MLB Weekly Digest September 3rd Edition - NGSC Sports

How A Common Fungus Can Alter The Lungs To Suit Itself

There are many microbes in our environment; many are harmless, some perform important functions, and some may pose a threat. Aspergillus fumigatus, for example, is a fungus that can be often be found in soil, as well as decaying organic matter; it has a crucial role in recycling carbon and nitrogen on our planet. A. Fumigatus is also widely distributed in the air, so on average, people probably inhale a few hundred spores of A. Fumigatus every day. This fungus is highly adaptive, and it can also evade weakened immune defenses in immunocompromised individuals to cause lung infections, called Aspergillosis. There are limited treatment options for this disease, and it's difficult to treat effectively.

Scientists have now analyzed genetic data from about 250 strains of this fungus, and data from 40 Aspergillosis patients that characterized the lung microbiomes of these individuals. This showed that when people are infected with A. Fumigatus, the composition of their lung microbiome begins to change dramatically. The findings have been reported in Nature Communications.

Previous research has shown that fungal strains can be quite different from one infected patient to another. For example, the genomes of 250 Aspergillus fumigatus strains isolated from different places were only about 70 percent identical, a vast difference considering that organisms like humans and pigs have about 95 percent identical genomes.

This study aimed to reveal how these genetic differences affected fungal metabolism in the context of lung microbiomes, which are already complex, noted study leader Gianni Panagiotou, head of the Microbiome Dynamics department at Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI). "Understanding what might drive fungal growth, and thus survival, of A. Fumigatus in different habitats might advance the development of prophylactic or therapeutic strategies to control the fungal pathogen levels."

In this work, the researchers applied the fungal genomic data and known biochemical information to computational tools that modeled the metabolic reactions and output of the 250 fungal strains. This showed that the clinical strains are significantly different from strains that are found in the environment, particularly when it comes to amino acid synthesis, said co-lead study author Mohammad Mirhakkak.

This model was also applied to samples that were obtained from 40 cystic fibrosis patients before and after they had been diagnosed with Aspergillosis. The investigators also revealed the composition of the lung microbiomes in these patients with metagenomic tools. The efforts suggested that A. Fumigatus seems to alter the lung microbiome to its advantage. Computer simulations indicated that even fungal strains that had metabolic deficiencies would be able to survive in the lungs because of the support of the lung microbiome, which assumed responsibility for some metabolic processes.

"Our results show that when developing new drugs, we need to keep in mind, on the one hand, the enormous variability of the metabolism of Aspergillus fumigatus, and on the other hand, that we also need to keep the entire microbiome in mind," Panagiotou said.

Sources: Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knoell Institute, Nature Communications

Lung Disease News

Apr. 21, 2023 — Storing donor lungs for transplant at 10 degrees Celsius markedly increases the length of time the organ can live outside the body according to new ...

Mar. 10, 2023 — One in 10 adults suffer from the debilitating effects of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Research around a new breathing device developed by pulmonologists offers promise for improving ...

Mar. 9, 2023 — Congenital diaphragmatic hernia is one of the deadliest birth defects. To better understand and treat this condition in the future, researchers designed a new cell model in the laboratory and tested ...

Mar. 8, 2023 — Contracting a lower respiratory tract infection in early childhood is associated with a higher risk of dying from respiratory disease as an adult, according to new ...

Feb. 27, 2023 — New research reveals how the relationship between nerves and immune cells in the lungs can contribute to the development of allergic ...

Feb. 23, 2023 — As air pollution in Stockholm has decreased, so has the lung capacity of children and adolescents has improved, a new study reports. The researchers consider the results important, since the lung ...

Feb. 22, 2023 — A new study uncovers how a protein, APOBEC3B, could protects cells against many different types of RNA viruses like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), SARS-CoV2, influenza virus, poliovirus and ...

Feb. 8, 2023 — A new study reveals how resistance to bacteraemic pneumonia is provided by a unique subset of lung T regulatory ...

Feb. 1, 2023 — New data from a clinical trial shows improved rates of survival and reduced risk of recurrence in patients taking osimertinib, a targeted therapy for non-small cell lung cancer ...

Jan. 19, 2023 — Researchers demonstrate that a bacteria can be modified to act as 'living medicine' in the lung. The treatment significantly reduced acute lung infections in mice and doubled their survival ...

Jan. 12, 2023 — More than 2,500 genes exhibit significant sex differences in expression in mouse alveolar type II cells (AT2s), important for keeping the lungs functioning, potentially explaining sex biases in the ...

Jan. 9, 2023 — A new study found that deleting a gene called KMT2D caused normal (basal) lung cells grown in complex cultures called organoids to transform into lung squamous carcinoma (LUSC) ...

Jan. 5, 2023 — A new method of donor-lung distribution is projected to decrease the number of candidate deaths who are on the waitlist for lung transplant, according to a new ...

Jan. 4, 2023 — A research team has shown that Sarunashi juice and its constituting component isoquercetin help prevent and reduce lung cancer in laboratory ...

Dec. 28, 2022 — Researchers have found that antigen-specific killer T cells (CD8+ T cells) rapidly expand in the lungs when primed by antigen-presenting lung-resident alveolar macrophages (AMs). This interaction ...

Dec. 26, 2022 — Researchers report that they have developed a new experimental pipeline to combine bacterial therapy with current cancer drugs. Their study, which explores resistance to bacterial therapy at the ...

Dec. 22, 2022 — Pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 and pneumococcus can cause severe pneumonia. If the airways then fill with fluid, the patient risks developing acute respiratory distress syndrome. Researchers have now ...

Dec. 22, 2022 — Children exhale significantly fewer potentially infectious particles than adults -- at least this is true for the small respiratory droplets that are predominantly produced in the ...

Dec. 21, 2022 — Researchers have genetically profiled nearly 200,000 cells from lungs, mapping their precise locations in tissue to discover an unexpected new immune niche in our ...

Dec. 6, 2022 — Researchers have produced dark-field X-ray images of patients infected with the corona virus. In contrast to conventional X-ray images, dark-field images visualize the microstructure of the lung ...

Friday, April 21, 2023

Friday, March 10, 2023

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Monday, February 27, 2023

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Thursday, January 12, 2023

Monday, January 9, 2023

Thursday, January 5, 2023

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

Monday, December 26, 2022

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Monday, December 5, 2022

Friday, December 2, 2022

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Monday, November 21, 2022

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Thursday, November 3, 2022

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Monday, October 17, 2022

Monday, October 10, 2022

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Friday, September 23, 2022

Thursday, September 22, 2022

Monday, September 19, 2022

Friday, September 16, 2022

Thursday, September 15, 2022

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Thursday, September 8, 2022

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Monday, September 5, 2022

Friday, September 2, 2022

Thursday, September 1, 2022

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Thursday, August 18, 2022

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Monday, August 8, 2022

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Monday, August 1, 2022

Thursday, July 28, 2022

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Monday, July 25, 2022

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Monday, July 18, 2022

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Friday, June 10, 2022

Thursday, June 9, 2022

Friday, June 3, 2022

Thursday, June 2, 2022

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Monday, May 9, 2022

Thursday, May 5, 2022

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Thursday, April 28, 2022

Monday, April 25, 2022

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Monday, April 11, 2022

Paramore Cancels Remaining North American Tour Dates As Hayley Williams Battles Lung Infection

"It got a little scary tonight," Williams shared after their Seattle show. "I'm so sorry for all the chaos this has caused some of you. I really tried to kick this shit."

The North American leg of Paramore's This Is Why tour has come to an end sooner than anticipated. Following a performance in Seattle on Wednesday, frontwoman Hayley Williams revealed that the final two shows of the tour, scheduled for Portland on Aug. 10 and Salt Lake City on Aug. 13, would be canceled as she recovers from a non-contagious lung infection.

"After speaking with our team and my doc, I know that trying to finish this tour is now going to come at a detriment to my health. My lungs are just not healing quickly enough to keep up. It got a little scary tonight," Williams wrote in an Instagram Story.

The canceled Seattle and Portland shows, as well as earlier stops in Seattle and San Francisco, were originally postponed late last month. At the time, the band cited "sickness within the touring party," with Williams later revealing that she had been on antibiotics and steroids to address the illness after attempting to push through it for over a week ahead of their shows in Houston and Los Angeles.

"We will have the team post an official statement ASAP but we are going to have to cancel the last 2 shows of the tour so I can get better, finally," Williams continued in her statement. "I know some of you are camping in Portland already so I just wanted to get this out there. I'm so sorry for all the chaos this has caused some of you. I really tried to kick this shit. Love you all."

In the official statement, she elaborated: "We're unfortunately realizing that it's past the point of wanting to push through to put on a good show for all of you. I'm now risking long term damage and I need to pay attention to my body."

Right-Wing Influencers Just Found Their Favorite New Country Song

Foo Fighters Take 'Joke Too Far,' Bring Out Michael Bublé to Perform at Outside Lands

Ted Cruz Is Furious Merrick Garland Did Exactly What He Asked in Hunter Biden Case

These Women Tried to Warn Us About AI

Last week, Williams responded to criticism for postponing shows in order to prioritize her health. On Paramore's Discord, she wrote: "Touring is different at 34 than it was at 16, when leaving home felt like the greatest escape. Even in my 20's I benefitted from the constant movement. It was a perfect distraction from relational issues and my own mind. At this age, I have my own home life, a community, a dog, my sisters and the rest of my family who are getting older … It's quite a lot to leave behind."

Paramore played over 30 shows in North America this year. The This Is Why tour is scheduled to resume with six performances in Australia and New Zealand beginning in November.

---