Probiotics in human medicine

Article Abstract:

In healthy humans (as well as other animals), the intestines are populated by a variety of microorganisms (gut microflora), which assist in the digestion of food, help ward off infection, and contribute to the body's functioning in a variety of other ways. When supplements to the normal diet are given in an effort to replace or augment normal gut microflora, the supplements are referred to as probiotics. Evidence is mounting that not only does the endogenous microbial population play a critical role in maintaining health, but adding supplemental bacteria to the diet can enhance health, at least in some individuals. In animal experiments, it can be shown that germ-free animals (lacking gut microflora) are more susceptible to disease than their conventional counterparts, as are antibiotic-treated animals in which the gut microflora have been destroyed. Another piece of evidence is the observation that Clostridium difficile infection can be reversed by the administration of fecal enemas from healthy individuals (similarly, it has been known for some time that the establishment of salmonella in the gut of newly hatched chicks can be prevented by oral dosing with fecal suspensions from adult hens). Beneficial claims have been made for probiotics in a wide variety of disease states, including constipation, cancer, heart disease, and ulcerative colitis; the evidence in many cases derives from animal experiments, and it is not clear how well some of the conditions generalize to humans. Strong evidence is accumulating that probiotics play a useful role in lactase deficiency, a condition in which the enzyme responsible for the metabolic degradation of lactose (found in dairy products) is missing, and in pseudomembranous colitis, an inflammatory condition involving the colon. More work is needed to identify the exact components of the often heterogeneous mixtures administered as probiotic supplements which are actually providing the beneficial effect. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Control, Pathogenic microorganisms

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Learn medicine, see the world

Article Abstract:

A growing number of medical students are performing their clinical clerkships overseas. According to a 1990 American Medicine Assn survey, 40% of the 500 medical students surveyed had received clinical training overseas or hoped to. Finding an international clerkship often requires initiative, and students usually pay their own expenses. The American Medical Assn's Department of Medical Student Services offers a $1,000 scholarship twice each year to help US medical students finance international medical electives.

International aspects, Medical students, Travel, Graduate medical education

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Reply to 'Must maternity medicine be reborn?'

Article Abstract:

The author criticizes the idea of using midwives to help women deliver babies at home, as suggested by Errol R. Norwitz. She says that such deliveries without any proper medication can be very risky for the women.

Management dynamics, Offices of All Other Miscellaneous Health Practitioners, Offices of health practitioners, not elsewhere classified, Midwives, Evaluation, Practice, Childbirth at home, Home childbirth, Viewpoint essay

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