Biology subjects

Ramirez-Carrillo, E.

Publications and source records attributed to Ramirez-Carrillo, E..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2020

We think what we eat: Animal-based diet influences cerebral and microbiota networks connectivity in early ages. A study case of an indigenous community in Mexico.

We are not individuals, we are much better described as ecosystems due to trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms that inhabit us. We now know that gut microbiota can greatly influence many physiological parameters that in turn may impact several cognitive functions, such as learning, memory, and decision making processes. This mutualistic symbiotic relation known as the gut-brain axis is also constrained by external factors such as dietary habits such as animal protein and lipids intake. Using a novel combination of Machine Learning and Network Theory techniques, we provide evidence from an indigenous population in Guerrero Mexico, that both brain and gut-microbiota connectivity, evaluated by Minimum Spanning Tree as the critical backbone of information flow, diminish under either low protein or lipids intake. We discuss then how this loss of connectivity may translate into a reduction of the individuals capacity to cope with perturbations as loss of connectivity may be linked with losses in antifragility.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Human gut microbiota networks disturbance by parasites in indigenous communities: Effect on bacteria genera related to depression incidence subnetworks

If you think you are in control of your behavior, think again. Evidence suggests that behavioral modifications, as development and persistence of depression, may be the consequence of a complex network of communication between macro (i.e. parasites) and micro-organisms capable of modifying the physiological axis of the host. Some parasites cause significant nutritional deficiencies for the host and impair the effectiveness of cognitive processes such as memory, teaching or non-verbal intelligence. Bacterial communities mediate the establishment of parasites and vice versa but this complexity approach remains little explored. We study the gut microbiota-parasite interactions using novel techniques of network analysis using data of individuals from two indigenous communities in the state of Guerrero, Mexico. Our results suggest that A. Lumbricoides, induce a gut microbiota perturbation affecting subnetworks of key species related to depression, consisting in the loss of network features such as path length, heterogeneity, number of nodes and neighbors; and especially by the loss of information emergence. Emergence is related with adaptability that has been linked to the concept of health as a critical balance between (adaptability) and self-organization (robustness). In this way, the loss of emergence means a depart from criticality and ultimately loss of health.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2018

Assessing sustainability in North America’s ecosystems using criticality and information theory

Sustainability is a key concept in economic and policy debates. Nevertheless, it is usually treated only in a qualitative way and has eluded quantitative analysis. Here, we propose a sustainability index based on the premise that sustainable systems do not lose or gain Fisher Information over time. We test this approach using time series data from the AmeriFlux network that measures ecosystem respiration, water and energy fluxes in order to elucidate two key sustainability features: ecosystem health and stability. A novel definition of ecosystem health is developed based on the concept of criticality, which implies that if a systems fluctuations are scale invariant then the system is in a balance between robustness and adaptability. We define ecosystem stability by taking an information theory approach that measures its entropy and Fisher information. Analysis of the Ameriflux consortium big data set of ecosystem respiration time series is contrasted with land condition data. In general we find a good agreement between the sustainability index and land condition data. However, we acknowledge that the results are a preliminary test of the approach and further verification will require a multi-signal analysis. For example, high values of the sustainability index for some croplands are counter-intuitive and we interpret these results as ecosystems maintained in artificial health due to continuous human-induced inflows of matter and energy in the form of soil nutrients and control of competition, pests and disease.

ecology↗