WIKIMEDIA, STEVE SNODGRASSArtificial sweeteners may affect glucose tolerance through a gut microbe-dependent mechanism, according to a study in mice and a small group of people, published in Nature this week (September 11). Researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and their colleagues have uncovered “the unexpected effect that artificial sweeteners drive changes in the [gut] microbiota, which promote glucose intolerance,” explained University of Chicago pathologist Cathryn Nagler who was not involved with the work.
CDCAn altered vaccine and parents opting-out of inoculations have contributed to ongoing outbreaks of the disease across the U.S.
“[T]ake a vaccine that’s less than perfect and add this [increased opt-out rate], then you’ve got deficient herd immunity to start with,” said David Witt of Kaiser Permanente in California, where a whooping cough outbreak is ongoing.
UTHSCSA, ARMAND BROWNStreptococcus pneumonia bacteria may infiltrate the heart, causing microlesions that can lead to cardiac complications, according to a study published in PLOS Pathogens this week (September 18). Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio studied the hearts of pneumonia-infected mice and rhesus macaques, as well as human autopsy samples, finding evidence to suggest that S. pneumonia could affect heart tissue directly.
“These types of adverse events in the heart were previously felt to be part of the sepsis syndrome, where you have multiple organs functioning poorly, and not really a direct result of bacterial infection,” said Victor Nizet, an ...
