Mostly Microbes and Infection

Research shows that the bacteria inside us may influence our weight, energy levels, even our choices. Can testing & manipulating our microbiome based on a test actually improve health?

Different mechanisms suppressed the virus in each person. One participant had high levels of HIV-specific CD8+ T cells. The second had a very strong neutralizing antibody response.

The US Food and Drug Administration authorized booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. In a related decision, the FDA also authorized boosters that differ from the vaccine originally used to immunize a person against the coronavirus.

  de Chih-Jung Chang , Yun-Fei Ko, Hsin-Chih Lai, Jan Martel, David Ojcius, John D. Young. Notre  corps abrite une communauté complexe de milliards de microbes, surtout des  bactéries , mais aussi des  virus ,  levures  et protozoaires, un nombre à peu près équivalent à celui des cellules humaines. Dans des conditions normales, cette population vit en équilibre avec l’organisme et joue plusieurs rôles physiologiques importants pour notre santé : ainsi des souris sans bactéries intestinales vivent-elles nettement moins longtemps que les souris normales. À l’inverse, certains de ces microbes peuvent se multiplier et cette prolifération sélective a souvent des effets néfastes pour la santé.

de Sylvie Babajko, David Ojcius, Ihsène Taihi-Nassif. La cavité buccale est en interface directe avec l’environnement. Tout ce qui « passe par la bouche » parvient au reste du corps. Il n’est donc pas étonnant que la santé bucco-dentaire et les maladies systémiques soient étroitement liées.

Study finds almost all metabolites differ between brain regions or age groups, but not by sex. A shift in sphingolipid patterns during aging is accompanied by large changes in other metabolic pathways.

An African swine fever outbreak has caused serious economic losses in China. An effective biosafety procedure was developed for production of pigs in small-scale farms in China.

African Swine Fever killed half the pigs in China. There is no vaccine & no treatment. Now it’s in the Caribbean & on the doorstep of the US.

A study finds that  aging is associated with microbiome changes, & that these alterations are distinct from those connected to diseases or medication use.

DR Congo reported a lab-confirmed Ebola case and three suspected infections, all fatal, in an area in North Kivu province that was one of the main epicenters in earlier outbreaks. The new case marks the country's first Ebola infection in 5 months and its 13th Ebola outbreak. 

This review article summarizes the molecular mechanisms of T cell receptor (TCR) endocytosis and recycling, both in steady state and after T cell activation. It also discusses the experimental evidence in favor of endosomal TCR signaling and its possible consequences for T cell activation.

Although they have been separate professions, dentistry is now converging with medicine. There is growing awareness that oral health affects systemic health. Dentists are in a good position to diagnose early signs of non-oral diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease.

  Asymptomatic COVID19 patients often have no IgG Abs to coronavirus nucleocapsid protein, which are often recommended to check if someone had COVID-19. But regardless of disease severity, all patients had IgG antibodies to the RBD of the spike protein.

Getting COVID19 does offer some immune protection against re-infection with the coronavirus . But it's unreliable compared with vaccines against the virus.

Pfizer & BioNTech submitted a request to the US FDA seeking emergency use authorization for its mRNA vaccine for children age 5 to 11. If authorized, this would be the 1st COVID19 vaccine available to US children younger than 12.

Current Research in Microbial Sciences is a peer-reviewed gold open access research journal covering all aspects of the broad field of microbiology. It is a companion to the highly regarded review journal Current Opinion in Microbiology and part of Elsevier’s CO+RE suite of journals.

Researchers have found that aging produces significant changes in the microbiome of the human small intestine distinct from those caused by medications or illness burden.

Researchers discover how a genetic mutation found in mice and monkeys interferes with viruses such as HIV & Ebola. The gene, retroCHMP3, encodes an altered protein that disrupts the ability of the viruses to exit an infected cell & infect other cells.

  The clinical trial to treat Covid-19 with molnupiravir is being stopped early, and the drug-maker plans to apply for emergency authorization as soon as possible