Commentary

Does prior dengue virus infection exacerbate Zika virus disease?

The short answer to the question posed in the title of this blog is: we don’t know. Why would we even consider that a prior dengue virus infection would increase the severity of a Zika virus infection? The first time you are infected with dengue virus, you are likely to have a mild disease involving …

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The Traditional Lecture is Not Dead. I Would Know – I’m A Professor

Wired Magazine recently published an article with a headline distinctly opposite of mine, which claims that the traditional lecture is dead. I disagree, and here is why. The thesis of the article, by Rhett Allain, is that modern technologies have made the traditional lecture obsolete. The traditional lecture is one during which a teacher stands at the front …

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Intestinal dysbiosis in ME/CFS patients

The microbes that live on and in us provide a host of functions that are essential for our health. Changes in the composition of these microbial communities correlate with a variety of disease states. Results of a new study (link) reveal altered populations of intestinal bacteria and metabolic disturbances in ME/CFS patients. The study subjects were …

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Forget the fourth domain of life

When giant viruses were discovered – with genomes much larger than any previously seen – some suggested that they had descended from a fourth domain of life (the current three are bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes). Part of the reason for such a claim was the finding of homologs of bacterial and eukaryotic genes, including molecules involved …

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