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ลำดับตอนที่ #85 : Why we need a better way to measure farts
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160331-why-we-need-a-better-way-to-measure-farts
I hate to say it, but doctors have something of a flatulence problem: at
the moment, they know embarrassingly little about the bubbles brewing in your bowels.
“What comes out of the backside only tells us about the
last 20cm of the gut,” says Peter Gibson at Monash University. Gibson wants to
know what’s happening in the previous 130cm of the digestive tract, leading up to that
final explosion.
Digestion depends on the subtle interactions between your
genes, diet, metabolism, and the myriad micro-organisms inhabiting your body, each of which may leave its
signature in gaseous
by-products. A noticeable change in your farts’ peculiar recipe might therefore
be a sign of serious diseases affecting any part of that process.
“We know bits and pieces about it, but it’s been
very difficult to get to the crux
of what is happening,” Gibson says. To this end, his team are working on a probe that would work its
way through your gut, measuring your gas at every stage of digestion.
The precious little we know so far would certainly
indicate that flatulence
is a rich topic for investigation. Excess production of hydrogen and methane seems to suggest there
may be a problem with the way your gut is absorbing carbohydrates, for instance
– allowing the starches and sugars to instead ferment in the gut. Excess methane may also
interrupt your bowel
movements, meaning that it could be a cause of constipation for people with irritable bowel
syndrome. Unfortunately, we can’t be certain exactly where that methane arises.
“The dogma is that
it is produced in the lower parts of the large bowel, but we don’t know,”
Gibson says.
Hydrogen sulphide, meanwhile, is the chemical that gives
our farts that full-bodied odour
of rotten eggs. Besides the discomfort it may cause in confined spaces,
chronically high levels of the gas may be the sign of a damaged gut lining,
inflammatory bowel disease or even colon cancer. “It’s one example of a gas
that could be incredibly instructive,” says Gibson.
Until
now, current techniques to measure flatulence are somewhat indirect. Strangely
enough, the most popular option to date has been a breath test. Since some
gases will be absorbed by the blood and released in your lungs, it is possible
to find traces of your flatulence coming out of your mouth. Unfortunately, that
can’t tell you where the gases originated. In any case, the reading might be skewed by other elements
of body odour, such as the gases brewed by bacteria between your teeth. Another
option is to ferment
faecal samples –
the gases produced should resemble your own flatulence, although again, it
can’t reveal the problems in the early stages of digestion.
Gibson’s
team think they have the answer with a tiny sensor that can be
swallowed like a medical pill. As it passes through the body,
the capsule samples the gases at regular intervals and relays them to a tablet computer; it will also
measure things like the ambient
temperature and acidity,
which can provide further information about its position in the gut. This is
particularly important at the end of its voyage. “You want to know if it’s
passed out of the backside, but you wouldn’t know because it’s just part of the
stool” says Gibson.
The temperature sensor, however, could offer an instant warning. “When the
temperature falls, that’s when it’s gone outside.”
In
this way, a doctor can collect real-time data at each stage of the pill’s
journey. So far, the team have tested an early prototype on a couple of pigs,
and they hope to begin human trials within the next few months.
Once
the sensor has proven itself to be safe and effective, he plans to build up a
library profiling the gases associated with different diseases and lifestyles.
From there, it may be possible to see the direct effects of different
treatments for some of the related ailments.
Since
methane is thought to be linked to constipation Gibson hopes to understand where and when it is
produced. “What you’d like is something that reduces methanogenesis – a simple
dietary change or drug that improves constipation, which is a major problem
across the world,” he says. “But we can’t know until we measure it.”
Gibson
certainly can’t be faulted for his enthusiasm on this subject. “It’s very exciting – the more we
get into [the subject] the more we see the potential,” he says. Let’s just hope
his probe delivers on that promise, and that the excitement doesn’t just turn
out to be a load of hot air.
--
Flatulence (n.)
gas in the stomach and bowels:
brew (v.)
to make beer
If you brew tea or coffee, you add boiling water to it to make a hot drink, and if it brews, it gradually developsflavour in the container in which it was made:
(n.)
a type of beer, especially one made in a particular place or at a particular time
a mixture of several things:
tract (n.)
a short piece of writing, especially on a religious or politicalsubject, that is intended to influence other people's opinions
a measured area of land that is used for a particularpurpose, such as building houses or digging for oil:
myriad (n.)
a very large number of something:
gaseous (Adj.) consisting of gas or gases, or like gas:
crux (n.) the most important problem,
question,
or part:
probe (n.)
an attempt to discover information by asking a lot of questions:
a long, thin metal tool used by doctors to examine inside someone
a device that is put inside something to test or record information
Excess (n.)
an amount that is more than acceptable, expected, or reasonable:
ferment (V.)
If food or drink ferments or if you ferment
it, the sugar in it changes into alcohol because of a chemical process:
bowel (n.)
the long tube that carries solid waste from the stomach out of the body
move your bowels
(said especially by doctors and nurses) to excrete (= passfrom the body) the solid waste that is contained in the bowels
Constipate (adj.)
unable to empty your bowels as often as you should:
dogma (n.)
a fixed, especially religious, belief or set of beliefs that people are expected to accept without any doubts
odour (n.)
a smell, often one that is unpleasant:
skewed (Adj.)
not straight:
faeces (n.)
the solid waste passed out of the body of a human or animalthrough the bowels:
interval (n.)
a period between two events or times
the space between two points:
repeated after a particular period of time or a particulardistance:
the amount by which one note is higher or lower than another:
relay (v.)
to repeat something you have heard, or to broadcast a signal, message,
or programme on television or radio
(n.)
a group of people who continue an activity that others from the same team or organization have been doing previously:
ambient (adj.)
(especially of environmental conditions) existing in the surrounding area:
acidity (n.)
the amount of acid in a substance or in your stomach:
stool (n.)
a seat without any support for the back or arms:
ailment (n.)
an illness
constipation (Adj.)
unable to empty your bowels as often as you should:
enthusiasm (n.)
a feeling of energetic interest in a particular subject or activity and an eagerness to be involved in it:
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