including the fact that researchers had not provided empirical data to support making the Thrive 5 a public health priority.
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis think it’s time to change that. In new research published in JAMA Pediatrics, Deanna Barch and Joan Luby make the case that “Thrive Factor” is a key element of healthy human brain, behavioral and cognitive development.
“When they have access to these basic supports, even in the face of adverse environments, it enhances their brain development, cognition (measures of IQ) and social-emotional development,” said Luby, MD, the university’s Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Child Psychiatry at the School of Medicine.
There have been plenty of studies touting the benefits of individual thrive factors, such as encouraging breast-feeding to facilitate growth in general, but this new study looks at several key factors known to influence brain development and shows their relationship to outcomes at age 3.

“The novelty here is putting them all together and thinking of them as a constellation of things that are necessary and important for a child to be able to thrive,” said Barch, PhD, vice dean of research, a professor of psychological & brain sciences in Arts & Sciences and the Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine.
The study is part of WashU’s ongoing research into how psychological and social factors in early development impact biological processes and change the brain. And it’s part of a change in thinking in the child development field as scientists have learned that much of our health is not just genetically predetermined but is powerfully influenced by the psychosocial environment. The human brain is still undergoing rapid development at birth, and researchers are trying to understand the environmental factors that shape this development.
The study of 232 infants and their mothers looked at positive factors in the environment in the fetal period and first year of life that enhance brain development, minimize negative behaviors and increase cognitive outcomes. Participants were evaluated on social disadvantage indexes beginning in utero and early life T-Factor scores were also calculated. As infants approached age 3, they were re-evaluated for social, emotional and cognitive development along with using MRIs to scan brain structure.
The results were clear that T-Factor is powerful: Even infants coming from adverse conditions and under-resourced backgrounds can have healthy development if they get their Thrive 5.
The researchers note that policymakers and pediatric primary care providers should be informed about the importance of focusing on elements of the T-Factor and how they can lead to many downstream advantages for both the child and society.
It may seem obvious to anyone that a baby needs care, sleep, food, stimulation and safety but “nobody has particularly focused on or prioritized the importance of this during fetal development and in the first year of life to enhance critical developmental outcomes,” Luby said.

“The Thrive Factor provides a solid foundation for healthy development. It has been underappreciated in primary care just how malleable the brain is to experience,” Luby added.
Barch said the next step will be setting up interventions to test in randomized controlled trials. Another advantage to T-Factor is it is highly feasible to share and promote in broad populations.
Interventions would likely take the form of multiple Zoom sessions with parents to educate and coach them on how to best provide each thrive factor. But that would just be the start, since parents need resources to help them provide thrive factors.
Though T-Factor can help kids overcome adverse conditions, Barch emphasized the need for understanding just how tough those adverse conditions can be on a new parent.
“If you’ve never suffered from financial adversity, you don’t understand how hard that makes life,” she said.
Parents can struggle to provide conditions to thrive because they may have to support many people in their household, may not have adequate number of rooms to ensure easier child sleep training, must work multiple jobs and can’t get away to breast feed, and live in unsafe neighborhoods that keep them in a constant state of vigilance.
Though education can help caregivers, it will take public policy interventions to ensure parents can access all the Thrive Factors, especially when it comes to access to safe housing and adequate income to support even these basic needs of developing infants.
“We need to make it so families can have the resources necessary to provide these core things to kids because it’s going to have such a big impact on kids’ development across the course of their lifespan,” she said.

In preparation for the winter season last year, the Korean Medical Association recommended that people with compromised immune systems receive both the flu and COVID-19 vaccines simultaneously. The prospect of receiving shots in both arms may have been a shock, especially for children. However, there is now exciting news about a multitasking substance capable of preventing and treating both flu and COVID-19 infections concurrently, and it is gaining momentum.
Professor Seung-Woo Lee from the Department of Life Sciences and the School of Convergence Science and Technology, Subin Park and Yujin Jeong, PhD candidates from the Department of Life Sciences at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), and Dr. Donghoon Choi from NeoImmuneTech (CEO Sehwan Yang) collaborated with the Gyeongbuk Institute for Bio Industry and the International Vaccine Institute to identify new drug candidates for preventing and treating major respiratory viral infections. This research has recently been published in the international journal Cell Reports Medicine.
In recent times, a global resurgence of infections has been observed, predominantly linked to a novel variant of COVID-19 known as ‘JN.1’. The Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency reports that this variant has become the dominant strain in Korea, surpassing a detection rate of 50%. While vaccines prove effective against specific viruses, the emergence of new variants necessitates considerable time for the development of corresponding vaccines, leading to potential public health crises as witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic. To address this challenge, there is a pressing need for more broadly applicable treatments capable of swiftly responding to the ongoing mutations.
The research team explored the potential application of the long-acting recombinant cytokine protein rhIL-7-hyFc (NT-I7; efineptakin alfa), currently undergoing clinical development as an immunotherapy drug. This exploration aimed to assess its suitability as a treatment for major respiratory viruses due to its capacity to activate diverse immune cells within the respiratory tract. In experimental settings, the protein triggered the influx of acquired T cells and the proliferation of innate-like T cells in the lungs. These innate-like T cells demonstrated a swift and comprehensive defense against a broad spectrum of pathogens, functioning as if they were deploying inherent mechanisms. Consequently, the treatment exhibited both therapeutic and preventive effects against COVID-19, influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus, and others. Notably, the drug candidates were not tailored to a specific virus but demonstrated universal applicability to major respiratory diseases.
Professor Seung-Woo Lee, leading the study, stated, “Through collaborative study involving industry, academia, and the research community, we have discovered insights to prepare for future respiratory virus pandemics.” He added, “We are committed to advancing our efforts to transform the prospect of a universal treatment, capable of controlling co- and serial infections of respiratory viruses and bacteria, into a reality.”
The research was sponsored by the Infectious Disease Prevention and Treatment Technology Development Program of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Mid-Career Researcher Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea, and the Bio-Industrial Technology Development Project of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Everyone knows that fiber is healthy and an important part of our daily diet. But what is fiber and why is it healthy? Fiber is cellulose, the stringy stuff that plants are made of. Leaves, stems, roots, stalks, and tree-trunks (wood) are made of cellulose. The purest form of cellulose is the long, white fibers of cotton. Dietary fiber comes from vegetables or whole grain products.
Why is fiber healthy? Fiber helps to keep our intestinal flora (scientists call it our gut microbiome) happy and balanced. Fiber serves as the starting point of a natural food chain. It begins with bacteria that can digest cellulose, providing the rest of our microbiome with a balanced diet. But our eating habits in industrialized societies are far removed from those of ancient humans. This is impacting our intestinal flora, it seems, as newly discovered cellulose degrading bacteria are being lost from the human gut microbiome, especially in industrial societies, according to a new report published in Science late last week.
The study comes from the team of Prof. Itzhak Mizrahi at Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev in Israel, with support from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and international collaborators in the US and Europe.
“Throughout human evolution, fiber has always been a mainstay of the human diet,” explains lead investigator Sarah Moraïs from BGU, “It is also a main component in the diet of our primate ancestors. Fiber keeps our intestinal flora healthy.” Moraïs and team identified important new members of the human gut microbiome, cellulose-degrading bacteria named Ruminococcus. These bacteria degrade cellulose by producing large and highly specialized extracellular protein complexes called cellulosomes.
“It’s no easy task to degrade cellulose, few bacteria can do it.” explains Prof. Edward Bayer, from the Weizmann Institute, a world-leader on cellulosomes and coauthor of the study. “Cellulose is difficult to digest because it is insoluble. Fiber in the gut is like a tree-trunk in a swimming pool, it gets wet, but it does not dissolve.”
Cellulosomes are engineered by bacteria to attach to cellulose fibers and peel them apart, like the individual threads in a piece of rope. The cellulosomal enzymes then break down the individual threads of fiber into shorter chains, which become soluble. They can be digested, not only by Ruminococcus, but also by many other members of the gut microbiome.
“Bottom line, cellulosomes turn fiber into sugars that feed an entire community, a formidable engineering feat,” says Bayer.

The production of cellulosomes puts Ruminococcus at the top of the fiber-degradation cascade that feeds a healthy gut microbiome. But the evolutionary history of Ruminococcus is complicated, and Western culture is taking its toll on our microbiome, as the new study shows.
“These cellulosome-producing bacteria have been around for a long time, their ancestors are important members of the rumen microbiome in cows and sheep,” explains Prof. Mizrahi from BGU, senior author of the study. The rumen is the special stomach organ of cows, sheep, and deer, where the grass they eat (fiber) is converted into useful food by cellulose-degrading microbes, including Ruminococcus. “We were surprised to see that the cellulosome-producing bacteria of humans seem to have switched hosts during evolution, because the strains from humans are more closely related to the strains from livestock than to the strains from our own primate ancestors.”
That is, it looks like humans have acquired important components of a healthy gut microbiome from livestock that they domesticated early in human evolution.
“It’s a real possibility,” says Mizrahi, an expert on rumen biology.
However, the story does not end there. Sampling of human cohorts revealed that Ruminococcus strains are indeed robust components of the human gut microbiome among human hunter-gatherer societies and among rural human societies, but that they are sparse or missing in human samples from industrialized societies.
“Our ancestors in Africa 200,000 years ago did not pick up lunch from a drive-through, or phone in a home-delivery for dinner,” says Prof. William Martin at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf in Germany, evolutionary biologist, and coauthor of the study. In Western societies this does, however, happen on a large scale. Diet is changing in industrialized societies, far removed from the farms where food is produced. The authors conclude that this shift away from a fiber-rich diet is an explanation for the loss of important cellulose-degrading microbes in our microbiome.
How can you counteract this evolutionary decline? It might help to do what doctors and dieticians have been saying for decades: Eat more fiber!
Sarah Moraïs, Sarah Winkler, Alvah Zorea, Liron Levin, Falk S. P. Nagies, Nils Kapust, Eva Setter-Lamed, Avital Artan-Furman, David N. Bolam, Madhav P. Yadav, Edward A. Bayer, William F. Martin and Itzhak Mizrahi. Cryptic diversity of cellulose-degrading gut bacteria in industrialized humans. Science.

Polyphenols are powerful plant metabolites known for their antioxidant properties, offering potential health benefits and protection against various diseases. With over 8,000 identified varieties, these substances are found in plentiful amounts in various fruits, vegetables, tea, and coffee. Besides adding color and flavor to foods, polyphenols play a crucial role in promoting health and overall well-being. Despite their bitter and astringent taste, recent studies indicate that they may hold the key to a range of health benefits, including the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative conditions, and age-related sensory decline. However, there are significant gaps in understanding how exactly they exert these beneficial effects, particularly in terms of their interactions with the body.
To fill this knowledge gap, Professor Naomi Osakabe along with Dr. Yasuyuki Fujii from Shibaura Institute of Technology, and Professor Vittorio Calabrese from the University of Catania, Italy explored the interaction between polyphenols and human health, and its consequent impact. The findings of their study were published in Volume 14, Issue 2 of Biomolecules on 17th February, 2024.
Sharing the inspiration behind their work Prof. Osakabe remarks, “Although many researchers have conducted polyphenol research for more than 30 years, a major challenge has been to elucidate the mechanisms behind their beneficial health effects.” This review attempts to understand the ways in which polyphenols interact with sensory receptors in the gastrointestinal tract, ultimately influencing metabolic pathways and promoting overall well-being.
Epidemiological evidences have long established the protective effects of polyphenols against various chronic conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, and age-related degeneration of sensory organs. The major challenge in decoding the underlying mechanism of action is their unavailability in blood and/or organs. Polyphenols are usually broken down in the lower gut by intestinal bacteria and excreted in feces. Recent studies have reported that ingested dietary polyphenols can alter the composition of the gut microflora, altering the composition of secondary metabolites in the colon. It is hypothesized that these altered metabolites may be absorbed and affect the metabolic and cognitive functions. However, the type and amount of polyphenol varies greatly with diet and individuals making it quite difficult to establish a causal correlation.
Sensory receptors are specialized cells located close to nerve endings and are widely distributed in specialized organs such as eyes, ears, and even the gut. In recent years, sensory nutrition, a new field of study examining the cross-talk between ingested food or beverages, the brain, and its impact on human behavior, has garnered significant attention. Some reports have suggested that food signals contribute to homeostasis via gut-based sensory receptors.
Delving deeper to unearth the association between polyphenols and the gut, researchers in this study revealed that polyphenols, which are inherently bitter in taste, interact with the bitter taste receptor, the taste receptor 2 (T2R) receptors. Furthermore, some studies found that until polyphenols are excreted, they stay in contact with I-, K-, and L- cells of the intestine expressing T2Rs, or with gastrointestinal sensory nerves and epithelial cells that express TRP channels for an extended time. Astringency of polyphenols was suggested to be a somatosensory perception (a sensation which can occur anywhere in the body) and was correlated with improved blood pressure and risk factors for heart diseases. Polyphenols caused a marked increase in blood flow-dependent vasorelaxation (FMD) levels at moderate doses, known as the hormetic effect. Researchers have found that astringent polyphenols interact with transient receptor potential (TRP) channels. However, further investigation is needed to clearly understand this interaction. These findings strongly suggested that polyphenols exert their beneficial effects via sensory receptors of the gastrointestinal tract.
The astringent and bitter properties of polyphenols offer various therapeutic properties. An experimental animal study demonstrated that repeated intake of stringent polyphenols reduced FMD response significantly along with blood pressure. Another study reported that consumption of bitter polyphenols increased gastrointestinal hormone secretion, thereby regulating blood glucose levels and glucose tolerance. Astringent polyphenols have been observed to regulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation, thereby improving mood and memory function. Bitter and astringent perception of polyphenols have also been attributed for their anti-obesity effects.
The integration of polyphenol-rich ingredients in functional beverages and snacks, could therefore revolutionize the way we approach nutrition and disease prevention. Elaborating on the long-term impact of their work, a hopeful Prof. Osakabe explains, “Our study is the first to identify that sensory stimuli in food can promote homeostasis and paves the way for the development of novel food products aimed at promoting human health.”
Overall, by comprehensively looking at the underlying mechanisms responsible for the beneficial effects of polyphenols, this review represents a significant step forward in our understanding of the health effects of polyphenols and could pave the way towards innovative dietary interventions for well-being.