The human gut microbiome is known to have a significant influence on many aspects of our health. Usually, when people think of the gut microbiome, they think of the many bacterial species that live there. Other organisms like viruses and fungi are also members of the human gut microbiome that have been getting more research attention. Now, scientists have identified a unicellular organism called Blastocystis, a type of protist with many subtypes that are also a part of the human gut microbiome. The research has shown that different subtypes of Blastocystis can lead to beneficial health impacts while others are detrimental. The findings have been reported in The EMBO Journal.

People in Singapore have been found with a rare Blastocystis subtype called ST7, which is often isolated from patients with diarrhea. Blastocystis ST7 seems to cause gut disease, although the mechanisms that underlie this pathology have been unclear.

With the vehicle, Springer and her team want to bridge the gap between patients at home and healthcare providers in established healthcare systems.

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“What we really are trying to do is build bridges and linkages,” Springer said.

A first-of-its-kind fully mobile pharmacy may soon be coming near you. The “Integrated Mobile Opioid Treatment and Infectious disease cOordinated care in your Neighbourhood,” also known as “InMOTION,” was started by Sandra Springer, a professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, and her team, with the goal of bringing a working pharmacy to people’s homes and enhancing access to health care for residents of Connecticut.

A f irst-of-its-kind fully mobile pharmacy may soon be coming near you.

The “Integrated Mobile Opioid Treatment and Infectious disease cOordinated care in your Neighbourhood,” also known as “InMOTION,” was started by Sandra Springer, a professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, and her team, with the goal of bringing a working pharmacy to people’s homes and enhancing access to health care for residents of Connecticut.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a major global health concern, with an estimated 1.6 million cases in the US alone. While there are many treatments available, they are often ineffective and can cause harmful side effects. A major reason clinically successful IBD therapies remain elusive is because current model systems cannot replicate key mechanistic aspects of the epithelial inflammatory response in humans.

In this webinar brought to you by Altis Biosystems, Bryan McQueen will describe the development of a new stem-cell derived intestinal epithelium model system for testing IBD therapeutic efficacy. Using this model system, researchers developed a suite of assays to probe epithelial barrier disruption, cytotoxicity, and pro-inflammatory cytokine release in response to the activation of prototypical IBD-associated cellular pathways.

Relief could be on the way for people with painful hand osteoarthritis after a Monash University and Alfred Health-led study found an affordable existing drug can help. Until now there has been no effective treatment.

Published in The Lancet, the paper investigated methotrexate, a low-cost, effective treatment for inflammatory joint conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis. It has been widely used in Australia and globally since the early 1980s.

Researchers found that methotrexate reduced symptoms in those with hand osteoarthritis (OA). A 20mg weekly oral dose over six months had a moderate effect in reducing pain and stiffness in patients with symptomatic hand OA.