What Are Hemorrhoids?

https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/understanding-hemorrhoids-basics#2

Hemorrhoids are swollen veins in the lowest part of your rectum and anus. Sometimes the walls of these blood vessels stretch so thin that the veins bulge and get irritated, especially when you poop.

Swollen hemorrhoids are also called piles.

Hemorrhoids are one of the most common causes of rectal bleeding. They're rarely dangerous and usually clear up in a couple of weeks. But you should see your doctor to make sure it's not a more serious condition. He can also remove hemorrhoids that won't go away or are very painful.

Internal and External Hemorrhoids

Internal hemorrhoids are far enough inside the rectum that you can't usually see or feel them. They don't generally hurt because you have few pain-sensing nerves there. Bleeding may be the only sign of them.

External hemorrhoids are under the skin around the anus, where there are many more pain-sensing nerves, so they tend to hurt as well as bleed.

Sometimes hemorrhoids prolapse, or get bigger and bulge outside the anal sphincter. Then you may be able to see them as moist bumps that are pinker than the surrounding area. And they're more likely to hurt, often when you poop.

Prolapsed hemorrhoids usually go back inside on their own. Even if they don't, they can often be gently pushed back into place.

A blood clot can form in an external hemorrhoid, turning it purple or blue. This is called a thrombosis. It can hurt and itch a lot and could bleed. When the clot dissolves, you may still have a bit of skin left over, which could get irritated.

What Causes Them?

Some people may be more likely to get hemorrhoids if other family members, like their parents, had them.

A buildup of pressure in your lower rectum can affect blood flow and make the veins there swell. That may happen from extra weight, when you're obese or pregnant. Or it could come from:

• Pushing during bowel movements

• Straining when you do something that's physically hard, like lifting something heavy

People who stand or sit for long stretches of time are at greater risk, too.

You may get them when you have constipation or diarrhea that doesn't clear up. Coughing, sneezing, and vomiting could make them worse.

How to Prevent Them

Eat fiber. A good way to get it is from plant foods -- vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, and legumes.

Drink water. It will help you avoid hard stools and constipation, so you strain less during bowel movements. Fruits and vegetables, which have fiber, also have water in them.

Exercise. Physical activity, like walking a half-hour every day, is another way to keep your blood and your bowels moving.

Don't wait to go. Use the toilet as soon as you feel the urge.

What Your Gut Bacteria Say About You

https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/what-your-gut-bacteria-say-your-health#1

For years, we thought of bacteria as organisms to avoid. It turns out our bodies are already loaded with trillions of bacteria. They help digest food and play an important role in your well-being.

Research suggests your gut bacteria are tied to your probability of things like diabetes, obesity, depression, and colon cancer.

What Are Gut Bacteria?

Living inside of your gut are 300 to 500 different kinds of bacteria containing nearly 2 million genes. Paired with other tiny organisms like viruses and fungi, they make what’s known as the microbiota, or the microbiome.

Like a fingerprint, each person's microbiota is unique: The mix of bacteria in your body is different from everyone else's mix. It’s determined partly by your mother’s microbiota -- the environment that you’re exposed to at birth -- and partly from your diet and lifestyle.

The bacteria live throughout your body, but the ones in your gut may have the biggest impact on your well-being. They line your entire digestive system. Most live in your intestines and colon. They affect everything from your metabolism to your mood to your immune system.

Gut Bacteria and Disease

Research suggests the gut bacteria in healthy people are different from those with certain diseases. People who are sick may have too little or too much of a certain type. Or they may lack a wide variety of bacteria. It’s thought some kinds may protect against ailments, while others may raise the risk.

Scientists have begun to draw links between the following illnesses and the bacteria in your gut:

Obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease: Your gut bacteria affect your body’s metabolism. They determine things like how many calories you get from food and what kinds of nutrients you draw from it. Too much gut bacteria can make you turn fiber into fatty acids. This may cause fat deposits in your liver, which can lead to something called “metabolic syndrome” -- a condition that often leads to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.

Inflammatory bowel diseases, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis: People with these conditions are believed to have lower levels of certain anti-inflammatory gut bacteria. The exact connection is still unclear. But it’s thought that some bacteria may make your body attack your intestines and set the stage for these diseases.

HPV discovery raises hope for new cervical cancer treatments

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181218100404.htm

HPV is responsible for nearly all cases of cervical cancer and 95 percent of anal cancers. It is the most common sexually transmitted disease, infecting more than 79 million Americans. Most have no idea that are infected or that they could be spreading it.

"Human papillomavirus causes a lot of cancers. Literally thousands upon thousands of people get cervical cancer and die from it all over the world. Cancers of the mouth and anal cancers are also caused by human papillomaviruses," said UVA researcher Anindya Dutta, PhD, of the UVA Cancer Center. "Now there's a vaccine for HPV, so we're hopeful the incidences will decrease. But that vaccine is not available all around the world, and because of religious sensitivity, not everybody is taking it. The vaccine is expensive, so I think the human papillomavirus cancers are here to stay. They're not going to disappear. So we need new therapies."

HPV and Cancer

HPV has been a stubborn foe for scientists, even though researchers have a solid grasp of how it causes cancer: by producing proteins that shut down healthy cells' natural ability to prevent tumors. Blocking one of those proteins, called oncoprotein E6, seemed like an obvious solution, but decades of attempts to do so have proved unsuccessful.

Dutta and his colleagues, however, have found a new way forward. They have determined that the virus takes the help of a protein present in our cells, an enzyme called USP46, which becomes essential for HPV-induced tumor formation and growth. And USP46 enzyme promises to be very susceptible to drugs. Dutta calls it "eminently druggable."

"It's an enzyme, and because it's an enzyme, it has a small pocket essential for its activity, and because drug companies are very good at producing small chemicals that will jam that pocket and make enzymes like USP46 inactive," said Dutta, chairman of UVA's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics. "So we are very excited by this possibility that by inactivating USP46 we'll have a way to treat HPV-caused cancers."

Curiously, HPV uses USP46 for an activity that is opposite to what the oncoprotein E6 was known to do. E6 has been known for more than two decades to recruit another cellular enzyme to degrade the cell's tumor suppressor, while Dutta's new finding shows that E6 uses USP46 to stabilize other cellular proteins and prevent them from being degraded. Both activities of E6 are critical to the growth of cancer.

The researchers note that enzyme USP46 is specific to HPV strains that cause cancer. It is not used by other strains of HPV that do not cause cancer, they report.

Findings Published

The researchers have published their findings in the scientific journal Molecular Cell. The team included Shashi Kiran, Ashraf Dar, Samarendra K. Singh, Kyung Yong Lee and Dutta. All are from UVA's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics.

The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, grant R01 GM084465.

Materials provided by University of Virginia Health System. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.