Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Anatomy of the Intestines

Anatomy of the Intestines

Although digestion of proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids may begin in the stomach, it is completed in the intestine. The absorption of nutrients, water, and electrolytes from food and drink also occurs in the intestine. The intestines can be divided into two structurally distinct organs—the small and large intestines.
Small Intestines
The small intestine is an ~7 meter-long tube with an inner diameter of just 2.5 cm. Since most nutrients are absorbed here, the inner lining of the...

Parental Care

Parental Care

Many animals exhibit parental care behavior, including feeding, grooming, and protecting young offspring. Parental care is universal in mammals and birds, which often have young that are born relatively helpless. Several species of insects and fish, as well as some amphibians, also care for their young.

Surface Membrane Barriers

Surface Membrane Barriers

The skin and mucous membranes serve as the primary line of defense against pathogens by providing both physical and chemical protection. These barriers are essential in preventing the entry and establishment of microbes, thereby maintaining the integrity of the host.
The outer layer of the skin, the epidermis, is a robust barrier comprising layers of closely packed keratinized cells. This dense arrangement prevents microbes from penetrating the body. The periodic shedding of epidermal cells...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Buying Time: Incurable Prognosis, Temporal Uncertainty and the Costs of Metastatic Breast Cancer.

Sociology of health & illness·2025

Same author

Dying as a Collective Encounter: Relationality and Affect at the End of Life.

Sociology of health & illness·2025

Same author

Navigating the Limits of Diagnosis: Young Adults' Experiences of Chronic Living.

Sociology of health & illness·2024

Same author

Treatment 'cultures', sexually transmitted infections and the rise of antimicrobial resistance.

Sociology of health & illness·2024

Same author

The incurable self: Negotiating social bonds and dis/connection with metastatic breast cancer.

Sociology of health & illness·2023

Same author

Hope in the era of precision oncology: a qualitative study of informal caregivers' experiences.

BMJ open·2023

Same journal

Contextualising, Conceptualising and Constructing At-Homeness: Towards an Integrative Framework for Residential Care.

Sociology of health & illness·2026

Same journal

Young People Navigating the Looping Effects of Long Covid: Exhausting Agency and the 'Ongoing After' of Pandemic.

Sociology of health & illness·2026

Same journal

How Algorithmic Technologies 'Constitute' the Older Body: A Study of Fall-Detection Wearables.

Sociology of health & illness·2026

Same journal

'It's Primarily Around Their Viral Load': Public Health Decision-Making and HIV Risk Assemblages in Ontario, Canada.

Sociology of health & illness·2026

Same journal

Suicide Prevention Under Austerity: The Local Shaping of Referral Practices in French Primary Care.

Sociology of health & illness·2026

Same journal

An Algorithm at the Table at Multidisciplinary Diagnostic Meetings: A Dramaturgical Analysis.

Sociology of health & illness·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 17, 2025

Individualized Reconstitution of Human Milk Microbiota: A Feasible Approach in Real-World Settings

Individualized Reconstitution of Human Milk Microbiota: A Feasible Approach in Real-World Settings

Published on: February 7, 2025

Nurturing futures through the maternal microbiome.

Roberta Pala¹, Katherine Kenny¹

¹Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Sociology of Health & Illness

|August 7, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Maternal microbiome management is increasingly advised for infant health, but this focus burdens mothers. Research reframes motherhood as microbial management, missing its feminist potential.

Keywords:

care gut health microbiome more‐than‐human motherhood

More Related Videos

A Common Marmoset Model of Mother-Infant Intervention for Breastfeeding Disorders in the Presence of Paternal Inhibition and Maternal Neglect

A Common Marmoset Model of Mother-Infant Intervention for Breastfeeding Disorders in the Presence of Paternal Inhibition and Maternal Neglect

Published on: September 22, 2023

Author Spotlight: Enhancing Understanding and Treatment Strategies with the NEC-on-a-Chip Model

Author Spotlight: Enhancing Understanding and Treatment Strategies with the NEC-on-a-Chip Model

Published on: July 28, 2023

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 17, 2025

Individualized Reconstitution of Human Milk Microbiota: A Feasible Approach in Real-World Settings

Individualized Reconstitution of Human Milk Microbiota: A Feasible Approach in Real-World Settings

Published on: February 7, 2025

A Common Marmoset Model of Mother-Infant Intervention for Breastfeeding Disorders in the Presence of Paternal Inhibition and Maternal Neglect

A Common Marmoset Model of Mother-Infant Intervention for Breastfeeding Disorders in the Presence of Paternal Inhibition and Maternal Neglect

Published on: September 22, 2023

Author Spotlight: Enhancing Understanding and Treatment Strategies with the NEC-on-a-Chip Model

Author Spotlight: Enhancing Understanding and Treatment Strategies with the NEC-on-a-Chip Model

Published on: July 28, 2023

Area of Science:

Microbiology
Public Health
Sociology of Health

Background:

Growing recognition of the role of commensal microbes in health.
Increasing focus on the maternal gut microbiome's impact on mother and child long-term health.
Current advice for Australian parents emphasizes managing the maternal microbiome for fetal/child health.

Purpose of the Study:

To analyze messaging directed at Australian parents regarding maternal microbiome management.
To examine how this messaging positions the maternal microbiome as a site of scrutiny and responsibility for mothers.
To explore the potential feminist and more-than-human implications of microbiome research in parenting contexts.

Main Methods:

Analysis of information and advice for Australian parents from conception through early childhood.
Critical examination of the framing of maternal microbiome management in public health resources.
Sociological and feminist analysis of the implications of microbiome research on motherhood.

Main Results:

Maternal microbiome management is presented as crucial for fetal and child health.
This focus creates a disciplinary environment, disproportionately responsibilizing and burdening mothers.
Motherhood is reframed as microbial management, maintaining a medicalized process and overlooking feminist potential.

Conclusions:

The emphasis on maternal microbiome management creates new, more-than-human but also disciplinary relations of care.
Current resources fail to leverage the feminist and more-than-human potential of microbiome research.
There is a need to re-evaluate how microbiome science is communicated to parents to avoid undue maternal burden.