StemCell Therapy

Jounce Therapeutics (NASDAQ:JNCE) is a biotech that should be on your radar in the coming weeks. That's because it is set to present new data from the ICONIC trial for its vopratelimab drug to treat patients with advanced solid tumors. This presentation will pretty much show why an RNA signature was selected to become a predictive biomarker for the potential of improved clinical outcomes in cancer patients. With such data on hand, there is an ability to initiate the phase 2 SELECT study in 2020 to use vopratelimab in combination with its other PD-1 inhibitor product known as JTX-4014. Besides this mid-stage SELECT study, there is another trial ongoing known as EMERGE. Both of these studies provide shots on goal for the monoclonal antibody of vopratelimab. A few catalysts in 2020 could help boost the value of the stock.

Why I believe that Jounce Therapeutics is a good speculative biotech is because of its approach to using a predictive RNA signature biomarker to potentially help increase clinical response rates in patients with certain types of cancer. I am taking the stance that future immunotherapy products are leaning more towards biomarker targeted drugs. That's why Jounce intends to initiate a phase 2 study with vopratelimab in mid-2020 known as SELECT. The basis of this study is that a predictive RNA signature biomarker will help choose only those patients who are to likely respond to treatment. I'm not bullish on this speculative biotech only because of the predictive biomarker approach being deployed in this study. It is also because along with the use of vopratelimab, Jounce intends to add into the mix its mid-stage ready PD-1 inhibitor asset known as JTX-4014. The data to be presented at the ASCO-SITC 2020 conference, taking place between February 6th through the 8th, will display the biomarker RNA signature of ICOS hi CD4 T-cells to be described below. Specifically, from the ICONIC study. What's the rational reason for deploying such a study? That's because in a prior phase 1 study, known as ICONIC, it was shown that patients were able to show a benefit against multiple measures when using vopratelimab alone or in combination with another PD-1 inhibitor known as Opdivo (nivolumab). Such positive measures observed were:

The main mechanism of action for vopratelimab (monoclonal antibody) is that it binds to T-cells and activates "Inducible T-cell Co-Stimulator", thus the name ICOS. ICOS is a protein that is found on the surface of certain T-cells. What's important to note, which is shown above, is that ICOS only activates what is known as ICOS hi CD4 T-cells. These ICOS hi CD4 T-cells are the predictive biomarker to be deployed for the SELECT study. This brings up another point in that vopratelimab only engages CD4 T-cells and not CD8 T-cells. Why is that important? That's because CD4 T-cells are known to elicit a more robust response, while CD8 T-cells are not as keen. One other fact is that CD4 T-cells are known as helper cells, and they stimulate other immune cells in the body. They offer an adaptive immune response in both helping suppress and/or regulate immune responses. The initiation of the phase 2 SELECT study will be an important milestone for Jounce, which I believe will be a catalyst for the stock. The presentation of biomarker data at the ASCO-SITC 2020 conference will act as another catalyst. The mid-stage SELECT study will be initiated in mid-2020. From there, interim results from this study won't be released until 2021.

There is another shot on goal with the use of vopratelimab. This is a phase 2 study known as EMERGENCE, which had already been initiated in June of 2019. What's different about the EMERGENCE study is that it doesn't include a biomarker like the phase 2 SELECT study noted above. In other words, this is more of a broad approach to treating patients with cancer. Having said that, it doesn't get away from the main mechanism of action of vopratelimab, which is inducing ICOS hi CD4 T-cells to kill cancer cells. This phase 2 EMERGENCE study is going to be using the combination of vopratelimab + Yervoy (ipilimumab). Wait a second, why the need for Yervoy to be incorporated into this study? That's because Yervoy is an anti-CTLA4 inhibitor. It attaches to cancer cells and inhibits the CTLA4 response, which in essence helps boost the immune response against target cancer cells. There is another item that Yervoy does which is crucial and lines up with the mechanism of action of vopratelimab. It also induces ICOS hi T-cells like vopratelimab. Thus, the two products together each have a goal in this study:

So Yervoy acts like the launcher of inducing ICOS hi, and then vopratelimab is responsible for increasing such activity and then letting it sustain for a longer period of time. I believe such a mechanism has the chance to exhibit a more sustained durable response for cancer patients. This phase 2 study is being tested in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and urothelial cancer. It is expected that efficacy and biomarker data from the EMERGE study will be revealed by the 2nd half of 2020.

According to the 10-Q SEC Filing, Jounce Therapeutics had cash, cash equivalents and investments of $185.1 million as of September 30, 2019. The company believes that it will have a gross cash burn between $80 million and $95 million for 2020. The company believes it has enough cash on hand to fund its operations into the second half of 2021. In my opinion, this is just an estimate. I think that once it initiates the phase 2 SELECT study, along with possibly advancing other early-stage studies, it is possible that the gross cash burn rate could increase. Another possible scenario is that it may choose to raise cash after positive data is released. When a company's stock trades higher on the back of positive clinical data, biotechs tend to take advantage with an immediate cash raise.

While some good preliminary data came from the phase 1 ICONIC study using vopratelimab in solid tumors was achieved, it is important to note that it is still in early-stage studies. There is no guarantee that the biomarker data to be presented at the ASCO-SITC 2020 conference is going to be highly positive. If that's the case, then it could be a non-event type of a catalyst. The other phase 2 studies noted above, EMERGE and SELECT still have a way to go before data is released for either of those. As for the EMERGE study, clinical data is not expected until the second half of 2020. The SELECT study has yet to be initiated and is not expected to begin until mid-2020. This means that in the short-term, it's quite possible that the stock could trade lower until such data is revealed.

Jounce Therapeutics is looking to take a differentiated approach with the use of its monoclonal antibody vopratelimab. As I laid out above, both phase 2 studies shown above will have one thing in common. That is the mechanism of action of vopratelimab in being able to induce ICOS hi T-cell responses to improved multiple measures in patients with cancer. One approach is to use Yervoy in combination with vopratelimab to accomplish this task. The other approach in the SELECT study is the use of a biomarker (ICOS hi T-cell population to benefit from treatment) and the addition of Jounce's very own PD-1 inhibitor JTX-4014. I believe that Jounce Therapeutics has a good shot to increase clinical outcomes for several cancer patient populations. Thus, I view it as a good speculative buy.

This article is published by Terry Chrisomalis, who runs the Biotech Analysis Central pharmaceutical service on Seeking Alpha Marketplace. If you like what you read here and would like to subscribe to, I'm currently offering a two-week free trial period for subscribers to take advantage of. My service offers a deep-dive analysis of many pharmaceutical companies. The Biotech Analysis Central SA marketplace is $49 per month, but for those who sign up for the yearly plan will be able to take advantage of a 33.50% discount price of $399 per year.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Originally posted here:
Jounce Should Be On Your Radar With Differentiated Approach To Activating Immune System - Seeking Alpha

Work has begun at multiple organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, to develop a vaccine for this new strain of coronavirus, known among scientists as 2019-nCoV.

Scientists are just getting started working, but their vaccine development strategy will benefit both from work that has been done on closely related viruses, such as SARS and MERS, as well as advances that have been made in vaccine technologies, such as nucleic acid vaccines, which are DNA- and RNA-based vaccines that produce the vaccine antigen in your own body.

No, but work was ongoing for other closely related coronaviruses that have caused severe disease in humans, namely MERS and SARS.

Scientists had not been concerned about this particular strain, as we did not know that it existed and could cause disease in humans until it started causing this outbreak.

Work on vaccines for severe coronaviruses has historically begun once the viruses start infecting humans.

Given that this is the third major outbreak of a new coronavirus that we have had in the past two decades and also given the severity of disease caused by these viruses, we should consider investing in the development of a vaccine that would be broadly protective against these viruses.

This work involves designing the vaccine constructs for example, producing the right target antigens, viral proteins that are targeted by the immune system, followed by testing in animal models to show that they are protective and safe.

Once safety and efficacy are established, vaccines can advance into clinical trials in humans. If the vaccines induce the expected immune response and protection and are found safe, they can be mass produced for vaccination of the population.

Currently, we lack virus isolates or samples of the virus to test the vaccines against. We also lack antibodies to make sure the vaccine is in good shape. We need the virus in order to test if the immune response induced by the vaccine works.

Also, we need to establish what animals to test the vaccine on. That potentially could include mice and nonhuman primates.

Vaccine development will likely take months.

We expect that these types of outbreaks will occur for the foreseeable future in irregular intervals.

To try to prevent large outbreaks and pandemics, we need to improve surveillance in both humans and animals worldwide as well as invest in risk assessment, allowing scientists to evaluate the potential threat to human health from the virus, for detected viruses.

We believe that global action is needed to invest in novel vaccine approaches that can be employed quickly whenever a new virus like the current coronavirus and also viruses similar to Zika, Ebola or influenza emerges.

Currently, responses to emerging pathogens are mostly reactive, meaning they start after the outbreak happens. We need a more proactive approach supported by continuous funding.

Aubree Gordon, Professor of Public Health, University of Michigan and Florian Krammer, Professor of Vaccinology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Link:
Will There Be a Vaccine For The New Wuhan Coronavirus? If So, When? - ScienceAlert

Inducing immune bee genes

Honey bees are prone to parasitism by the Varroa mite, which is a vector for several bee pathogens. However, honey bees are also host to the symbiotic gut bacterium Snodgrasella alvi. Leonard et al. engineered S. alvi to produce double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)a stimulus for insect RNA interference defense responsesfrom a plasmid containing two inverted promoters tagged with a fluorescent label (see the Perspective by Paxton). This dsRNA module can be targeted to interfere with specific bee genes as well as crucial viral and mite genes. The authors found that gene expression could be blocked for at least 15 days as the symbionts established in the bees' guts and continuously expressed the dsRNA constructs. S. alvi with specifically targeted plasmids not only suppressed infection with deformed wing virus but also effectively reduced Varroa mite survival.

Science, this issue p. 573; see also p. 504

Honey bees are essential pollinators threatened by colony losses linked to the spread of parasites and pathogens. Here, we report a new approach for manipulating bee gene expression and protecting bee health. We engineered a symbiotic bee gut bacterium, Snodgrassella alvi, to induce eukaryotic RNA interference (RNAi) immune responses. We show that engineered S. alvi can stably recolonize bees and produce double-stranded RNA to activate RNAi and repress host gene expression, thereby altering bee physiology, behavior, and growth. We used this approach to improve bee survival after a viral challenge, and we show that engineered S. alvi can kill parasitic Varroa mites by triggering the mite RNAi response. This symbiont-mediated RNAi approach is a tool for studying bee functional genomics and potentially for safeguarding bee health.

Originally posted here:
Engineered symbionts activate honey bee immunity and limit pathogens - Science Magazine

MANILA - A strong immune system and avoiding interaction with those infected with the new coronavirus are the best ways to block the illness, a public health expert said Tuesday.

The mysterious new strain, which can cause a pneumonia-like acute respiratory infection, has so far killed 106 people in China and infected some 4,000 across the world.

"The only thing that will help us fight off the disease is not interact with those who are sick," Dr. Susan Mercado told ANC's Headstart.

"Have a balanced diet, sleep the right number of hours, get good physical exercise. Its about staying healthy, eating fruits and vegetables, drinking a lot of water."

The new virus could be spreading through droplets, for instance when people sneeze or cough, or through direct contact with infected people or with objects they have touched, the World Health Organization said.

It remains unclear if the virus, known as 2019nCoV, is contagious before symptoms of fever or respiratory difficulties appear, it added.

"This virus is in human beings. What we need to do is limit the movement of those who are sick and avoid those who are sick. If they get well and they fight off the virus, the virus dies in them," Mercado said.

The Philippines has yet to confirm a case of the mysterious new strain of virus but it will be able to conduct tests for the virus "within the week," according to Mercado.

Manila earlier sent to Australia the specimen of a child in Cebu who came from Wuhan and tested positive for non-specific coronavirus. The child's specimen later yielded a negative result for the 2019nCoV.

Eleven foreigners in the Philippines are quarantined for possible infection from the Wuhan coronavirus, the health department said Monday.

View original post here:
Water therapy, adequate sleep: Ways to boost immune system to avoid 2019nCoV - ABS-CBN News

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Jan. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Knoze Jr Corp releases the study that led to the development of AllerPops, a prebiotic lollipop that gives people lasting allergy relief. The theory proposed in the article explains not only why we have allergies but also how the immune system starts to fight cancer after an infection, which leads to the rare natural cancer regressions. This understanding makes it possible to develop a novel immune therapy that is inexpensive and without dangerous side effects.

When cancer goes away on its own, it's so rare that people often say it's a miracle.

Peregrine Laziosi (12601345) is the patron saint of cancer patients. When he was in his sixties, he developed bone cancer and his only option was to have his leg amputated. The cancer swelled his bone so much that it broke through the skin and it became infected and gave a stinky smell. Miraculously, by the time of his scheduled operation, the doctor found his cancer completely disappeared. Saint Peregrine lived another 20 years before he died at age of eighty-five years old.1

A more recent miracle was used as evidence for the canonization of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821) in 1975. In 1952, Anne Theresa, who was 4, was dying of leukemia. A relic, a cloth touched to Mother Seton's remains, was pinned to the child's gown. Anne almost immediately recovered, and her leukemia was completely healed. 2

The record also shows that just before her recovery, Anne Theresa had severe chickenpox with high fever and nutritionally, she could only tolerate sips ofCoca-Cola. 2

Is there a medical explanation for these miracles?

Cliff Han is the founder of Knoze Jr Corp, a startup firm located in Los Alamos, NM, and inventor of AllerPops. When he reviewed the cases of these cancer miracles, he wanted to find a medical explanation for these acts of God.

"In the two miracles, the people who experienced a natural cancer regression had a serious infection right before the miracle occurred," said Han. "Other than the fact that their immune systems were stimulated by the infections, we still do not know the mechanism leading to the cancer regression."

His study that led to the development of AllerPops, may shed some light on the matter.

AllerPops are prebiotic lollipops that give people lasting allergy relief by targeting the root cause of allergies, a lack of friendly bacteria in the oral cavity.

But what do allergies have to do with cancer?

Han's Theory of Negative Trigger (TNT), developed to explain why we have allergies, can also elucidate how an infection initiate the immune system to fight for cancer.

"If we know how these cancers went away miraculously, we can lead the way for these types of miracles to happen to more people more often," said Han.

TNT describes the relationship between our microbiota and immune systems. Briefly, our immune system is like a car with an accelerator to speed it up and brakes to slow it down. Pathogens acts as an accelerator, stimulating the immune system so it can protect us from infectious diseases. Probiotics (friendly bacteria) act as brakes, slowing it down when there is no infection. Like the car, our immune system is designed to be parked most of the time by the brakes our probiotics.

Our immune system operates in the gut (70%), airway (25%) and under our skin. Different probiotics live in these biological niches and send signals to pacify our immune system. These interactions are primarily local and limited by space and time. The peace agreement between probiotics and the immune system makes it possible for us to live peacefully in the environment.

Read the article that explains TNT here, https://allerpops.com/oral-probiotic-deficiency-may-cause-common-allergies/

How can you stimulate the immune system so it's ready to fight off cancer?

According to Han, a biologist worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for 22 years, two things must happen so that our immune system can be ready to go into battle with cancer.

Both conditions can be automatically fulfilled when a natural infection takes place. A high fever will remove the probiotics that live in the mouth and airway. Diarrhea will remove probiotics in the gut. Reduced appetites will also starve the probiotics in the gut. Pathogens and the damage they cause stimulate the immune system.

Story continues

For example, in the miracle of Anne Theresa described above, the chickenpox infection stimulated Anne's immune system. She had a high fever which inhibited the growth of probiotics in the airway. Drinking only Coca-Cola provided no fiber (food) to the gut probiotics. Without those probiotics, her immune system mobilized at a high level so it could fight the chickenpox virus and the leukemia cells without reservation.

Cancer miracles may happen more frequently if we do these things intentionally. Stimulating the immune system and removing brakes (the friendly bacteria) are both necessary to kick-start the immune system.

How to remove probiotics from your system

Probiotics need food to survive, and so you can slow down their growth by not giving them food. Han said, "I personally did a liquid-only fast (two cups cranberry juice, about 200 calories each day) for a week together with intensified oral hygiene."

How do you activate the immune system?

Recent studies of germ-free mice tested in a sterilized environment where there are no pathogens or probiotics3 indirectly show that removal of probiotics by itself will not activate the immune system.

Some cancer may stimulate the immune system, while most do not.

Therefore, in most cases, one will need vaccines or pathogens to stimulate the immune system. Currently, it is not known how strong the stimulation should be. Stimulation from common cold virus might be too weak. Can controlled chickenpox infection be applied? Only future study will tell.

A bio-firm is developing cancer treatment with Dengue virus stimulating an immune response.4 It is not certain if they included any procedure to remove the brakes.

Instead of using real pathogens/vaccines, controlled infusion of a proper combination of cytokines may be another way to stimulate the immune system.5

The stimulation of the immune system should be done the same time as removing the probiotics in both the airway and gut. Repetitive stimulation may be needed. This method can work alone or be used to improve the performance of modern immune therapy such as PD-1 blocker.

In addition to the explanation of the cancer miracle, the TNT theory suggests other beneficial health practices as well, such as how to prevent allergies, how to recover from a cold faster and why you should keep a fever.

Please check related blogs at allerpops.com/blogs/.

Contact:Cliff HanFounder of AllerPops and owner of Knoze Jr505-695-4236 233085@email4pr.comhttps://www.allerpops.com

References:

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mechanism-of-natural-cancer-regression-revealed-through-theory-behind-allerpops-300994081.html

SOURCE Knoze Jr Corp

The rest is here:
Mechanism of Natural Cancer Regression Revealed Through Theory Behind AllerPops - Yahoo Finance

Cases of the flu spiked statewide in Connecticut, with more than 250 people hospitalized and three more deaths in the past week.

According to the Department of Health, the flu is currently widespread statewide, with a total of 1,036 influenza-related hospitalizations reported since the beginning of the flu season.

As of Saturday, Jan. 25, there has been a total of 23 deaths reported, all from residents over the age of 65. No pediatric deaths have been tied to the flu.

There were 4,684 positive influenza tests reported to the Department of Health, with the percentage of emergency department visits for influenza-like illness up 14.36 percent statewide, higher than at this time last year. Influenza-like illnesses were at 7.39 percent, up from 5.87 percent last week.

Nationally, there have been there has been no less than 9.7 million flu illnesses, 87,000 hospitalizations and 4,800 deaths from flu during the current flu season, and health officials said things are expected to get worse before they get better.

In 2018 and 2019, 3,506 people were hospitalized with influenza-associated illness in Connecticut and 88 people died.

According to health officials, "in Connecticut, the Department of Public Health uses multiple systems to monitor circulating influenza viruses. During the influenza season, weekly flu updates are posted from October of the current year, through May of the following year."

The CDC said that reported cases of the flu tend to increase in November before peaking between December and February. Flu season typically lasts through the middle of the spring.

The organization estimates that flu has resulted in between 9.2 million and 35.6 million illnesses each year in the United States and several deaths. Of those illnesses, an estimated 9 percent were hospitalized.

According to the CDC, the flu infects the respiratory tract. As the infection progresses, the bodys immune system responds to fight the virus.

"This results in inflammation that can trigger respiratory symptoms such as a cough and sore throat. The immune system response can also trigger fever and cause muscle or body aches.

"When infected persons cough, sneeze, or talk, they can spread influenza viruses in respiratory droplets to people who are nearby. People might also get flu by touching a contaminated surface or object that has flu virus on it and then touching their own mouth or nose.

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Connecticut Sees Spike In Number Of Flu Cases - Daily Voice

The epicenter of Chinas coronavirus outbreak is widely thought to be a wet market in Wuhan. At such markets, seafood, chicken, and other conventional foodstuffs are on sale alongside live animals. You can buy more than just dogs and cats there. Local epicures also shop for more exotic fare like foxes, badgers, civets, and snakes.

The coronavirus is a pathogen that jumps from animals to humans. The wet market is the perfect environment for the disease to incubate, mutate, and eventually infect the unwary.

Think of Washington, D.C. as Americas political wet market.

Donald Trump is Patient Zero for Americas "kings disease," which is the metonymic translation of coronavirus.

Washington is a place where ordinary politics takes place. But sometimes exotic species are introduced into the nations capital. And thats when a new disease can incubate and mutate and spread throughout the system.

Donald Trump is Patient Zero for Americas kings disease, which is the metonymic translation of coronavirus. His delusions of grandeur were always dangerously infectious, but they only became lethal when he took up residence in the White House.

As Trump came into contact with the ordinary Republican members of Congress, the disease leaped into the American body politic. Virtually the entire Republican Party began to treat the president not as the head of state or the head of the party but as a kingand thus above politics and not subject to the same congressional constraints as previous presidents.

Political scientists are frankly incapable of explaining the current impeachment saga in Washington. It takes an epidemiologist to figure out how a set of politicians, with a wide range of intellectual capabilities from grandmaster to moron, can all deny over and over again the clear evidence in front of their eyes that the president committed impeachable offenses.

Sure, they are marching in lockstep with the party leadership. But it really seems as if theyre suffering from a more serious infection when so many of them have refused to accept the admission of more evidence even as they insist that the existing evidence is insufficient.

Trumpism is not, of course, restricted to the political wet market of Washington, D.C. Plenty of Americans scattered across the country are willing to kneel down before the putative king.

Its unclear how to address this larger outbreak or even if its possible. After all, despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, two-thirds of Trump supporters back in 2016 still believed Obama to be a Muslim. Theyve since added more Trump-inspired conspiracy theories to the list, such as Ukraines supposed involvement in hacking the 2016 presidential election. As with mad cow disease, there simply might not be a cure for this political dementia.

But the continuing outbreak of Trumpism goes beyond the headlines about Republican derangement syndrome in Washington or the fever dreams of the presidents so-called base. An equally concerning problem is how Trumpism has infected the entire American system. This is where the political coronavirus actually threatens lives.

Indeed, this systemic infection has put American democracy on life support.

But This Is Evil

Omar Ameen risked his life to bring his family to America. He didnt have a choice.

Born in Iraq, Ameen worried that he and his whole family would be killed by someone taking revenge for the crimes of his cousin, who belonged to al-Qaeda. He left for Turkey in 2012 and, after an exhaustive set of interviews with U.S. screeners, made it into the United States in 2014.

For four years, as Ben Taub relates in a fascinating story in The New Yorker, Ameen worked hard in America to provide for his family. In July 2018, however, U.S. authorities arrested him on the grounds that he had acted on behalf of the Islamic State by killing a police officer in Iraq. The Trump administration had determined that Ameen was a terrorist, one of those bad skittles that Donald Trump Jr. once tweeted about. A network of federal agencies worked overtime to compile an airtight case against Ameen.

The only problem was: Ameen was not in Iraq when the guard was killed. And he could prove it.

This proof, however, didnt seem to matter. The government pursued its case against Ameen regardless, arguing that any evidence gathered after Ameens arrest was only admissible in an Iraqi court, which meant that Ameen would have to be deported. In Iraq, meanwhile, a fair trial is unlikely. Suspected terrorists are routinely tortured into making confessions and then either executed or detained indefinitely.

Its bad enough when Donald Trump lies about, for instance, the big terrorist threat coming from refugees when, in fact, there are virtually no refugee terrorists (aside from several anti-Castro Cubans who arrived before 1980).

Its even worse when the entire federal government is restructured around this lie, when the federal agencies perpetuate this lie on a daily basis, and when innocent people like Omar Ameen get caught up in the web of these lies.

Ameens lawyer, Ben Galloway has been losing sleep over the case.

Its not the stress of going into the hearingits the trauma of coming out of it, the trauma of realizing what theyre doing. Its unconscionable. Seeing the level of infection, this willingness to go along, it makes me realize that we are not safe I hope we can recover from it. I hope we can regain institutional integrity in some of these agencies. None of them is perfectthey all have problematic historiesbut this is evil.

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Mark those words: level of infection. As I said, it takes an epidemiologist to understand the impact of Trumpism on American institutions.

At the Border

It used to be difficult but not impossible to seek asylum at the border. Now, thanks to the Trump administration, its simply impossible.

If the desperate manage to get an interview, which itself is a major challenge, they meet with asylum officers. The Trump administration, arguing that people from south of the border in particular are lying about their cases, has tightened the eligibility requirements by adopting what it calls the Migration Protection Protocols (MPP).

Tightened the eligibility requirementsthats actually a euphemism. The Trump administration has violated international law by refusing asylum to those who face a risk of harm if theyre sent back to the country they left. Some asylum officers, according to This American Life, protested the new rules. They didnt get anywhere.

As reporter Molly OToole explains:

So the standard today is upside down from what it used to be under credible fear. Instead of, lets err on the side of letting people in because we dont want anyone to be tortured or die, under MPP the standard is almost impossibly high, so almost nobody gets in.

In numerical terms, it works out to about one in a thousand (11 out of 10,000, according to Syracuse University). In human terms, it means that every day, U.S. asylum officers are sending people directly into harms way. The use of the phrase concentration camp to describe detention facilities begins to sound grimly appropriate.

Trumps Willing Executioners

Such is the banality of evil. The problem lies not just in the upper echelons of the Trump administration setting the rules. Its everyone down the chain of command who is executing those policies.

True, some people are quitting. Others are blowing the whistle, as weve seen in the cases of the courageous few who testified in the House impeachment hearings. But they are the exceptions. The system continues to function.

Its not just ICE or Homeland Security. A cadre of federal employees at the Department of the Interior is currently opening up public lands to drilling. The Pentagon is expediting millions of dollars of weapons sales to one of the most despicable regimes on the planet, Saudi Arabia. Officials at USAID are enforcing the global gag rule by cutting off funding to organizations that provide access to reproductive health and family planning.

All across the country, tens of thousands of people are implementing the Trump administrations egregious policies. Of course, not everyone working for the federal government is involved in such crimes. Thousands and thousands of civil servants are maintaining programs that the Trump administration has yet to alter or close down that offer essential services or direct critical resources to individuals and communities in need.

But in a post-Trump future, whenever that day comes, how will we deal with the myriad willing executionersto quote Daniel Goldhagens book on the complicity of ordinary Germans in the Holocaust? The contagion spreads far beyond Trump, his cabinet, the Republicans on the Hill, and a few familiar faces in the media.

Compromised Immune System

Trumpism is an acute outbreak of a chronic disease. Americas body politic has been seriously compromised for years.

In Democracy in Chains, Nancy McLean chronicles the efforts by economist James M. Buchanan, the Koch brothers, and a raft of conservative foundations to systematically reduce the influence of the majority of citizens in politics. They have done so through a variety of mechanisms: privatizing federal programs that hitherto had majority support, challenging the power of unions, empowering states at the expense of the federal center.

She asks:

Is what we are dealing with merely a social movement of the right whose radical ideas must eventually face public scrutiny and rise or fall on their merits? Or is this the story of something quite different, something never before seen in American history? Could it beand I use these words quite hesitantly and carefullya fifth-column assault on American democratic governance?

The forces that have engineered this hostile take-over of Washington, D.C. never imagined that Donald Trump would lead their movement. Neither did conservative evangelicals or the NRA. They all expected someone more sober-minded, more calculating, more consistently ideological. Still, a useful idiot is a useful idiot.

Trumpism is what happens when a compromised immune system meets an unusual pathogen. America might be lucky enough to remove the proximate cause of infection through a victory at the polls. The top tier of Trump appointees can then be removed from office.

Unless we address the underlying susceptibility of the body politic to diseases of this nature, however, such outbreaks will continue flaring up for years to come. America faces a political pandemic unlike any in the last 200-plus years. To eradicate this kings disease the last time around, didnt we have to fight a revolution?

Originally posted here:
Americas Coronavirus: Containing the Outbreak of Trumpism - Common Dreams

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The novel coronavirusthat's sickening thousands globally -- andat least five people in the US-- is inspiring countries to close their borders and Americans tobuy up surgical masksquicker than major retailers can restock them.

There's another virus that has infected 15 million Americans across the country and killed more than 8,200 people this season alone. It's not a new pandemic -- it's influenza.

The 2019-2020 flu season is projected to beone of the worst in a decade, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. At least 140,000 people have been hospitalized with complications from the flu, and that number is predicted to climb as flu activity swirls.

The flu is a constant in Americans' lives. It's that familiarity that makes it more dangerous to underestimate, said Dr. Margot Savoy, chair of Family and Community Medicine at Temple University's Lewis Katz School of Medicine.

"Lumping all the viral illness we tend to catch in the winter sometimes makes us too comfortable thinking everything is 'just a bad cold,'" she said. "We underestimate how deadly influenza really is."

Even the low-end estimate of deaths each year is startling, Savoy said: The Centers for Disease Control predictsat least 12,000 people will die from the fluin the US every year. In the 2017-2018 flu season, as many as 61,000 people died, and 45 million were sickened.

In the 2019-2020 season so far, 15 million people in the US have gotten the flu and 8,200 people have died from it, including at least 54 children. Flu activity has been elevated for 11 weeks straight, the CDC reported, and will likely continue for the next several weeks.

Savoy, who also serves on the American Academy of Family Physician's board of directors, said the novelty of emerging infections can overshadow the flu. People are less panicked about the flu because healthcare providers "appear to have control" over the infection.

"We fear the unknown and we crave information about new and emerging infections," she said. "We can't quickly tell what is truly a threat and what isn't, so we begin to panic -- often when we don't need to."

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Dr. Nathan Chomilo, an adjunct assistant professor of pediatrics at University of Minnesota Medical School, said that the commonness of the flu often underplays its severity, but people should take it seriously.

"Severe cases of the flu are not mild illnesses," Chomilo said. "Getting the actual flu, you are miserable."

The flu becomes dangerous when secondary infections emerge, the result of an already weakened immune system. Bacterial and viral infections compound the flu's symptoms. People with chronic illnesses are also at a heightened risk for flu complications.

Those complications include pneumonia, inflammation in the heart and brain and organ failure -- which, in some cases, can be fatal.

Chomilo, an internist and pediatrician for Park Nicollet Health Services, said this flu season has been one of the worst his Minnesota practice has seen since the H1N1 virus outbreak in 2009. Some of his patients, healthy adults in their 30s, have been sent to the Intensive Care Unit, relying on ventilators, due to flu complications.

Influenza is tricky because the virus changes every year. Sometimes, the dominant strain in a flu season will be more virulent than in previous years, which can impact the number of people infected and the severity of their symptoms.

Most of these changes in the virus are small and insignificant, a process called antigenic drift. That year's flu vaccine is mostly effective in protecting patients in spite of these small changes, said Melissa Nolan, an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina's School of Public Health.

Occasionally, the flu undergoes a rare antigenic shift, which results when a completely new strain of virus emerges that human bodies haven't experienced before, she said.

Savoy compares it to a block party: The body thinks it knows who -- or in this case, which virus -- will show up, and therefore, which virus it needs to keep out. But if a virus shows up in a completely new getup, it becomes difficult for the body's "bouncers" -- that's the immune system -- to know who to look for and keep out. The stealthy virus can infiltrate easily when the body doesn't recognize it.

This flu season, there's no sign of antigenic shift, the most extreme change. But it's happened before, most recently in 2009 with the H1N1 virus. It became a pandemic because people had no immunity against it, theCDC reported.

To avoid complications from the flu, Savoy, Chomilo and Nolan have the same recommendation: Get vaccinated.

It's not easy to tell how flu vaccination rates impact the number of people infected, but Savoy said it seems that the years she struggles to get her patients vaccinated are the years when more patients end up hospitalized with the flu, even if the total number of infections doesn't budge.

The CDC reported at least173 million flu vaccine doseshave been administered this flu season so far -- that's about 4 million more doses than the manufacturers who make the vaccines projected to provide this season.

Still, there are some who decide skipping the vaccine is worth the risk. A2017 studyfound that people decline the flu vaccine because they don't think it's effective or they're worried it's unsafe, even though CDCresearch showsthe vaccine effectively reduces the risk of flu in up to 60% of the population.

Chomilo said some of his most frustrating cases of the flu are in patients who can't be vaccinated because of preexisting conditions or their age (children under 6 months old can't be vaccinated).

There are two important reasons to get the flu vaccine, he said -- "Protecting yourself and being a good community member."

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Virus has claimed more than 8,000 lives this season, but its not a new pandemic - CBS 4 Indianapolis

Ever since the coronavirus was identified by Chinese officials in early January, news reports have alerted us to its escalation on an almost hourly basis. With over 4,000 cases in China, 106 of which have proved fatal, new outbreaks of the virus have since been confirmed in Australia, Canada, France and Germany. A respiratory infection similar to SARS, the nature of the coronavirus means it has the potential to spread far and wide, and quickly.

If the virus is actually as contagious as is being currently asserted, modern air travel and the purported time of incubation and asymptomatic status (about two weeks) really means it can spread anywhere on the planet, says cardiologist and vitamin C expert Dr Thomas E. Levy. As with nearly all other contagious viruses, spread is most commonly due to airborne virus in microdroplets from sneezing, coughing and the exhalation of infected individuals.

A sensible first step? A strong immune system is really the only significant protection for an individual, says Dr Levy. And a great deal of immune system strength comes from the vitamin C content in the immune cells. When the levels of vitamin C in the body are low, the immune system can never function at full capacity, he adds. (To boost your natural defences try a daily dose of oral supplementation, anywhere up to 2000mg.)

Understandably, the possibility of a pandemic is enough to cause serious panic. While avoiding exposure to anyone likely affected is an obvious precaution, there are practical ways you can protect yourself and allay your worries. Here are Vogues tips to help you keep calm and carry on.

Read more: Does A Pillow Spray Have The Power To Revolutionise Your Sex Life?

Washing your hands frequently isnt just good daily etiquette, its the first line of defence when it comes to warding off the spread of infection. For the most effective results apply warm water to your hands before lathering up with your chosen soap Floriss Luxury Hand Washes make the job more enjoyable. Scrub vigorously for at least 20 seconds to kill any germs, making sure you reach every part including the backs of your hands and under your fingernails, then rinse well and dry. If the occasion means its impossible to get to running water, then a hand sanitiser will suffice; just ensure it contains at least 60 per cent alcohol, which is enough to get to work eliminating almost all classes of germ immediately. When it comes to mixing form and function, Byredos Rinse-Free Hand Wash, (25) does a sterling job: combining Scandi-chic packaging with breezy florals and soft musks, it makes pulling it out of your handbag every hour a pleasure, rather than a chore.

While you might be more familiar with the power of LED therapy when it comes to treating myriad skin ailments (everything from increasing collagen and bounce in the skin to fading acne scars), its also an effective tool in combatting feelings of stress and anxiety. Near-Infrared has a balancing effect on cortisol, which is commonly referred to as the stress hormone, while happy hormones like serotonin and dopamine are triggered by the lights, explains The Light Salon co-founder Laura Ferguson. Add to that the sensation of warmth that gently spreads over your skin for the duration of the treatment, and chances are youll re-emerge much more zen than you went in. Plus, of course, glowing, healthy skin is always a welcome bonus. For a quick but effective blast of bliss without even having to remove your make-up, book in for The Pick-Me-Up (35 for 15mins) at The Light Salon.

Read more: How To Survive A Hormone Crisis In Your Twenties

Meditation can play a key role in providing a sense of clarity and perspective during times of intense worry, something youll already know if youre one of the 40 million global users of the Headspace app. On a physical level, things like meditation, sound healing, reiki healing and breathwork kick in your parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for rest and relaxation, and tone down your fight or flight response, explains Yulia Kovaleva, Founder of Re:Mind Studio. To engage with this ancient relaxation technique, regardless of your experience or skill, Yulia suggests the simple step of connecting with your breath. Breathe in, collecting all the tension and tight feelings around your chest, and then exhale. Imagine it moving down through your body, down to your belly, into your pelvis and all the way down into your feet and leaving your body, releasing it into the ground. Best of all, the practice can be done anywhere and anytime, even (and perhaps aptly) on the Central line at 8am.

Not just a way to perk up your evening bath, aromatherapy has a proven impact on issues including depression and insomnia. As we breathe the essential oil, some constituents are absorbed through the nose via the olfactory bulb which communicates with the limbic system, says Annee de Mamiel, aromatherapist and skin practitioner. The limbic system is directly connected to those parts of the brain that control heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, memory, stress levels and hormone balance. Harness the potency by sprinkling a few drops of an inhalation blend inside a tissue; de Mamiels Altitude Oil (30) was created to help protect the immune system and contains linalool-rich lavender to relax the mind, and antiviral eucalyptus, pine and lemon myrtle to fight bacteria and viral pathogens.

Even if not directly affected by trauma, often the thought of perceived risk is enough to make us feel anxious. To set your mind at ease, enlist the help of an herbal tincture to soothe frayed nerves, re-establish a sense of equilibrium and sharpen brain function. Lauded in Ayurvedic medicine, studies have shown that ashwagandha, also known as Indian ginseng, is an adaptogenic herb (meaning it can help your body handle stress better) that can have a significant effect on fighting symptoms of anxiety by modulating cortisol. Try adding a teaspoon to your morning smoothie, or mixing with warm milk and honey before bed.

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5 Ways To Avoid Freaking Out About The Coronavirus - British Vogue

Mikhail V. Pletnikov has been named professor and chair of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.

The appointment was announced by Michael Cain, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School.

Dr. Pletnikov rapidly emerged as our top candidate possessing the administrative, scientific, leadership and visionary skills needed to move the department forward and further align the department with the Jacobs Schools strategic plans, Cain said in a statement.

Pletnikov, a native of Moscow, Russia, will relocate to Buffalo and join UB on July 1. He will be accompanied by his wife, Olga Pletnikova.

I feel honored to be appointed to this position, Pletnikov said. I am grateful to the members of the search committee, the faculty of the department and personally to Dr. Cain for placing their trust in me to lead the department. I look forward to working with the faculty, staff and students to support and promote education and biomedical research in the department and the school.

On a personal note, Olga and I are excited to move to Buffalo, he said. As for its weather, I am sure we will appreciate all four seasons there as, after all, we used to live in Moscow.

Pletnikov will succeed Perry Hogan, who has served as department chair since 2015.

Pletnikovs research focuses on understanding how neurons and non-neuronal cells (glial cells) interact with one another to support critical brain functions, including emotion and cognition. He also studies the mechanisms whereby the brain regulates functions of different organs in the body and itself is influenced by peripheral systems, particularly the immune system and the gut.

A growing number of studies suggest that abnormalities in these complex interactions lead to the development of disorders of the brain and peripheral organs, he said. Targeting cells, processes and pathways involved in the brain-periphery interplay is emerging as a new promising direction in treatment of complex brain disorders.

Pletnikovs research has been published in numerous journals. He lectures nationally and internationally, and serves on the editorial boards of leading scientific journals in his field, including Genes, Brains and Behavior; Biobehavioral Review; and Biological Psychiatry.

He received his doctorate in medicine from the I.M. Sechenov Moscow Medical Institute and his PhD in normal physiology from the PK Anokhin Institute of Normal Physiology in Moscow. He completed his postdoctoral training in behavioral neuroscience and neurovirology at Johns Hopkins University .

In 2000, Pletnikov joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins as an assistant professor and is currently a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, neuroscience, and molecular and comparative pathology.

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Jacobs School names chair of Physiology and Biophysics - UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff - University at Buffalo Reporter

As the emerging Wuhan coronavirus outbreak dominates the daily news, you might be wondering just how the pathogen is working its way around the world. This virus travels from place to place by infecting one person at a time. Some sick people might not spread the virus much further, but it looks like some people infected with the novel coronavirus are what epidemiologists call super spreaders.

Elizabeth McGraw, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics at Pennsylvania State University, explains just what that means and why super spreaders can be crucial to a diseases transmission.

Researchers currently estimate that a person carrying the Wuhan coronaviruswill, on average, infect approximately 2.6 people.

Recent reports out of Wuhan also cite a case of a single patient who infected 14 health care workers. That qualifies him as a super spreader: someone who is responsible for infecting an especially large number of other people.

During an emerging outbreak, epidemiologists want to determine whether super spreaders are part of the picture. Their existence can accelerate the rate of new infections or substantially expand the geographic distribution of the disease.

In response to super spreaders, officials can recommend various ways to limit their impact and slow the spread of disease, depending on how the pathogen is transmitted. Pathogens transmitted via air droplets, contaminated surfaces, sexual contact, needles, food or drinking water will require different interventions. For example, the recommendation for face masks would be specific to airborne transmission, while hand-washing and surface sterilization are needed for germs that can live for a while on surfaces.

Whether someone is a super spreader or not will depend on some combination of the pathogen and the patients biology and their environment or behavior at the given time. And in a society with so much global connectivity, the ability to move pathogens rapidly across great distances, often before people are even aware they are sick, helps create environments ripe for super spreading.

Some infected individuals might shed more virus into the environment than others because of how their immune system works. Highly tolerant people do not feel sick and so may continue about their daily routines, inadvertently infecting more people. Alternatively, people with weaker immune systems that allow very high amounts of virus replication may be very good at transmitting even if they reduce their contacts with others. Individuals who have more symptoms for example, coughing or sneezing more can also be better at spreading the virus to new human hosts.

A persons behaviors, travel patterns and degree of contact with others can also contribute to super spreading. An infected shopkeeper might come in contact with a large number of people and goods each day. An international business traveler may crisscross the globe in a short period of time. A sick health care worker might come in contact with large numbers of people who are especially susceptible, given the presence of other underlying illnesses.

There are a number of historical examples of super spreaders. The most famous is Typhoid Mary, who in the early 20th century purportedly infected 51 people with typhoid through the food she prepared as a cook. Since Mary was an asymptomatic carrier of the bacteria, she didnt feel sick, and so was not motivated to use good hand-washing practices.

During the last two decades, super spreaders have started a number of measles outbreaks in the United States. Sick, unvaccinated individuals visited densely crowded places like schools, hospitals, airplanes and theme parks where they infected many others.

Super spreaders have also played a key role in the outbreaks of other coronaviruses, including SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome). A traveler sick with SARS and staying in a Hong Kong hotel infected a number of overseas guests who then returned home and introduced the virus into four other countries.

For both SARS and MERS, super spreading commonly occurred in hospitals, with scores of people being infected at a time. In South Korea in 2015, one MERS patient infected over 80 other patients, medical personnel and visitors in a crowded emergency department over a three-day period. In this case, proximity to the original patient was the biggest risk factor for getting sick.

Yes. Some scientists estimate that in any given outbreak, 20% of the population is usually responsible for causing over 80% of all cases of the disease. Researchers have identified super spreaders in outbreaks of diseases from those caused by bacteria, such as tuberculosis, as well as those caused by viruses, including measles, MERS and Ebola.

The good news is that with the right control practices specific to how pathogens are transmitted hand-washing, masks, quarantine, vaccination and so on the transmission rate can be slowed and epidemics halted.

This article has been updated to correct a typo concerning the disease Typhoid Mary spread.

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What is a super spreader? An infectious disease expert explains - The Conversation US

Most of us think of inflammation as the redness and swelling that follow a wound, infection or injury, such as an ankle sprain, or from overdoing a sport, "tennis elbow," for example. This is "acute" inflammation, a beneficial immune system response that encourages healing, and usually disappears once the injury improves.

But chronic inflammation is less obvious and often more insidious.

Chronic inflammation begins without an apparent cause - and doesn't stop. The immune system becomes activated, but the inflammatory response isn't intermittent, as it is during an acute injury or infection. Rather, it stays on all the time at a low level.

Experts think this may be the result of an infection that doesn't resolve, an abnormal immune reaction or such lifestyle factors as obesity, poor sleep or exposure to environmental toxins. Over time, the condition can, among other things, damage DNA and lead to heart disease, cancer and other serious disorders.

"Unlike acute inflammation, which benefits health by promoting healing and recovery, chronic inflammation is characterized by persistent increases in inflammatory proteins all throughout the body and can damage health and promote several major diseases," says George Slavich, associate professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA, referring to small proteins called cytokines that the immune system releases at the site of an injury to promote recovery.

"People typically don't know that they have chronic inflammation until it's too late," he says.

Individuals often learn they have chronic inflammation when they develop an autoimmune disease, such as Crohn's disease, lupus or Type 1 diabetes, since inflammation is a hallmark of autoimmune disorders. But experts believe chronic inflammation also plays a role in developing heart disease, cancer, kidney disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, neurodegenerative disorders, cognitive decline and mental health illnesses, such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia.

Scientists are still learning about why chronic inflammation is so dangerous and how it contributes to disease. Meanwhile, they suggest actions people can take to reduce their risk, specifically by changing certain behaviors.

Numerous factors appear to raise the risk of chronic inflammation, among them social isolation, psychological stress, disturbed sleep, chronic infections, physical inactivity, poor diet, obesity and exposure to air pollutants, hazardous waste products, industrial chemicals and tobacco smoke.

Experts believe individuals can reduce their risk by adopting lifestyle changes, including eating a healthy diet, improving sleep, exercising regularly, quitting smoking and finding ways to decrease stress and exposure to environmental pollutants.

"Diet is one of the key factors that influences inflammation in the body," Slavich says. "Whereas fried foods, red meat, sodas, and white bread and pastries that have refined carbohydrates tend to increase inflammation, fruits, nuts, green leafy vegetables, tomatoes and olive oil tend to reduce inflammation. Therefore, while diet is not the only factor that can be targeted to improve immune health, it is an important one."

Scientists think chronic inflammation causes oxidative stress in the body, which is an imbalance between the production of dangerous free radicals, molecules that harm healthy tissue in the body, and antioxidants, substances that clean up waste products and neutralize them. This can damage DNA as well as proteins and fatty tissue, which in turn accelerates biological aging.

"Chronic inflammation is involved in not just a few select disorders but a wide variety of very serious physical and mental health conditions," says Slavich, senior author of a recent paper signed by scientists from 22 institutions urging greater prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of severe chronic inflammation. "Indeed, chronic inflammatory diseases are the most significant cause of death in the world today, with more than 50 percent of all deaths being attributable to inflammation-related diseases."

Researchers still don't understand the exact mechanisms of how certain behaviors influence chronic inflammation, although a few examples are clear. In heart disease, for example, cigarette smoking and air pollution irritate the arteries, which stimulates inflammation.

"The 'damage accumulation' theory is a possibility, but the reality is that we do not know whether inflammation is causing these health and functional problems, or whether it's an indication that some other process is evolving that undermines health," says Luigi Ferrucci, scientific director of the National Institute on Aging. "The evidence is clearer for cardiovascular disease, since it has been demonstrated that blocking inflammation with specific drugs prevents cardiovascular events. For the other outcomes, it's still uncertain."

Chronic inflammation can contribute to cognitive decline and mental health disorders by boosting age-related immune system deterioration, known as immunosenescence, and by promoting vascular and brain aging, which, in combination, degrade neural and cognitive function, experts say.

"Chronic inflammation can also cause threat sensitivity and hypervigilance, which gives rise to anxiety disorders and PTSD, as well as fatigue and social-behavioral withdrawal, which are key symptoms of depression," Slavich says.

Scientists say more research is needed to identify biomarkers or other substances that suggest the presence of chronic inflammation.

There are probably hundreds of these potential diagnostic tools produced by the immune system, but they remain unidentified, Slavich says.

The most widely used test measures levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood. CRP, a substance produced by the liver, rises when chronic inflammation is present, although the standard CRP test is nonspecific - that is, it indicates inflammation, but cannot pinpoint exactly where it is. A second, more sensitive test (hs-CRP) suggests a higher risk of heart attack, although it too can be imprecise.

Some doctors screen for CRP as part of routine physical exams and also among people at risk for heart disease and autoimmune conditions. Experts think wider screening could identify more patients. "This isn't a bad idea," Ferrucci says.

Another test - this one more specific to heart disease - screens for myeloperoxidase, or MPO, an enzyme released by white blood cells that kills harmful bacteria in inflamed blood vessels. Increases in MPO can be dangerous, causing further damage to arterial walls, which encourages the formation of clots. These, in turn, can block blood flow, leading to heart attack and stroke. MPO also reduces the effectiveness of HDL, the "good" cholesterol, and removes nitric oxide, which is important for the regulation of healthy blood flow.

The good news, however, is that people worried about developing chronic inflammation can take affirmative steps to prevent it.

"If we make people aware of these risk factors, our hope is that individuals will reduce the factors that apply to them," Slavich says.

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Chronic inflammation is dangerous, and you may not even know you have it - Burlington Times News

By Robin Young andNicole ClarkSUN Columnist

Ever noticed how the onset of winter weather tends to increase the frequency of illness? While weather does play a role, it is not the direct cause. Rather, place blame on the true culprits causing your illness; for example rhinovirus (common cold) and influenza virus (flu).

The connection between winter and illnessThe connection lies in the fact that cold, dry weather is the preferred environment for pathogens to replicate and thrive. Consequently, your body is exposed to more germs during winter. Aside from heading south when temperatures drop, your next best bet is to prepare for battle. Fortunately, with the right support, your body is equipped with a highly efficient immune system.

Your immune system in a nutshellThis defense system is composed of many specialized cells, which are generally referred to as white blood cells. The first responsibility of immune cells is to recognize foreign pathogens in your body. Once recognized, the next step is to destroy them. Finally, your immune cells memorize the pathogen in order to destroy it quickly upon the next exposure. Coordinating this effort is a full-time job, requiring immune cells to function at the top of their game.

Support your hardworking immune systemSupport for your immune system includes everything from diet to physical activity to hygiene. Here are a few suggestions on what you can do and why it works.

Vitamin DEat or consume foods high in vitamin D, which helps your immune cells recognize unwanted bacteria.Considerable controversy exists among health professionals regarding the definition of vitamin D deficiency. Consult with your provider for information specific to you.Eat 3 ounces of fish one to three times a week. Fish such as salmon, herring, tuna and trout are good sources of dietary vitamin D.Incorporate mushrooms into your diet. Mushrooms are a great source of vitamin D and phytochemicals, both of which support your immune system.Try adding mushrooms to soups, sauces and casseroles. The water in these dishes extracts the phytochemicals found in mushrooms such as button, oyster and shiitake.Other good sources of vitamin D include fortified dairy milk, plant-based milk or juices.

Move your bodyShort bouts (15 minutes) of moderate-intensity exercise help boost immune function.Moderate intensity means you are breathing harder than normal, but can still talk.

Early to bed, later to riseDuring sleep, the body not only produces immune cells, but also enhances existing cells ability to quickly respond to disease-causing microorganisms known as pathogens.Aim for seven to nine hours when you are feeling well.

Feed gut microbes with fiberComplex carbohydrates such as those found in lentils, beans, barley and oats (to name a few) feed the bacteria in your gut.Gut microbes convert complex carbs to short-chain fatty acids that, once absorbed, help immune cells recognize and destroy pathogens.Plus, short-chain fatty acids strengthen the epithelial cells lining your intestine, thus improving your natural barrier to pathogens.

Wash your hands frequentlyThe best defense starts externally.Prevent the introduction of pathogens into your mouth or nose by washing hands often.

If all else failsIf all else fails, rest, recover, hydrate and stay warm.Contrary to human tendency, when you begin to feel ill, the quickest route to recovery means taking some down time, no matter how busy you are.

Upcoming eventsJanuary/February: Support your local 4-H Program by purchasing soup from a 4-H member.Feb. 11: The 36th annual Beef Symposium will be held at the Archuleta County Extension office. The cost is $25 per person and includes lunch. Please call the Extension office at 264-5931 for more information and to register.Feb. 12: The Agricultural Financial Management Strategies workshop, hosted by the CSU Agriculture and Business Management Team, will cover topics such as risk management, business planning, enterprise budgeting, record keeping and more. Please go to http://www.2020fms.eventbrite.com to register or come into the office to pay. The cost is $15.

CPR and first aid classesCPR and first aid certification classes are offered monthly by the CSU Extension office on the second Monday and Wednesday of each month from 6 to 10 p.m. Anyone needing to receive or renew certification can register by calling the Extension office at 264-5931.We will also attempt to schedule classes on additional dates with five or more registrations. Cost for the classes is $80 for combined CPR/first aid and $55 for CPR, first aid or recertification. The type of first aid information provided will vary by the needs of the audience.

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By Pagosa Springs SUN Online

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Extension Viewpoints: Winter weather and illness prevention - Pagosa Springs Sun

Most of us try our best to live a healthy lifestyle by exercising and eating right and for good reason. Maintaining our health helps ensure that our immune system, our body's defense system that protects against foreign invaders, is strong. Without a fighting immune system, we become susceptible to all sorts of infectious diseases and viruses.

Staying hydrated is one way to boost your immune system. Make it a habit to drink a glass first thing in the morning.

Credit: EmirMemedovski/E+/GettyImages

There are big things we can do to keep our immune systems healthy, including eating right, exercising and staying up-to-date with vaccines, but there are also small things we can do on a daily basis to keep our body's defense system in tip-top shape.

In that spirit, here are nine everyday microhabits that can help boost your immune system and keep your body healthy.

Even if you don't smoke, you may suffer from the damage it can cause to parts of your immune system if you are exposed to it secondhand, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Chronic secondhand smoke exposure causes inflammation of both upper and lower respiratory tract and impairs the immune system's ability to produce antibodies in response to exposure to bacteria," explains Julia Blank, MD, family medicine physician at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. "This leads to decreased clearance of bacteria from the lungs and increases asthma flares, which can both make a person more vulnerable to infection."

Try to avoid places where you'll be exposed to secondhand smoke, and ask others around you to get in the habit of going outside if and when they smoke.

Protein is an essential component of a healthy immune system.

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Protein is a vital nutrient for many reasons. It helps the body build and repair tissue, and it's also the centerpiece of a healthy immune system, says Roger Adams, PhD, personal trainer, doctor of nutrition and owner of eatrightfitness.

Research, including a March 2016 study in Food & Function, has shown that protein from high-quality sources (i.e. lean meat) is essential for optimal health. "If protein intake is poor, it can impair the body's ability to make antibodies, large proteins produced by the immune system in response to the invasion of foreign molecules," Adams says. "Without sufficient protein to make antibodies, the immune system loses its ability to fight infections."

Protein can be easier to come by at lunch or dinnertime, so breakfast is the perfect meal to squeeze in more.

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends getting 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram (or 2.2 pounds) of body weight each day, but keep in mind that people who are active need more. Weight-lifters or those training for a running or cycling event should eat between 1.2 to 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily. To put that into perspective, a weight-lifter who weighs 170 pounds should be getting somewhere between 92 and 131 grams of protein each day.

This one might sound obvious, but too few people actually wash their hands well enough to eliminate illness-causing bacteria. In fact, one April 2013 study published in the Journal of Environmental Health observed the hand-washing behavior of nearly 4,000 people and found that as many as 95 percent don't wash their hands for a long enough time after going to the bathroom.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends washing your hands for at least 20 seconds to minimize germ exposure and keep the immune system from getting overwhelmed.

Sing the "Happy Birthday" song twice through as you soap up your hands to make sure you're hitting the 20-second mark.

All fruits and vegetables are beneficial for our health, but some can do more for our immune system than others. The cream of the crop are the ones rich in color, as they tend to have more nutrients, Adams says.

"The more colors, the more antioxidants, which the body uses to fight off free radicals that may contribute to cellular damage," he says. "Also, these foods are loaded with vitamins and minerals essential for a healthy immune system."

Unfortunately, most people aren't getting enough. For adults, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends eating two cups of brightly colored fruits and two to three cups of vibrant veggies per day. But even one extra serving will do you good.

Learn how to fill your plate with healthy, nutrient-dense foods by logging your meals on the MyPlate app. Download now to fine-tune your diet today!

Getting enough sleep can help boost your immune system.

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Sleep is essential to a healthy, functioning immune system. One February 2019 study in the_ Journal of Experimental Medicine_ found that a good night's sleep can boost the efficiency of T cells in the body, a type of white blood cell that helps the body fight off viruses.

"Many people stay up late and miss the opportunity to boost their immunity by proper sleep hygiene," says Shiva Lalezar, DO, functional medicine and anti-aging specialist. "The adrenal glands, which produce cortisol (the stress hormone), epinephrine and norepinephrine, get disrupted by poor or inadequate sleep, which, in turn has a negative impact on the immune system."

In order to go to bed at a proper hour, you have to create a healthy bedtime routine, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Start by giving yourself a curfew for example, head to bed at 10 p.m. every night and avoiding stimulating activities for at least four hours prior. Just like you set an alarm to wake up in the morning, set one to remind you to start winding down for sleep.

Staying hydrated by drinking enough water on a day-to-day basis will also give your immune system a boost.

"Dry mucous membranes and cracked skin can all be areas pathogens can invade your body," says Adams. "Staying hydrated will reduce dryness in essential areas, like the mucus membranes in your nose, and give your body's natural resources a better chance at warding off pathogens."

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends that men drink approximately 15.5 cups and women get 11.5 cups of H2O each day. Start by downing a glass first thing in the morning to start your day on the right foot.

According to Lalezar, a shot of ginger and lemon juice a day can help reduce inflammation and boost immunity.

"Ginger is a rich antioxidant and is antibacterial, and lemon is high in vitamin C, is an antioxidant and has antiviral and antibacterial properties," she says.

She recommends pre-mixing lemon juice with two tablespoons of minced or chopped ginger and keeping it in the fridge for a few weeks. "The lemon juice will act as a preservative to keep the ginger fresh during that time."

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7 Microhabits to Easily Boost Your Immune System - LIVESTRONG.COM

News Release

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Findings represent progress toward an HIV cure.

In a range of experiments, scientists have reactivated resting immune cells that were latently infected with HIV or its monkey relative, SIV, in cells in the bloodstream and a variety of tissues in animals. As a result, the cells started making copies of the viruses, which could potentially be neutralized by anti-HIV drugs and the immune system. This advance, published today in two papers in the journal Nature, marks progress toward a widely accessible cure for HIV.

The new research was conducted by investigators from the Collaboratory of AIDS Researchers for Eradication (CARE) based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and from the Emory Consortium for Innovative AIDS Research (E-CIAR) in Nonhuman Primates, both funded by the National Institutes of Health. Scientists from ViiV Healthcare and Qura Therapeutics collaborated on the research. CARE is part of the Martin Delaney Collaboratories for HIV Cure Research, the flagship NIH-supported HIV cure research program. The joint efforts of scientists from a variety of specialties made the new findings possible.

A simple, safe and scalable cure for HIV is an aspirational goal that, if achieved, would accelerate progress toward ending the HIV pandemic, said Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of NIH. These new findings help sustain our cautious optimism that an HIV cure is possible.

While consistent antiretroviral therapy (ART) maintains the health of people living with HIV and prevents transmission of the virus, it is not a cure. Developing an HIV cure has been extremely difficult due to the persistence of viral reservoirs, where the virus hides from the immune system. These reservoirs consist of HIV-infected cells containing HIV genetic material that can generate new virus particles if a persons treatment is interrupted. The cells have entered a resting state that they maintain until they are activated to produce the virus. The immune system cannot recognize and kill HIV-infected cells in a resting state, and ART has no effect on them.

Consequently, scientists have been attempting to activate the HIV reservoir so therapeutic agents or an enhanced immune system can recognize and kill the infected cells, eliminating HIV. This strategy is often called kick and kill. Previous attempts to reactivate or kick the HIV reservoir worked well in the laboratory but were either ineffective or too toxic when tested in animals and people.

One of todays reports describes the testing of a compound called AZD5582, which belongs to a class of molecules that have proven safe as experimental cancer therapeutics.

CARE scientists obtained 20 mice with human immune systems, infected the animals with HIV, and then gave them ART that suppressed the virus. Next, the scientists injected AZD5582 into 10 of the mice and a placebo into the other 10.

Within 48 hours, high levels of HIV RNA were detected in the blood of six of the AZD5582-treated mice. HIV RNA levels in resting immune cells of the bone marrow, thymic organoid, lymph node, spleen, liver and lung were up to 24-fold higher in the AZD5582-treated mice than in the controls. This indicated that AZD5582 had activated resting cells in the HIV reservoir throughout the treated mice. The compound did not cause toxicity in the mice or activate their immune systems.

The E-CIAR and CARE investigators also obtained 21 rhesus macaques, infected them with SIV and gave them suppressive ART. More than a year after the monkeys began ART, the scientists gave 12 of them weekly intravenous infusions of AZD5582 for either three or 10 weeks.

The level of SIV increased in the blood of five of the nine monkeys (55%) that received 10 doses of AZD5582 and in none of the three monkeys that received fewer doses. Thus, SIV levels increased in five of 12 monkeys (42%) overall, even as they remained on ART. SIV RNA levels in resting immune cells from the monkeys lymph nodes were significantly higher in animals treated with 10 doses of AZD5582 than in the nine monkeys that did not receive the compound. The investigators found AZD5582 treatment to be safe for most of the monkeys. The scientists did not detect a consistent reduction in the size of SIV reservoir in the AZD5582-treated monkeys, however, suggesting that it may be necessary to pair the compound with another agent to kill activated reservoir cells.

The researchers have begun additional animal studies to determine the best dose and timing of treatment and to be sure AZD5582 activates the reservoirs of many different HIV and SIV strains. It also will be important to test other compounds in the same class as AZD5582 to determine which might work best in humans, according to the scientists. If the results of these follow-up studies are successful, a preliminary clinical trial of treatment with AZD5582 or a related compound in people living with HIV may follow.

This study was led by J. Victor Garcia, Ph.D., Ann Chahroudi, M.D., Ph.D., and Richard Dunham, Ph.D. Dr. Garcia is director of the International Center for the Advancement of Translational Science, an Oliver Smithies Investigator and a professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Chahroudi is an associate professor of pediatrics in the division of pediatric infectious diseases at Emory University School of Medicineand director of the Emory + Children's Center for Childhood Infections and Vaccines. Dr. Dunham is a director at ViiV Healthcare and an adjunct assistant professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The other new report published today describes how a combination of two agents strongly activated the SIV reservoir in ART-treated rhesus macaques and the HIV reservoir in ART-treated mice with human immune systems. One agent, an antibody called MT807R1, depletes the body of immune cells called CD8+ T cells. The other agent is an engineered protein complex called N-803, a more powerful version of a naturally occurring molecule that activates certain immune cells to fight pathogens.

E-CIAR scientists obtained 35 rhesus macaques, infected them with SIV and gave them ART, which suppressed the virus in 33 of the animals. At least a year after ART began, the scientists gave seven monkeys N-803 alone, 14 monkeys MT807R1 alone, and 14 monkeys both MT807R1 and N-803.

N-803 alone had no impact on the SIV reservoir. MT807R1 alone led to a moderate but significant increase in the level of SIV in the animals blood (their viral load). But the combination of MT807R1 plus N-803 led to a robust and persistent increase in the SIV viral load of all 14 animals even the six in which fewer than three copies of SIV were detected before the experimental treatment began.

CARE scientists at UNC replicated these outcomes in 23 mice that had been given human immune systems, infected with HIV and given suppressive ART.

In addition, investigators demonstrated in cell culture that N-803 could reactivate human immune cells latently infected with HIV, but that adding CD8+ T cells to the culture suppressed the latency-reversing activity of N-803.

Taken together, the findings illustrate that CD8+ T cells play a role in maintaining the SIV reservoir in monkeys. The scientists hope to clarify exactly how CD8+ T cells do this so they can develop a latency-reversing strategy that does not require eliminating all CD8+ T cells and is thus gentler on the body.

This research was led by Guido Silvestri, M.D. Dr. Silvestri is the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in comparative pathology, professor and interim chair of the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, and chief of the division of microbiology & immunology at Yerkes National Primate Research Center.

CARE is funded by NIAID with additional support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, all part of NIH. E-CIAR is also funded by NIAID with additional support from the NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs.

NIAID conducts and supports research at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

NIHTurning Discovery Into Health

CC Nixon, M Mavigner et al. Systemic HIV and SIV latency reversal via non-canonical NF-B signalling in vivo. Nature DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-1951-3 (2020).

JB McBrien et al. Robust and persistent reactivation of SIV and HIV by N-803 and depletion of CD8+ cells. Nature DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-1946-0 (2020).

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supported scientists reverse HIV and SIV latency in two animal models - National Institutes of Health

When enlarged under a high-resolution microscope, microglia resemble elegant tree branches with many slender limbs. As they pass by neurons, microglia extend and retract their tiny arm-like protrusions, tapping on each neuron as if to inquire, Are we good here? All okay? Or not okay?as a doctor might palpate a patients abdomen, or check reflexes by tapping on knees and elbows.

Back in 2004, Barres and Stevens were examining how synapses originally come to be pruned to form a healthy brain during early, normal development. Theyd recently discovered that immune molecules known as complement were sending out eat me signals from some brain synapses, and these synapsestagged with a kind of kiss of death signagewere destroyed. Think of the way you click and tag emails that you want deleted from your inbox. Your email servers software recognizes those tags, and when you click on the Trash icon, bing, theyre gone. Thats similar to what Stevens and Barres were seeing happen to brain synapses that were tagged by complement. They disappeared.

What they described happening in the brain, which they reported in the journal Cell in 2007, echoed a similar process that was well-understood to happen in the body. When a cell dies in a bodily organ, or if the bodys immune system senses a threatening pathogen, complement molecules tag those unwanted cells and invaders for removal. Then, a type of white blood cell known as macrophagesGreek for big eatersrecognizes the tag, engulfs the cell or pathogen, and destroys it. In the body, macrophages play a role in inflammation as well as in autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and Guillain Barre. When activated, they can mistakenly go too far in their effort to engulf and destroy pathogens and spew forth a slew of inflammatory chemicals that begin to do harm to the bodys own tissue.

Stevens and Barres werent sure what was eating away at these tagged synapses, causing them to disappear in the brain, but Stevens had a hunch that it might have something to do with microglia.

We could see that when microglia sensed even the smallest damage or change to a neuron, they headed, spider-like, in that neurons direction, then they drew in their limbs and morphed into small, amoeba-like blobs, Stevens says. Soon after, those same synapses disappeared. Poof.

Could microglia be the culprit at the center of it all, the macrophage corollary in the brain, responding to eat me signals and pruning the brains circuitry during development? And what if this process was not only taking place in utero? Stevens wondered, when she first saw microglia behaving this way. What if it was also being mistakenly turned back on again later in life, during the teen years, or in adulthoodonly now its a bad thing and microglia are sometimes mistakenly engulfing and destroying healthy brain synapses too?

You can imagine how you could have too many synapses, or not enough synapse connectivity, Stevens says, her hands spreading wide with excitement. And you can imagine, given how our brain works, if that connectivity is even slightly off, that could potentially underlie a range of neuropsychiatric and cognitive disorders.

When she landed at Harvard, Stevens and her postdoc, Dori Schafer, tried to get a closer look at what microglia were up to in the brain. Schafer injected dye into the eyes of mice, which she then traced down from the neurons in the eye nerves and into the brain. This made the brains synapses glow bright fluorescent red. Microglia were stained fluorescent green. If they saw structuresthe synapsesglowing like red, fluorescent lit-up dots inside the bellies of the green microglia, they would know that microglia were eating synapses.

Six months into their efforts, Schafer came running into Stevenss office with photo images flapping in her hand. Theyre in there! she told Stevens. The synapses are inside the microglia! We can see it! It was such a high-five moment, Stevens recalls. Microglia were like tiny little Pac-Men in the brainand brain synapses were in the belly of the Pac-Men! We felt we were on to something really wonderful, really novel. This was deeply important in terms of looking ahead to microglias role in disease.

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The Tiny Brain Cells That Connect Our Mental and Physical Health - WIRED

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Pavel Volchkov heads the Genome Engineering Lab at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), that has several key projects, all of them involving genome editing mediated by the CRISPR/Cas technology. Discovered just a few years ago, CRISPR/Cas has emerged as one of the hottest scientific trends.

Thename of the coronavirus has to do with its distinctive crownlike shape, which you can observe with an electron microscope. [Corona is the Latin for crown.] Although sequencing reveals that the virus is closely related to a particular family, and there is a trend in virusology to abandon morphology-based names, we still use the old terminology.

The novel 2019 coronavirus or nCorona-2019 is very similar to the other coronaviruses. Itis particularly closely related to the SARS virus, which was behind the 2002-2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in China, as well as to the Middle East respiratory syndrome, MERS.

The genome of nCorona-2019 is encoded in RNA and is notably larger than that of is peers, enabling the virus to carry not just the necessary genes but supplementary ones as well. This allows the disease to hijack a host cell, reprogram it, and even disrupt the alarm signal alerting the immune system. Since its genome is contained in an RNA molecule, the coronavirus can mutate rapidly to adapt to new conditions. That includes evading the immune response. Unlike its DNA-based cousins, the RNA virus can also quickly synthesize the proteins it needs.

A virus normally does not seek to kill its host. On the contrary, it is favorable for the virus to reproduce and use the host for as long as possible. However, besides endowing it with the ability to infect humans, the combination of mutations acquired by nCorona-2019 has made it highly immunogenic. This does not necessarily end well for the host, because the side effects of a runaway immune system might prove lethal. Evidently, that can happen with the new coronavirus. Patients may get complications in the form of pneumonia. It is the response of the immune system to a respiratory infection, sometimes leading to lung failure and possibly death.

Confirmed patients are treated by a well-timed suppression of the inflammatory processes, until the immune system can cope with the infection. The outbreak in China has to do with the extremely high population density in the central parts of the country and the climate that is favorable for such viruses. An added factor is Chinas traditional cuisine, which originated in the tough times when most of the population had to abide by the rule of If it moves, eat it. If not, wiggle it. Preliminary data suggest that the new coronavirus might have been passed to humans from snakes, which are a traditional treat in the region. This is not yet confirmed, though.

As of now, quarantine isolation is the main measure for preventing the spread of the disease. The Chinese government has shut down local passenger transportation in the affected regions. However, the virus has escaped China, and public health watchdogs around the world are monitoring the situation at state borders. Rospotrebnadzor [the agency responsible for the countermeasures in Russia] has taken the necessary steps. Namely, rapidly identifying and localizing the virus carriers. The situation calls for attention to everyone closely contacting the infected individuals, because the incubation period can last several days or more. All incoming passengers from China and other Asian countries therefore need to register and disclose their whereabouts to Rospotrebnadzor for the duration of the nCorona-2019 incubation period.

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Russian expert is ready to comment on the coronavirus - Newswise

For centuries, stories have been told of people whose hair turned prematurely white from harrowing stress. Now, Harvard researchers have found a scientific explanation.

"Marie Antoinette syndrome" is the term commonly used to for the rapid, premature graying, because legend has it that the French queen's hair turned white the night before she faced the guillotine.

Mice get "Marie Antoinette syndrome" when they're highly stressed, too, so Harvard researchers studied them to figure out how stress can induce a permanent loss of hair pigment.

"We started by thinking maybe the immune system is involved," says Harvard stem cell scientist Ya-Chieh Hsu. The hypothesis was that under stress, the immune system attacks the stem cells that generate hair pigment cells.

But when the researchers tested it in mice with defective immune systems that couldn't attack, "They still got gray hairs under stress so that's incorrect," Hsu says.

Next hypothesis: that the stress hormone cortisol was killing the pigment stem cells. The research team tried removing the adrenal glands that make cortisol, but the mice still developed gray hair.

"So we know that cortisol is not involved," Hsu says.

Finally, the research team focused on the sympathetic nervous system the network of nerves best known for the "fight-or-flight" response to danger. Hsu says it just didn't seem like a likely candidate, even though it gets activated by stress, because the fight-or-flight response is temporary.

But now it's clear that "a very transient fight-or flight response can lead to permanent changes in stem cells," she says. "That is a much bigger effect than what we would initially anticipate."

The research finds that during stress, the sympathetic nervous system over-activates and so depletes the stem cells that make pigment cells. No more pigment cells no more hair color.

The paper is just out in the journal Nature.

William Lowry, a biology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles who studies hair follicles, says we've long known there's a connection between stress and graying hair, but not what it was.

"This paper really nails that, in the sense of figuring out what different types of systems in your body come together" to produce the effect, he says.

And that mechanism could apply to more than hair, Lowry says.

"Is this happening in different organs? Is this the canary in the coal mine?" he asks. "I think sure. There's no reason to think that this is a one-off."

Ya-Chieh Hsu at Harvard says the hope is that understanding how stress harms stem cells could lead to ways to block that harm.

Also --- it's not clear whether the stress mechanism that turns hair white is the same as the normal graying that comes with age, but if it is, there could be a way to block that, too.

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How Stress Turns Hair White: Harvard Study Points To 'Fight-Or-Flight' Response - WBUR

In her mind, its as if she took a seven-month nap, with no memory of the lost time.

ALLIANCE Kertisha Brabson lost seven months of her life, but she has plenty of time to make up for it.

The 31-year-old mother of two is happy to be alive. Shes fortunate to be home with her children. And shes hopeful, anxious and restless about getting back to her old self as a soccer mom and dental hygienist, back to the way it was before.

I know nothing about those seven months, she said from the living room of her South Freedom Avenue home where she raises daughter, Diamonique, 12, and son, Perez, 5.

Brabson was in a coma for seven months after losing consciousness on Sept. 7, 2018. In her mind, its as if she took a seven-month nap, with no memory of the lost time.

We knew we couldnt give up ... shes got two little ones waiting on her, explained Brabsons mom, Kertease Williams. Gods hands were all over me, telling me what to do.

Her battle

Brabsons medical ordeal began earlier in 2018. For months, she wasnt feeling well and was fatigued. In early September, it got really bad. Her speech turned nonsensical. She got confused and lost on an attempted drive to Aultman Hospital in Canton.

She wound up being rushed to Alliance Community Hospital, then was moved to Aultman. Already in a comatose condition, Brabson was taken to Cleveland Clinic where she was diagnosed with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis.

Its the same affliction that had terrorized young New York Post reporter Susannah Cahalan, who wrote a book, Brain on Fire, in 2013 about her ordeal. The story was turned into a Netflix movie, starring Chlo Grace Moretz, in 2016.

The form of encephalitis that struck Cahalan -- and Brabson -- is caused by a virus that makes the body's immune system attack its own brain cells, leading to psychiatric symptoms, seizures and even cardiovascular complications.

Its cause remains unclear, though recent research is being conducted to determine a possible genetic link.

Still in a coma, Brabson was moved to a nursing home in Boardman. She was there more than a month, but began having multiple seizures daily, so she was taken to St. Elizabeth Hospital for additional medical treatment.

Aggressive treatment

My husband (Larry Williams) helped keep me going, Brabsons mom said. All the support from the community was amazing; and we were getting prayers from all over the world.

Kertease Williams wanted to do more for her daughter.

You do what you got to do, she said.

Her research led her to The Ohio State Universitys Wexner Medical Center. The facility has a Neuro Critical Care Unit, where doctors would work on controlling the 10 seizures per day Brabson was experiencing -- all while still in a coma.

Dr. Shraddha Mainali, an assistant professor of neurology and director of the neurovascular ultrasound lab at Ohio State, said the medical team attacked Brabsons case on two fronts:

Aggressive immunity suppression to control her disease while carefully monitoring antibody levels circulating in her brain fluids.

Aggressive treatment of her seizures using multiple IV drips, oral medications and surgery to help control her relentless seizures.

After about four months of treatment at Wexner, Brabson awoke from her coma.

It was April 7, Williams recalled.

She remembers the time, too.

I get a call at 5:10 a.m. ... they said Kertisha woke up, she said.

Story of hope

Dr. Mainali was thrilled.

Kertisha's case is definitely one of the memorable cases in my career and one of the success stories for our unit as well as the medical community, she said. It is not everyday that we get to see a patient wake up after remaining comatose for seven months.

Although her primary disease (anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis) is quite treatable, Brabsons complications along the way meant there were no guarantees shed ever wake up. It was anyones guess how much damage was done due to the prolonged bouts of seizures.

Her story is one of hope ... , Mainali said. And her outcome (of being alive and independent) goes to show how persistent and meticulous care can help improve outcomes in other patients with her condition, even when the disease is severe enough to make the odds of recovery very slim.

After she woke from her coma, Brabson received ongoing physical, occupational and speech rehabilitation, to help gain back strength and function. When she returned to Stark County, Brabson spent time at Rose Lane Nursing and Rehabilitation in Jackson Township to continue her recovery.

Brabson is back at her home in Alliance. She still goes to therapy. She sees a neurologist weekly. Her short-term memory comes and goes but is getting better.

She was so angry for a while; she wanted to be better right way, Williams said. I keep telling her its going to take time. And I think she realizes that now.

Reach Tim at 330-580-8333 or tim.botos@cantonrep.com.

On Twitter: @tbotosREP

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Alliance womans remarkable recovery from 7-month coma - The-review

Irving Weissman and Joseph McCune, Opinion contributors Published 7:00 a.m. ET Jan. 24, 2020

Severe Trump administration restrictions mean millions of Americans of all political and religious stripes won't benefit from fetal tissue research.

Last summer the Trump administration curtailed federal funding of medical research using human fetal tissue; the new rulestook effect Oct. 1. More recently, the administration addedrestrictions that are even more severe.

Immediately, important work at two NIH-supported labs in Montana and California that are fighting the AIDS epidemic stopped because they were testing new medications against HIV using mice with human immune systems derived from human fetal tissue. In the near term, all National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding of research using fetal tissuewill likely cease.

More than 30years ago, we invented SCID-hu mice for biomedical research on diseases affecting humans, by implanting human fetal blood-forming and immune system tissuesinto mice whose immune systems had been silenced. The implanted immune tissues came from an aborted fetus, and allowed our otherwise immune-deficient mice to exist and be vulnerable to viruses that infect humans.

Tissues from living infants would not have worked;they are too far along in development and nearly impossible to obtain. This mouse model (and later versions of it) became the only living system, outside of a human, in which advanced therapies for diseases like AIDS and other viral infections could be evaluated before they were given to people.

Our work with human fetal tissue proceeded with the highest level of caution and vigilance. We received advice from bioethicists, clergyand government officials, which led to the establishment of strict guidelines that are still used today. No woman was asked or paid to terminate a pregnancy, the termination process was unaltered, and the women were asked for donation of the organs only after they had decided to terminate the pregnancy. Thus, obtaining the fetal tissue for medical research had no impact on ending pregnancies.

Since then, mice with transplanted human fetal tissues have been successfully used by scientists to identify blood stem cells and to devise treatments now availableor in clinical trialsfor cancer, various viral infections, Alzheimers disease, spinal cord injuries, and other diseases of the nervous system. Such diseases kill or cripple many Americans including pregnant women, fetusesand newborn infants. Many of them have only a short window of opportunity wherein a new therapy can treat them, and a delay can be fatal.

National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, on Oct. 21, 2013.(Photo: *, Kyodo)

The Trump administration's new rules are tantamount to a funding ban. In academic labs, the experiments are done by students and fellows in training, and the new rules block any NIH-funded students or fellows from working with human fetal tissue. Those who imposed the banmust bear responsibility for the consequences: People will suffer and die for lack of adequate treatments.

Americans pay the price:Trump administration's 'scientific oppression' threatens US safety and innovation

At a December 2018 meeting at NIH,after hearing scientific evidence about alternative research methods such as the use of adult cells, experts concluded that the use of fetal tissue is uniquely valuable. Nonetheless, the administration severely restricted the use of fetal tissue, thereby denying millions of Americans the fruits of such research Americans of all political stripes, since deadly viruses and cancers do not care who you vote for.

These restrictions subvert the NIH mission, which is to advance medicine and protect the nations health. To the extent that it was motivated by the religious beliefs of those in charge, it bluntly transgresses the American principle of separation of church and state. As a result, both believers and non-believers will die.

Of course, all who take the Hippocratic Oathto "do no harm,"which includes all medical doctors, will always offer and deliver all types of therapies that are available.

Restricting science: Trump EPA's cynical 'transparency' ploy would set back pollution science and public health

However, we believe that thoseresponsible forthis de facto ban, and perhapsthose who agree with them, should personally accept its consequences. We challenge them tobe true to their beliefs. They should pledge to never accept any cancer therapy, any AIDS medication, any cardiac drug, any lung disease treatment, any Alzheimers therapy, or any other medical advance that was developed using fetal tissue including our mice. Its a long list, one that you can learn about from us here. Should this apply to you, be faithful and be bold: Take the pledge.

Irving Weissman is a Professor of Pathology and Developmental Biology and the Director of the Stanford Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell at Stanford University School of Medicine. Joseph McCune is Professor Emeritus of Medicine from the Division of Experimental Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. The views expressed here are solely their own.

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If you want to ban fetal tissue research, sign a pledge to refuse its benefits - USA TODAY