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BackgroundUse of skin personal care products on a regular basis is nearly ubiquitous, but their effects on molecular and microbial diversity of the skin are unknown. We evaluated the impact of four beauty products (a facial lotion, a moisturizer, a foot powder, and a deodorant) on 11 volunteers over 9 weeks.ResultsMass spectrometry and 16S rRNA inventories of the skin revealed decreases in chemical as well as in bacterial and archaeal diversity on halting deodorant use. Specific compounds from beauty products used before the study remain detectable with half-lives of 0.5-1.9 weeks. The deodorant and foot powder increased molecular, bacterial, and archaeal diversity, while arm and face lotions had little effect on bacterial and archaeal but increased chemical diversity. Personal care product effects last for weeks and produce highly individualized responses, including alterations in steroid and pheromone levels and in bacterial and archaeal ecosystem structure and dynamics.ConclusionsThese findings may lead to next-generation precision beauty products and therapies for skin disorders.

To visualize the personalized distributions of pathogens and chemical environments, including microbial metabolites, pharmaceuticals, and their metabolic products, within and between human lungs afflicted with cystic fibrosis (CF), we generated three-dimensional (3D) microbiome and metabolome maps of six explanted lungs from three cystic fibrosis patients. These 3D spatial maps revealed that the chemical environments differ between patients and within the lungs of each patient. Although the microbial ecosystems of the patients were defined by the dominant pathogen, their chemical diversity was not. Additionally, the chemical diversity between locales in the lungs of the same individual sometimes exceeded interindividual variation. Thus, the chemistry and microbiome of the explanted lungs appear to be not only personalized but also regiospecific. Previously undescribed analogs of microbial quinolones and antibiotic metabolites were also detected. Furthermore, mapping the chemical and microbial distributions allowed visualization of microbial community interactions, such as increased production of quorum sensing quinolones in locations where Pseudomonas was in contact with Staphylococcus and Granulicatella, consistent with in vitro observations of bacteria isolated from these patients. Visualization of microbe-metabolite associations within a host organ in early-stage CF disease in animal models will help elucidate the complex interplay between the presence of a given microbial structure, antibiotics, metabolism of antibiotics, microbial virulence factors, and host responses.IMPORTANCE Microbial infections are now recognized to be polymicrobial and personalized in nature. Comprehensive analysis and understanding of the factors underlying the polymicrobial and personalized nature of infections remain limited, especially in the context of the host. By visualizing microbiomes and metabolomes of diseased human lungs, we reveal how different the chemical environments are between hosts that are dominated by the same pathogen and how community interactions shape the chemical environment or vice versa. We highlight that three-dimensional organ mapping methods represent hypothesis-building tools that allow us to design mechanistic studies aimed at addressing microbial responses to other microbes, the host, and pharmaceutical drugs.

In this research we investigate how mathematics teachers, as graduate students, estimate the value of [pi] by exploring the problem of "squaring the circle" using digital technology. Initially, we mention some aspects of teaching and learning of calculus in the literature, emphasizing studies that use the notion of humans-with-media to highlight the role of technology in mathematical thinking and knowledge production. Insights on the history of mathematics in calculus are also discussed. We developed a qualitative study based on three different solutions created by groups of teachers using the software GeoGebra and Microsoft Excel. All the teachers' solutions improved the approximation (8/9)[superscript 2] [approximately equal to] [pi]/4, by determining p and q for (p/q)[superscript 2] [approximately equal to] [pi]/4. The first two solutions with GeoGebra emphasized experimentation and visualization, improving the approximation from one to three decimal places. The third solution with Excel pointed out the elaboration of a formula and improved it up to six decimal places. We emphasize how media shaped the strategies and solutions of the groups. Based on these solutions, we explore an approach for "cubing the sphere," discussing approximations for [pi], highlighting the role of media in enhancing conceptual complexity in the solution of mathematical problems. The nature of the strategies for solving a problem is discussed, especially regarding different ways of thinking-with-technology developed by collectives of teachers-with-media. Although we acknowledge an alternative design for the proposed task, the exploration of problems using aspects of the history of mathematics contributes to the state of the art concerning the studies in calculus developed by the Research Group on Technology, other Media, and Mathematics Education in Brazil.