Open Access Manuscripts from Special Issue of Applied Microbiology
I am thankful this New Year’s Eve to acknowledge three professional accomplishments with transdisciplinary colleagues: open access publication of three major works invited for a special issue of the Open Access journal Applied Microbiology.
2021a: Coleman, M.E., North, D.W., Dietert, R.R., Stephenson, M.M. Examining Evidence of Benefits and Risks for Pasteurizing Donor Breastmilk. Applied Microbiology 1(3):408-425. {Approximately 700 views since publication in September}
2021b: Coleman, M.E., Dietert, R.R., North, D.W., Stephenson, M.M. Enhancing Human Superorganism Ecosystem Resilience by Holistically ‘Managing Our Microbes’. Applied Microbiology. 1(3): 471-497. {Approximately 600 views since publication in October}
2022. Dietert, R.R., Coleman, M.E., North, D.W., Stephenson, M.M. Nourishing the Human Holobiont to Reduce the Risk of Non-Communicable Diseases: A Cow’s Milk Evidence Map Example. Applied Microbiology. 2(1):25-52.
Graphical Abstract for Dietert et al., 2022 (photographs by MEC); Microimmunosome = microbiome-immune-host defense barrier complex; NCDs = Non Communicable Diseases
The most recent publication above is a companion manuscript to the breastmilk evidence map below that was published in September (Coleman et al., 2021a). Now you can consider maps of the scientific evidence for benefits and risks for fresh unprocessed (raw) and pasteurized mammalian milks, breastmilk and cow milk. You many not have realized that most human milk banks in the US and around the world PASTEURIZE donor breastmilk before providing it to sick or premature infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) whose mothers are unable to breastfeed. You may also not realize that multiple clinical studies around the world demonstrate significant loss of benefits of feeding pasteurized donor milk to NICU infants rather than raw donor milk. The evidence map papers document the body of evidence and uncertainties.
Graphical Abstract for Coleman et al., 2021a
The third invited manuscript considers examples where evidence exits for managing disease by managing our microbes, using Microbiome First Medicine (medical research focused first on the human superorganism majority, the microbiome) in exploring holistic sustainable health care. This is in stark contrast to the traditional medicine focus on pharmaceuticals tested only on the human superorganism minority, Homo sapiens, in the words of co-author and Cornell University Emeritus Professor of Immunotoxicology Rodney Dietert. If this puzzles you, a must-read is Rodney’s book, The Human Superorganism, that provides persuasive evidence that human genes represent the minority for Homo sapiens incomplete without microbial partners in health. Thus, much of the variability in the frequency and magnitudes of benefits and risks associated with human superorganisms is likely associated with our microbial partners. Yet, typical frameworks for risk assessment exclude the microbiota.
Graphical Abstract for Coleman et al., 2021b
In summary, these three invited peer-reviewed manuscripts introduce evidence mapping as a tool to provide clear, coherent descriptions of the complexities on the ‘state of the science’ for human superorganisms, as well as the uncertainties, for health and for both infectious and non-communicable diseases. The interconnectedness of human superorganisms reach beyond single organ systems including the gut, neural, and respiratory systems, now described as the gut-lung-brain axis. Research in systems ecology and Risk Analysis incorporating the microbiome can contribute to design of key studies testing for causality of effects that go beyond measuring correlations, but enable quantitative or qualitative predictions of the key microbial consortia needed to support health. Such studies are essential for filling knowledge gaps that at present limit broader transdisciplinary applications to support evidence-based decision making, holistic risk management, and design of microbiota-based preventative and therapeutic strategies to holistically ‘manage our microbes’.
I acknowledge the support of many of you readers who contributed to the crowdfunding campaign in 2018 that provided partial funding for this work. A thousand thanks.
Feel free to post comments and questions or email me. Happy New Year in 2022 and beyond for all you human superorganisms!