Infectious diseases take a large toll on the global population, not only through risks of illness but also through economic burdens and lifestyle changes. With both emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases increasing in number, mitigating the consequences of these diseases is a growing concern. The following review discusses how social media data, with a focus on textual Twitter data, can be collected and processed to perform disease surveillance and understand the public’s attitude toward policies around the control of emerging infectious diseases. In this paper, we review machine learning tools and approaches that were used to determine the correlation between social media activity in disease trends within regions, understand the public’s opinion, or public health leaders’ approaches to disease presentation. While recent models migrated toward popular deep learning methods, neural networks and algorithms that optimized existing models were also explored as new standards for social media data analysis in disease prediction and monitoring. As adherence to public health policies can be improved by understanding and responding to major concerns identified by sentiment analyses, the advancements and challenges in understanding text sentiment are also discussed. Recent sentiment classifiers include more complex classifications and can even recognize epidemiological considerations that affect the spread of outbreaks. The comprehensive integration of locational and epidemiological considerations with advanced modeling capabilities and sentiment analysis will produce robust models and more precision for both disease monitoring and prediction. Accurate real-time disease outbreak prediction models will provide health organizations with the capability to address public concerns and to initiate outbreak responses proactively rather than reactively.

The present study was undertaken to profile and compare the cecal microbial communities in conventionally (CONV) grown and raised without antibiotics (RWA) broiler chickens. Three hundred chickens were collected from five CONV and five RWA chicken farms on days 10, 24, and 35 of age. Microbial genomic DNA was extracted from cecal contents, and the V4-V5 hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene were amplified and sequenced. Analysis of 16S rRNA sequence data indicated significant differences in the cecal microbial diversity and composition between CONV and RWA chickens on days 10, 24, and 35 days of age. On days 10 and 24, CONV chickens had higher richness and diversity of the cecal microbiome relative to RWA chickens. However, on day 35, this pattern reversed such that RWA chickens had higher richness and diversity of the cecal microbiome than the CONV groups. On days 10 and 24, the microbiomes of both CONV and RWA chickens were dominated by members of the phylum Firmicutes. On day 35, while Firmicutes remained dominant in the RWA chickens, the microbiome of CONV chickens exhibited am abundance of Bacteroidetes. The cecal microbiome of CONV chickens was enriched with the genus Faecalibacterium, Pseudoflavonifractor, unclassified Clostridium_IV, Bacteroides, Alistipes, and Butyricimonas, whereas the cecal microbiome of RWA chickens was enriched with genus Anaerofilum, Butyricicoccu, Clostridium_XlVb and unclassified Lachnospiraceae. Overall, the cecal microbiome richness, diversity, and composition were greatly influenced by the management program applied in these farms. These findings provide a foundation for further research on tailoring feed formulation or developing a consortium to modify the gut microbiome composition of RWA chickens.

Nephrin is a transmembrane Ig-like domain-containing protein that serves as a central structural and signaling scaffold in kidney filtration. First identified in 1998 as mutated in congenital nephrotic syndrome, the recent identification of nephrin autoantibodies in acquired kidney diseases has sparked renewed interest in nephrin biology. In specialized cells known as podocytes, nephrin helps establish and maintain the slit diaphragm (SD), a unique cell–cell junction formed between interdigitating cell projections known as foot processes (FPs). Together, the SD and FP are among the first stages of renal filtration, where they are subject to numerous biochemical and mechanical stressors. Although podocytes are highly adapted to this environment, over time and with injury, this elevated strain can lead to pathological structural changes, detachment, and proteinuria. As such, the complex set of signaling mechanisms provided by nephrin are essential for controlling podocyte adaptability. Herein, we provide a thorough and up-to-date review on nephrin signaling, including a focus on cross-talk between nephrin interactors and signaling regions across podocytes. We first highlight new findings regarding podocyte structure and function, followed by an emphasis on why nephrin is among the most critical proteins for maintaining these features. We then detail a comprehensive list of known nephrin interactors and describe several of their effects, including calcium regulation, cell survival, cell polarity, phase separation-mediated actin reorganization, and SD–focal adhesion dynamics. Collectively, our emerging understanding of the broader cellular context of nephrin signaling provides important insight for clinical strategies to mitigate podocyte injury and kidney disease progression.

Necrotic enteritis caused by Clostridium perfringens (CP), is a common enteric disease of poultry that has been previously controlled by in-feed antibiotics. However, due to the rapid emergence of antimicrobial resistance, alternatives to antibiotics such as probiotics have received considerable attention because of their immunomodulatory and intestinal health benefits. The present study investigated the effects of probiotic lactobacilli on gut histomorphology and intestinal innate responses in chickens. Day-old male broiler chickens were treated with 1 x 10 7 or 1 x 10 8 colony-forming units (CFU) of a lactobacilli cocktail on days 1, 7, 14, and 20 post-hatch, while control groups were not treated with lactobacilli. On day 21, birds in all groups (except the negative control) were challenged with 3 x 10 8 CFU of CP for 3 days. Intestinal tissue samples were collected before and after the CP challenge to assess gene expression and for histomorphological analysis. Lactobacilli treatment at a dose of 1 x 10 8 CFU conferred partial protection against NE by lowering lesion scores, increasing villus height in the ileum and reducing crypt depth in the jejunum. In addition, 1 x 10 8 CFU of lactobacilli enhanced the expression of Toll -like receptor (TLR) 2, interferon-gamma (IFN- gamma), interleukin (IL) -10, IL -12, and IL -13 in both the jejunum and ileum at different timepoints and subsequently decreased the expression of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-I3) and IL -1I3 post -CP challenge. In conclusion, the results indicate that treatment with lactobacilli mitigated NE in a dose -dependent manner via improvement of intestinal morphology and modulation of innate immune response in chickens.

During national COVID-19 vaccine campaigns, people continuously engaged on Twitter to receive updates on the latest public health information, and to discuss and share their experiences. During this time, the spread of misinformation was widespread, which threatened the uptake of vaccines. It is therefore critical to understand the reasons behind vaccine misinformation and strategies to mitigate it. The current research aimed to understand the content of misleading tweets and the characteristics of their corresponding accounts. We performed a machine learning approach to identify misinformation in vaccine-related tweets, and calculated the demographic, engagement metrics and bot-like activities of corresponding accounts. We found critical periods where high amounts of misinformation coincided with important vaccine announcements, such as emergency approvals of vaccines. Moreover, we found Asian countries had a lower percentage of misinformation shared compared to Europe and North America. Our results showed accounts spreading misinformation had an overall 10% greater likelihood of bot activity and 15% more astroturf bot activity than accounts spreading accurate information. Furthermore, we found that accounts spreading misinformation had five times fewer followers and three times fewer verified badges than fact-sharing accounts. The findings of this study may help authorities to develop strategies to fight COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and improve vaccine uptake.

Podocytes are specialized kidney cells that form the slit diaphragm (SD), an intercellular filtration barrier against plasma protein loss. The SD is subject to significant mechanical strain which can be amplified in disease, leading to podocyte detachment. One key SD protein that might intercept mechanical strain and transmit adhesion signals is nephrin, although its influence on podocyte force transmission remains uncharacterized. Using immunoblotting and elastic resonator interference stress microscopy (ERISM), we demonstrate that nephrin clustering induces rapid podocyte force transmission and adhesion protein activation (paxillin, FAK, and p130Cas), which require nephrin tyrosine phosphorylation at its three YDxV motifs. Furthermore, using a model of diabetic nephropathy to amplify mechanical stress in vivo, we show that abolishing phosphorylation at YDxV tyrosines leads to exacerbated proteinuria, glomerular hypertrophy, and podocyte detachment. Altogether, this study links nephrin phosphorylation with force transmission, which is likely critical to maintaining podocyte adhesion during many renal pathologies.