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Researcher Brenda McManus is leading a microbiology study to better understand periodontal disease and foot ulcers in patients with diabetes. She explains her microbial research by discussing
Dr. Brenda McManus is an Experimental Officer in Microbiology in the School of Dental Science at Trinity College in Dublin. She talks about her microbiology study involving dental health, foot ulcers, and diabetes with a focus on Staphylococci species. They've found bacteria in foot ulcers that "shouldn't be there," and these same bacteria are present in periodontal disease. She establishes why patients who suffer from diabetes struggle with foot ulcers and periodontal disease, from such reasons as poor circulation or nerve damage from excess glucose. This means they can't feel an injury to the foot or can't feel pain when a wound is developing.
In addition, bacteria in periodontal disease can cause pockets in the gums and swelling and can ultimately lead to tooth loss. It is twice as common and more severe in people who have diabetes. She mentions additional research showing links between periodontal disease and other diseases throughout the body including heart and kidney disease. She describes her current research and says her team is comparing genomic sequences of different staph samples from the mouth, fingers, toes, and more, identifying which species are in each site. She adds that if they identify the same species in all the different sites, they will compare the isolate genomes. If they are the same, that would be very strong evidence that there is a link between these sites. She describes next steps, therapeutic goals, and the importance of awareness of periodontal health and disease prevention.
For more, see her information on the Trinity College website, tcd.ie/research/profiles/?profile=bmcmanu, and find her on Research Gate and LinkedIn. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Researcher Mark Denison has studied infectious diseases and specifically coronaviruses for decades and he explains some unique elements of their daunting mechanisms. He discusses
Mark Denison is Director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University. He's spent much of his career working with coronaviruses and was concerned about a scenario like our current one long before March. He backs up and explains some general findings about coronaviruses including their unique capacity for rapid evolution and adaptation, entry, recruitment of cellular machinery, and so on. He tells listeners that they have significantly more base pairs than other RNA viruses. In fact, this is one of the largest RNA replicating genomes known. Its mechanisms are responsible for symptoms like recurrent fever causes and vulnerability for immunodeficiency sufferers.
In 2007, Dr Denison and his team made a significant discovery about this type of virus after years of mystification surrounding its ability to regulate itself, as if it were not error prone, unlike other RNA viruses. They found that coronaviruses are the only known organisms that encode an RNA-dependent, RNA-proofreading system. Many organisms have a proofreading system for copying, but most RNA viruses, like dengue for example, lack the ability to fix mistakes. They create a crowd of mutants around them. Denison explains how this determines the ecology of most RNA viruses and how the enzyme that proofreads for coronaviruses makes for a very different ecology and virulence quality. He also explains the experiments his lab has made on the SARS-CoV-2 "wild-type" virus they've worked with to either decrease or increase its mutation rates as well as connections with therapy possibilities. He addresses concerns about flu season and the difficulty in diagnosing recurrent fever causes when both are an issue. Finally, he offers a reality check on what we can predict about SARS-CoV-2's future in the general population and those with immunodeficiency.
For more, google his name and see his lab website: www.vumc.org/denison-lab. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Researcher Rebecca Traub discusses the most prevalent and damaging types of parasites in Australia and Southeast Asia. She describes
Rebecca Traub is a professor in veterinary parasitology at the University of Melbourne. She's had a prolific career, with over 130 publications and several book chapters on the veterinary parasitology impact factors in Australia and Southeast Asia. Her work expands beyond cats and dogs and includes any animal impacted by parasites and their life cycles, including human mammals and resulting public health issues. She explains that parasites use a number of different hosts to stay alive. Therefore, her work can involve wildlife and conservation medicine. As an example, she recounts some work she did to help repopulate an island with the eastern barred bandicoot after an infestation by parasites carried by feral dogs hurt their population.
The majority of her work now is with zoonoses, or parasites transmitted between animals and humans through various means, but her main focus is on soil-transmitted helminths and tick-borne and flea-borne parasites. She describes one of the most dangerous parasites in the world, a soil-borne parasite called Ancylostoma ceylanicum, which is dropped in the soil from dog feces. It's the second most common hookworm in Australia and Southeast Asia and therefore has a tremendous veterinary parasitology impact factor. She explains why it is still a massive problem despite a large-scale effort on WHO's part to decrease its morbidity. She goes into detail about how these worms harm the human body and possible next steps to decrease its negative impact.
For more, see her university website at pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/individuals/professor-rebecca-traub and search her name in Google Scholar. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Chair of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of South Alabama, Kevin Macaluso, joins the show to discuss something you might not have even heard of: rickettsiology.
Tune in to discover:
Rickettsiology is the study of obligate intracellular gram-negative bacteria that was described over 100 years ago by Howard Taylor Ricketts, a physician who set out to study the then-unknown source of a lethal disease often referred to as black measles or spotted fever.
Through a series of studies, Ricketts and other researchers figured out that the bacteria causing the disease could be transmitted through tick bites. Over 40 species of rickettsia have been identified worldwide. Ultimately, it is Macaluso's goal to figure out what drives rickettsial diseases and rickettsial infection in order to potentially intervene in the transmission cycle or find a treatment.
Macaluso's research is centered around the disease transmission cycle of rickettsia. "Because you're dealing with bacteria that are transmitted by arthropods to vertebrate hosts, they form a triad of vector-borne diseases, and there are a lot of variables associated with that…it's a complex interaction between these three organisms, and we study all aspects of it," explains Macaluso.
He goes on to explain the mechanisms of the bacteria once in the body, including how and where they replicate in the body, how they disseminate in the body, how certain rickettsial pathogens affect the ticks through which transmission occurs, and more.
Visit https://www.southalabama.edu/colleges/com/departments/microbiology/ for more info.
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Paul Offit, MD is Director of the Vaccine Education Center, professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He joins the show to share his perspective on COVID-19 and discuss COVID-19 vaccine updates.
Press play to learn:
"The fact that two-thirds of the population would get a theoretical, unknown vaccine for which they have no data against a virus which has been, at best, elusive…is pretty amazing…I think I would have answered 'No' to that question; I want to see the data first," says Dr. Offit.
The COVID-19 vaccine development program is receiving unprecedented international interest, much of which is in the form of billions of dollars poured in by the WHO, the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and about 80 other companies worldwide.
Dr. Offit expresses concern over the less extensive licensure process and safety issues that may be associated with the emergency-use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine. On this note, he discusses the importance of phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials involving a cohort of 30,000 people, 20,000 of which would receive the experimental vaccine and 10,000 of which would receive a placebo.
Dr. Offit also discusses the efforts behind Operation Warp Speed, COVID-19 vaccine progress, what it would mean to have a vaccine provide short-lived and incomplete protection, novel mechanisms of vaccine development such as those that rely upon messenger RNA, information about the potential of the COVID-19 virus to mutate away from potential vaccines, and much more.
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Associate Professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Purnima Bhanot, joins the show to discuss all things malaria. In this episode, you will discover:
Malaria has plagued the human species for as long as we have known agriculture. With about 200 million cases and 400,000 deaths per year, it has a staggering toll on human life, but only half of the toll it had about a decade ago.
Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted to humans through the bite of the Anopheles mosquito. The disease affects primarily children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa, and leads to a number of malaria symptoms, including high fever, chills, anemia, coma, and death.
Bhanot explains the malaria life cycle and exactly how it interacts with the body during subclinical and clinical phases of the disease. She also discusses which populations of individuals are most vulnerable to the disease and why, what sort of control methods have been implemented, how the immune response to the parasite works, whether malaria infects non-human animals, the increasing resistance to antimalarial drugs and how this is being studied, possible malaria treatments, and so much more.
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Research Fellow at Imperial College London, Dr. Stephanie Wright, shares the expertise she's gained over the course of nearly a decade researching the biological and environmental impacts of microplastic pollution. Press play to learn:
Where does that plastic soda bottle you're drinking from end up? How does the mere friction produced by your movement release synthetic clothing fibers into the environment, and where do those end up? What are "microplastic sinks" and where are they found? These are just a few of the questions explored by Dr. Wright, who's been fascinated by marine biology since the early days of undergraduate school. At the time, she was doing lab-based research on the impact of microplastic ingestion by marine worms. The findings showed negative effects, including less feeding and a compromised ability to store energy. What might this suggest about the impact of microplastic pollution in the marine environment and on other species?
Her current area of research is on human exposure to and human health effects of airborne microplastic pollution, which she says requires a strong focus on analytical techniques since the particles of interest are on the micron scale. These particles can enter the central airway and lower lung, and part of her research aims to identify evidence of this internal exposure and better understand how microplastics affect human cells of the airway. Are microplastics even toxic, and if so, what exactly makes them toxic? What are some potential microplastics pollution solutions and reduction strategies?
Tune in for all the details on these important topics, and learn more at https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/s.wright19https://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/s.wright19. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
Virologist Jonathan Latham explains his view of living organisms in opposition to genetic or biological determinism. He shares a wide range of thoughts, including
Jonathan Latham, PhD, is the executive director and cofounder of the Bioscience Resource Project. He's the editor of Independent Science News and director of the Poison Papers project, which publishes documents on the chemical industry. In this podcast, he begins by engaging with ideas presented in a previous podcast when Richard spoke with famed biologist Denis Noble. Noble said that there's no privileged level of causation in biology and Latham continues to address this issue, offering his own commentary over the course of the show. He explains that he became interested in the kind of prominence that scientists give to genes and DNA and eventually came to the realization that there are a lot of flaws in how we think about organisms that stem from adherence to genetics facts and emphasizing the importance of genetics.
He asserts that the only agency that exists in an organism is the one that derives from the organism itself and explains what this means in more concrete terms. He also touches on current projects such as a paper he and Allison Wilson wrote about their theory on the origin of SARS-CoV-2, which he believes was through a group of miners who experienced a mysterious disease in 2012. After explaining in more detail, he returns to the ideas of genetic determinism and talks about a book he's authoring on the topic.
To find out more, he suggests getting on the mailing list of Independent Science News. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
In 2014, physician Diva Nagula was surprised to face a startling diagnosis. His medical and personal journey is now a part of non hodgkin's lymphoma stage 4 survival stories and he shares some of what he's learned post cancer treatment.
He shares with listeners
Dr. Diva Nagula is an author, physician, and stage 4 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma survivor. He began his career as a board-certified osteopathic physician and has extensive knowledge and training in Integrative and Functional Medicine. He adds his particular experience as a physician encountering symptoms of non hodgkin's lymphoma.
He tells listeners the different phases of his diagnosis, from his first doctor visit to his waiting period before undergoing chemotherapy and his non hodgkin's lymphoma treatment. He describes spiraling into a fight-or-flight mode at this time as well as an angry phase that left him alone and without social support. His research led him into examining non hodgkin's lymphoma survival rate by age and basic non hodgkin's lymphoma survival rate for stage 4.
As a physician, he was able to understand non hodgkin's lymphoma medicosis and non hodgkin's lymphoma histopathology in a way that other patients couldn't but he still struggled with the unknown. He discusses his cancer treatment and eventually remission. But he adds that he then landed in a phase of depression. Though he was happy the cancer was in remission, it had been his only relationship and such a sharp point of focus for so long.
After the treatments he found himself basically alone and asking "what's next?" He talks about how the "spark" eventually came back to him through a chance encounter with a previous trainer. He then describes his own lifestyle changes, from eating choices to exercise to mindfulness and spiritual practices. He's written a book about the experience and offers consultations for patients through his website.
For more, see his website at fromdoctortopatient.com.
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
ER doctor Jeff Gusky presents a strong case for key prevention measures of COVID-19 transmission and is eager to spread the word. He tells listeners about
In addition to being an ER doctor, Jeff Gusky is a National Geographic photographer and an explorer. In this podcast he addresses urgent concerns he has about COVID-19 in light of the approaching flu season as well as for folks with vitamin D deficiencies. His concern for flu season actually centers on the low humidity levels in cooler months. Therefore, he's launching two grassroots initiatives to spread his concerns: 1. Don't Go In and 2. Get started, Get Tested, Get Right.
The first initiative emphasizes the dangers of low humidity and urges people to get a hydrometer and not enter spaces below 50% absolute humidity. He asserts that COVID-19 infection only happens indoors in dangerously dry air and is completely tied to weather conditions. He's concerned that as fall approaches and the air gets dryer, the virus will infect more easily. He mentions findings and studies to support this trend and describes different climates that have seen different infection rates. His second initiative connects vitamin D and coronavirus infections. Studies have shown a correlation between vitamin D deficiencies and trouble with COVID-19; therefore, he urges listeners to get their vitamin D levels assessed and supplement if low. He provides more detailed numbers and findings in the podcast as well and discusses his free webinar to promote these issues. Jeff Gusky just completed this 16-minute webinar about GOING ON OFFENCE AGAINST THE VIRUS.
For more information, watch his webinar. He's also happy to take questions by email: jeffgusky@gmail.com Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK
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