Tag: 11/11/22

Categories : AllergiesTags :

Smartphones are Potential Reservoirs for Allergens

On By ModernMedia
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Smartphones are nowadays ubiquitous and repeatedly checked throughout the day, making them potential receptacles for environmental hazards such as allergens. A new study being presented at this year’s American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting in Louisville, KY, showed elevated levels of cat and dog allergens, as well as β-D glucans (BDG) and endotoxin on simulated phone models.

“Smartphones showed elevated and variable levels of BDG and endotoxin, and cat and dog allergens were found on smartphones of pet owners” says Hana Ruran, lead author on the study. “BDGs are found in fungal cell walls and have been found in many environments and surfaces causing chronic airway and irritant symptoms – making BDGs a consistent marker to study problematic mould. Endotoxin is a potent inflammatory agent and a marker of exposure to Gram negative bacteria.”

The researchers created phone models that had a similar size and surface to a real phone and the front surface of the phone model was wiped as part of the test. Electrostatic wipes (ESW) were used to sample simulated phone models of 15 volunteers and the “phones” were then measured for allergens, BDG and endotoxin levels.

The chemicals used in the mixture solutions for cleaning (chlorhexidine, cetylpyridinium chloride, tannic acid and benzyl benzoate) can be purchased through laboratory or chemical suppliers but are not commercially available in the same concentrations as used in the study. Isopropyl alcohol wipes were also tested for their cleaning properties.

“Combination chlorhexidine/cetylpyridinium was the most effective in reducing BDG and endotoxin and combination benzyl benzoate/tannic acid most effectively reduced cat and dog allergens on smartphones,” says Peter Thorne, PhD, professor in the University of Iowa Department of Public Health and co-author of the study. “The study demonstrates exposure to inhalant allergens and molecules that trigger innate immune reactions from a source most people haven’t considered. If you have allergies or asthma, you may want to think about cleaning your smartphone more often to minimise exposure to these allergens and asthma triggers.”

Source: American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology

Categories : AgeingTags :

Macrophages Explain Vulnerability to Influenza in Old Age

On By ModernMedia
Old man
Source: JD Mason on Unsplash

After being suppressed during the COVID pandemic, influenza is again circulating and threatening the health of over 65s. But why are older people so more susceptible to the flu? A new study from the University of Michigan, published in Nature Communications, offers clues.

The study, led by first author Judy Chen, a PhD candidate, senior author Professor Daniel Goldstein, MD, and their team investigates why cells called alveolar macrophages, the first line of defence in the lungs, appear to be compromised with age.

Macrophages attack pathogens like the flu virus and reside in alveoli. Importantly, these cells appear to be lost with ageing.

Previous research by another group showed that when macrophages from an old mouse were put into a young mouse, and cells looked young again. “This drove us to believe that something in the environment of the lungs is contributing to this,” said Chen.

Signs pointed to a lipid immune modulator known as prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) with wide ranging effects, from labour induction in pregnancy to inflammation with arthritis. The study team discovered there is more PGE2 in the lungs with age. This increase in PGE2, Chen explained, acts on the macrophages in the lung, limiting their overall health and ability to generate.

The team suspects that the buildup of PGE2 is yet another marker of a biological process called senescence, which is often seen with age. Senescence serves as insurance against the runaway division of damaged cells; cells that are senescent are no longer able to replicate.

“One of the interesting things about these cells is they secrete a lot of inflammatory factors,” said Chen.

The study showed that with age, the cells lining the air sacs in the lungs become senescent, and these cells lead to increased production of PGE2 and suppression of the immune response.

To test the link between PGE2 and increased susceptibility to influenza, they treated older mice with a drug that blocks a PGE2 receptor. “The old mice that got that drug actually ended up having more alveolar macrophages and had better survival from influenza infection than older mice that did not get the drug,” said Chen.

The team plans to next investigate the various ways PGE2 affects lung macrophages as well as its potential role in inflammation throughout the body. “As we get older, we become more susceptible not only to influenza, but to other infections, cancers, autoimmune diseases as well.”

Source: Michigan Medicine – University of Michigan

Categories : Medical Research & TechnologyTags : 1 Comment

Delivering Cancer and Diabetes Drugs in Pills Instead of Injections

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In a new Journal of the American Chemical Society paper, researchers describe how they are developing a new way for diabetes and cancer patients to manage their conditions by enabling drugs to be delivered in pill form instead of through injections.

Some drugs for these diseases are water soluble, so transporting them through the intestines, is not feasible and makes them impossible to administer orally. However, UCR scientists have created a chemical “tag” that can be added to these drugs, allowing them to enter blood circulation via the intestines.

This tag is composed of a small peptide. “Because they are relatively small molecules, you can chemically attach them to drugs, or other molecules of interest, and use them to deliver those drugs orally,” said research leader Min Xue, UC Riverside chemistry professor.

Xue’s laboratory was testing something unrelated when the researchers observed these peptides making their way into cells.

“We did not expect to find this peptide making its way into cells. It took us by surprise,” Xue said. “We always wanted to find this kind of chemical tag, and it finally happened serendipitously.”

This observation was unexpected, Xue said, because previously, the researchers believed that this type of delivery tag needed to carry positive charges to be accepted into the negatively charged cells. Their work with this neutral peptide tag, called EPP6, shows that belief was not accurate.

Testing the peptide’s ability to move through a body, the Xue group teamed up with Kai Chen’s group in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and fed the peptide to mice. With PET scans, the team observed the peptide accumulating in the intestines, and documented its ultimate transfer into the animals’ organs via the blood.

Having proven the tag successfully navigated the circulatory systems through oral administration, the team now plans to demonstrate that the tag can do the same thing when attached to a selection of drugs. “Quite compelling preliminary results make us think we can push this further,” Xue said.

Many drugs, including insulin, must be injected. The researchers are hopeful their next set of experiments will change that, allowing them to add this tag to a wide variety of drugs and chemicals, changing the way those molecules move through the body.

“This discovery could lift a burden on people who are already burdened with illness,” Xue said.

Source: University of California – Riverside

Categories : HIVTags :

HIV Infection Creates Chronic ‘Jet Lag’ in Patients

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Research from South Africa and the UK has found that people living with HIV have a significantly delayed internal body clock, consistent with the symptoms of jet lag. The findings, which appear in the Journal of Pineal Research, may explain some of the health problems experienced by people with HIV, and guide research towards improving their quality of life.

Researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand and University of Cape Town along with Northumbria and Surrey universities in the UK and studied people aged 45 years and above living in Mpumalanga province, where nearly one in four people is living with HIV. As such, the infection is endemic and does not associate with any difference in lifestyle.

They found that physiological daily rhythms, as measured by the hormone melatonin, were delayed by more than an hour on average in HIV positive participants. Their sleep cycle was also shorter, with researchers noting that their sleep started later and finished earlier.

This suggests the possibility that HIV infection may cause a circadian rhythm disorder similar to the disruption experienced in shift work or jet lag.

The authors believe that this body clock disruption may contribute significantly to the increased burden of health problems that people living with HIV are experiencing despite successful treatment, such as an increased risk of cardiovascular, metabolic, and psychiatric disorders.

Researchers believe there is a strong need for further funding to identify whether similar disruption to the body clock is experienced by younger people living with HIV in other countries.

“The participants living with HIV essentially experience the one-hour disruption associated with switching to daylight savings time, but every single morning,” says corresponding author Malcolm von Schantz, Professor of Chronobiology at Northumbria University.

“This happens in spite of the fact that essentially everybody is exposed to the same light-dark cycle. Our findings have important potential implications for the health and wellbeing of people living with HIV, especially given the well-established relationships between disrupted circadian rhythms and sleep deprivation.”

Senior author Dr Karine Scheuermaier of Wits University added: “This is very similar to the risk profile observed in shift workers. Understanding and mitigating this disruption may be an important step towards helping people living with HIV live healthier lives.”

“Our findings identify an urgent research topic,” says Xavier Gómez-Olivé, also from the University of the Witwatersrand, whose research grant funded the study. “The next step must be to establish if the same body clock disruption exists in people living with HIV who are younger and who live in other countries.”

Co-author Dale Rae, of the University of Cape Town, added “This is a great example of the importance of studying sleep in people living in Africa, and demonstrates how findings from this research can also be relevant to people anywhere in the world.”

Source: Northumbria University