In patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), gastrointestinal disease may be associated with lower quality of life and increased risk of death. Research showed that SSc patients with severe GI disease had markers of muscle inflammation, skin fibrosis and vasculopathy…
The human intestinal microbiota is home to more than 1,000 bacterial species, containing approximately 3 million genes, many of which code for functions that have the potential to affect human physiology.1 Smaller numbers of organisms are also present in the skin, upper gastrointestinal tract, female reproductive tract and the oro- and nasopharynx. As tools have…