digestive

Peering into the jungle of microbes that live within us, researchers have stumbled across what seem to be an entire new class of virus-like objects."It's insane," says University of North Carolina cell biologist Mark Peifer, who was not involved in the study, told Elizabeth Pennisi at Science Magazine. "The more we look, the more crazy things we see."These mysterious bits of genetic material have no detectable sequences or even structural similarities known to any other biological agents.So Stanford University biologist…

Ingestible video capsule endoscopes have been around for a while, but they’re severely limited and not controllable by physicians, relying entirely on gravity and the digestive system for movement. Researchers may have just gotten around that limitation by developing a pill-shaped capsule that allows for remote control, as announced by the GW School of Medicine & Health Sciences. This tech lets physicians quite literally drive a miniature video capsule, called the NaviCam, throughout the digestive system to visualize…

The human digestive system is much more variable than we tend to think, according to a new study, with significant differences in gut anatomy even among healthy individuals.This includes individual differences from person to person, the researchers report, plus broader differences such as those between women and men.In one noteworthy example, the researchers found that women tend to have longer small intestines than men, by an average of 30.7 centimeters."Because having a longer small intestine helps you extract…

Mixed breed dog “Nala” waiting for her meal to be served. As taking the photograph took such a long time, she started to get worried that she would not get it at all. Credit: Tani SimberNon-processed meat-based early diet reduces risk of dog digestive issues later in life.A recent study suggests that feeding dogs non-processed meat, human leftovers, and raw bones during their early years may protect them against certain gastrointestinal disorders, such as chronic enteropathy (CE), later in life. In contrast, a highly…

The American Gastroenterological Association has released new guidance to help doctors and patients identify if unexplained digestive symptoms are caused by alpha-gal syndrome, a food allergy caused by tick bites. The guidance was published in the medical journal Gastroenterology and explains that alpha-gal syndrome causes the body to react to meat and products made from mammals, with symptoms appearing 2-6 hours after consumption.The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has released new clinical guidance to…

COVID can affect all our organs. A study from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said COVID-19 infection can damage the brain's blood vessels and may…