Biology subjects

Ley, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Ley, C..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

Mystery of fatal "Staggering disease" unravelled: Novel rustrela virus causes severe encephalomyelitis in domestic cats

Staggering disease is a neurological disorder considered a threat to European domestic cats (Felis catus) for almost five decades. However, its aetiology has remained obscure. Rustrela virus (RusV), a relative of rubella virus, has recently been shown to be associated with encephalitis in a broad range of mammalian hosts. Here, we report the detection of RusV RNA and antigen by metagenomic sequencing, RT-qPCR, in-situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry in brain tissues of 28 out of 29 cats with non-suppurative meningoencephalomyelitis and staggering disease-like neurological disorder from Sweden, Austria, and Germany, but not in non-affected control cats. Screening of possible reservoir hosts in Sweden revealed RusV infection in wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus). Our work strongly indicates RusV as the long-sought cause of feline staggering disease. Given its broad host spectrum and considerable geographic range, RusV may be the aetiological agent of neuropathologies in further mammals, possibly even including humans.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2019

Decreasing human body temperature in the United States since the Industrial Revolution.

In the US, the normal, oral temperature of adults is, on average, lower than the canonical 37{degrees}C established in the 19th century. We postulated that body temperature has decreased over time. Using measurements from three cohorts--the Union Army Veterans of the Civil War (N=23,710; measurement years 1860-1940), the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I (N=15,301; 1971-1975), and the Stanford Translational Research Integrated Database Environment (N=150,280; 2007-2017)--we determined that mean body temperature in men and women, after adjusting for age, height, weight and, in some models date and time of day, has decreased monotonically by 0.03{degrees}C per birth decade. A similar decline within the Union Army cohort as between cohorts, makes measurement error an unlikely explanation. This substantive and continuing shift in body temperature--a marker for metabolic rate--provides a framework for understanding changes in body habitus and human longevity over the last 200 years.

physiology↗

bioRxiv2017

Household triclosan and triclocarban exposure impacts the adult intestinal microbiome but not the infant intestinal microbiome

In 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration banned the use of specific microbicides in some household and personal wash products. This decision was due to concerns that these chemicals might induce antibiotic resistance or disrupt human microbial communities. Triclosan and triclocarban (referred to as TCs) are the most common antimicrobials in household and personal care products, but the extent to which TC exposure perturbs microbial communities in humans, particularly during infant development, was unknown. We conducted a randomized intervention of TC-containing household and personal care products during the first year following birth to characterize whether TC exposure from wash products perturbs microbial communities in mothers and their infants. Longitudinal survey of the intestinal microbiota using 16S ribosomal RNA amplicon sequencing showed that TC exposure from wash products did not induce global reconstruction of either infant or maternal intestinal microbiotas following 10 months of exposure after birth. However, broadly antibiotic-resistant species from the phylum Proteobacteria were enriched in stool samples from mothers in TC households only after the introduction of triclosan-containing toothpaste. Despite the minimal effects of TC exposure from wash products on the gut microbial community of infants and adults, these results suggest detected taxonomic differences are associated with potential harmful effects on host physiology, highlighting the need for consumer safety testing of self-care products not subject to the ban on the human microbiome and health outcomes.

microbiology↗