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Emmanuel

@ejustin46

Mar 13

AVIAN FLU for KIDS
What Happens When Viruses Team Up?

Let’s talk about two interesting friends in the virus world: H5N1 and H3N8. They are both types of avian influenza viruses, which means they can make birds sick.

2) Now, what do those numbers mean?
The "H" and "N" in H5N1 and H3N8 are like special codes that tell us something important about each virus. The "H" stands for hemagglutinin, and the number after it (like 5 or 3) tells us which type it is.

3) The "N" stands for neuraminidase, and the number after it (like 1 or 8) tells us its type, too. So, H5N1 has a type 5 "H" and a type 1 "N," while H3N8 has a type 3 "H" and a type 8 "N."
Sometimes these viruses can work together in a really interesting way called reassortment.

Read 10 tweets

Emmanuel

@ejustin46

Mar 6

IMAGINE You're a SNEAKY SARS-CoV-2 VIRUS :
How You’d Use Blood Vessels to ATTACK the HUMAN BRAIN, Create Chaos, and Confuse the Brain’s Cleanup Crew!

An Informative EXPLANATION based on 3 recent studies, FOR KIDS and EVERYONE !

2) Imagine Our Body as a Big City:

In this city, blood vessels act like roads, allowing cars (our blood cells) to travel everywhere. Sometimes, bad guys called viruses, like SARS-CoV-2, sneak into this city.

2) ▶️ Getting In:

Think of the SARS-CoV-2 virus as a clever thief. It uses the roads (blood vessels) to reach important areas, like the brain. It carries special keys called spike proteins that help it unlock doors in the blood vessel walls to enter.

Read 10 tweets

Emmanuel

@ejustin46

Mar 6

H5N1 ALARMING ADAPTATIONS:
How Mutations in the Bird Flu Virus are Enabling Spread Between Animals and Posing Grave Pandemic Threat to Humans
(Thanks to @greg_folkers for this new study in Nature)
nature.com/articles/s4146…

2) The H5N1 bird flu virus spread quickly along the coast of Chile, infecting wild birds, farm chickens, and sea animals like seals and dolphins.

The virus came from Peru and then moved south through Chile. Importantly, the virus changed in a way that helps it infect and ...

3) ... spread between mammals, including humans.

Specifically, the virus developed mutations in a gene called PB2. These PB2 mutations allow the virus to replicate better and cause more severe illness in mammals.

Read 6 tweets

Emmanuel

@ejustin46

Mar 6

Unlocking the GENETIC SECRETS BEHIND SEVERE COVID-19 and LONG COVID

An allele is a different version of a gene. Genes are the instructions in our cells that tell our body how to work. But sometimes there are small differences ...
medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

2) ...in these instructions, and those different versions are called alleles.

This study found that a gene called MTHFR affects how sick people get from COVID-19.

Fig.1. Plasma metabolomics of COVID-19 patients reveals one-carbon metabolism association with COVID-19 severity

3) MTHFR has different versions, called alleles.
People with a certain MTHFR allele had higher levels of chemicals related to how cells use one-carbon.

Fig. 2. Relative changes in methionine metabolism are correlated with COVID-19 severity

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Emmanuel

@ejustin46

Mar 4

Exploring the Persistence of the Spike Protein along the Skull-Meninges-Brain Axis and the Neurological Effects of COVID-19

This analysis is supported by numerous videos and illustrations.
First, let's identify the location of the skull-meninges-brain axis. Here it is 👇

2) Here is where Spike protein persists in skull marrow, meninges, and brain, accumulating in the recently discovered skull-meninges connections 👇

3) Here are the confoncal images showing SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid proteins in skull marrow and meninges of COVID-19 patients, indicating viral presence in these brain border regions.

Read 11 tweets

Emmanuel

@ejustin46

Mar 4

Variations in HLA Genes Influence SARS-CoV-2 Infection Risk for People with HIV, Highlighting Importance of Immune Factors

(What if life wasn't so straightforward? 🤗)
cell.com/iscience/fullt…

2) The links between HIV and SARS-CoV-2 highlighted in this study are:

▶️ People living with HIV often have altered T cell responses compared to those without HIV, including lower T cell counts, decreased T cell receptor diversity, and functional changes in CD8+ T cells.

3)▶️ This study found that people living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy still mounted robust T cell responses to conserved regions of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, even if they had not been previously infected with COVID-19.

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