Researchers hope powerful new microscope will reveal ‘root cause’ of incurable bowel disease (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 21 hours ago by Corvidae@lemmy.world to c/science@lemmy.world

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The number of young people living with debilitating and incurable bowel conditions worldwide is growing, but researchers now hope a one-of-a-kind microscope will help them understand such diseases and find new treatments.

According to the British Society of Gastroenterology, more than half a million people in the UK are living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis the two main forms.

While such conditions can develop at any age, experts say they are most often diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 40, blighting lives at a crucial time for education, work and relationships.

Now a new piece of kit could bring fresh hope to those affected by IBD.

“What this microscope technology and what the science we do in the lab can bring is really to understand the mechanism [of IBD] better,” said Dr Karina Pombo-Garcia, a group leader at the Rosalind Franklin Institute at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Oxfordshire, where the microscope is housed.

“With IBD, and with other many diseases that we collaborate with other groups to study, there [are] some treatments, but maybe those treatments still are not maybe the best or the most targeted that we can do because we … fundamentally don’t understand the disease fully.”

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[-] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 points 7 hours ago

It's a STED microscope, state of the art in 2012.
No, it does not offer 10x resolution.
The article is being constantly corrected for errors.

start of the art for IBD is IBEX microscopy, now 6 years old.

[-] sit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Ignorant ~~device~~ advice that at least helped me and is logical: increase maritine omega-3 fatty acid intake. Increase soft vegetable intake. Reduce carbohydrate intake (bread, wheat, sugar)

The goal: reduce inflammatory load on digestive system, so it can regenerate enough to build healthy slime film.

I only learned recently that the food should not have direct contact to skin in the digestive system, but lay on slime that is produced and maintained by the mucus skin itself.

In the mucus live bacteria. The mucus serves as buffer for bacteria to survive between meals. The bacteria can eat away the mucus if not enough healthy food comes in. Food and lifestyle are deciding factors for gut health = mucus health = healthy bacteria.

It’s basically [mucus adding food (and behavior)] vs [mucus subtracting food (and behavior)].

The natural movement of the body is essential for healthy digestion. Don’t eat too late.

Addition: I think this is how it works: Healthy bacteria take up the niche in the gut, they themselves produce short-chain fatty acids! Which get absorbed by the body.

Healthy food -> healthy bacteria -> regeneration of mucus skin -> healthy mucus -> healthy bacteria -> etc.

If the mucus film is destroyed or weak the body increases inflammation to fight invaders. The mucus is the deciding barrier between food and skin. If the mucus is compromised there is no „Lebensraum“ niche of living for healthy bacteria. All this is not a 0/1 state thing.

EAT. YOUR. VEGETABLEEEEEEEEEEEEES. (I like mache, arugula, Brokkoli)

The broader and diverse the different cultures are the more stable and protecting the gut and the whole body is.

More health opens opportunities for more health. Less health increases risk for other health risks because the body is less capable of adapting.

[-] krimson@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

Bread is an issue for me, I need carbs regularly because I do not function otherwise. So no carbs during lunch is a no-go for me. Any recommendations to replace that?

[-] sit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 9 hours ago

Your body underwent the same evolutionary pressures as everybody else’s.

You might have reduce carbs step by step.

To be honest I don’t eat 0-carb diet because I like the taste of carbs. Keto-diet revolves around around 0-carb, you might find better info there than I can give you