Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Aakansha Kanojia, Deny K. Shrestha, Paul P. Dijkwel
Summary: Ageing in plants is a complex process that involves core cellular processes and primary metabolism, leading to eventual death. Multi-omics studies have revealed correlations between chlorophyll, amino acids, sugars, DNA metabolism, and leaf ageing, while molecular genetic approaches can provide evidence to confirm these correlations.
CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR LIFE SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Pedro Henrique Gazzinelli-Guimaraes, Sasisekhar Bennuru, Rafael de Queiroz Prado, Alessandra Ricciardi, Joshua Sciurba, Jonah Kupritz, Matthew Moser, Olena Kamenyeva, Thomas B. Nutman
Summary: Through sensitization to house dust mite (HDM), cross-reactive antibodies that interact with Ascaris larval antigens are triggered. Tropomyosin in helminths can induce pulmonary inflammation similar to HDM, and IgE cross-reactive antibodies are found to be functional in immediate hypersensitivity responses. HDM sensitization does not lead to antibody-dependent larval killing in the absence of B cells or Fc gamma RIII alpha-chain.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Lea Miebach, Gabriella Melo-Zainzinger, Eric Freund, Ramona Clemen, Alessandra Lourenco Cecchini, Sander Bekeschus
Summary: Medical gas plasma therapy has been extensively studied in dermatooncology. This approach utilizes partially ionized gas to generate multiple reactive oxygen species, which can be locally applied to tumors. Combining gas plasma therapy with mitochondria-targeted drugs has shown promise in enhancing the treatment of melanoma.
Article
Immunology
Remi Hatinguais, Arnab Pradhan, Gordon D. Brown, Alistair J. P. Brown, Adilia Warris, Elena Shekhova
Summary: This study highlights the crucial role of mitochondrial ROS (mitoROS) in macrophage antifungal responses, specifically in the regulation of cytokine secretion through RET-mediated mitoROS production. Furthermore, NOX2 is demonstrated to be essential for regulating cytokine secretion by RET-associated mitoROS in response to infection with swollen conidia.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Immunology
Inderjeet Kalia, Rajesh Anand, Afshana Quadiri, Shreya Bhattacharya, Bijayalaxmi Sahoo, Agam Prasad Singh
Summary: By manipulating macrophages, the Plasmodium parasite evades host immune responses, utilizing the PbTIP protein released in the host bloodstream to suppress inflammation and upregulate anti-inflammatory cytokines, ultimately leading to successful infection in the host.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sabrina M. McNew, Diana Carolina Loyola, Janai Yepez, Catherine Andreadis, Kiyoko Gotanda, Ashley Saulsberry, Birgit Fessl
Summary: This study characterized the transcriptomic response of Darwin's finches to avian poxvirus and compared the responses between different species. The results showed that medium ground finches had a strong immune response to infection, while vegetarian finches had a more limited response consistent with viral manipulation of host's cellular function and metabolism. The findings suggest that host defense mechanisms against poxviruses are conserved among vertebrates, but endemic Galapagos finch species may vary in their susceptibility to avian pox.
Article
Immunology
Bruce K. Patterson, Jose Guevara-Coto, Ram Yogendra, Edgar B. Francisco, Emily Long, Amruta Pise, Hallison Rodrigues, Purvi Parikh, Javier Mora, Rodrigo A. Mora-Rodriguez
Summary: CCR5 and its ligands play a role in COVID-19 pathogenesis, with a focus on immune responses. Elevated B-cells and certain monocytic subsets were observed in COVID-19 patients, while certain T-cell subsets were decreased compared to healthy controls. Various cytokines showed significantly different levels in COVID-19 patients compared to healthy controls, indicating immune dysregulation in the disease process.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Biology
Marina Voinson, Charles L. Nunn, Amy Goldberg
Summary: Parasites switching into new host species pose a disease burden and conservation risk. Understanding the distribution of these parasites provides insights into ecological networks and genetic mechanisms of host-parasite interactions. The risk to human and wildlife health from novel parasites increases as ecological connections between humans and local animal populations strengthen.
Article
Plant Sciences
Jianmei Fu, Yu Shi, Lu Wang, Hao Zhang, Jing Li, Jichao Fang, Rui Ji
Summary: The saliva of the small brown planthopper contains a disulfide isomerase enzyme that enhances plant resistance to insects by inducing cell death and signaling pathways in plants. This discovery provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms of plant-insect interactions.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Immunology
Tobias Frauenlob, Theresa Neuper, Muamera Mehinagic, Hieu-Hoa Dang, Diana Boraschi, Jutta Horejs-Hoeck
Summary: Infection with H. pylori increases the sensitivity of human monocytes to bacterial stimuli, but this effect is only observed with viable H. pylori. This finding provides important insights into how H. pylori can induce chronic inflammation and contribute to the progression of gastric cancer.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Lucie Loyal, Julian Braun, Larissa Henze, Beate Kruse, Manuela Dingeldey, Ulf Reimer, Florian Kern, Tatjana Schwarz, Maike Mangold, Clara Unger, Friederike Dorfler, Shirin Kadler, Jennifer Rosowski, Kubrah Gurcan, Zehra Uyar-Aydin, Marco Frentsch, Florian Kurth, Karsten Schnatbaum, Maren Eckey, Stefan Hippenstiel, Andreas Hocke, Marcel A. Muller, Birgit Sawitzki, Stefan Miltenyi, Friedemann Paul, Marcus A. Mall, Holger Wenschuh, Sebastian Voigt, Christian Drosten, Roland Lauster, Nils Lachman, Leif-Erik Sander, Victor M. Corman, Jobst Rohmel, Lil Meyer-Arndt, Andreas Thiel, Claudia Giesecke-Thiel
Summary: The study demonstrates that preexisting spike-cross-reactive T cells play a functional role in the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination. Cross-reactive immunity may explain the rapid induction of immunity after primary SARS-CoV-2 immunization and the high rate of asymptomatic or mild COVID-19 cases.
Review
Environmental Sciences
Ju-Wook Lee, A-Hyun Jo, Deok-Chan Lee, Cheol Young Choi, Ju-Chan Kang, Jun-Hwan Kim
Summary: Cadmium in aquatic environments can induce oxidative stress and immunotoxicity in fish. Fish have developed antioxidant and immune systems to combat cadmium exposure. Evaluating the antioxidant and immune responses in fish can provide indicators of cadmium toxicity.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Stuart M. Brierley
Summary: Gut infection can trigger localized immune responses that cause harmless foods to be perceived as harmful, leading to persistent pain. Defense against bacterial infection may drive pain when eating food.
Review
Immunology
Chiara Ursino, Cecile Mouric, Laurent Gros, Nathalie Bonnefoy, Julien Faget
Summary: Immune checkpoint blockade is a groundbreaking cancer treatment that greatly improves patients' lifespan and quality of life. However, its effectiveness is limited to certain types of cancer and specific patient populations, making it difficult to predict who would benefit from these therapies. This review aims to explore the link between cancer cell characteristics and the response to immunotherapy, with a focus on lung cancer, to understand why some patients are sensitive to treatment while others are not.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Immunology
Justus Ohmes, Sara Comduehr, Reza Akbarzadeh, Gabriela Riemekasten, Jens Y. Humrich
Summary: In the normal immune system, regulatory T cells play a crucial role in controlling T cell responses. However, in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), there is a dysregulation of T cell activation, leading to chronic activation and pathogenic memory differentiation, which contributes to autoimmune processes and tissue inflammation.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Li Xu, Denis Patterson, Simon Asher Levin, Jin Wang
Summary: Complex systems often experience sudden regime shifts, known as critical transitions. Identifying warning signals for these transitions early enough to prevent them is challenging. In this study, we use landscape-flux theory to quantify the stability of ecological systems and provide early warning signals based on average flux, entropy production rate, non-equilibrium free energy, and time irreversibility. Our proposed method, demonstrated using a shallow lake model, can potentially predict critical transitions earlier than conventional methods, contributing to the resilience assessment of various ecological systems.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Leigh L. Smith, Susan A. Fallon, Zunaira Q. Virk, Alejandra B. Salinas, Melanie S. Curless, Sara E. Cosgrove, Lisa L. Maragakis, Clare Rock, Eili Y. Klein
Summary: We developed an algorithm using electronic health records (EHR) to identify interactions between healthcare personnel (HCP) and evaluated its accuracy compared to conventional exposure investigations. The algorithm accurately identified all known transmissions and ranked the contacts to create a manageable list.
INFECTION CONTROL AND HOSPITAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Jerald E. Cherian, Sara Cosgrove, Fardad Y. Haghpanah, Eili Klein
Summary: The objective of this study was to explore an approach to identify the risk of ESBL-E colonization or infection and reassess known risk factors. It was found that risk factors for ESBL-E included a history of ESBL-E in the prior 6 months, exposure to skilled nursing or long-term care facility, exposure to certain antibiotics, and the prevalence of ESBL-E in the patient's community. Lower prevalence in the community was associated with lower risk for patients.
INFECTION CONTROL AND HOSPITAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Sara C. Keller, Susan M. Hannum, Kimberly Weems, Opeyemi Oladapo-Shittu, Alejandra B. Salinas, Jill A. Marsteller, Ayse P. Gurses, Eili Y. Klein, Ilya Shpitser, Christopher J. Crnich, Nitin Bhanot, Clare Rock, Sara E. Cosgrove
Summary: We tested the validity of a home-infusion CLABSI surveillance definition and found it to be valid and feasible to implement.
INFECTION CONTROL AND HOSPITAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Edward Schrom, Ann Kinzig, Stephanie Forrest, Andrea L. Graham, Simon A. Levin, Carl T. Bergstrom, Carlos Castillo -Chavez, James P. Collins, Rob J. de Boer, Adam Doupe, Roya Ensafi, Stuart Feldman, Bryan T. Grenfell, Alex Halderman, Silvie Huijben, Carlo Maley, Melanie Moses, Alan S. Perelson, Charles Perrings, Joshua Plotkin, Jennifer Rexford, Mohit Tiwari
Summary: Defending against various types of attacks and avoiding self-attacks are the common challenges faced by mammalian immune systems and computer systems. Despite extensive research, there has been limited exchange of information between the fields of biological immunity and cybersecurity. This paper proposes a conceptual framework to compare and evaluate different defensive strategies in both fields, aiming to identify general principles of optimal defense applicable to various defensive realms.
MATHEMATICAL BIOSCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biology
Partha Dasgupta, Simon Levin
Summary: Contemporary economic thinking neglects the fact that the human economy is interconnected with Nature and treats humans as mere consumers of natural resources. This paper suggests an alternative economic reasoning approach that focuses on the demand for Nature's services and its sustainable supply. It advocates for the measurement of inclusive wealth and its distribution by national statistical offices instead of relying solely on GDP. Policy instruments for managing global public goods, such as the open seas and tropical rainforests, are discussed based on the concept of inclusive wealth.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Arne Traulsen, Simon A. Levin, Chadi M. Saad-Roy
Summary: Individual and societal reactions to a pandemic can create social dilemmas. The extent of regulations to reduce transmission is small in most countries, resulting in interventions driven by individual decision-making. We propose a framework to quantify this situation based on protection, infection risk, and intervention costs, and discuss the tension between individual and societal benefits.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Daniel B. Cooney, Simon A. Levin, Yoichiro Mori, Joshua B. Plotkin
Summary: Biological and social systems are structured at multiple scales, and individuals in a group may have different incentives from the group as a whole. Mechanisms to resolve this tension are important for evolutionary transitions in history. This article synthesizes a growing literature on multilevel evolutionary dynamics and analyzes how different mechanisms influence evolutionary outcomes within and among groups.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mansi Sood, Anirudh Sridhar, Rashad Eletreby, Chai Wah Wu, Simon A. Levin, Osman Yagan, H. Vincent Poor
Summary: A key scientific challenge during the outbreak of novel infectious diseases is predicting changes in the epidemic under countermeasures that limit population interaction. Pathogens have the capacity to mutate and new strains can emerge, posing a threat to public health. Different transmission risks in different settings and the emergence of new strains should be considered when evaluating the impact of mitigation measures.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Bjarke Frost Nielsen, Chadi M. Saad-Roy, Yimei Li, Kim Sneppen, Lone Simonsen, Cecile Viboud, Simon A. Levin, Bryan T. Grenfell
Summary: Identifying drivers of viral diversity is crucial for understanding the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic. A mechanistic model of saltational evolution with epistasis explains the observed temporal dynamics of viral diversity. This supports the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 may exhibit saltational evolution, allowing the virus to evolve highly transmissible variants.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Sameer S. Kadri, Sarah Warner, Chanu Rhee, Michael Klompas, Dean Follmann, Bruce J. Swihart, Ramanan Laxminarayan, Eili Klein
Summary: In patients with suspected serious infection and negative blood culture results, treating with 3 or 4 days of antibiotics does not have significant harm compared to treating with ≥5 days of antibiotics.
OPEN FORUM INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2023)
Article
Biology
Chadi M. M. Saad-Roy, Simon A. A. Levin, Bryan T. T. Grenfell, Mike Boots
Summary: Infectious diseases can cause long-term damage to the host, leading to increased mortality even after recovery. The mortality due to 'long COVID' is an example of this potential, but the impact of such post-infection mortality (PIM) on epidemic dynamics is not known. Using an epidemiological model, researchers found that PIM can induce epidemic cycling, especially when there is weak PIM and no robust immunity. This overlooked phenomenon highlights the importance of characterizing heterogeneity in susceptibility for accurate epidemiological predictions.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Simon A. A. Levin, Elke U. U. Weber
Summary: Achieving global sustainability in the face of climate change, pandemics, and other global systemic threats requires collective intelligence and action beyond current experiences. Increasing polarization and populist trends make the problem even harder. Recognizing the common threats and implementing polycentric governance may be a pathway to address these global challenges.
PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Fardad Haghpanah, Alisa Hamilton, Eili Klein, CDC MInD Healthcare Network
Summary: This study assessed the potential impact of mRNA technology on influenza hospitalizations and mortality. It found that improving vaccine effectiveness could reduce hospitalizations and deaths in all age groups, especially for adults 65 years and older. Therefore, targeting higher efficacy and coverage for this age group in the short term is the most efficacious approach.
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Alisa Hamilton, Fardad Haghpanah, Mateusz Hasso-Agopsowicz, Isabel Frost, Gary Lin, Emily Schueller, Eili Klein, Ramanan Laxminarayan
Summary: Widespread use of a malaria vaccine could substantially reduce health burden in Africa, and a vaccine that maintains efficacy over time may be more impactful than one with a high initial efficacy that decreases rapidly.
COMMUNICATIONS MEDICINE
(2023)