BBC BREAKFAST Today

[ruben]

Very interesting article this morning on BBC breakfast . A young woman had a problem with her eye. All tests were negative. They thought her eye would have to be removed. A test was then developed which could detect what had previously been undectable. She had some infection in her eye. I hope I've explained this more or less correctly.

 

[linusbert]

what was the solution?

 

[Treeman]

Woman's eyesight saved by cutting-edge test after mystery infection​

Ellie Irwin suffered persistent inflammation in her right eye resulting in blurred vision and underwent intensive treatment to no avail. At one point she even considered having her eye removed.

It was only after Ellie was offered a "last resort" analysis called metagenomics, that she was diagnosed with a rare bacterial infection which was cured with antibiotics.



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czx45vze0vyo

 

[ruben]

Thanks Treeman. My point really is, could this diagnostic technique offer hope for us.

 

[Treeman]

Thanks Treeman. My point really is, could this diagnostic technique offer hope for us.

Agree

UKHSA launches new metagenomic surveillance for health security​

The UK launches mSCAPE, a world-first metagenomics initiative by UKHSA to enhance health security through rapid pathogen detection and surveillance.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukhsa-launches-new-metagenomic-surveillance-for-health-security

 

[Treeman]

There has been some research using metagenomis with ME CFS

Fecal metagenomic profiles in subgroups of patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome 2017​

Abstract
Background
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is characterized by unexplained persistent fatigue, commonly accompanied by cognitive dysfunction, sleeping disturbances, orthostatic intolerance, fever, lymphadenopathy, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The extent to which the gastrointestinal microbiome and peripheral inflammation are associated with ME/CFS remains unclear. We pursued rigorous clinical characterization, fecal bacterial metagenomics, and plasma immune molecule analyses in 50 ME/CFS patients and 50 healthy controls frequency-matched for age, sex, race/ethnicity, geographic site, and season of sampling.

Results
Topological analysis revealed associations between IBS co-morbidity, body mass index, fecal bacterial composition, and bacterial metabolic pathways but not plasma immune molecules. IBS co-morbidity was the strongest driving factor in the separation of topological networks based on bacterial profiles and metabolic pathways. Predictive selection models based on bacterial profiles supported findings from topological analyses indicating that ME/CFS subgroups, defined by IBS status, could be distinguished from control subjects with high predictive accuracy. Bacterial taxa predictive of ME/CFS patients with IBS were distinct from taxa associated with ME/CFS patients without IBS. Increased abundance of unclassified Alistipes and decreased Faecalibacterium emerged as the top biomarkers of ME/CFS with IBS; while increased unclassified Bacteroides abundance and decreased Bacteroides vulgatus were the top biomarkers of ME/CFS without IBS. Despite findings of differences in bacterial taxa and metabolic pathways defining ME/CFS subgroups, decreased metabolic pathways associated with unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis and increased atrazine degradation pathways were independent of IBS co-morbidity. Increased vitamin B6 biosynthesis/salvage and pyrimidine ribonucleoside degradation were the top metabolic pathways in ME/CFS without IBS as well as in the total ME/CFS cohort. In ME/CFS subgroups, symptom severity measures including pain, fatigue, and reduced motivation were correlated with the abundance of distinct bacterial taxa and metabolic pathways.

Conclusions
Independent of IBS, ME/CFS is associated with dysbiosis and distinct bacterial metabolic disturbances that may influence disease severity. However, our findings indicate that dysbiotic features that are uniquely ME/CFS-associated may be masked by disturbances arising from the high prevalence of IBS co-morbidity in ME/CFS. These insights may enable more accurate diagnosis and lead to insights that inform the development of specific therapeutic strategies in ME/CFS subgroups.

Here

Multi-‘omics of gut microbiome-host interactions in short- and long-term myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome patients 2023​

Summary
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex, debilitating disorder manifesting as severe fatigue and post-exertional malaise. The etiology of ME/CFS remains elusive. Here, we present a deep metagenomic analysis of stool combined with plasma metabolomics and clinical phenotyping of two ME/CFS cohorts with short-term (<4 years, n = 75) or long-term disease (>10 years, n = 79) compared with healthy controls (n = 79). First, we describe microbial and metabolomic dysbiosis in ME/CFS patients. Short-term patients showed significant microbial dysbiosis, while long-term patients had largely resolved microbial dysbiosis but had metabolic and clinical aberrations. Second, we identified phenotypic, microbial, and metabolic biomarkers specific to patient cohorts. These revealed potential functional mechanisms underlying disease onset and duration, including reduced microbial butyrate biosynthesis and a reduction in plasma butyrate, bile acids, and benzoate. In addition to the insights derived, our data represent an important resource to facilitate mechanistic hypotheses of host-microbiome interactions in ME/CFS.

Here

 

[Rufous McKinney]

Wish I could make it through a paragraph in these research papers.

 

[linusbert]

Wish I could make it through a paragraph in these research papers.

throw it into AI and ask to summarize for a kid or so.

 

[Wayne]

she was diagnosed with a rare bacterial infection which was cured with antibiotics.

I suspect it could have been relatively easily treated using an herbal eyewash. Dr. Christopher's eyewash formula is the one I'm familiar with.