DIAGNOSTIC DEVICES
serve as biomarkers (see 'Early indicators', In 2018, Sharma and his team published a study in the journal that says the gut microbiota of children without autism is dominated by bacteria of Prevotellaceae family. But it notes that children with autism have a relatively high concentration of Lactobacillaceae, Bifidobacteraceae, and Veillonellaceae bacteria.
Similarly, in a 2018 review paper published in medical journal
UK scientists note people with inflammatory bowel disease, psoriatic arthritis, type 1 and 2 diabetes and obesity have a lower variety of bacteria than healthier groups. But it is unclear whether this is a cause or an effect of the diseases. In a 2019 study in the journal Sharma and his team have identified a potential colon cancer cells grown in a laboratory. However, they are yet to check if this biomarker also shows up in the excreta of colo-rectal cancer patients.
Both Sharma and Rakshit’s research indicate that identifying biomarkers from stool samples could offer a non-invasive, faster and cheaper means of diagnosis. “The idea is to detect diseases as early as possible so patients can seek medical attention,” Rakshit tells DTE. In this regard, they are looking to develop stool-based diagnostic kits that can analyse excreta for biomarkers. Currently, there are no such kits available, but Sharma is optimistic. “These kits could be released soon and would help in India, which sees metabolic issues like cardiovascular
DURING DIGESTION, SOME MICROBIOTA AND METABOLITES EXIT THE BODY VIA FAECES, WHICH RESEARCHERS CAN ISOLATE TO IDENTIFY THE COMPOSITION OF THE GUT MICROBIOME
harness a source of data that is typically ignored—and the user does not have to do anything differently,” Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, a professor at Stanford University’s Department of Radiology and one of the toilet's developers, said in a statement at the time. While it was still in the development stage, the smart toilet could identify 10 biomarkers. It performed molecular and physical analysis of urine, but only collected data on the physical appearance of stool. The institution said it was working on an updated model for molecular analysis of stool samples.
Analysis of the faecal samples can provide clues on how microbial residents differ among healthy and diseased populations