WIRED - The Latest in Technology, Science, Culture and BusinessWhy ICE Can Kill With Impunity
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/why-ice-can-kill-with-impunity/
sounds interesting“A growing number of #scientists believe that the #sarscov2 virus may instead be subtly altering our immune systems.”
Why scientists are rethinking the immune effects of SARS-CoV-2
“Immunity debt,” a theory to explain the global surge in non-covid infections since pandemic restrictions were lifted, is increasingly being challenged by emerging evidence. Nick Tsergas reports Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a bacterial infection not known to cause widespread hospital admissions. “I can count on my two hands the number of times I’d ever seen mycoplasma pneumoniae before 2023,” says Samira Jeimy, clinical immunologist at the University of Western Ontario. “All of a sudden I feel like everybody has it.”1 Over the past three years similar reports have circulated of rising bacterial infections, flare-ups of old viruses becoming more common, and children landing in hospital with diseases not usually seen in young, healthy people. One explanation offered by public health leaders has been “immunity debt”2—the idea that precautions taken in the covid pandemic suppressed routine exposures to circulating pathogens, leaving people more vulnerable to them when restrictions were lifted. The theory landed in the public consciousness at the right moment. A simple idea that sounded like science, it soothed a public seeking answers just as the world was returning to a semblance of normality. And it served a policy function, allowing governments to focus on economic recovery. But its explanatory power has faded as the number of non-covid infections has kept rising each year. A 2024 analysis by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention3 found that invasive group A strep infections saw their most dramatic year-on-year increase from 2021 to 2022, well after most precautions had been lifted in the US. Rates have been abnormally high since then, raising questions about what might be behind the trend. A growing number of scientists believe that the SARS-CoV-2 virus may instead be subtly altering our immune systems. If correct, their hypothesis will change how we understand everything …
Her Doing HealthIt's early days, but as someone who wants to #mountaineer one day, I was fascinated.
Genus #Blautia, a common #gut #bacteria studied for other reasons (increased cognitive development in infants & lower risk of #obesity & #diabetes in adults), can also possibly reduce damage caused by #AltitudeSickness
#Hypoxia #Microbiome #ImmuneSystems #Mountaineering #Tibet #China
DoomsdaysCWI wonder if it's the increased use of #glyphosate, or perhaps other pollutants (#microplastics? #pfas). Other theories include #VitaminD deficiency (not enough outdoor time?), and lack of exposure to common microbes (again, not enough outdoor time).
Why the World Is Becoming More Allergic to Food
The frequency of food allergy has increased over the past 30 years, particularly in industrialised societies.
Dr. Alexandra Santos
September 2019
"The increase in allergies is not simply the effect of society becoming more aware of them and better at diagnosing them.
"It is thought that allergies and increased sensitivity to foods are probably environmental, and related to Western lifestyles.
"We know there are lower rates of allergies in developing countries. They are also more likely to occur in urban rather than rural areas.
"Factors may include #pollution, dietary changes and less exposure to #microbes, which change how our #ImmuneSystems respond."
ReallyCanadianFlyEverything evolves, even if it's not obvious in morphology.
#evolution #livingfossils #adaptation #morphology #genetics #immunesystems #evolutionaryhistory #evolutionarybiology
Living Fossils Revealed: The Hidden Evolution of These 4 Ancient Species | Discover Magazine https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/living-fossils-revealed-the-hidden-evolution-of-these-4-ancient-species?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us
Jean CuryJust out in @PLOSBiology : an essay on ancestral #immunity, to understand why some part of the eukaryotic and bacterial #immuneSystems are conserved, despite constant arms race to fight viruses and parasites. We explore the new avenues this observation opens.
with @audeber and Enzo Poirier.
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002717
The immune modules conserved across the tree of life: Towards a definition of ancestral immunity
A subset of prokaryotic antiviral systems are conserved in eukaryotes and have crucial roles in immune pathways. This Essay introduces the concept of ancestral immunity, which refers to the set of immune modules (domains and proteins) conserved between prokaryotes and eukaryotes, discussing the topology of ancestral immunity and a putative evolutionary scenario for its existence.
Steve Dustcircle 🌹How #measles can do long-lasting #damage to #children's #immunesystems
STEAM PoweredThis week on STEAM Powered, our conversation is with Eleonora Moratto, the Biology Ballerina.
A common thread between the arts and the sciences is storytelling. In both scenarios you’re building worlds, and creating an understanding of the mechanisms that make the system work (or not work), and the relationships within that bubble.
Eleonora Moratto is the Biology Ballerina. She is a freelance professional ballet dancer, and is currently completing her PhD in plant pathogen interactions. Join us as we speak about Eleonora’s work exploring electrical fields and plant immune systems, and her journey as a sciartist.
Watch or listen at: https://link.chtbl.com/steampowered
Show Notes at https://steampoweredshow.com/shows/eleonora-moratto
STEAM Powered
Conversations with women in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine) about their journeys, work, passions, and what they learned along the way. We’re a diverse group of people with unique personal and professional journeys, and I want you to meet some of us. This podcast
Norobiik @"Wednesday’s breakthrough began with the transfer of a #PigKidney into the body of Maurice “Mo” Miller, a man who had died suddenly at the age of 57 and whose body was donated to science by his family... The pig kidney had been genetically modified to omit a gene that produces biomolecules that human #ImmuneSystems attack and reject." #OrganTransplants
Scientists celebrate as pig kidney continues to function in human body | #Medicine | Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/16/scientists-celebrate-as-pig-kidney-continues-to-function-in-human-body
Gladwyn d’Souza#RegulatoryCapture #FavoredTreatment: Combined these three plants alone emit close to a thousand pounds of #mercury per year, out of a U.S. total of six thousand pounds & unknown amounts of other #toxicmetals. impacts include neurological damages to #children and #developingfetuses & #cardiovasculardamage, #endocrinedisruption, #diabetesrisk, and weakened #immunesystems.
Spewing Out Mercury - Legal Planet
In Ireland, poor people used to burn peat from fuel. Barely a step ahead of that, some American power plants burn semi-fossilized peat (lignite) to run their generators. It turns out that those power plants produce about a third of all the toxic mercury emissions of the entire industry. Even more remarkably, about half of … Continue reading "Spewing Out Mercury"