Virus

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #49 – Marcel Nold, MD – Neonatal Immunology

This weeks guest is Professor Marcel Nold, MD. Dr. Nold is a clinician scientist in the research environment of neonatal immunology and microbiomes at Monash University in the city of Monash in Melbourne, Australia. Professor Nold received his Doctor of Medicine degree at the JW Goethe-University at Frankfurt am Main, Germany, including final year rotations in Zürich (Switzerland), Montréal (Canada) and Capetown (South Africa). For his biomedical research training he spent six years at the Pharmazentrum at Frankfurt am Main and three years as a research Fellow at the laboratory of Professor Dinarello, at the University of Colorado Denver. In 2009 he was recruited to The Ritchie Centre in Melbourne and finished his specialist training at Monash Newborn. Professor Nold is a leading researcher worldwide in the field of immune cytokine signaling and was the key contributor to identifying Interleukin 37 or IL37. His research has been published in the journals Nature Immunology, Science Immunology and many others. His academic Inflammation in Neonatal Diseases Research Group and his industry programs aim to characterise underlying pathways of inflammation in early life diseases, with a focus on interventional immunology in cardiopulmonary and intestinal diseases of the preterm.
For the purposes of this interview, Dr. Nold is a researcher with a view of the maternal child dyad that is prevention focused and health span conscious. His research has led to many critical discoveries in the neonatal health space that I find deeply intriguing. We get into some deep immunology at times which is critical for total understanding.
Enjoy,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 12 Issue 7, Covid Updates 54

Coronavirus Update #54 – This audiocast is a deeper dive into policy and opinion based on the same for Omicron.

In my opinion, our children’s mental and physical health need to take primacy over pandemic fear at this time. They are in a very very very low risk scenario from COVID, however, they remain in a high risk scenario from a mental and metabolic health perspective. The scales do not favor current school based mitigation measures based on risk and health from Omicron and the downstream events relate to it. If you are a young person, boosting is questionable, especially if you are a male with myocarditis risk. The WHO and European Union are not recommending it at this time. The CDC is recommending down to age 12. Let us say that you are 18 years old and male. If a young adult receives a third dose of an mRNA vaccine which provides marginal to no transmission benefit for 90 to 110 days and minimal disease severity reduction because it is already almost zero after a 2 dose series, what is the point. Are our youth supposed to protect the unvaccinated? The vaccinated and boosted with risk factors? For how long? Then what? Do it again, and again every three months as immunity wanes rapidly? Has this ever been done before or well studied? Nope.
Be well,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #13 – Dr. Peter Rowe, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long Covid

Dr. Peter Rowe is a Professor of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is the inaugural Sunshine Natural Wellbeing Foundation Professor of Chronic Fatigue and Related Disorders and serves as the Director of the Chronic Fatigue Clinic at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

His areas of clinical expertise include chronic fatigue syndrome and other disorders characterized by fatigue and orthostatic intolerance. Dr. Rowe and his colleagues were the first to describe the relationship between chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and treatable orthostatic intolerance syndromes, as well as the association between Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and CFS.

In this episode, Dr. Rowe and I dive deep into CFS and long Covid for both the parent and the clinician. We set the stage for a better understanding of this complex disorder in order to encourage earlier diagnosis and better therapy.

Please Enjoy,

Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 11 Issues 32 and 34

Majestic poplar

Newsletter #32 covers – School and the Covid Generation

More than a year later, as we had feared, we are starting to see and feel the repercussions of the school closure pandemic phenomenon. The K shaped recovery of the economic pandemic is also playing out similarly in the school system. Last year, private schools stayed open while public schools shuttered. Of those in public school systems, many that could afford one, hired tutors to bridge the academic dysfunction of zoom education. The gap between the rich and poor just widened like never before right before our eyes. Regardless of the intent behind the outcome, we are now here. It serves no purpose to blame teachers unions or local governments or parents living in fear or any other publicized reason to date. We are Americans and we must now roll up our sleeves and begin the process of bridging this gap again. These children deserve our total and unwavering support. Link to more….https://www.salisburypediatrics.com/patient-education/dr-magryta-s-newsletter/983-school-and-the-covid-generation

Newsletter #34 covers – Long Covid and its association with Epstein Barr Virus, EBV, reactivation

This is a very important topic for clinicians and parents to understand so we are going to look at it a little more deeply.
Long COVID or what appears to be a post infectious inflammatory issue may now be a consequence of another infection. What are the symptoms of long COVID and when do they occur? From the CDC: Some people are experiencing a range of new or ongoing symptoms that can last weeks or months after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. Unlike some of the other types of post-COVID conditions that only tend to occur in people who have had severe illness, these symptoms can happen to anyone who has had COVID-19, even if the illness was mild, or if they had no initial symptoms. Symptoms can even begin weeks after the infection.  Link to more…. https://www.salisburypediatrics.com/patient-education/dr-magryta-s-newsletter/990-long-covid-and-its-association-with-epstein-barr-virus-ebv-reactivation

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Volume 11 Issue 29 Covid Update #39

Coronavirus Update #39 Quick hits
1) Repeat with new information as an important follow up on MIS-C, multi inflammatory syndrome – c., from 2 weeks ago. Remember that in children, MIS-c is associated with poor intestinal function from a microbiome perspective coupled to genetic weaknesses in immune suppression of chemokine CXCL9 post inflammation. Research from the lab of Dr. Alessio Fasano has shown direct evidence of intestinal permeability in children with multi inflammatory syndrome – c:
The authors found that children, unlike adults, the SARS2 virus decides to take up residence in the intestines and replicate there. The virus can be found in the child’s stool via testing. This is a unique finding to children as the intestine is not known to be a harboring site for the virus in adults. The expert researcher on this paper, Dr. Fasano, has extensive knowledge of the function of the intestinal mucosal lining and the fact that the cells are held together by tight junctions made up of different proteins forming a semi impermeable membrane…….
Read more at https://www.salisburypediatrics.com/patient-education/dr-magryta-s-newsletter
Have a great day,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Volume 11 Issue 27 Covid Update #38

Just when you think that the information on SARS2 Covid19 is slowing to a crawl with new discovery, a favorite researcher publishes a truly remarkable bit of scientific discovery. Dr. Alessio Fasano is featured below in Number 6 and his work is really important. A little science heavy but critical for children. There is a take home summary as well. Don’t miss this information.
Quick hits
1) CDC data on adolescent hospitalizations: COVID-19 adolescent hospitalization rates from COVID-NET peaked at 2.1 per 100,000 in early January 2021, declined to 0.6 in mid-March, and rose to 1.3 in April. Among hospitalized adolescents, nearly one third required intensive care unit admission, and 5% required invasive mechanical ventilation; no associated deaths occurred….. Read more at this link: https://www.salisburypediatrics.com/patient-education/dr-magryta-s-newsletter/964-volume-11-letter-27-coronavirus-update-38

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Volume 11 Issue 24

Did you ever suffer from a cold sore caused by the herpes virus? If so, this audio newsletter is for you. We go through all of the current data regarding cause and treatment.

Herpes Labialis is a common recurrent irritation for many children and parents alike. The Red Book, the bible of pediatric Infectious diseases, is the best resource for understanding Herpes viral infections. There are 8 primary herpes viruses that infect humans including: herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV1), herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV2), varicella-zoster virus, Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, Human herpesvirus-6, Human herpesvirus-7, and Kaposi’s sarcoma herpes virus……

Read More at https://www.salisburypediatrics.com/patient-education/dr-magryta-s-newsletter/955-volume-11-letter-24

Best,

Dr. M

 

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