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Strongyloidiasis
Published in Peter D. Walzer, Robert M. Genta, Parasitic Infections in the Compromised Host, 2020
Robert M. Genta, Peter D. Walzer
Cutaneous penetration of filariform larvae found in contaminated soil is the most common way by which human strongyloidiasis is acquired. The ingestion of infective larvae is not believed to be a common mode of transmission in humans, although coprophagia may play an important role in dogs. In some reported cases, S. stercoralis has been transmitted in unusual manners, such as through renal transplantation (105) or apparently from immersion in a swimming pool (106), but these events represent little more than medical curiosities. Transmammary transmission during breast feeding, a well-documented mode of infection for S. ratti in rodents (107), appears to occur occasionally in human S. fulleborni infections (108) but has not been observed for S. stercoralis.
Commensal microbiota and its relationship to homeostasis and disease
Published in Phillip D. Smith, Richard S. Blumberg, Thomas T. MacDonald, Principles of Mucosal Immunology, 2020
Jonathan Braun, Elaine Y. Hsiao, Nicholas Powell
Since the 1960s it has been consistently noted that germ-free mice have numerous immunologic, physiologic, and anatomical differences from conventionally reared animals (Table 19.1). They require more calories because they lose the nutrients provided by microbial degradation of plant material in mouse chow. And mice are coprophagic (ingest feces of other cohoused individuals). The small intestine is longer and the villi in the duodenum are longer than in normal mice but shorter in the ileum. The ceca of germ-free mice are grossly enlarged. There is poor development of gut-associated lymphoid tissue, including Peyer's patches which only contain primary follicles. Unlike conventionally colonized mice, few T cells can be found infiltrating the intestinal lamina propria, and there is an almost complete absence of secretory IgA. Intraepithelial lymphocyte numbers are very low, although there are more γδ T cells than αβ T cells. TLR and major histocompatibility class II expression on intestinal epithelial cells is also markedly reduced in germ-free animals, reflecting the reduced need for antigen detection and presentation.
Neuroscience
Published in Bhaskar Punukollu, Michael Phelan, Anish Unadkat, MRCPsych Part 1 In a Box, 2019
Bhaskar Punukollu, Michael Phelan, Anish Unadkat
Vocal tics: Simple – barking, grunting, snorting, coughing. Complex –echolalia (repeating other peoples phrases), palilalia (repeating other peoples words), coprolalia (using bad language in a repetitive and involuntary manner). Note that coprophagia does not occur.
Protective effect of standardised fruit extract of Garcinia cowa Roxb. ex Choisy against ethanol induced gastric mucosal lesions in Wistar rats
Published in Annals of Medicine, 2021
Prakash Chandra Gupta, Ashish Kar, Nisha Sharma, Prashant Kumar Singh, Naba Kumar Goswami, Satyanshu Kumar
After 5 days of treatment, animals have fasted for 24 h and care was taken to avoid coprophagy. Absolute ethanol was used as an ulcerogenic agent at a dose of 1 ml/200 g body weight of rat [37]. One hour after the oral administration of ethanol, the animals were killed by cervical dislocation. The stomach was removed surgically and opened along the greater curvature, rinsed with saline water (0.9%), and then mucosa was exposed for macroscopic evaluation. The number of ulcers was noted and recorded for the severity [38]. The ulcer index (UI) and percent protection were calculated by using the equation UN, US, UP, UIC, and UIT are the average number of ulcers per animal, an average of severity score, percentage of animals with the ulcer, UI of the control group, and UI of the treated group, respectively [39].
Coprophagy in nineteenth-century psychiatry
Published in Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease, 2018
On the other hand, the use of excrement as a legitimate therapeutic remedy has returned in modern medicine in the form of faecal microbial transplant for Clostridium difficile infection, at an efficacy rate that far exceeds competing antibiotic remedies [53,54]. It also shows promise as a treatment for persistent Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis [55,56]. When we consider this alongside the recognition that throughout the history of medicine, there have been uses of excrement as a pharmacological remedy for various conditions, it is most certainly worth considering whether institutional forms of coprophagia may be caused by an intuitive self-medicating motivation. It is now known that a wide variety of animals display zoopharmacognosy, or the ability to intuitively self-medicate, either by learnt behaviours in intelligent primates (such as the chimpanzee use of antiparasitic herbs), or through innate adaptive mechanisms and without the need for high intelligence, explaining its occurrence in ants, moths, and fruit flies [57–59]. Some researchers have indeed considered a potential self-medicating explanation for human coprophagia, noting its use by different animals (rabbits, gorillas) to meet nutritional deficiencies such as for the B vitamin thiamine [60]. However, no consistent vitamin or mineral deficiencies have been identified in human excrement-eaters to date. On the other hand, one study found success in reducing coprophagic incidents in a man with profound retardation and autism through the provision of highly spiced foods ad libidum [61].
Reversal of temperature responses to methylone mediated through bi-directional fecal microbiota transplantation between hyperthermic tolerant and naïve rats
Published in Temperature, 2022
Robert Goldsmith, Amal Aburahma, Sudhan Pachhain, Sayantan Roy Choudhury, Vipa Phuntumart, Ray Larsen, Christopher S. Ward, Jon E. Sprague
Male rats were randomly assigned into two groups of six (6) each, the first group being the treatment group and the second serving as the saline controls. On testing day, all subjects were weighed prior to drug challenge, and a core temperature reading was taken with a rectal thermometer at time zero. On treatment days, the ambient temperature averaged 27.4 ± 0.12°C. Following the first temperature measurement each week, the male treatment group received a 10 mg/kg subcutaneous (sc) dose of methylone, and the control group received an equal volume of saline solution. In order to induce tolerance to the methylone-induced hyperthermia, one group of animals were treated with methylone once a week for 4 weeks. This treatment group was referred to as the methylone hyperthermic-tolerant (MHT) group. The second treatment group was treated with saline once a week for 4 weeks. This treatment group was referred to as the methylone-naïve (MN) group [19]. Between weeks 3 and 4, fecal droppings were collected for the FMT from both the MHT and MN groups, with reciprocal transplantations then performed. Therefore, all animals experienced coprophagy under identical circumstances. The first day of FMT was considered day 0 and served as the fecal composition baseline for each group. After 7 days of FMT, the fecal droppings were again collected to determine differences before (day 0) and after (day 7) FMT. Following drug treatment, core temperature readings were recorded at the 30-, 60- and 90-minute time points. This treatment schedule was maintained once a week for a total of four consecutive weeks, until the hyperthermic response of the methylone treatment group was statistically insignificant. Those animals treated weekly for four weeks with methylone were designated as MHT and those that received only saline for four weeks were designated MN. Figure 1 depicts the study design. Rectal temperatures were measured in all animals using a Physiotemp Thermalert TH-8 thermocouple (Physitemp Instruments, Clifton, NJ) attached to a RET-2 (rat) rectal probe coated with white petrolatum prior to insertion. RET-2 probes were inserted 5 cm into the rectum, where they remained for at least fifteen seconds, until a stable temperature was obtained.