I'm sorry for the vague thread title - I'm not sure what to put.
Hopefully, there are some other biochem folks on here.

These are all SWAG, but ones which it feels important to work on.

1) The primary reasoning behind the structure of man is an environment for the support of the microbiome. As such, medicine should be focused on fixing errors in the structure, but infections are, more likely, a result of an imbalance in the microbiome.

2) Bacterial infections are large, and in voids in the structure. As such, we should think more "cancer" and less "medicine" - we need to search for the cause of the imbalance, and use targeted antiseptics, rather than oral antibiotics. (Think of antibiotics and antiseptics like cancer drugs, and try to keep them as focused.)

Just as "everything" important in soil, happens in the interstitial space, this is also where bacterial infection is occurring.

3) (And here's where I'm going on surmise, and "gut" feeling...) The microbiome of man, is connected to the biome of his world. Through food, water, air, and possibly plasmid exchange, his microbiome interacts with the external one... (There's a part of me, which "almost" could see a link into the same pathway of nutrient and signal exchange which exists in the soil, via tasting the soil, water and crops, but I know that's getting pretty far out in left field...)

OK, so in response to the smarty pants comment of Para's - before I was in ice cream/law, I was in a double major in biochem and genetics, at A&M. Before "Life" happened, I was headed into the finance side of biotech, specifically, to promote the use of bacteriophage to treat bacterial infections. There is some "science" to my SWAG.

Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.

It seems Para's about to interact with some biome and take a voyage into interstitial space...

Caveman version:

Man = human body + "Stuff".
Stuff = fungi (yeast) + bacteria + viruses.
Infection = problem in Stuff, not problem in Body.

Soil = Minerals + Plants + Dead Plants + Dead Animals + Stuff.

Stuff in soil signals and communicates amongst itself, and to plants.

Stuff in soil is also dependent on Stuff inside animals interacting with soil. (Worm digestion, etc)

Man's Stuff might be connected to Soil's Stuff.

Before the Fall, God made man, partially, from dust, and his job was to "keep" the garden.

I've found "stuff" is very useful for posting at sites with profanity filters.

Man's fall in Eden introduced imperfection in everything...the Earth included.

We made the decision to make our own decisions...and once we fell from God's grace, the world around you is the result of that one decision.

Eden (Earth before decision) was perfection...we screwed it up.

Before that, there was no good and bad known to man...just good. Once we took the course of "deciding." we brought the good/bad into everything.

This reminds me of an all-night conversation I had with a friend in college. Something about pyramids and dirt, anti-matter, and “if we’re the water, who’s holding the glass?” The details are pretty hazy.

I think I understand what the OP is saying. All species on planet Earth evolved over the last 4 billion or so years from the "stuff" that our planet is made from.

I had this epiphany 12 years ago after spending a month in the hospital due to complications from Crohn's disease: humans evolved eating plants, animals, and water. That's it. Our bodies were never meant to digest all the fake "stuff" we put in our mouths today. Nature never intended the human digestive system to process Big Macs or Doritos or Wonder Bread or Coca Cola. Look at the ingredient list on the nutrition labels on food you buy. If you can't pronounce it, should you stick it in your mouth? Did it grow naturally or was it produced in a chemical factory? Strive to stick to plants, animals, and water and you will be much healthier for it.

That said, I realize it's almost impossible to completely avoid some amount of "processed" ingredients in our daily intake. But I try to limit that as much as possible.

Then again, I could be totally wrong. Para's post might be much closer to the truth.

I want to solve the puzzle,

Just the facts ma am

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

I touched my stuff, once.

Aglifter has gone all Time Cube on us.

Or perhaps he's been reading the Dr. Bronner soap label a little too closely.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Or perhaps he's been reading the Dr. Bronner soap label a little too closely.

Ha ! That was good. I love that soap. But I won't eat it. Though there is a popular professional trekker/adventurist who brushes his teeth with it. No kidding, brushes his damn teeth with Dr. Bronner's soap. Hmmm, I might just try that.

I liked the cavemen version Aglifter.

I will reread this thread this evening with a glass of wine in my hand.

quote:

2) Bacterial infections are large, and in voids in the structure. As such, we should think more "cancer" and less "medicine" - we need to search for the cause of the imbalance, and use targeted antiseptics, rather than oral antibiotics. (Think of antibiotics and antiseptics like cancer drugs, and try to keep them as focused.)

To a degree, we are already doing this, in a sense.
Look at Montsanto (Bayer). They modified the DNA of certain plants to grow larger and yield more of what we eat. They modified these same plants to have sterile seeds, so you would have to buy seeds from them again next year.

Now modifying the DNA of a seed seems to be a little easier than the DNA of a human, but I would think it could be done. After some trials, and some failures (which is sad because it’s a human and not a plant), could the “perfect human” be created?

Some of this has to do with how it is “grown”. You can buy the perfect seed that produces a huge yield, but you still have to water, fertilize, keep away bugs, etc. it’s no different than a human in the sense that you could fix the vulnerabilities in the human DNA, but you would still have to feed it nutritious food, fresh water, and for a human, supply it with a healthy, positive environment. Which also leads us back to: what two-two-niner-romeo said:

quote:

I had this epiphany 12 years ago after spending a month in the hospital due to complications from Crohn's disease: humans evolved eating plants, animals, and water. That's it. Our bodies were never meant to digest all the fake "stuff" we put in our mouths today. Nature never intended the human digestive system to process Big Macs or Doritos or Wonder Bread or Coca Cola. Look at the ingredient list on the nutrition labels on food you buy. If you can't pronounce it, should you stick it in your mouth? Did it grow naturally or was it produced in a chemical factory? Strive to stick to plants, animals, and water and you will be much healthier for it.

I was once blind but now I see!