With the advent of commercial spaceflight, an increasing number of people may be heading into space in the coming years. Some will even get a chance to fly to the moon or live on Mars.
One of the major health risks associated with spaceflight involves the immune system, which normally fights off viruses and cancer. It’s already established that spaceflight weakens immunity; current and past astronauts report clinical issues such as respiratory illnesses and skin rashes. These issues may become even more serious on longer-term flights, such as to Mars.
To better understand the full scope of immunology during spaceflight, Buck Associate Professor Dan Winer, MD, working with colleagues linked to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), Cornell University, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Toronto, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and others, have put together a comprehensive guide describing a full array of science linking spaceflight and the immune system.
Long COVID (LC), also known as post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 infection (PASC), is a heterogeneous and debilitating chronic disease that currently affects 10 to 20 million people in the U.S. and over 420 million people globally. With no approved treatments, the long-term global health and economic impact of chronic LC remains high and growing. LC affects children, adolescents, and healthy adults and is characterized by over 200 diverse symptoms that persist for months to years after the acute COVID-19 infection is resolved. These symptoms target twelve major organ systems, causing dyspnea, vascular damage, cognitive impairments (“brain fog”), physical and mental fatigue, anxiety, and depression. This heterogeneity of LC symptoms, along with the lack of specific biomarkers and diagnostic tests, presents a significant challenge to the development of LC treatments.
On Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, gray wolves are doing something unexpected: hunting sea otters. This surprising dietary shift appears to have notable implications for both ecosystems and wolf health, but little is known about how the predators are capturing marine prey. Patrick Bailey, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Rhode Island, is researching these understudied behaviors of gray wolves.
Using a creative mix of approaches—including wolf teeth samples and trail cameras—Bailey is exploring how coastal gray wolves are using marine resources, what this suggests about their behavioral and hunting adaptations, and how these adaptations differentiate them from other wolf populations.
On land, gray wolves are known to play a vital ecological role because of their ability to regulate food webs. “We don’t have a clear understanding of the connections between water and land food webs, but we suspect that they are much more prevalent than previously understood,” says Bailey, a member of Sarah Kienle’s CEAL Lab in the Department of Natural Resources Science. “Since wolves can alter land ecosystems so dramatically, it is possible that we will see similar patterns in aquatic habitats.”
The accuracy of machine learning algorithms for predicting suicidal behavior is too low to be useful for screening or for prioritizing high-risk individuals for interventions, according to a new study published September 11 in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Matthew Spittal of the University of Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues.
Numerous risk assessment scales have been developed over the past 50 years to identify patients at high risk of suicide or self-harm. In general, these scales have had poor predictive accuracy, but the availability of modern machine learning methods combined with electronic health record data has re-focused attention on developing new algorithms to predict suicide and self-harm.
In the new study, researchers undertook a systemic review and meta-analysis of 53 previous studies that used machine learning algorithms to predict suicide, self-harm and a combined suicide/self-harm outcome. In all, the studies involved more than 35 million medical records and nearly 250,000 cases of suicide or hospital-treated self-harm.
A new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology and led by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health identifies the hidden geological mechanisms behind widespread uranium contamination in Eastern Karnataka, India, where 78% of tested groundwater exceeds safe drinking limits for uranium, and some groundwater uranium contamination reaches levels 75 times the U.S. EPA limit. Uranium exposure can affect the kidneys, bones, and the liver, yet contamination often goes undetected.
Avian metapneumovirus (aMPV), classified within the Pneumoviridae family, wreaks havoc on poultry health. It typically causes upper respiratory tract and reproductive tract infections, mainly in turkeys, chickens, and ducks. Four subtypes of AMPV (A, B, C, D) and two unclassified subtypes have been identified, of which subtypes A and B are widely distributed across the world. In January 2024, an outbreak of severe respiratory disease occurred on turkey and chicken farms across different states in the US. Metagenomics sequencing of selected tissue and swab samples confirmed the presence of aMPV subtype B. Subsequently, all samples were screened using an aMPV subtype A and B multiplex real-time RT-PCR kit. Of the 221 farms, 124 (56%) were found to be positive for aMPV-B. All samples were negative for subtype A.
A mutation previously linked to skin disorders like psoriasis may also play a surprising role in gut health, according to new research published by scientists at VIB-UGent and colleagues from UGent, the University of Barcelona, and University College London. This mutation activates skin immune responses but also affects the intestine.
This finding, published in EMBO Molecular Medicine, reveals a new connection between genetics, the immune system, and the gut, which may have therapeutic implications.
Scientists under the leadership of Dr. Inna Afonina and Prof. Rudi Beyaert (VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research) have found that a mutation in the gene CARD14, known for activating skin immune responses in psoriasis patients, also affects the intestine. This mutation reduces gut motility, promotes mild inflammation, and increases vulnerability to bacterial infections.
Immediate skin-to-skin contact between newborns and their mothers offers a better start in life, improving a number of key health metrics, according to a newly-updated Cochrane review.
The review, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, found that babies who have skin-to-skin contact with their mother within the first hour of birth are more likely to see a variety of benefits, including exclusive breastfeeding, optimal body temperatures and blood sugar levels.
While possible benefits for the mother were also studied, such as effects on blood loss and timing of placental delivery, the evidence was less certain.