Blog
Studies are constantly linking maternal immune reactions with the future development of their infants. This is a hot area of research for autism. In a study by University of California – Davis researchers, a potential mechanism for the interaction may have been discovered.
Researchers were stimul...
Researchers at the University of Virginia found that blocking a cytokine in lab animals could make them less socially interactive. When they blocked interferon gamma in flies, zebrafish, mice and rats, they became less social. During the experiment, they found increasing levels of this cytokine in...
Halloween has long offered an endless variety of mask options from ghouls and goblins to superheroes and superstars. COVID 19 seeks to challenge Halloween in regards to its preponderance of mask types and stretch the mask out to practically year long use.  Halloween must be jealous as COVID sports ...
As a follow up to this week’s post about augmenting our immune system against rotavirus, we look at another virus that appears to sometimes enter through our GI tract. Researchers in China describe the presentations of children ultimately diagnosed with COVID 19 infection, but who did not show init...
As a follow up to this week’s post about augmenting our immune system against rotavirus, we look at bacteria which can improve a mouse’s chances against rotaviral infection. Researchers from Georgia State University found that mice with a higher population of segmented filamentous bacteria were pro...
Initially the title sounds like a title for a bad horror film written by a biologist. Creeping fat brings up images of the old “Blob” movies. The reality is that scientists found a link between a gut bacteria moving through the intestinal walls of patients with autoimmune Crohn’s disease and a com...
The race for a COVID 19 therapy reflects the state of viral pharmacology. We may have tons of antibiotics and a good number of antivirals, but conventional medicine does not offer many effective antivirals. The world is waiting anxiously for a COVID cure, but research has been longing for years fo...
Many individuals attempting to survive 2020’s insanity are looking to food storage as a way to weather the grocery rationing and food shortages. While toilet paper needs little in the way of preservatives to keep fresh, foods don’t sit on shelfs for weeks and months without a little help in the pres...
 As a follow up to this week’s post on auto-antibodies against interferons contributing to a more severe case of COVID 19, we glance at other factors leading to more severe disease. Researchers found that patients whose viral load began declining and whose interferon alpha level did not go up tende...
The plot thickens. As investigators sift through piles of data left behind by the OCIVD 19 pandemic, they search for patterns to explain why and how this little virus caused so much havoc. While we can debate the national responses to the virus’ spread, we should all agree that the rapid-fire scie...
Turning Off Your Immune System
How to prevent too much of a good thing?
           The headlines are filled with the fear of COVID or how to boost your immune system against it. Both deserve time on the air, but sometimes our immune system overdoes it and causes damage rather than helping. I am...
Have You “Herd” About COVID-19 Immunity:
How many people need to be infected to prevent further infection?
           The fields of epidemiology, immunology, and infectious disease intersect in the theory of herd immunity (stay tuned for why I call it a theory). The theory presses the statistics...
