So everyone’s concerned about their gums.
I’m not saying that the gingiva doesn’t play a vital role in oral health since it certainly does.
But when people talk about the periodontium and the mouth, they often ignore one important part of the periodontium — bone…. But before we talk about the bone, a quick mention about the periodontium.
The periodontium is made up of the periodontal fibers, the cementum of the teeth (the hard tissue that covers the roots), and the alveolar bone.
More about periodontal fibers here👇🏼…

https://twitter.com/white_bite/status/1603605033559678977

Let’s talk a little about PULPITIS.

There’s so much attention placed on gum disease these days due to a lot of anecdata on falling teeth and inflamed gingiva in individuals with long COVID.

Oral structures are pretty complex though and just like not everything is about… COVID, not everything is about gum disease either.

The tooth itself is supplied by blood vessels and nerves, all enclosed in the part called the “pulp”. The upper portion that supplies the crown is called the “pulp chamber “. The lower part is called the “root canal”….

Some good news. The University if Singapore is on its way to developing an intranasal vaccine that has more stable T-cell & immunoglobulin responses in hamsters. Am pretty hopeful since they’ve already started to file a patent for the formulation….

newatlas.com/medical/intran… Noted in the study was higher activation of T-cells in the spleen following intranasal vaccination. (A) and (B) shows difference in strategies between subcutaneous and intranasal delivery…

What happens during SARS2 infection at a subcellular level should be more worrying than what we see at the clinical level.

W/ the help of AI, researchers were able to “compartmentalize” substructures to further study changes within the cell in COVID.

Taken into account were🧵

https://twitter.com/biorxiv_cellbio/status/1725703111472304262

Changes in the mitochondria, lipid droplets, nuclei, and protein and dry mass of nucleoli.

Noted are differences in changes depending on the variant.

Researchers were also able to distinguish changes in structures induced by SARS2 synctiae formation….

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI), otherwise known as a heart attack, is said to be one of the outcomes of SARS2.
A study just released tried to investigate any genetic association to link SARS2 infection to AMI. Results from their study show no genetic link between these two … conditions, which rules out any possible predisposing factor to link one’s family medical history to developing AMI post COVID.
The study showed there were two genes that were common in both diseases:TLR4 and ABCA1….

CW: graphics which may gross you out
There have been anecdata coming out about oral pathologies which start to develop after a Covid infection, regardless of severity at the acute phase. This prospective study reports the different oral lesions in patients who've had Covid (1/n) and who have developed conditions two weeks after infection.
Reported lesions include geographic tongue , otherwise known as migratory glossitis. This condition involves the smoothening of certain parts of the top portion of the tongue. (2/n)

An interesting study that takes a look into the early host response during SARS2 infection. Some takeaways from the study. (1/n)
science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… The study made use of hamsters that were infected through the nose with SARS2 in order to assess immune response via the respiratory route. (2/n)

The epithelium is a lining of tissue that covers many of the body's organs. The cells that make up the epithelium are usually taken into consideration since changes in how epithelial cells look like can give us a clue as to whether or not these changes can lead to (1/n) worse conditions such as cancer. There are many kinds of changes that can be observed in epithelial cells, but one that pathologists usually look out for is dysplastic change -- changes that are often considered precancerous.
When cells become dysplastic, they change in (2/n)

Let's put it this way. The nucleus is that part of the cell where you have DNA and where all the good stuff is initially manufactured. The last thing you want is for any of the dirty stuff to enter the part where manufacturing happens because you wouldn't want anything (1/n)

https://twitter.com/TRyanGregory/status/1652792381001924611

to happen to the final product.
In the same manner, you really wouldn't want any of these viral parts to enter any of the nuclei in any of your cells where YOUR DNA is stashed. You wouldn't want any parts of the virus messing around with your DNA.

An interesting study which compares respiratory pathogens -- divoc, MERS and the common flu-- in a simulation of the nasal environment. 🧵 (1/n)
pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn… Study made use of cells that are the same as those that line the nose. Results showed replication happens a lot in these nasal cells. Take note that dovic replication is sustained at 33 degrees. Viral load titers of dovic > MERS and the ordinary cold. (2/n)

Trying different ways of tweeting here. H/T @NateB_Panic. Same question as his. (1/n) Why are media and health professionals in denial wrt different sequelae when there's so much research going around--enough to come up with a huge list of references even! (2/n)

A pretty impressive and detailed study that shows the immune response to Covid with some minor comments at the end of a long🧵 1/n
medrxiv.org/content/10.110… The study involved 16 participants, all without previous history of Covid and without any record of combormidity.
The participants were infected with the original strain through the 👃 and checked for immune responses daily. 2/n

Sharing an interesting study about cancer and that virus that must not be named. Connecting the dots to show possibilities too.🧵(1/n) Cancer cells differ from normal cells morphologically. Changes in these structures are what are “hallmarks” of cancer. Textbooks will always talk about these changes –transformations—that can be caused by factors like radiation or (gasp!) viruses.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9553/…. (2/n)

Inflammasomes are proteins that are activated as part of the body's response to infection from a pathogen. 🧵 (1/n)
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…. Inflammasomes are considered to be a necessary part of the immune response since it is during the inflammatory process when the body also tries to eliminate the offending pathogen from itself. (2/n)
frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…

CD34+ cells are one of the "original cells" from the time of development that leads to the formation of different types of blood cells in the body. 🧵(1/n)
criver.com/eureka/ask-sci… In fact, there is ongoing research with regards to its use for the purpose of tissue regeneration since these types of cells can be harvested from umbilical cord blood.
This new study shows how CD34+ may contribute to tissue regeneration in a condition known as (2/n)

Bronchiolitis is a lung condition in children that is often associated with a viral condition. It may or may not lead to hospitalization and, although more common in children <2 y/o, it may still happen in older children.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK51950…🧵(1/n) Worrying though is a recently published study with data from 2005-2019 that shows bronchiolitis, regardless of severity or cause, may predispose a child to asthma as early as two years from the time of infection. Although the study focuses on RSV (2/n)

Time to connect the dots!
Leprosy is an infectious disease of both skin and nerves caused by bacteria that can be both debilitating and disfiguring. (1/n)🧵 PD-1/PDL-1 are proteins that are found in cells that are expressed so that the immune system is kept in check.
Unfortunately, for some diseases like cancer and some infectious diseases, expression of these proteins may lead to immunosuppression. (2/n)
cancer.org/treatment/trea…

Studies slowly elucidating how immune dysregulation happens with Covid.
Great work from @VirusesImmunity .
Important ⚠️
The study focuses on how viral proteins in the Omicron subvariants (because they all have to be OMICRON) "depress" the activity (1/n)
pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn… Of MHC-1.
MHCs are molecules that are needed by the host in order to activate our T-cells in a process known as antigen presentation. A simple explained of these process in this video (2/n)

Things to unpack from this study which used both mouse models and tissue samples from those who have died from SARS2. (1/N) biorxiv.org/content/10.110… Interesting to note how spike proteins of SARS2 are able to bind to almost the entire body in mice when infected with the virus. The red dye shows areas of infection. Take note of the difference between the flu virus and SARS2 spike. (It's not the flu!) (2/n)

Many think that vaccinated individuals encourage mutation of SARS2 within a host.
This study shows though that mutation happens more in an unvaxxed host. H/t @aleksj
(1/n)
nature.com/articles/s4146… Individuals vaccinated w/ Pfizer or Coronavac were used in this study.
Study showed short-term mutations that may have improved viral fitness in vaxxed individuals BUT, mutations that enable immune escape were not noted.
Vax status seem to affect mutation within the host (2/n)

Good news wrt vax development in COVID. 2 H/Ts
@roslemusmartin @_Lisa_LJ
This nasal vaccine is currently under dev in Germany and results, although in hamsters, seem promising.
(1/n)
nature.com/articles/s4156… The vaccine makes use of live attenuated viruses (weakened viruses) that are manipulated so it's enough for them to stimulate the immune response, while removing their capability to multiply in the host. (China's Coronavac made use of this.)
This is an old-fashioned (2/n)