Naturally Inspiring

October 30, 2025

Ear Infections Are Awful: Here’s what’s involved in some of them

Background:

Ears are weird. What do you mean these weird fleshy protrusions stick out of our heads and detect sound so we can hear things? There are a lot of different parts that aren’t visible from the outside, and they are all so important, but they aren’t really talked about. Ears in general aren’t really talked about, so the issues that come with them are even less public. Ear infections are actually one of the most common reasons to go to the doctor and get antibiotic treatment (Osguthorpe & Nielson, 2011).

The thing is, otitis (inflammation of the ear, which is often related to ear infections) was always thought to be a lot more common in children. How often do you hear of a parent taking their kid to the doctor because of an ear infection? For some it feels like they go every other week. However, the Center of Disease Control showed during a study they conducted from 2003 to 2007 (Piercefield et al., 2011) that about half of doctors visits of ear infections were for children, and the other half were for adults.

October 27, 2025

Your Vagina Has a Microbiome – And It’s Amazing

Background

The human body is full of microbial ecosystems: tiny communities of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that live on and inside of us. The vaginal microbiome (VMB) is a community of these microorganisms that play an important role in women’s health and reproduction.

A healthy vaginal environment is usually dominated by Lactobacillus bacteria. These microbes produce lactic acid, which keeps the vaginal pH low (around 4.5). This acidic condition works like a built-in defense system to help protect against infections. When this balance changes and Lactobacillus levels drop, other bacteria can take over. This imbalance, called dysbiosis, often leads to bacterial vaginosis (BV). BV happens when there are fewer Lactobacillus bacteria and more growth of Gardnerella vaginalis, a bacterium linked to imbalance.

October 27, 2025October 27, 2025

Skin Party Gone South: Meet the Eczema Wild Cards

Background:

Eczema is that one clingy friend who always crashes your party. It shows up unannounced and messes with your plans by staying way too long, making a scene and ensuring everyone gives it attention. All jokes aside, eczema is a chronic inflammatory condition of skin that negatively impacts millions of people around the world with flakiness, itchiness, irritation, inflammation and downgrading all victim’s self esteem and damaging quality of life.

The big picture from all of the studies that are mentioned below is a solid indication that eczema is not just one simple problem. It is a problem that overlaps with many aspects of life such as aging, immune function and microbial communities.

October 25, 2025October 30, 2025

What’s in the Gut Microbiome of a Preemie?

Our gut microflora protects us from the dangers of the world around us, but who protects those that are born too soon? What is done for infants that don’t have time to develop a strong microbiome in defense of the diverse world of microbes?

Preterm infant in an incubator in the neonatal ICU (image from Svendsen et al, 2018 via Copenhagen University Hospital)

Life in the NICU

Premature infants (those with a gestation period of <37 weeks) are often given broad-spectrum antibiotics (drugs that are effective against a wide range of bacteria) to prevent neonatal sepsis, a bacterial infection in the bloodstream of newborns that has high mortality rates due to their weak immune systems (Tripathi et al, 2011). These infants tend to spend the first few weeks of their lives living in the hospital, particularly the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Given that 10 percent of infants are born premature (World Health Organization) and the majority are prescribed one or more of these antibiotics, this is a significant amount of early-life antibiotic distribution. The use of antibiotics in children and infants is highly debated. More studies are emerging to highlight the consequences of antibiotic usage in infants, including fungal infections, intestinal tissue damage, late-onset sepsis (the very infection they’re trying to avoid), and antimicrobial resistance (Tripathi et al., 2011).

October 24, 2025

Think Horses, Not Zebras: Antibiotics and the Gut Microbiome of Zebrafish

Chemicals in the Water:

As the modern world has developed, anthropogenic chemical leaching has increased, which can cause contamination within surface and groundwater. Anthropogenic chemicals refer to chemicals originating from human activities and these common contaminating chemicals include nitrates, phosphates, pesticides, mercury, Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and legacy pesticides, , among others (Gavrilaș et al., 2025; Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, 2020). While it’s fairly common knowledge that chemical pollution comes from agricultural, natural resource extraction, and manufacturing activities, another source of chemical contamination comes from pharmaceuticals, or medications. These chemicals can range from antibiotics to birth control to heart medications and more and are also common contaminants found in water sources.

October 24, 2025

The Impacts of Feeding Styles on Infant Gut Microbiome

Background

**Figure 1.** Factors that could influence an infant’s microbiome (Figure 1 from Hill et al. 2021).

The first few months of a baby’s life are the most vital to building their gut microbiome. The establishment of an infant’s gut microbiota, acquired from the mother and the environment, can often have profound long-term effects on their overall health and development, as there is a strong relationship between the early and adult stages (Martínez-Martínez et al. 2024). The gut microbiota comprises all the microorganisms in the digestive tract and often plays a crucial role in the immune system by protecting against other pathogens and maintaining a balanced metabolism (Thursby and Juge et al. 2017).

October 23, 2025

Hey! You’ve got something on your face.

Take a Q-tip. Swipe it across the space between your eyebrows. That Q-tip now holds tens of thousands of bacteria. Before you scrub your face with an SOS pad, know that this is completely normal. Swabbing a 1 cm² patch of skin on the human body typically collects about 10,000 bacterial cells (Grice et al., 2008). Not only is finding your skin covered in bacteria normal, it is a vital part of having healthy skin.

December 2, 2024

When Healing Hurts: The Hidden Toll of Radiation on Skin Health

Background

As advancements in cancer treatments emerged, they brought along unavoidable side effects. Radiation therapy, now a cornerstone in oncology, comes with persistent impacts on the body, one of the most significant being radiation-induced skin injury (RISI) (Jaschke et al., 2017). This condition remains a common and challenging complication for both patients and clinicians.

The skin serves as a physical shield and a habitat for a diverse ecosystem of microorganisms, collectively known as the microbiota. These microbes play a critical role in maintaining skin health by supporting wound healing, regulating inflammation, and preventing infections. Any disruption to this microbial balance can have extensive consequences for recovery and immune response.

November 13, 2024

Is There an Association between Bacteria and Cancer?

Background

Pancreatic cancer is very deadly, with low survival rates, largely attributed to the fact that it does not present clearly with symptoms until it has reached a more serious stage (Kamisawa et al., 2016). In fact, out of the top 10 cancer-related deaths, pancreatic cancer is ranked number 7 (Khalaf et al., 2021). The pancreas is located near the liver, spleen, and gallbladder; within the abdomen (Fig. 1 Cleveland clinic diagram). It aids in digestion as well as the release of certain hormones. Pancreatic tumors can grow and obstruct the path of bile through the common duct, resulting in jaundice (Puckett, 2024), therefore not only interfering with the aforementioned pancreatic functions, but those of the organs around it. According to the Mayo Clinic, some common symptoms of pancreatic cancer include weight loss, jaundice, back pain, and blood clots.