The Effect of Probiotics on Atopic Dermatitis in Children - 825 Words

The Effect of Probiotics on Atopic Dermatitis in Children (Other (Not Listed) Sample) Content: Literature ReviewInstitutionTutorPart 1: Literature Review - The effect of probiotics on atopic dermatitis in children.Science Direct was used to obtain full text peer reviewed journal articles published in English from 2007 to present, with evidence relating the effect of probiotics on atopic dermatitis in children. Key words: atopic dermatitis, eczema, probiotics, prevention, treatment and children.Word exclusions: asthma.Materials used in literature review: 2 double blind placebo controlled studies, 1 prospective cohort study and 1 peer reviewed journal article.Article 1-Double blind placebo controlled study- Probiotics for the treatment of eczema: a systematic reviewThe objective of this article is to evaluate the value of probiotics for treating eczema through a systematic review of randomised-controlled trials. Meta-analysis of data showed that there was no significant reduction in eczema symptoms or decreased severity of eczema when compared to placebo. The au thorÂÂ ´s conclude that probiotics cannot be recommended for treating eczema. ItIncludes 12 trials and 781 participants and has 60 references all in recent years- and this makes the research more acceptable.Strengths and weaknesses: The authors mention that participants taking antibiotics and corticosteroids were not excluded from the review. This could have possibly skewed the outcome of the results. Another weakness is shown as the authors compared the promising results of pimecrolimus, a corticosteroid, to the results of probiotics in a RCT of 4 weeks. One could argue that you cannot compare a suppressive medicine against live bacteria strains as they work differently. A further potential critique is that there are a limited number of probiotic strains used in the studies and this may mean that some less researched probiotic strains may have been overlooked. On the flipside, the authors give an insight on the composition of the intestinal microbiotia and its differentiation in eczema and non- eczema patients.Article 2 -Peer Reviewed Journal - Probiotics and atopic dermatitis. A new strategy in atopic dermatitis. Positive TreatmentThe article portrays an increase in prevalence of atopic dermatitis in the first 5 years of life. It shows a link between eczema and food allergy. The authors take into account other variables besides probiotics, allowing it not to be bias. The paper reveals that probiotics promote homeostasis to intestinal permeability and balances microbiology of the gut; it improves the immunological defense barrier (IgA) of the intestine and reduces pro-inflammatory cytokines and local and systemic inflammation.Strengths and weaknesses: Although the paper enlightens readers of positive attributes of treatment with probiotics use in eczema, one could argue it is one sided without comparing or contrasting to any negative ways in which the live cultures may not work in some cases. The author also uses outdated sources and this reduces its va lidity. The authors do not mention if the trials received the same controls and if participants were subjective to variables, which could potentially influence the severity of eczema. One could argue if it is bias by leaving out such important aspects from trials.In a nutshell, the paper shows probioticsto be a potential promising treatment for patients with eczema by demonstrating how it affects the gut. This is important in understanding of eczema.Article 3- Probiotic supplementation for the first 6 months of life fails to reduce the risk of atopic dermatitis and increases the risk of allergen sensitisation in high-risk children: A randomised controlled trial. Angie L Taylor number :random Negative Prevention:This paper investigates if Lactobacillus acidophilus can prevent eczema. Newborns were administered the same strain of probiotic or were given a placebo daily for 6 months and assessed at 12 months. 178 infants completed the trial.Weaknesses:As not all individuals have a gre ater significance of eczema in the first year of life, it is possible that they have overlooked some potential future positive results. The author also does not explain what would be the outcome of administering probiotics on pregnant mothers.Also the study only focuses on Lactobacillus acidophilus- thus limiting possible beneficial outcomes of other strains. The authors do not mention if participants were subjective to variables, which could potentially influence the severity of eczema.Strengths:The authors reveal that in caesarean-delivered children, less IgE- associated allergic disease is common, indicating that probiotics have a protective role by having an influence on the gastro-intestinal tract. The authorÂÂ ´s portray that bacterial gut colonisation is a critical factor for immune stimulation early in life are thought to stimulate local and systemic immune responses. Contrary to their understanding of probiotics; however, their findings revealed that there was no redu ction in the risk of early allergic disease, atopic dermatitis or food allergy from the population sample. This means Naturopaths how gut colonization is important; shows promising hope for future studies based on this information.Article 4- Probiotics and prebiotics galacto-oligosachharides in the prevention of allergic diseases: A randomized, double- blind, placebo-controlled trial. Positive Prevention:Kaarina Kukkonen, Erkki Savilahtil number 6,The authors suggest that rise in eczema cases is largely attributed to poor gut immunity caused by lack of microbial stimulation in infants. The study looks at how a mixture of 4 probiotic strains along with prebiotic galacto-oligosaccharides can prevent eczema. 1223 pregnant women carrying high-risk children were given a treatment and a control of placebo was put in place. This was also given to infants for 6 months and a follow up of 2 years was completed. The results concluded that probiotic treatments significantly prevented eczema. T he results also showed an inverse association between atopic diseases and colonization of the gut by probiotics.Strengths and weaknesses: The authors state that all infants received the same probiotic treatment, and yet probiotic strains vary due to mutation. The paper also did not outline how the probiotics were stored. The authors also failed to mention if the probiotics were administered with or without food as it is questionable whether this affec...

How To Improve Critical Thinking

Essays, quizzes, presentations; Literature, History, Scienceno matter what the subject or requirement is, critical thinking is one of the most life-enriching skills that everyone must have. College students, especially, are expected to develop critical thinking skills throughout their formative years in college. Not only do they help them complete their requirements, but they also tremendously aid them in their future careers and in forming well-informed perspectives.Critical thinking skills involve vigorous mental exertion in order to analyze or make judgments on a particular topic. In cases of marketing, for example, a professional marketer would make a detailed analysis of how to endorse the products of his company, perhaps by determining the target demographic and the best means of advertising such a product.Critical thinking is a vital skill in the professional world. Hence, for the college student who aspires to thrive in college and in his future career, it is imperative that he learns how to improve critical thinking skills.Be open-mindedBefore a skill is learned and mastered, the learner must assume its underlying principles. Critical thinking is, first and foremost, a value. Though it was not one during the primitive era of humanity, it soon developed as a vital life skill. In fact, it is one of the factors of how human beings not only survived, but thrived and evolved, and reached the top of the food chain.Were it not for critical thinking skills, humanity would not have the ability of analyzation: knowing how to use tools, which animals and objects are threats, and so on. Hence, critical thinking must deemed as a value. As man evolved, so did his critical thinking skills.But critical thinking would not come into fruition if human beings were not open-minded to begin with. Open-mindedness is the ability to accept new information that is different from what is already known. Critical thinking involves the interconnection of newly discovered informatio n with already established knowledge. The fusion of the two produces new information. Critical thinking, therefore, depends upon open-mindedness to function properly.At the same time, open-mindedness also depends on critical thinking. There are two extremes when it comes to open-mindedness. On one hand, there is gullibility: the willingness to accept any new information without question. While it sounds counterintuitive, open-mindedness has a certain limit. One should not be so open-minded to the point that he thinks he could fly off the third floor of a building if he believes hard enough.On the other hand, there is closed-mindedness: being unable to accept new information because current information is already enough. This is caused by having a hard limit to open-mindedness, leading one to be comfortable with living with the current information such that any new information is discomforting. Someone, for example, may have been living for 20 years drinking raw eggs in a glass every morning.What? Eating raw eggs is dangerous because they might have salmonella? Damn scientists! I have been doing this for 20 years and I am still breathing! I know better than they do.In both extremes, critical thinking is absent. Its presence is what puts the proper limit to open-mindedness. Critical thinking tells open-mindedness which new information is right, by subjecting it to criticism and judgment. This is what spells the difference between accomplishment and disasterthis is why critical thinking is also a value. However, it all starts with open-mindedness to learn how to improve critical thinking skills.Read textbooks about critical thinkingWhen open-mindedness and critical thinking are both pursued together, what is next is to read materials on how to improve critical thinking skills.As a subject of studies, it has spawned a plethora of literature. There are numerous authors who have talked about critical thinking in various methodologies. To determine which one is the d efinitive guide on the topic would be a grueling task. Instead, they should all be appreciated and, in fact, read together so that a collective, comprehensive mental database may be formed.If you want to take a rigorous, academic route, you may find an inexhaustible library on critical thinking, though the topic itself is not so much discussed on its own. Instead, there are discursive textbooks that, throughout its discussions, teaches critical thinkingbecause the methodologies with which they made the discussions are themselves products of critical thinking.Books on the humanities are particularly rich with lessons that expand and improve critical thinking in its readers, not only from experience but also simply from within the mind. One may refer to textbooks on philosophy, logic, and hermeneutics. One good example may be found below:Philosopher Francis Bacons Novum OrganumPrior to Francis Bacons writing, the most popular method of obtaining new knowledge is deduction, where gener al theories are formulated then observed in phenomena. Bacon, however, argued that deduction can be faulty because it may lead to theories that may be out of touch from reality. Hence, in response to deduction, he proposed induction as a new methodwhich is what the title Novum Organum means, literally.Instead of starting with general theories, Bacons induction starts with the observation of phenomena in our environment. Inferences are gathered about the phenomena, which then are collected together to create a very strong theory. Bacon intended for induction to be the new norm in attaining knowledge in general. Nowadays, it is most popular in science, in the widely known scientific method.The Novum Organum teaches induction as a very systematic method of obtaining knowledge, something which, despite the book itself being published in 1620, is very much applicable and practical today as it was then. Critical thinking is fostered here in the process of collecting the data necessary for a theory. Using critical thinking, you can ask:Which phenomena are significant to my studies?Which parts of the phenomena are of particular interest?What do they say about reality in general?The last part requires a very strong skill in critical thinking. Philosophers and scientists today have to be careful when formulating their theories, especially when they disseminate them through books and journal entries. If left unchecked, they might mislead people into doing something dangerous. That is why peer reviews existwhere critical thinking alone fails, there is critical thinking with others.For those who want books that are not as stern and rigorously academic, there is also an inventory of books on critical thinking with a generally more understandable language. One of such books is the following.Rolf Dobellis The Art of Thinking ClearlyDobelli wrote his book from an economists standpoint. Nevertheless, it still provides significant practical advice to people.He does this through a collection of 100 common logical fallacies that people commit in everyday life. The discussion for each fallacy starts with an anecdote of how it occurs in order for people to relate better, followed by an easily understandable explanation of what the fallacy is and how it is bad.Though simple in tone, it is very helpful in improving ones critical thinking skillsby clearing a persons mind of faulty predispositions. Often, we are led by impulse and emotion, which might make us commit some grave mistakes. By first of all focusing on reason and logic, we are allowed to tap into our critical thinking and to proceed from there to squeeze the best solutions out of a situation.Read books in generalFrom textbooks that focus on critical thinking in its discussion, you have to expand beyondto books in general. Whether it is instructional or recreational, read it. Before you know it, you are already forming your critical thinking skills.This may seem extremely broadit is, and for a good reas on. It is not enough to read textbooks that teach how to improve critical thinking skills. What good are they if they are not applied?At the same time, books themselves also teach how to improve critical thinking skills. When you read a book, you are exposed to new information. But it is up to you to actually accept them. This is where you put your critical thinking to good use. New information does not mean right information. Information is neutral in nature, and it should always be scrutinized in relation to the truth. Is it the truth? Regardless of the answer, which truths or lies can it connect to?Make and share your own insightsAnother extreme of open-mindedness is extreme skepticism. It is similar to traditionalism in that it puts a very hard limit to open-mindedness, but in such a way that no beliefs seem to hold any water. In a practical sense, this cannot be. Extreme skepticism cannot say that there is no true beliefif that is true, would extreme skepticism not be a true be lief?What eager learners of critical thinking skills have to know is that critical thinking is beyond having a systematized manner of thinking. Critical thinking is a value, an important aspect of living life. If we try to develop critical thinking skills based solely on what textbooks say, we ironically end up making it a belief of traditionalism. At best, critical thinking is a dynamic, ever-flowing ideal. Its fluidity makes it so that it cannot be completely pinned down by structure and definition determined by a few sources.Everyone is a contributor to the endeavor of improving critical thinking. In every waking moment that we think, or when we make connections among even the most unrelated things, we are adding more to the library of critical thinking. And creation, perhaps, is the most productive contribution to any activity, as well as sharing such creation. So, go strut your stuff! When you have an idea from strenuous or even eureka thinking, do not be afraid to share it.Thi s should always be remembered every time you want to learn how to improve critical thinking skills: it is not a single effort, but a collaborative one.Essay help for college studentsCritical thinking skills are a vital component of every college student, not only throughout their education but also in their entire lives. We at advocate critical thinking in the works that we put out, which is why not only do we make any custom paperwe make excellent custom written papers. As a ghostwriting service company, we guarantee nothing less than top quality essay help to students in need. Are you in need of academic help? Enlist the aid of our writing experts now!