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Despite public mistrust, most scientists claim that people's refusal to be vaccinated or have their children vaccinated poses an increasing threat to the population's resistance to disease.

Speaking on anti-vaccination tendencies, Infectious Diseases Association Chairman Mehmet Ceyhan told Anadolu Agency (AA) that "vaccine hesitancy" reluctance or refusal to use vaccinations is on the increase around the world and in Turkey.

Vaccine hesitant individuals hold varying degrees of indecision about specific vaccines or vaccinations in general.

Vaccine hesitancy is influenced by several factors, mainly from social pressure from society, which includes the spread of misinformation on social media, influential leaders' discourses on vaccine doubt and competence of health professionals and services, social groups and others, Ceyhan said. Anti-vaccination is one of the many factors causing vaccine hesitancy, he said, adding that vaccine rejection is among the consequences of vaccine hesitancy.

Vaccine hesitancy in Turkey

Commenting on increasing vaccine hesitancy in Turkey, Ceyhan said some people claim the substances in vaccines can lead to autism and infertility or cause permanent damage to the body.

Vaccines are much more reliable than medications, he said, noting that vaccines do not cause autism, nor have an impact on children's ability to walk.

The doctor underlined that vaccines cause "no serious" side effects.

Touching on substances like aluminum or mercury in vaccines, he said: "A sum of mercury compounds used to be added to the vaccines to ensure that vaccines were free from bacterial contamination when vaccines were produced in multi-dose bottles."

"But, nowadays, no vaccine contains mercury. Since all vaccines are now in single-dose packages, it is no longer necessary to add a mercury compound," he stressed.

On the other hand, speaking on the allegation that flu vaccines contain aluminum, which causes Alzheimer's, he said: "Aluminum in the vaccine is thousands of times less than the risk level."

He said aluminum in vaccines is low and not hazardous, adding that the total amount of aluminum in all the vaccinations is 5 milligrams.

"However, with drinking water, people consume hundreds of times more aluminum than that," he said. Although vaccination is not compulsory in Turkey, the need for it is strong he added.

Herd immunity

To maintain herd protection against disease within a population, 95% of people must be vaccinated. Turkey's rate of vaccination in 2018 was 96%, while it rose to 98% in 2019, according to Turkey's health ministry.

"No vaccine alone provides a person with full protection from the disease. However, if the majority of society is vaccinated, the vaccine prevents the spreading of diseases," the doctor said.

In this case, he said, the risk of transmission of the disease to the 1-3% of unvaccinated people will be eliminated.

Ceyhan went on to say that once herd immunity is achieved, infection risk is greatly reduced.

"However, if more than 5% of children are not vaccinated, the proportion of unprotected people reaches 6-8%, together with 1-3% of unvaccinated people. In this case, unvaccinated children would be at risk for vaccine-preventable diseases."

For this reason, many countries had to enact laws on vaccination to prevent measles outbreaks, he underlined.

Vaccine rejection threatens public health

The vaccination resistance poses an "increasing threat" in terms of public health, and families should be informed and conscious about this issue, Emine elik, a pediatrician at a training and research hospital in Ankara, told Anadolu Agency (AA).

"Unfortunately, some families do not want to get vaccinated due to hearsay information and thoughts that do not have a scientific basis," she said.

elik feels sorry that some of her colleagues "misled society" with uncertain information.

"Because, if families realize the importance of vaccination for their children, this negative situation will disappear by itself," she underlined.

The pediatrician stressed that vaccination resistance has become a "serious problem" not only in Turkey but all over the globe, noting that an increase in measles cases in the U.S., European countries and Turkey last year was a result of avoiding vaccination.

"Although adverse outcomes that may occur as a result of vaccination are very rare, they are at a level that should be ignored besides the benefits of vaccination," she warned.

Importance of child vaccination

In the past, when people were not vaccinated, there were mass child deaths, and society struggled with outbreaks, the doctor said.

elik highlighted that common childhood diseases in unvaccinated societies have mostly resulted in deaths or severe sequelae and disabilities.

She underlined that the frequency of many diseases can be reduced by vaccinating children.

With vaccinations, she said, it can be ensured that permanent or temporary additional disease complications would occur less frequently.

elik said even if vaccinated children get a disease, the vaccination helps to overcome illness in a more "smooth" way.

Noting that vaccinations do not contain substances harmful to children's health, elik said: "On the contrary, vaccines are made to strengthen the immune system and to increase the body's resistance to common and serious diseases."

The doctor urged that the vaccinated child develops immunity during a certain period and after encountering the disease factor, "gives a quick and strong response" and gets rid of being sick or suffering from the disease.

"We also question (parents) whether the child's vaccinations are complete while prescribing some treatments, and unfortunately, we have to apply heavier treatments to unvaccinated children while we can treat the vaccinated children more moderately."

Additionally, stressing the necessity and importance of following the immunization or vaccination schedule, elik said the schedules are being prepared specifically for each community in line with statistical data and by considering diseases that are common in that community.

She noted that the schedule is subject to changes in line with the needs and scientific data of the society over time.

Modern medicine's greatest success stories

The World Health Organization (WHO) refers to immunization as "one of modern medicine's greatest success stories" and a process whereby a person is made "immune or resistant" to an infectious disease, typically by the use of a vaccine.

The U.N. agency estimated around 19.4 million children globally under the age of 1 did not receive basic vaccines as of December.

"Vaccines stimulate the body's immune system to protect the person against subsequent infection or disease," it says.

The WHO said immunization is a "proven tool" for controlling and eliminating life-threatening infectious diseases, while the organization estimates immunization is estimated to avert between 2 million and 3 million deaths each year, adding that vaccines have prevented at least 10 million deaths between 2010 and 2015.

"It is one of the most cost-effective health investments, with proven strategies that make it accessible to even the most hard-to-reach and vulnerable populations," it said.

Besides preventing sickness and death associated with infectious diseases such as diarrhea, measles, pneumonia, polio and whooping cough, vaccinations hold up broader gains in education and economic development, according to the WHO.

"An additional 1.5 million deaths could be avoided, however, if global vaccination coverage improves," it said.

See the original post:
Vaccine hesitancy in Turkey: An increasing threat to herd immunity - Daily Sabah

MEN are more likely to catch coronavirus because they may have a weaker immune response, experts fear.

Scientists found men made up 68 per cent of patients with the deadly illness at Wuhan University hospital last month.

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The figures from a Lancet paper are based on the details of the 99 coronavirus patients admitted to the hospital in January.

They also revealed that the average age of patients was 55.5 years, including 67 men and 32 women.

Science writer Anjana Ahuja, in her column for the Financial Times, said: It is an eye-catching discrepancy.

A picture is emerging of 2019-nCoV [now COVID-19] as a novel pathogen that disproportionately affects older men, particularly those with existing illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes.

She said possible reasons for the differences between men and women could be smoking, a variation of hospital treatment and hormonal differences which could impact males immune system response.

Women are prone to autoimmune diseases, which causes parts of their immune system to become stronger to compensate, resulting in a possible stronger response to the coronavirus.

Also, females routinely outlive men by six to eight years and are more likely to reach their first birthday, according to the World Health Organization.

Stanley Perlman, an immunologist at the University of Iowa and his colleagues suggested that hormones, including Oestrogen, could be a possible defence against the virus.

Prof Perlman studied how SARS a sister disease of the new coronavirus called Covid-19 impacts male and female mice.

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What to do if you're worried you've got coronavirus

BRITISH health chiefs have raised the coronavirus risk to the public from low to moderate.

Health professionals are working to contact anyone who has been in close contact with people who have coronavirus.

The majority of those who have been infected with the virus so far have either visited China or been in close contact with someone who has.

But if you are concerned known the signs is one of the best ways to protect yourself from 2019-nCoV.

Symptoms usually include:

In most cases, you won't know whether you have a coronavirus or a different cold-causing virus.

But if a coronavirus infection spreads to the lower respiratory tract, it can cause pneumonia, especially in older people, people with heart disease or people with weakened immune systems.

It is incredibly contagious and is spread through contact with anything the virus is on as well as infected breath, coughs or sneezes.

The best way to prevent catching any form of coronavirus is to practice good hygiene.

If you have cold-like symptoms, you can help protect others by staying home when you are sick and avoiding contact with others.

You should also cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough and sneeze then throw it away and wash your hands.

Cleaning and disinfecting objects and surfaces which you may have touched is also important.

If you have returned from Wuhan in the last 14 days:

If you are in Northern Ireland, call your GP.

Please follow this advice even if you do not have symptoms of the virus.

Meanwhile, leading symptom-checking provider to the NHS Doctorlink has been updated to help identify patients' risk of having coronavirus.

Source: NHS

He concluded that male mice were affected in greater number, while adding that his study was consistent across coronaviruses as well.

Two studies on SARS and MERS patients found that males had a higher death rate for both diseases.

One study showed that out of 1,800 SARS patients men had a nine per cent higher date rate.

Some scientists are now convinced that these sex differences in clinical data reflect a genuine male vulnerability to coronavirus

A 2019 study of 229 Mers patients showed found that males had a six per cent higher death rate over females.

Anjana said:Some scientists are now convinced that these sex differences in clinical data reflect a genuine male vulnerability to coronavirus, rather than a bias in exposure.

The observations add to growing evidence that immunologically speaking, men are the weaker sex.

Thekiller bughas now claimed at least 1,367 lives and infected more than 60,000 people worldwide since the outbreak began two months ago.

Nine people have been confirmed as having the bug in the UK, while 14 people have tested positive in the US.

It comes as a new diagnostic method has led the Chinese province at the epicentre of a coronavirus outbreak to report a record rise in deaths and thousands more cases today.

The central province of Hubei had previously only allowed infections to be confirmed by RNA tests, which can take days to process.

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RNA, or ribonucleic acid, carries genetic information that enables identification of organisms such as viruses.

But it has begun using quicker computerised tomography (CT) scans, which reveal lung infections, to confirm virus cases, health officials said.

Meanwhile, top officials in Hubei province - where the outbreak began in the capital city of Wuhan - were replaced.

Former Shanghai mayor Ying Yong is to replace Jiang Chaoliang as party chief in central Hubei, while two other senior officials have been removed.

Continued here:
Coronavirus Men more likely to catch deadly bug thanks to weaker immune systems, experts fear - The Sun

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass. (February 4, 2020)Researchers led by biologists at Tufts University have discovered that the brains of developing embryos provide signals to a nascent immune system that help it ward off infections and significantly improve the embryos ability to survive a bacterial challenge. Using frog embryos, which continue to develop with their brains removed, the researchers found that embryos without a brain are not able to marshall the forces of immune cells to an injury or infection site, leading the embryo to succumb to an infection more quickly. By contrast, the presence of a brain crucially helps direct immune cells to the site of injury to overcome the bacterial threat. The study was published today in NPJ Regenerative Medicine.

In a developing embryo, both brain and immune system are not fully formed. The immune system, for its part, consists mostly of an innate system of cells that respond immediately to infection and do not require training or produce antibodies. Nevertheless, these cells require signals that prompt them to move toward an infection site and trigger a response.

The research team found that the brain appears to contribute to the signals that guide the nascent immune system. When brainless frog embryos were infected with E. coli, only about 16% of embryos survived, while the presence of a brain protected more than 50% from the infection. By following markers of immune cells, researchers confirmed that the effect is not due to the missing brain somehow hampering immune system development because the composition of the immune cells remained the same with or without a brain. Instead, they found that the effect was due to the brain sending signals to the immune cells to move toward the site of an infection.

We found that macrophages innate immune system cells that can swallow up bacteria and destroy them to reduce the burden of an infection do not migrate appropriately without the presence of the brain said Michael Levin, Vannevar Bush Professor of Biology at Tufts Universitys School or Arts and Sciences and Associate Faculty at Harvards Wyss Institute, director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts and corresponding author of the study. Without the brain and its neurotransmitter signals, gene expression and innate immune system activity go awry, resulting in increased susceptibility to bacterial pathogens.

Other roles for the embryonic brain signaling during infection may include inducing cellular responses, for example preventing cell death or reducing inflammation, that help protect against the harmful effects of the infection.

Immune system abberations were also observed in brainless embryos that were further developed. When the researchers tracked myeloid cells, a class of immune cells that includes macrophages, neutrophils and others, after an injury, they found that the myeloid cells in brainless embryos gathered in locations far from the injury site. By contrast, myeloid cells in normal embryos with intact brains would pile up at the injury site to assist in healing. In fact, in the brainless embryo, the myeloid cells tended to cluster around abnormal, disorganized peripheral nerve networks, also a by-product of brain absence, as demonstrated in earlier studies.

An examination of aberrations in genetic expression in brainless embryos also pointed to the reduction of the neurotransmitter dopamine (a signaling chemical used in the brain for learning and motivation), and that dopamine may play a role in activating immune cells to migrate in the early stages of an infection. The absence of an immune cell quorum at the infection site leads the brainless embryos to become more susectible to its lethal effects.

Our results demonstrate the deep interconnections within the bacteria-brain-body axis: the early brain is able to sense the pathogenic bacteria and to elaborate a response targeted to fight against the cellular and molecular consequences of the infection, said Celia Herrera Rincon, Research Scientist II at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts, and first author of the study.

Other authors of this study include: Jean-Francois Par, Christina Harrison, Alina Fischer, and Sophia Jannetty at the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts; Christopher Martyniuk, associate professor in the Department of Physiological Sciences at University of Florida; and Alexandre Dinis and Vishal Keshari, graduate students, and Richard Novak, senior staff engineer at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Universiy.

This research was supported by the Templeton World Charity Foundation Independent Research Fellowship (TWCF0241) and the Allen Discovery Center program through The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group (12171), as well as The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency(DARPA, W911NF-16-C-0050), and the National Institutes of Health (AR055993, AR061988). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Herrera-Rincon, C., Par, J-F, Martyniuk, C.J., Jannetty, S.K., Harrison, C., Fischer, A., Dinis, A., Keshari, V., Novak, R., and Levin, M. An in vivo brainbacteria interface:

the developing brain as a key regulator of innate immunity. NPJ Regenerative Medicine (31 Jan 2020) DOI: 10.1038/s41536-020-0087-2

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About Tufts University

Tufts University, located on campuses in Boston, Medford/Somerville and Grafton, Massachusetts, and in Talloires, France, is recognized among the premier research universities in the United States. Tufts enjoys a global reputation for academic excellence and for the preparation of students as leaders in a wide range of professions. A growing number of innovative teaching and research initiatives span all Tufts campuses, and collaboration among the faculty and students in the undergraduate, graduate and professional programs across the university's schools is widely encouraged.

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Brain links to embryonic immunity, guiding response of the troops that battle infections - Tufts Now

How hard the flu hits us has a lot to do with our first experience of the disease, a new paper reports.

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Arizona may finally have an explanation as to why different people seem to have such different reactions to the flu. And, to a large extent, they report, it has to do with your childhood.

Our immune system often struggles to recognize and defend against closely related strains of seasonal flu, even though these are essentially the genetic sisters and brothers of strains that circulated just a few years ago, said lead author Katelyn Gostic, currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago.

This is perplexing because our research on bird flu shows that deep in our immune memory, we have some ability to recognize and defend against the distantly related, genetic third cousins of the strains we saw as children.

An individuals ability to fight off the flu is related to the number of different flu strains they contracted during their lifetime and the order in which they did so. Prior exposure to a pathogen, be it in the wild or controlled (in a vaccine) is known as immunological imprinting.

For the study, the team set out to determine whether immunological imprinting could explain differences in how people respond to the flu. They used health records from the rizona Department of Health Services to track how different varieties of the virus affect people at various ages, focusing on the H3N2 and H1N1 strains. These strains were selected as both have led to seasonal outbreaks over the past few decades, so there was enough data on them to work from.

In very broad lines, H3N2 is more closely associated with severe flu cases in elderly people and causes the majority of flu-related deaths. H1N1 seems more partial to children and young adults and is far less deadly.

The data showed that people who were first exposed to H1N1 during childhood were less likely to require hospitalization if they re-encountered the strain later on in life compared to those who were first infected with H3N2. Similarly, this latter group would be more resistant to subsequent reinfections of H3N2.

The team looked at the evolutionary relationship between the two strains and report that they belong to two different branches of the influenza family. Further research revealed that while infection with any of the strains does somewhat boost resistance against any other, the best effects are seen with strains from the same family that an individual has battled before. Furthermore, your first exposure seems to grant you extra protection against related strains in the future: people who had their first run-in with flu as children in 1955 (N1H1 strain) were significantly more likely to be hospitalized with an H3N2 infection than an H1N1 infection when both strains were circulating.

However, the team also found that people whose first childhood exposure was to H2N2 did not have better protection when they later encountered H1N1 (although the two strains are closely related). They are still unsure as to why this is.

We hope that by studying differences in immunity against bird flus where our immune system shows a natural ability to deploy broadly effective protection and against seasonal flus where our immune system seems to have bigger blind spots we can uncover clues useful to universal influenza vaccine development.

The paper Childhood immune imprinting to influenza A shapes birth year-specific risk during seasonal H1N1 and H3N2 epidemics has been published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.

See original here:
Your resistance to flu is shaped by previous flus, and their type - ZME Science

HOUSTON, Texas Angely Roman Ithier came to Houston from Puerto Rico for cancer treatment.

She's been cooped up for months so when her brother came to visit, she was excited about their road trip to San Antonio.

But a gas station pit stop along the way cast a shadow on the rest of the trip.

It was very hurtful," Angely said.

At first glance, you'd never guess anything is wrong with Angely. But if you take time to know her, you'd learn her backpack is feeding her medication and her pixie cut is a wig.

The only thing that sets her apart is the mask she wears as a precaution because the cancer treatment lowers her immune system.

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They recommend me, anytime I go outside where theres a lot of public, I wear a face mask because I can not get any flu or symptoms," Angely explained.

A couple inside the gas station assumed Angely was wearing the mask because of fear over the coronavirus. She overheard them laughing and making fun of her.

Right at that moment, he passed by and he went 'achew,' and he sneezes and I was like, 'what?' Angely said.

She said the couple pretended to sneeze on her.

Just ignorant that they just think she was trying to avoid the coronavirus, without actually knowing why she was wearing a face mask," Angely's brother Ricardo Roman Ithier said.

"Then I just went to her and I said, 'You know what? You know why I wear a face mask? Because I have cancer,'" Angely said.

And they just left. They didnt want to, like, get into a confrontation so they just like avoided the whole thing," Ricardo said.

Then, the anger turned to pain.

Every day, we struggle with our mind and how we feel and to go outside, and to be exposed to that kind of jokes, it's not funny. Nobody deserves that," Angely said. I felt ashamed of going out because you feel different, and I do all the time."

To me, it really got me frustrated, just seeing her cry," Ricardo said.

Angely said even if she she didn't have cancer and was worried about getting Coronavirus, the jokes and judgment were unkind.

Treat people with respect but also be kind to people. You dont know how that person woke up that morning," Angely said. "You dont know what a person is going through."

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Read more from the original source:
Woman mocked for wearing face mask amid fears of coronavirus. She has cancer. - KHOU.com

A panel of Yale experts did their best to explain the current threat and future direction of the novel coronavirus epidemic during a forum Thursday hosted by the Yale School of Public Health. But they frequently cautioned the standing-room-only crowd that there is much about the mysterious illness that simply remains unknown.

Preliminary indications are that the virus is not as contagious as measles, is comparable in many ways to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome that resulted in 774 deaths worldwide in 2003) and is worse than the flu. But even these assessments could change as new data emerges, said moderator Saad Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health and Susan Dwight Bliss Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health.

You shouldnt be walking around in a spacesuit on College Street, its reasonable to say that, Omer told the gathering of some 120 students and faculty in Winslow Auditorium. On the other hand, we dont know the future risks of this outbreak.

More than 30,000 people have been sickened since the virus first appeared last December and more than 600 people have died. The respiratory illness has appeared in 28 countries but is most prevalent in China. While patients with the virus have been reported in the United States, there have been no reported infections in Connecticut.

In response to the outbreak, stockpiles of protective masks have sold out in parts of China. Panelist Lisa Sanders, an associate professor at the Yale School of Medicine, said there is no evidence that wearing a face mask offers protection.

The best way to prevent getting the virus, Sanders said, is to adopt the same precautions used for avoiding the flucough into your elbow, avoid people who have an obvious infection, self-quarantine if you have symptoms, and wash your handsthoroughly and often.

If people just washed their hands a little bit more that would go a long way, said Sanders, who is also an Emmy-award winning television producer and writes the Diagnosis column for the New York Times.

Given the similarity of coronavirus to the flu, some have questioned why this particular respiratory illness is raising so much concern. Ellen Foxman, assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine, explained that it is new to humans.

When our body fights a virus, it activates an immune response to block it and that response can be called on again should the virus return, Foxman said. Without that pre-existing defense, it is easier for a new virus to spread from person to person.

Thats why a new virus is always cause to be alert, to be vigilant, Foxman said. Just because its new doesnt mean its worse than other viruses, but there is that potential and thats why there is reason to be vigilant about it.

With so many uncertainties surrounding the virus, the panelists said it is vital for officials to be clear about what is known and unknown when publicly sharing information. Scientists have been quick to share information about the virus as it becomes available to aid in the international response. But that process can be problematic, particularly when findings are released before vetting.

When you have an emerging outbreak there is uncertainty and we should acknowledge that uncertainty, said Omer. We certainly know a lot more about this outbreak than before, but we owe it to the public to convey what we dont know.

In order to avoid misinformation during an outbreak, Omer said a rapid peer review system needs to be created so that other scientists can quickly evaluate information before it is released publicly. He said universities could play an important role.

One thing that is certain is that the virus was not released from a Chinese laboratory, despite such rumors circulating on social media, said Nathan Grubaugh, an assistant professor at the Yale School of Public Health. Coronavirus most likely originated in bats. While the virus also appears to be mutating over time, that is part of its natural evolution and does not necessarily mean it is becoming more deadly, he said.

Whether this is going to be SARS or the common old, we just cant look at the virus genome and determine that, said Grubaugh. We dont have enough data right now to say how bad it is going to be.

Uncertainties surrounding transmission of the virus have led to drastic action in some areas. It was reported Thursday that a Chinese health official had ordered the city of Wuhan, where the virus first appeared, to place all infected residents in mass quarantine camps.

Yale Nursing Professor David Vlahov, who has a joint appointment in epidemiology and public health, voiced his concern that such quarantines could hinder public health efforts and have a stigmatizing effect, forcing people underground.

Gregg Gonsalves, an assistant professor at the Yale School of Public Health and co-director of Yales Global Health Justice Partnership, said he is particularly concerned about human rights issues as the virus spreads.

When considering quarantines, officials must use the least restrictive measures possible and not overreact, said Gonsalves, an adjunct associate professor at Yale Law School. Gonsalves is part of a legal team that is suing Connecticut for quarantines during the 2014 Ebola outbreak.

Were thinking about risks to the United States, but think about the thousands of Chinese patients with coronavirus whose health status is going to be put into a precarious position if they are isolated into these facilities, said Gonsalves.

Should the virus establish a stronger foothold in the United States, Omer said he hopes the greater Yale community will respond appropriately.

Outbreaks can bring out the best and the worst in people, Omer said. It is extremely important that we treat each other with dignity, respect and compassion.

When asked what the latest scientific estimates were for the virus to peak and eventually end, the panelists said it is simply still too early to tell. Professor Albert Ko, chair of the Yale School of Public Healths Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, said the epidemic is still growing in its exponential phase. Ko said he is concerned about vulnerable populations in countries that dont have significant health care resources.

On a more positive note, Vlahov said the current crisis could be an impetus for more public health funding. But Yale School of Public Health Dean Sten Vermund said funding support for public health is always a challenge.

Its hard to convince policymakers to pay you to do something to prevent something from happening, Vermund said. Its much more intuitive to invest in hospitals to care for the ill, then it is to invest in public health infrastructure to prevent the illness to begin with.

A recording of Thursdays forum can be viewed here.

View post:
Communication, Caution Urged in Response to Coronavirus at YSPH Forum - Yale News

Researchersfrom North Carolina State University have found elevated levels of 11 per- andpolyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemicals in the blood of Cape Fear River striped bass.Two of those compounds perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and Nafion byproduct2 are associated with altered immune and liver functions in those fish.

Scott Belcher, associate professor of biology and corresponding author of a paper describing the research, led a team that included NCState colleagues Detlef Knappe, Ben Reading and postdoctoral researcher Theresa Guillette as well as partners from the North Carolina Wildlife Commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Theteam isolated serum from the blood of 58 wild caught Cape Fear River stripedbass ranging in age from 2 to 7 years old. In collaboration with EPA researchersMark Stryner and James McCord, they determined the concentrations of 23different PFAS chemicals present in the serum using a combination of liquidchromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Testingblood levels gives you an idea of the body burden of these particularchemicals, Belcher says. The levels of these chemicals in the water weremeasured in parts per trillion, but in the serum of the fish levels are higherand in parts per billion, demonstrating that they have clearly bioaccumulatedin these fish.

Theteam then compared the blood serum samples from the wild caught fish to thosefrom a reference population of 29 striped bass raised in an aquaculturefacility fed by ground water. The serum levels of chemicals in the wild caughtbass were 40% higher, on average, than the background levels found in thisreference population, Belcher says.

Incomparison to the levels of PFAS found in Cape Fear River water, elevatedlevels of PFOS and Nafion byproduct 2 were found in 100% and 78% of the wildbass samples, respectively. The serum concentrations of these compounds wereassociated with biomarkers of altered liver enzyme activity and immune functionin those fish.

ThesePFAS levels are some of the highest recorded in fish, Belcher says, but oneof the most unusual findings here is that smaller or younger fish had thehighest levels of these compounds. This points to the fact that PFAS chemicalsare very different from other persistent chemicals, like mercury or PCBs. Theyhave unique and very different chemical properties that cause them tobioaccumulate differently, and were really just beginning to understand whyand how they do what they do.

The work appears in Environment International, and was supported in part by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (award numbers P30ES025128 and R21ES029353), and a North Carolina Sea Grant Community Collaborative Research Grant. Theresa Guillette is first author. Matthew Guillette, M.E. Polera and Nadine Kotlarz from NCState, as well as Kyle Rachels and Clint Morgeson from the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, also contributed to the work.

-peake-

Note to editors: An abstract follows.

ElevatedPer- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Cape Fear River Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) are Associatedwith Biomarkers of Altered Immune and Liver Function

DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.105358

Authors: T.C. Guillette, Matthew Guillette, M.E. Polera, NadineKotlarz, Detlef Knappe, Benjamin J. Reading, Scott Belcher, North CarolinaState University; James McCord, Mark Strynar, National Exposure Research Laboratory,ORD, U.S. EPA, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; Kyle Rachels, ClintMorgeson, N. C. Wildlife Resources Commission, Inland Fisheries DivisionRaleigh, NC

Published: Feb. 7 in Environment International

Abstract:Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)are anthropogenic chemicals of concern that persist within the environment.Environmental monitoring revealed high concentrations of hexafluoropropyleneoxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA) and other novel PFAS in the lower Cape Fear River;however, there is limited information on PFAS exposures and effects of thiscontamination on aquatic biota. Serum concentrations of 23 different PFAS inStriped Bass (Morone saxatilis) fromthe Cape Fear River (n=58), and a reference population from an aquaculturelaboratory on the Pamlico/Tar watershed (n=29), were quantified using liquidchromatography, high-resolution mass spectrometry, and correlations betweenPFAS concentrations and health-related serum biomarkers were evaluated.Perfluorooctane sulfonate, the predominant PFAS in Cape Fear River Striped Bassserum, was detectable in every sample with serum concentrations reaching 977ng/mL. Perfluorononanoic and perfluorodecanoic acid were also detected in allsamples, with perfluorohexanesulfonic acid present in >98% of the samples.HFPO-DA (range <0.24-5.85 ng/mL) and Nafion byproduct 2 (range <0.21.03ng/mL) were detected in 48% and 78% of samples, respectively. The mean totalPFAS concentration found in domestic Striped Bass raised in well-water under controlled aquacultureconditions was 40 times lower, with HPFO-DA detected in 10% of the samples, andNafion byproduct 2 not detected. The elevated PFAS concentrations found in theCape Fear River Striped Bass were associated with biomarkers of alterations inthe liver and immune system.

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High Levels of PFAS Affect Immune, Liver Functions in Cape Fear River Striped Bass - NC State News

XconomySan Francisco

Cell therapies have reached the market as a new treatment option for some cancers. But the scientists of Sonoma Biosciences say this approach also holds promise for autoimmune disorders, and the biotech startup has unveiled $40 million in financing to develop its technology.

The investors in Sonomas Series A round of funding include Lyell Immunopharma, ARCH Venture Partners, Milky Way Ventures, and 8VC.

Cell therapy involves removing a patients immune cells, engineering them, and then infusing them back into the patient to perform their therapeutic tasks. The cancer cell therapies that have been approved by the FDA are made by engineering T cells, the frontline defenders of the immune system.

Sonoma, which splits its operations between South San Francisco and Seattle, is working with a different immune cell called a regulatory T cell (Treg). Whereas T cells target pathogens, Tregs target other immune cells, suppressing excessive immune responses, CEO and co-founder Jeff Bluestone tells Xconomy. Research by Sonomas scientific co-founders uncovered evidence, in studies in mice and humans, that the absence of these cells sparked the development of some autoimmune diseases. Those diseases led to death in about one year without a bone marrow transplant, Bluestone adds.

Sonoma is developing Treg therapies intended to shut down unwanted immune responses. The approach involves harvesting these cells from patients and engineering them with features that make them stable, durable, and targeted specifically to the site of inflammation. Those cells would then be infused into the patient to stop the autoimmune response. Bluestone says its too soon to talk about a lead disease target, but he adds that this approach has potential applications in rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and multiple sclerosis.

The hope is that a Sonoma cell therapy is a one-time treatment. Bluestone says that because these therapies are cells that multiply, they should survive in the patient on standby until theyre needed again to address an autoimmune response.

Theres another feature that could contribute to the longevity of a Treg treatment. When these cells shut down an autoimmune response, they influence other cells in the vicinity to join in, Bluestone explains. By educating these other cells to take up this immunosuppressive role, Bluestone says the effect of these therapies could be long lasting. But he cautions that the durability of a Treg therapy wont be known until more tests are done in humans.

Bluestones knowledge about Tregs stems from his own research. He and another Sonoma co-founder, Qizhi Tang, studied Tregs at the University of California, San Francisco, for 12 years. Their research included diabetes, organ transplantation, and lupus, among other conditions. That work led to small patient studies testing the technology for safety.

In addition to his UCSF research, Bluestone was the president and CEO of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Over the course of a career that has bridged academia and industry, Bluestones immunology research has led to the development and commercialization of immunotherapies for organ transplants and cancer. He says he is joining Sonoma now because theres only so far that you can get in an academic lab if you want to impact peoples lives. Cell therapy could be the next major medicine for humans, he adds, and he wants to be involved as part of a company developing these treatments.

The other co-founders are Chief Scientific Officer Fred Ramsdell who, like Bluestone, joined Sonoma from the Parker Institute, and Alexander Rudensky, an immunologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Ramsdell and Rudensky are credited as co-discoverers of the FOXP3 gene that is critical to the development and function of Tregs.

Bluestone says that Sonoma continues the Treg research that he and the other co-founders had done. The company also builds on the successes and failures in cancer cell therapy research. While those therapies can treat blood cancers, its been much harder to use them to treat solid tumors. Bluestone hopes that Lyell, a South San Francisco cell therapy company, can help the company get its therapies into tissues. In addition to being a Sonoma investor, Bluestone says Lyell will be a research partner, providing access to its technology and cell therapy insights.

Sonoma also aims to go beyond autoimmune diseases. Bluestone says the companys approach could potentially address degenerative disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimers disease. In the nearer term, Bluestone says the company will use the funding to better understand Tregs.

The way were approaching this field is not to be in a hurry, in a sense of feeling this pressure or need to get into the clinic with these engineered cells as quickly as possible, he says. We want to spend the time to make sure were working with the best cells possible, that we understand the science and the biology, so that it has the best chance of success.

Public domain image by Flickr user NIH Image Gallery

Frank Vinluan is an Xconomy editor based in Research Triangle Park. You can reach him at fvinluan [[at]] xconomy.com.

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Sonoma Bio Launches With $40M to Take Cell Therapy Beyond Cancer - Xconomy

The coronavirus that emerged in China and rapidly spread around the world almost certainly jumped to humans from an animal. While thats certainly not unheard of, scientists are on high alert because zoonotic viruses, as theyre called, can potentially be more dangerous.

The heightened risk associated with animal-borne diseases like 2019-nCoV comes from the fact that our immune systems have never had the chance to build up resistance to them, according to New Scientist.

From an evolutionary perspective, a successful virus is one that develops to spread rapidly and rampantly something that depends on the survival of its host.

They dont want you to drop dead within a day because you wont pass it to anyone else, University of Nottingham researcher Chris Coleman told New Scientist.

Recent research in the journal Nature suggests that the coronavirus emerged in bats rather than an earlier snake hypothesis.

In either case, its cause for concern. When zoonotic viruses jump to humans, they can be far more deadly than they were in their animal host because theyveadapted to that animals immune systemrather than ours.

Thus far, the coronavirus outbreak has had a lower fatality rate than other zoonotic diseases, New Scientist reports, but its particularly adept at spreading among humans.

But to fight deadly outbreaks in the future, Coleman stressed the value of preparing broad-spectrum vaccines in advance something still missing for the coronavirus.

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The Coronavirus Started in Animals. That Makes it More Dangerous. - Futurism

Innovation knows no borders allowing adventurous biotech investors the opportunity to find hidden gems located outside the major research and development hubs in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. One doesn't even need to look too far.

Here we previewthree such companies hailing from Canada, specifically the greater Vancouver area, which boastpromising drugs in their pipelines and just raised additional financing from savvy insitutional investors eager to get ahead of the curve. These emerging biotechs may be the ticket for risk-tolerant investors to boost their portfolios.

Image source: Getty Images.

Biotech investors are taking note of Vancouver-based Zymeworks (NYSE:ZYME). In the last year, the stock steadily tripled from $15 to its current price of $46. Last week, the company announced it successfully raised $320.8 million, primarily from institutional investors.

Zymeworks engineers antibodies, a component of the immune system, to selectively recognize distinct targets on cancer cells. Each molecule can identify two separate targets leading to their name bispecific antibodies. Zymeworks did not stop there. In some cases, the company attaches highly potent cancer-killing drugs to the bispecific molecule using it as a targeting system. This is called an antibody drug conjugate and potentially increases the ability to kill cancer cells.

One of many companies battling breast cancer, Zymeworks initially began development against a set of aggressive cancers that contain the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) gene. The HER2 gene helps regulate cell division, growth, and repairs. Aberrant amounts of the gene can lead to excessive growth of cancer cells. Beyond breast cancer, HER2 overexpression or amplification is found in certain cancers of the stomach, pancreas, and salivary gland, to name a few.

Lead compound ZW25 targets two unique variants of HER2, and has entered a slate of human clinical trials. The antibody drug conjugate version called ZW49 is in early stage clinical trial testing.

A review of Zymeworks' pipeline shows a long list of drug candidates being developed in collaboration with other companies. These include pharma stalwarts Eli Lilly, Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson, and emerging China-based pharma BeiGene.

Targeting neurological disorders, Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) recently raised an additional $60 million in financing to advance its pipeline. This comes on the heels of receiving $50 million from a new partnership. This capital infusion should provide enough resources to advance its four clinical stage drug candidates forward.

Xenon plans to advance XEN496 into a pivotal phase 3 clinical trial for a rare and severe form of childhood epilepsy. Towards the end of 2020, the company expects results from a phase 2b trial with XEN1101 as a treatment for adults with focal epilepsy. In this disease, recurring seizures emerge from a specific part of the brain.

Like Zymeworks, Xenon boasts prominent strategic partners. Genentech, part of the Roche Group, forged a collaboration to pursue a novel approach to treating pain. Following an initial discovery collaboration, Merck acquired the rights to a compound as a treatment for cardiovascular disease.In September, Xenon entered a partnership with biotech Flexion Therapeutics to develop an extended-release thermosensitive hydrogel version of Xenon's XEN402 for post-operative pain.

Last December, Neurocrine Biosciencesentered into a partnership to develop novel epilepsy treatments. The pact grants rights to Xenon's clinical-stage epilepsy drug XEN901 and a multi-year collaboration to discover new drug candidates. Neurocrine paid $50 million consisting of $30 million in cash and a $20 million equity investment. Xenon could potentially earn development, regulatory, and commercial milestones totaling approximately $1.7 billion for XEN901 and other collaboration programs.

Last December was a whirlwind for Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH). First, the company announced positive results from a phase 3 clinical trial of its drug voclosporin in lupus nephritis, a dangerous kidney disease caused by the body's immune system attacking healthy tissues. The company plans to file for approval with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sometime in the first half of 2020. Aurinia plans a commercial launch of the product, assuming approval, in the first half of 2021.

Investors excited by the trial results drove up the stock price from the $5 range to the high teens. When the stock was in the $18 range, management at Aurinia opportunistically raised $191.7 million at $15 per share. With more money in the bank, investors clamored for the stock pushing the shares to $21, a four-fold gain from where the stock traded prior to the clinical trial results.

Beyond lupus nephritis, Aurinia has commenced clinical testing of voclosporin in dry eye syndrome and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). Chronic in nature, the hallmarks of dry eye syndrome are irritation and inflammation. FSGS, a rare disease that attacks the kidneys' filtering system and can be potentially life-threatening, has no FDA-approved treatments.

Zymeworks feels like Seattle Geneticsin its earlier days. Leveraging expertise in a core technology, it produced a broad array of wholly owned and partnered drugs. Investors should watch for clinical results from ZW25 and ZW49. With a $2 billion valuation, a big pharma or biotech could swoop in to pick up this promising biotech.

Xenon, the smallest of the three companies by market capitalization, really needs the top-line results with XEN1101 in epilepsy to be positive. The trial results are expected in the second half of the year. While investing in R&D stage biotech is risky, Xenon needs to deliver more data to provide investors more comfort.

As a single-product company, Aurinia appears to be a likely acquisition target in the rare disease space. Voclosporin faces competition from GlaxoSmithKline, but, perhaps, a company like Pfizer, which has its own program in FSGS, could be a suitor.

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3 Canadian Biotechs to Consider Buying Today - The Motley Fool

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The relatively new mantra of value-over-volume in the oil business is facing its first serious popularity contest.

ConocoPhillipss fourth-quarter earnings missed expectations. The company also trimmed production guidance for 2020. At the same time, Conoco boosted its share buyback program by two thirds to $25 billion, with $3 billion due this year, following a 38% dividend increase announced in October.

Investors seemed more focused on the former Tuesday morning, with Conoco one of only a few oil stocks in the red. Then again, down roughly 10% since year-end, it is also one of the better-performing oil stocks in what has been a dreadful start to 2020 for the sector. With that in mind, the cash-flow story should get more attention.

Conoco laid out a 10-year plan in November best described as embracing the darkness. In place of thebullishness typical of the sector was a long discussion of how to survive in a world where oil stocks arent popular and price cycles are fleeting. In short, it now reads like a premonition of the month just gone. Hence, Conoco emphasized paying out more cash to investors and paying its way at lower energy prices.

On that front, the latest results offer encouragement. Conoco covered capex, dividends and buybacks from operating cash flow in the fourth quarter. On a full-year basis, free cash flow was positive after dividends and only $532 million in the red after $3.5 billion of buybacks. Most importantly, Conoco managed to roughly balance all this, raising underlying productionand shareholder payouts as well as replacing reserves, despite a 9.5% drop in average realized prices for its oil and gas.

Underlying this is the reset in cash-flow priorities following early 2016s dividend cut, shifting away from capex toward payouts.

Conocos financial strategy doesnt render it impervious to black swans. Besides the viral ones, there are more prosaic upsets such as the Malaysian pipeline outage that forced the cut in production guidance. Still, if immunity is to be found anywhere in this business these days, it lies in a good balance sheet and prioritizing payouts.

To contact the author of this story: Liam Denning at ldenning1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Liam Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy, mining and commodities. He previously was editor of the Wall Street Journal's Heard on the Street column and wrote for the Financial Times' Lex column. He was also an investment banker.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion

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Conoco Works to Boost Its Immune System - Yahoo Finance

By Jessica Hamzelou

anandaBGD/Getty Images

The way a babys immune system works seems to influence whether they will develop temporary or persistent asthma later in life. The finding could help identify more targeted treatments for different types of asthma, say researchers behind the work.

By the time a child is 18 months old, they have already been exposed to plenty of bacteria, viruses and fungi. These early encounters with pathogens start to shape a childs immune system for later life.

To find out if such experiences might also predict a childs risk of developing disease, Susanne Brix at the Technical University of Denmark in Kongens Lyngby and her colleagues followed a group of infants in Denmark for the first six years of their lives.

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The team looked at how immune cells work in toddlers, and whether this is linked to the childrens risk of developing asthma by the time they were six years old. Asthma is pretty prevalent in the Nordic European countries, says Brix. We have a prevalence of around 20 per cent in early childhood.

Brix and her colleagues first took blood samples from 541 18-month-olds. Each blood sample was then presented with a range of compounds such as fragments of viruses or components of vaccines to see how the immune cells in the blood would respond.

The responses of a particular type of immune cell seem to be linked to a childs later risk of asthma, says Brix. This cell type, called a T helper cell, responds to potentially harmful pathogens by releasing a range of proteins.

The way these cells release two specific proteins seems to be linked to whether the child will later develop asthma or not babies whose immune cells produce more of these proteins are significantly more likely to have asthma when they are six years old, says Brix.

Her team also found differences between girls and boys. The immune cells in blood samples taken from boys responded more strongly to bacteria and fungi, while girls seem to mount stronger responses to viruses.

Brix doesnt know why this might be the case, but she suspects sex hormones like testosterone may be influencing the immune system. The difference may explain why boys are more likely to develop asthma early in life, says Brix.

It will be difficult to create a test that would be able to predict which babies will go on to develop asthma, but Brix says she hopes that her research might help to identify the best treatments for different types of asthma.

Some cases of asthma are temporary, and resolve in childhood, while others are persistent. The transient type is more common in boys, says Brix. It may be that one type of asthma is linked to the immune systems response to viruses, while another is linked to the response to bacteria. Better targeted treatments could potentially be developed to treat each type, she says.

Journal reference: Science Translational Medicine, DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aaw0258

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Overactive immune cells in babies may lead to childhood asthma - New Scientist News

You cant listen to the news without hearing about the Coronavirus. While this deadly virus is scary, the plain old regular flu is much more common and can also be deadly.

Many people have already lost their lives during this current flu season (2019-20), and thousands more are sick or may soon be. Even if you got a flu shot, there is still a chance you can get the flu. Thankfully, there are things we can all do to try to stay healthy.

Keep reading for some ways you can build up your immune system and improve your overall health.

Most health experts sites having a healthy lifestyle as key when it comes to boosting your immune system and preventing illnesses. Some of the top things to incorporate into your life include regular exercise, eating a variety of healthy foods, maintain a healthy weight, drink alcohol in moderation, get enough sleep (we are talking seven to nine hours per night), wash your hands with soap and water frequently, minimize/manage your stress, and of course, dont smoke.

There are also lots of specific foods you can eat that taste great and pack powerful vitamins, minerals and antioxidants to boost your immune system and keep you healthy and strong.

Citrus

Loaded with vitamin C, citrus fruits increase your white blood cells which in turn, are key to fighting infections. Try squeezing lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruit into your water during the day for a citrus boost while you are staying hydrated.

Red bell peppers

While citrus is usually known for its vitamin C, did you know red bell peppers have twice as much vitamin C as citrus fruits do? They are also a good source of beta carotene.

Ginger

Used for centuries for medicinal purposes, ginger is thought to decrease inflammation and also may help lower your bad cholesterol. If you dont use fresh ginger in your cooking, you can still reap the benefits by making ginger tea.

Just peel a good bit of fresh ginger, cut into rounds and then pour boiling water over all.

Let steep for a few hours and then strain into a glass container. Refrigerate and add a cup or so to water, your morning health drink, or just straight up. I like to add the juice of a half of a lemon to mine every morning.

Garlic

A great way to add tons of flavor to your cooking, whether it is raw or cooked, garlic may also help lower your blood pressure in addition to boosting your immune system.

Broccoli

Loaded with lots of vitamins and minerals, broccoli also contain other antioxidants and fiber. Just be careful not to overcook broccoli and of course for the most benefits, eat it raw.

Spinach

Rich in vitamin C, and packed with antioxidants and beta carotene, spinach is super healthy. Like broccoli, avoid overcooking and for maximum benefits, consume spinach raw.

Yogurt

Look for yogurt that has live and active cultures on the label. Especially look for yogurt that is made from the milk from grass fed cows. These cultures stimulate your immune system and the yogurt just tastes so much better.

Avoid yogurt that has added sugar, which most do. If you need that sweet factor, serve yogurt with some fruit and a drizzle of honey preferably local honey.

Almonds

Vitamin E is a fat soluble vitamin, meaning it needs fat to be absorbed by the body. A mere half cup of almonds gives you 100% of what you need in a day of vitamin E.

Turmeric

This miracle spice has been used for centuries for medicinal purposes as well as for seasoning food. Besides being anti-inflammatory, it is also great for your bone health.

Green tea

Containing a powerful antioxidant called epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG, green tea is also a good source of L-theanine, an important amino acid. I like to make a big pitcher of half green tea, half black tea and keep it in the refrigerator. I drink this iced tea all year long, even when it is cold outside.

Papaya

Loaded with vitamin C, papayas contain a digestive enzyme called papain which is anti-inflammatory. Papaya is also a terrific source for potassium, B vitamins and folate.

Kiwi

Every time I eat kiwi, I think, Why do I always forget about this delicious little fruit? Besides being yummy, kiwi are chock full of folate, potassium, vitamins K and C.

Poultry

When Im feeling under the weather, the only thing I want to eat is chicken noodle soup. It is soothing, delicious and healthy. Poultry is a great source of vitamin B-6, and is one of the most nourishing things you can eat when sick or anytime.

Sunflower seeds

I love snacking on these little seeds. They are also perfect as a salad topping. Loaded with phosphorous, magnesium, vitamins B-6 and E, sunflower seeds need to be in your diet.

So, now you know some of the top foods you need to be eating to help boost your immune system. Be sure to check out Fridays food column for some simple, yet delicious recipes utilizing some of these super foods.

South Forsyth resident Adlen Robinson is author of Home Matters: The Guide to Organizing Your Life and Home. Email her at adlen@adlenshomematters.com.

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Adlen Robinson: Boost your immune system, prevent the flu - Forsyth County News Online

Orgasms are a very common human phenomenon. The physical and mental health benefits have been researched frequently as a result, and yet, there is still so much to be learned about how our bodies and brains react to the chemicals and hormones released during and after experiencing this type of sexual release.

"The amount of speculation versus actual data on both the function and value of orgasm is remarkable" explains Julia Heiman, director of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.

Masturbation causes a rush of dopamine, which is a chemical that is associated with our ability to feel pleasure. Along with the rush of dopamine that is released during an orgasm, there is also a release of a hormone called oxytocin, which is commonly referred to as the "love hormone."

This concoction of chemicals does more than just boost our mood, it also can play a key role in decreasing stress and promoting relaxation. Oxytocin decreases cortisol, which is a stress hormone that is usually present (in high volumes) during times of anxiety, fear, panic, or distress.

According to BDSM and fetish researcher Dr. Gloria Brame, an orgasm is the biggest non-drug induced blast of dopamine that we can experience.

By boosting the oxytocin and dopamine levels and subsequently decreasing our cortisol levels, the brain is placed in a more relaxed, euphoric, and calm state.

Sexual arousal and orgasm increase the number of white blood cells in the body, making it easier to fight infection and illness.

Image by Yurchanka Siarhei on Shutterstock

How do those effects on the brain from reaching orgasm translate to boosting our immune system and making our body healthier?

The increase of oxytocin and dopamine that causes a decrease in cortisol levels can help boost our immune system because cortisol (well-known for being a stress-inducing hormone) actually helps maintain your immune system if released in small doses.

According to Dr. Jennifer Landa, a hormone-therapy specialist, masturbation can produce the right kind of environment for a strengthened immune system to thrive.

A study conducted by the Department of Medical Psychology at the University Clinic of Essen (in Germany) showed similar results. A group of 11 volunteers were asked to participate in a study that would look at the effects of orgasm through masturbation on the white blood cell count and immune system.

During this experiment, the white blood cell count of each participant was analyzed through measures that were taken 5 minutes before and 45 minutes after reaching a self-induced orgasm.

The results confirmed that sexual arousal and orgasm increased the number of white blood cells, particularly the natural killer cells that help fight off infections.

The findings confirm that our immune system is positively affected by sexual arousal and self-induced orgasm and promote even more research into the positive impacts of sexual arousal and orgasm.

Orgasms help minimize pain and promote relaxation which can help boost our immune system.

Photo by Marko Aliaksandr on Shutterstock

The benefits of masturbation have long been debated, but the more research that is done on the topic the more we understand that there are many positive reactions that happen in our bodies and brains when we orgasm.

Orgasms can help prevent or mitigate pain, which boosts the immune system, preventing cold and flu symptoms.

According to neurologist and headache specialist Stefan Evers, about one in three patients experience relief from migraine attacks by experiencing sexual activity or orgasm. Evers and his team conducted an experiment with 800 migraine patients and 200 patients who suffered from cluster-headaches to see how their experiences with sexual activity impacted their pain levels.

The study showed that 60% of migraine sufferers experienced pain relief after participating in sexual activity that resulted in orgasm. Of the cluster-headache sufferers, about 50% said their headaches actually worsened after sexual arousal and orgasm.

Evers suggested in his findings that the people who did not experience pain relief from migraines of headaches during their sexual activity did not release as large amounts of endorphins as those who did experience pain relief.

According to rheumatologist Dr. Harris McIlwain, people who suffer from chronic pain have immune systems that are simply not functioning at full capacity - therefore, alleviating pain (through orgasm, as an example) can help boost the immune system.

Orgasms can also promote relaxation and make it easier to fall asleep. Serotonin, oxytocin, and norepinephrine are all hormones that are released during sexual arousal and orgasm, and all three are known for counteracting stress hormones and promoting relaxation, which makes it much easier for you to fall asleep.

There are several studies showing that serotonin and norepinephrine help our body cycle through REM and deep non-REM sleeping cycles. During these sleep cycles, the immune system releases proteins called cytokines, which target infection and inflammation. This is a critical part of our immune response. Cytokines are both produced and released throughout our bodies while we sleep, which proves the importance of a good sleep schedule to a healthy immune system.

The immune system is a balanced network of cells and organs that work together to defend you against infections and diseases by stopped threats like bacteria and viruses from entering your system. While there are many things we need to do to keep our immune systems functioning at optimal levels, masturbation (or other means of achieving orgasm) has proven to have positive effects on the immune system as a whole.

Just as bad habits (such as an inconsistent sleep schedule or harmful chemicals in your body) can slow your immune system, positive habits (such as a healthy sleep schedule and active sex life) can help boost your immune system.

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Is masturbation the new cold and flu medicine? - Big Think

A retired Texan had endured 12 years of chemotherapy for blood cancer only to see the disease come back stronger and meaner each time.

It was long, hard and terrible, J.C. Cox, 66, said.

So when he was told that he could take part in a clinical trial of a newly modified form of immune therapy, he signed on.

In that small preliminary trial, the results of which were published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, nearly two-thirds of the patients, all of whom had cancer so advanced that just a decade ago there would have been no hope for them, went into complete remission. Cox was among that two-thirds.

The new treatment involves tweaking a type of therapy called CAR-T that helps the immune system home in on cancer cells. Those tweaks appear to have made it more effective than its predecessor while also leading to fewer side effects, the study found.

In CAR-T therapy, doctors equip a patients own T-cells with a sensor that essentially sniffs out a protein on cancer cells, allowing them to glom onto the protein and then destroy the diseased cells. CAR-T therapy has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat several types of blood cancer.

The altered T cells end up working like a heat-seeking missile, said study co-author Dr. Katayoun Rezvani, a professor of stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

There were several drawbacks to CAR-T, including the time it took to make the revved up T cells which needed to be harvested from patients and then sent to a lab, their cost, and most important, the possibility of life-threatening side effects.

To try to make a cheaper, safer therapy that would potentially work for all patients, Rezvani and her colleagues switched from T-cells to a different type of immune cell, called natural killer cells.

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Natural killer cells are the best killers of virally infected and abnormal cells, she said. They can continue to patrol and recognize abnormal cells.

There were several advantages to the natural killer cells, not the least of which was that, unlike T cells, they wouldnt make the patients sick by spewing out a flood of inflammatory proteins, leading to a severe condition called a cytokine storm. Another big advantage was that the natural killer cells from one patient could be given to another without any tissue matching. That meant that such cells from healthy donors or from donated umbilical cord blood could be banked and ready to use at any time.

Presumably, this would cut down on the wait time and the costs of the therapy, because the treatments werent being tailor-made for each individual patient.

Rezvani and her colleagues genetically modified the natural killer cells to have a receptor (the R in CAR) for a protein that is on the surface of the cancer cells they were targeting. The receptor would lock onto the protein and then the cell would do its work.

The researchers also tweaked the natural killer cells in two other ways. Unlike T cells which live for a long time, natural killer cells normally have a lifespan of just a couple of weeks, so the researchers added a growth factor that would keep them around for a lot longer. And as a precaution, they also inserted a switch that would allow the researchers to kill off the altered cells if they became too abundant.

Rezvani and her colleagues tested the new treatment in 11 blood cancer patients. When the patients were checked two months after treatment, seven had no signs of cancer while one other showed improvement but not complete remission. The other three had no response to the treatment.

Cox was the eighth patient to receive the new treatment, and initially had misgivings.

I didnt have any other options, Cox, who received the treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, said. But it was scary knowing I would be No. 8 and would be getting the biggest dose.

The trial had been set up to start with a low dose, and then wait to see if there were any serious side effects. If not, the plan was to increase the dose in later patients.

Coxs years of chemotherapy made him worry about possible side effects. But it was probably the easiest thing Ive ever done, he said.

The researchers themselves werent sure what to expect. We were amazed at the safety, Rezvani said. And it didnt seem to matter what dose we gave. This truly is a living drug. It gets inside of the patients body and starts growing and attacking the cancer cells.

Larger studies are needed, but if the treatment which has been licensed to Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. lives up to its early promise, Rezvani hopes to try it on other cancers, such as ones that affect the brain and the breasts.

The response of the patients in the new study is impressive, said Dr. David Porter, the director of cell therapy and transplantation at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. I think this is a major advance in the field of targeted cellular therapy.

Moreover, the natural killer treatments dont seem to have the same life-threatening complications as the original CAR-T therapy, Porter said in an email. Porter was involved with previous CAR-T research, but was not involved with this trial.

But, Porter cautioned, the study included a very small number of patients.

Cox wasnt sure what to expect when he went to be checked two months after receiving his treatment. The news was better than he could have imagined: there was no sign of his cancer.

I did a lot of crying, but they were happy tears, he said. I still get emotional when I talk about it.

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Immune therapy tweak offers new hope to blood cancer patients - NBC News

A promising University of Virginia scientist, Ku-Lung (Ken) Hsu, an assistant professor of chemistry, has earned one of the National Science Foundations coveted Early Career Development Program Awards, which support junior faculty members who perform outstanding research and are regarded as exceptional teachers.

Part of the grant is used to integrate education and research in academic activities. Hsus award is for $681,000.

Hsu uses chemistry to control biological systems, particularly to modify the immune system to become an active combatant against cancer. His work understanding and controlling the inflammation response spans the search for new non-addictive drug options for treating pain, to modifying immune cells so they can recognize and kill cancer cells.

The five-year NSF CAREER grants are among the most prestigious available to young faculty in science and engineering, and are designed to provide significant resources to the early stage development of careers.

Many of Hsus laboratory studies are conducted in collaboration with clinical researchers in the School of Medicines Cancer Center as part of UVAs efforts to enhance research into precision medicine using immunotherapy to target life-threatening diseases at the fundamental molecular level.

Hsu discusses here his research and grant for readers of UVA Today.

Q. What drew you to this area of chemistry?

A. Chemical biology is an exciting area of chemistry because it is very creative, highly interdisciplinary and allows scientists to answer fundamental questions that ultimately improve human health through drug discovery and other new therapies. I enjoy the opportunity to work with experts in so many different fields, including pharmacology, pathology, neurology and cancer biology. As a result, I learn something new from each project.

My students also benefit greatly from being in this field because of an emphasis on collaborations, which increases diversity through individuals they interact with and expands the skillsets they obtain during their training. Medical research is becoming increasingly collaborative, so my students are becoming well-prepared for the research environments in which they will spend their careers.

Activating the immune response to fight cancer represents a very exciting treatment modality and UVA is well-positioned to be a leader in this front. The UVA Cancer Center has been a major supporter of my research program, and I look forward to continued interactions and collaborations in this community.

- Ken Hsu

Q. Describe the most compelling aspects of your latest research.

A. I am excited about two recent discoveries that embody research from our group in the field of chemical biology. Both reports are published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

In our first paper, we describe a new chemical reaction with broad applications for synthetic chemistry and drug discovery. The reaction we discovered possibly could come into common use for developing new treatments for cancer and other diseases in the future. This finding was especially rewarding because I teach related material in my organic chemistry course and our paper describes a new methodology for synthetic chemists and chemical biologists to tune chemical reactions for diverse real-world applications. This is compelling for my students, to know that what they are learning in class is also current and active to catalyze breakthrough research in our labs.

In our second report, our findings are directed toward fundamental discoveries in the realm of fat (lipid) molecules, which play a major role in the bodys metabolism at the cellular level. We used protein engineering to design artificial lipid kinase enzymes a specialized protein involved in cell growth, proliferation and other functions that can include the growth of cancers in order to better understand how cells regulate their fat composition. To our surprise and delight, we narrowed in on a very specific region of these lipid kinases that allow us to control how they operate in cells. Our findings will teach us and others in the field a more effective way to design therapeutics to combat these enzymes when they misbehave.

Q. How will this grant allow you to connect your research with teaching?

A. The NSF CAREER Award will provide new opportunities for applying our chemistry and technologies to study how individual cells control the metabolism of fats and lipids. We plan to develop compounds that attach to enzymes to illuminate how cells are similar or distinct based on their metabolism kind of like a molecular fingerprint. Our long-term goal is to create new opportunities for cell type discovery and push the boundaries of cell engineering.

The research is intimately connected to an educational outreach program designed to broadly impact Native American student communities by providing opportunities for UVA graduate students to teach how lipid biochemistry influences healthy food choices and eating behaviors in society.

Q. Where do you see your research going from here?

A. In the next five years, I am looking forward to applying our chemistry and technologies toward deeper understanding of lipid biology and metabolism in physiologically relevant models. We remain committed to discovery of new molecular pathways for immune system modulation, and our recent findings represent important steps toward our long-term goal.

Q. How promising is the future regarding immune system modulation?

A. Activating the immune response to fight cancer represents a very exciting treatment modality and UVA is well-positioned to be a leader in this front. The UVA Cancer Center has been a major supporter of my research program, and I look forward to continued interactions and collaborations in this community.

I believe the chemistry we are pursuing will provide new opportunities and technologies for exploring creative ways to study and control the immune system. Support from the NSF CAREER Award will pave the way for new ways to engineer immune cells for cancer and other potential disease indications.

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Q&A: Chemical Biologist Ken Hsu to Use NSF CAREER Award to Fight Cancer - University of Virginia

We usually think of viral respiratory infections, like the common cold, as mild nuisances that pass in a few days. But the Wuhan coronavirus has proven to be different. Of those infected, around 2% are reported to have died but the true mortality is unknown.

Theres much were yet to learn about this new virus, but we know it often causes pneumonia, an infection of the lungs which produces pus and fluid and reduces the lungs ability to absorb oxygen.

Of the first 99 people with severe infection, three-quarters had pneumonia involving both lungs. Around 14% appeared to have lung damage caused by the immune system, while 11% suffered from multi-organ system failure, or sepsis.

Others are at risk of complications from being treated in hospitals, such as acquiring other infections.

Read more: How contagious is the Wuhan coronavirus and can you spread it before symptoms start?

At this stage, we know some people develop only a mild infection, while others become critically ill, but the exact proportion of each is not yet clear.

Overall, there are four key ways the Wuhan coronavirus can cause severe disease and some can occur at the same time.

For the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) coronavirus, direct viral damage was probably the most common way the infection caused disease. This is likely the case with the Wuhan coronavirus.

Early studies have found the Wuhan coronavirus attaches to a particular receptor found in lung tissue. This is like a lock and key mechanism allowing the virus to enter the cell, and is the same receptor the SARS coronavirus used.

Viruses hijack the host cells mechanisms to make more copies of itself. Damage results from either viruses taking over the cell completely and causing it to die, or immune cells recognising the viral infection and mounting a defence, triggering cell death.

If large numbers of cells die, then the affected organ cant function effectively.

Studies from patients who died from SARS coronavirus showed the virus caused damage to not only the lungs, but also other organs in the body. Early research suggests the Wuhan coronavirus can also damage other organs, including the kidneys.

While were still piecing together the relationship between the Wuhan coronavirus and pneumonia, theres much we can learn from influenza.

Influenza is a virus but it commonly leads to bacterial pneumonia this is whats known as a secondary infection.

Its thought the influenza virus weakens the usual protective mechanisms of the lung, allowing bacteria to establish and multiply. This is especially true in children, older people and those with compromised immune systems.

Secondary bacterial pneumonia is more severe than influenza alone in hospitalised patients, around 10% of those with influenza and pneumonia die, compared to around 2% of those who dont have pneumonia.

The Wuhan coronavirus appears to cause pneumonia in two ways: when the virus takes hold in the lungs, and through secondary bacterial infections, however, the first way appears to be more common.

Sepsis is a serious condition that can be caused by many infections.

When we get an infection, we need to mount an immune response to fight off the pathogen. But an excessive immune response can cause damage and organ failure. This is what happens in the case of sepsis.

Read more: What is sepsis and how can it be treated?

Although it can be difficult to determine whether organ damage from the Wuhan coronavirus is a result of direct viral infection or indirect collateral damage from the immune system, initial reports suggested around 11% of people severely ill with the Wuhan coronavirus experienced sepsis with multi-organ failure.

So far no drugs or interventions have been able to dampen this immune response. Although several treatments have been proposed for Wuhan coronavirus, none have yet been shown to work.

Finally, patients who require hospital care may have complications. These include infections from intravenous lines (for drips/medication) or urinary catheters (flexible tubes inserted into the bladder to empty it of urine), pneumonia, or non-infectious complications such as falls or pressure sores.

Studies have found 10% of patients in hospital have some sort of health care-acquired infection, and around 5% have a pressure sore.

Hospitals work hard to try to prevent these complications, by making sure health care workers disinfect their hands and other equipment. However, complications still occur, particularly in patients who are debilitated from long hospital stays.

Read more: 1 in 10 patients are infected in hospital, and it's not always with what you think

While most respiratory viral infections are mild, some can trigger serious complications, either directly or indirectly. Its too early to tell how often this occurs with the Wuhan coronavirus. While we have initial data on those who were severely affected, many others may not have required medical care.

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How does the Wuhan coronavirus cause severe illness? - The Conversation AU

Safety concerns and manufacturing shortcomings aside, existing CAR-T therapies Novartis Kymriah and Gileads Yescarta simply dont work in 10% to 20% of patients with B cell malignancies. What factors underpin this resistance to CAR-T therapy? The main culprit could be the cancer cells themselves, according to a team of researchers at Penn.

CAR-T therapies are engineered to work in this way: Cells are extracted from the patient and then manipulated in a lab where chimeric antigen receptors are added to direct the patients own T cells to snuff out specific cancer cells once re-infused back into the patient. But in a fraction of patients, the armed immune attack does not obliterate the disease. By targeting CD19, a marker present on almost all B cells, CAR-T therapies have shown remarkable potency and durability in a number of blood cancers, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Research so far suggests that resistance to CAR-T therapies is related to the loss of CD19. When CD19 disappears from leukemic cells, they become invisible to CAR-T therapies, noted the studys co-senior author Marco Ruella, an assistant professor of hematology-oncology at the University of Pennsylvania, in an interview with Endpoints News.

That explains maybe half of the relapses in leukemia and maybe a third in lymphoma so there is still a vast majority of patients where we simply dont know whats going on, he said.

Another factor driving resistance was dysfunctional T cells, he added. What we are hypothesizing here is that there can be a third mechanismthat even in the presence of CD19 those leukemic cells are unable to die when they are triggered by CAR-T.

The constant presence of the leukemic cells that basically cannot die theyre sort of highlanders causes dysfunction in the T-cells. To start with the CAR-T (cells) are okay but then they keep trying to kill leukemic cells that intrinsically cannot die, and then, over time, they become dysfunctional.

The findings were published on Thursday in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

In the Penn study, researchers performed a genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9-based screen of an ALL cell line to isolate pathways associated with resistance. Cells were edited for loss of function of single genes and combined with CAR-T cells for 24 hours to identify the pathway driving the primary resistance. The in vitro data showed thatin the ALL cells that resisted the CAR-T attack, there was a shortage of genes involved in activating the cell death pathway and a spike in genes necessary for evading the cell death pathway.

Instead of interrogating samples from patients that have failed to benefit from CAR-T therapies, the plan was to model a genome-wide resistance mechanism and then confirm it in patients. Many patients are now being treated with CAR-Ts, but still, the numbers are limited so this approach was used to discover aberrations that the limited number of patient samples would not be powered to identify, Ruella said.

We started with an unbiased genome-wide approach to study resistance and we saw that the new CRISPR/Cas9 genome knockout libraries were perfect because they would allow you to explore knockouts in the whole genome and interrogate it for resistance to CAR-T.

The findings were amplified in animal models. The researchers then tried to make sense of the results by using pediatric patient samples from previous CAR-T trials by analyzing the genes in leukemia cells and in T cells pre- and post-infusion from responders and non-responders. The data were stark: previously identified signaling pathways in cancer cells were directly associated with responses to CAR therapy, suggesting that death receptor signaling is a key regulator of primary resistance to CAR T cell therapy in ALL, the authors concluded.

This mechanism appears to rely on two phases: an initial resistance to death receptor-driven killing, followed by an antigen-driven, progressive impairment in CAR-T cell function. Together this leads to CAR T cell failure that perpetuates disease progression, they wrote.

Despite their abundant promise, the adoption of CAR-T therapies Novartis Kymriah and Gileads Yescarta has underwhelmed initial expectations.

The uptake of Kymriah was plagued by manufacturing problems, and despite Novartis attempt to expand its capacity, sales continue to disappoint commercially, giving Yescarta an edge in the market. Meanwhile, big side effects notably life-threatening episodes of cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity as well as the therapies expensive price tags have also limited their use. Other drug developers have taken note of these constraints and are developing off-the-shelf CAR-T therapies, designed to smoothen manufacturing complexities by using healthy donor cells.

But the team at Penn cautioned that the practice may not necessarily help the subset of patients whose cancer cells carry this proportion of unfavorable genes.

A possible implication of our observations is that the use of healthy donor (i.e. allogeneic donor or universal donor) T cells as a substrate for CAR T cell manufacturing may face the same barriers as autologous products, the authors wrote. Understanding how intrinsic and acquired T cell dysfunction cooperate to cause therapeutic failure will be critical to the design of the next generation of cellular therapies.

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UPDATED: Resistant to CAR-T therapies? It's the cancer, not your immune system study - Endpoints News

By Jim Logan for UCSB | February 4, 2020 | 3:16 p.m.

Humans and hookworms have had a complicated relationship since the first day we stepped barefoot in the equatorial regions where the little parasites are endemic. Hookworms infect humans through skin contact. Larvae travel through the circulatory system before attaching to the small intestine, where they mature and feed on tissue and blood.

The result: anemia, a deficiency in red blood cells.

The consequences of hookworm infection are well known. Anemia affects more than 40 percent of pregnant women globally, with 25 percent of pregnant women infected with hookworm (species Necator americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale).

Though hookworm and other intestinal worms are usually associated with tropical regions of the developing world, the U.S. South was infested with hookworm up through the 20th century.

Despite hookworm affecting upwards of 750 million people worldwide, little is known about the interactions between hookworm and pregnancy, or the effects on maternal and fetal health.

A paper in the American Journal of Human Biology led by UC Santa Barbara scholars investigates the relationship between hookworms and pregnancy in indigenous Tsimane women of the Bolivian Amazon.

The Tsimane are forager-farmers who live in a tropical rain forest environment, and so are exposed to many diverse pathogens including endemic hookworm. Tsimane women also have high fertility the average woman has nine births over her lifetime.

By analyzing longitudinal data, the researchers sought to determine if theres a tradeoff between mounting an immune response to hookworm and having a successful pregnancy.

Hookworm is such a common infection in many parts of the world and its a really ancient infection, said Amy S. Anderson, a UCSB anthropology doctoral student and lead author. And so its one that in a certain sense, our immune systems have become quite tolerant towards.

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"But the way that our immune system shifts when were tolerating a chronic hookworm infection has some similarities with the way our immune system needs to tolerate the non-self that is a fetus growing during pregnancy.

As Anderson explained, a fetus is like a foreign organism that the mothers body has to both recognize as such and tolerate to sustain a successful pregnancy. Because hookworms and fetuses share immunological characteristics, the papers authors hypothesized that changes in maternal immunity aimed at ensuring fetal tolerance may dampen immune responses to hookworm during pregnancy.

They wondered if as a result, pregnant women might be more susceptible to new hookworm infections and higher morbidity, especially anemia, from existing infections.

To test their hypothesis, the researchers analyzed a mix of cross-sectional and longitudinal data on hemoglobin, hookworm infection, several markers of parasite-induced inflammation, and whether a woman was pregnant and in which trimester.

Their findings, though preliminary, show some support for the hypothesized interaction between pregnancy and hookworm infections: pregnant women are slightly more likely to experience hookworm infection, and possibly worse health effects of that and other infections she may be exposed to during pregnancy.

The effects are small and mostly concentrated in the first trimester, especially the excess hemoglobin loss and immune modulatory changes," Anderson said. But they support the idea that immune shifts in the first trimester navigate a slight trade-off between responding to hookworm infection and tolerating a fetus, because a first-semester fetus is more likely to get caught in friendly fire from moms immune system.

"In the eyes of the immune system, the cluster of [fetal] cells at the beginning of pregnancy appears to have more similarities to parasites like hookworm than a third-trimester fetus does.

Further, Anderson said, the findings indicate that we may want to keep a closer watch on pregnant women in their first trimester, because we dont know what the long-term implications of a womans first trimester disruptions are on her or her childs health down the line.

As Michael Gurven, a senior author on the paper and professor of anthropology at UCSB, explained, Consequences of hookworm infection on pregnancy and immune function, and of pregnancy on infection and immunity this is unexplored territory. Yet pre-natal exposures are now recognized as having lots of different downstream health impacts across the life course.

The role of our wormy old friends in modulating immune function in ways that dont just harm but might even protect against certain chronic conditions is also changing how we think about infection, Gurven said. We still have much to learn about the health ecology of mom, baby and worms, and this study is just the beginning.

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UCSB Scholars Study Effects of Pregnancy on Hookworm Infections in Bolivian Amazon - Noozhawk

20 years ago, scientists for Celera Genomicsand the Human Genome Project sequenced the human genome. To accomplish this task, 30,000 genes were sequenced. It was a very big deal, and it opened the door to a new wave of biotech gene therapies.

Fast forward to today, Seattle-based companyAdaptive Biotechnologies(NASDAQ:ADPT)is sequencing the human immune system. This is far more difficult than mapping the human genome. Forget 30,000 -- your immune system houses 100 million genes. And on top of that, the company is mapping more than 30 billion immune receptors. (Adaptive has data rights to 20 billion of those receptors.)

All of this genetic sequencing requires massive amounts of computational power, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning. And that's whereMicrosoft(NASDAQ:MSFT) comes in.

Image source: Getty Images.

In 2017, Microsoft and Adaptive signed a collaboration agreement. The companies are uniting to create a universal blood test that will allow doctors to read your immune system and find out what diseases your body is fighting. If you have cancer, for instance, your body is aware of the threat and your immune system is fighting the cancer cells. The idea is to have a blood test that allows doctors to hack into a person's immune system and find out what it knows. This will enable doctors to diagnose diseases early before symptoms develop. This early diagnosis would enable doctors to prescribe medicines that boost the immune system and cure the disease.

Adaptive calls this technology immunoSEQ Dx. Once Adaptive has mapped the immune characteristics of several diseases, it will be possible to look at an individual's immune system and determine what, if any, diseases the person's immune system is currently fighting. The idea is that your doctor can take a blood sample and screen for infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders, and cancer. CEO Chad Robins is forecasting the arrival of the universal blood test in six to eight years.

As part of the collaboration agreement, Microsoft invested $45 million in thebiotechstart-up.At a recent price of $30 a share, Microsoft's investment in Adaptive is now worth about $135 million. But Microsoft is doing more than just providing financing and equipment to Adaptive -- the software giant has also provided people. A joint team of about 50 employees built the AI from scratch. Co-founders Chad and Harlan Robins led the team from Adaptive; Jonathan Carlson, senior director of immunomics at Microsoft, and Desney Tan, the general manager of Microsoft Healthcare, headed up the software side. Speaking at a Geekwire summit, Tan said, "We really integrated ourselves as a single team. We've got offices in each other's facilities."

While the immunoSEQ Dx project with Microsoft might be the most exciting work Adaptive is doing, it's several years away. In the meantime, the AI engine is already producing diagnostic kits for the market. Using Adaptive's clonoSEQ technology, doctors can now test for minimal residual disease (MRD) in blood cancers. The Food and Drug Administration has already cleared clonoSEQ for a blood cancer called multiple myeloma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The company is submitting clonoSEQ to the FDA for chronic lymphoblastic leukemia as well.

Adaptive is also using immunoSEQ to create a diagnostic kit for research labs and biotech companies. According to Adaptive, more than 2,000 academic researchers are now using its technology. More than 125 biotech companies are using immunoSEQ, and this technology has facilitated 480 clinical trials.These revenue streams brought in $26 million in the third quarter, up 52% year over year.The company is estimating $85 million in revenues for the full year.

Adaptive also received $300 million in cash fromGenentech, a subsidiary ofRoche(OTC:RHHBY), last year. Genentech wants to use Adaptive's technology as the foundation of a new treatment paradigm for cancer. The idea is to tailor an individualized treatment for each patient based on what's discovered via the patient's immune system. The Roche deal could be worth over $2 billion to Adaptive if certain commercial milestones are hit.The alliance with Microsoft and the massive Genentech deal are a real validation of the underlying science.

In 2020, Adaptive plans to submit the first immunoSEQ diagnostic kits to the FDA for review. While the "universal blood test" is several years away, Adaptive will add indications one at a time. The company is starting with Lyme disease, celiac disease, and ovarian cancer.

As Tan said, "These guys are going to change the world, and we're thrilled to be a part of it."

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Why Is Microsoft Investing in Adaptive Biotechnologies? - The Motley Fool