Article Review Assignment
The article presents a research study that assesses microbiota changes and vancomycin associated weight, and evaluates whether the gain at a period of one year could be connected with the species of bacteria that have always been linked with body mass index (BMI).
The article presents a typical research study that consists of introduction, methods, results and discussion. However, issues that are always in typical results, such as literature review and recommendation are missing. The lack of literature review can be attributed to the fact that the researchers intended to portray it as an authentic primary research. Literature review is mostly used in secondary research where the input of other people is required. However, since it is a highly discussed policy, literature review was required.
The article has an abstract that has sections within the paper. These are introduction, objectives and methods, results and conclusion. The abstract provides an overview of what the article contains. The introduction consists of the background and objectives. However, the purpose is not easily identified, but one can easily get it by reading the entire article. The background states that the antibiotics have been used for a period of 60 years to enhance animals’ weight gain. As such, their use in children and adults when administered during the infancy age has been linked with obesity. Further, the background states that Lactobacillus reuteri has been associated with weight gain and obesity in Kwashiorkor infected children who use food that is prepared and ready to use. However, on the other hand, Escherichia Coli usually does not result or influence the occurrence of obesity among children. The introduction further states that the two bacterial species, which are found in the gut, are resistant to Vancomycin, an antibiotic. As such, the research tries to link the two bacterial species, antibiotics, obesity and overweight, and gut microbiota, all of which are the key words in the research.
From the introduction, one can deduce the fact that since antibiotics leads to weight gain in animals; they also result in weight gain among human beings. The study has also given a list of antibiotics that are utilized to promote weight gain in animals for a period of about 60 years. These are penicillin, tetracycline, glycopeptides, and macrolides, all of which are usually used at sub-therapeutic levels to enhance the gain of weight among animals. It can be noted that these antibiotics are usually used in medical treatment of humans. The study shows that the aim of using the antibiotics in animals is vital in promoting their promotion to meet the nutritional needs of USA and other countries .However, the effect of continued use of the antibiotics in human beings, especially in early infancy has been neglected and could have been the reason why the research was undertaken.
The introduction of the study states that previous studies found out that there was an association between obesity and vancomycin among human beings although gut microdiata was not critically analyzed. The previous studies could have been the basis of this research although it is not explicit on the literature used.
The method can be broken down into samples, variables, measures, and statistical analysis. The sample in the research study includes endocarditis patients that were administered with amoxicillin or vancomycin. The sample was drawn from Hospital de la timone’s cardiology departments between 2008 and 2010.The two year timeframe was ample to detect the conditions being examined in the study. A modified duke criterion was used to define endocarditis and then 4 weeks was used to treat patients with or without gentamycin. From the research, the data of the participants included the type of antibiotic treatment, sex, weight, age and height. In obtaining the data, a written consent was obtained, which is a confidential principle of any research. As such, it can be noted that the study adhered to all ethical principles. The drawback of the sampling process does not comprehensively exhibit the sample size. However, it can be noted that the research has both qualitative and quantitative aspects. The variables in the research included weight change and intestinal flora (Bacteria species).
The analysis of the statistics included the use of t-test, Bernard exact test, SPSS, AND Kolmogorov-Smimov test. The tests used clearly indicate that the design of the research had both qualitative and quantitative factors. The result attained the purpose of study. It was noticed that patients who were treated with vancomycin recorded high weight change than those treated with amoxylin. This shows that the purpose of study was verified. However, it can be noticed that the sample size analysed was placed in result section instead of methods. The result further showed that the intestinal flora among patients treated with vancomycin was greatly altered and increased with those who were treated with amoxicillin. This further affirms that vancomycin influences weight gain and alters intestinal Fauna. The purpose of the study is affirmed by a case study of a 51 year old woman.
The discussion confirms that vancomycin was instrumental for the gain of weight before its administration. The study goes further to explain that the observed obesity among patients treated with Vancomycin could be related with the alteration of microbiota in the gut rather than the effect of antibiotic and Lactobacillus reuteri could be the main cause.
In conclusion, the study has both qualitative and quantitative components. Being a typical research study, it has introduction, methods, results and discussion. The study has attained its goal by evaluating and realizing its purpose.
Works cited
Million, M., Thuny, F., Angelakis, E., Casalta, J-P., Giorgi, R., Habib, G., and Raoult, D. (2013). Lactobacillus reuteri and Escherichia coli in the human gut microbiota may predict weight gain associated with vancomycin treatment. Journal of Nutr Diabetes 3(9): e87.
Retrieved online from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3789131/