Latest news with #Epstein-Barr
Time of India
4 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
Maycee Barber pulled from UFC main event, Erin Blanchfield slams her; here's what went wrong
Live Events What is the Epstein-Barr virus? Erin Blanchfield reacts (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel The sudden cancellation of the UFC Vegas 107 main event between Maycee Barber and Erin Blanchfield shocked fans. Just hours before the flyweight bout in Louisville, Kentucky, the UFC announced that Barber was 'medically unfit to compete.' It was later revealed that a severe flare-up of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was the reason behind her 26, known as 'The Future,' had been on a five-fight win streak and was climbing the women's flyweight division ranks. The match against Blanchfield was highly anticipated, with many seeing it as a possible title eliminator. Barber had appeared fit during weigh-ins and promotional events throughout the week, which made her withdrawal all the more had arrived in Louisville, Kentucky, earlier in the week and appeared active during media day and weigh-ins. Her unexpected exit came after she had made weight and completed all promotional obligations, making the announcement all the more indicate that the medical issue arose shortly before the event, prompting the UFC's medical staff to pull her from the card for safety possible explanation is that Maycee Barber had to cut weight to compete in the flyweight division. This process can cause extreme dehydration and put severe stress on the body. Fighters often lose large amounts of water weight quickly, weakening the immune system and triggering underlying health Barber had been managing EBV-related health concerns for much of 2024. It is not known whether she has caught the disease Epstein-Barr virus is a member of the herpesvirus family and one of the most common viruses in humans. Most people are infected with it at some point in their lives. It's best known for causing infectious mononucleosis, commonly called 'mono', which results in fatigue, fever, sore throat, and swollen lymph some cases, EBV does not entirely disappear after the initial infection. It can remain dormant in the body and reactivate later, especially during stress, overtraining, or immune suppression. When reactivated, it can lead to severe fatigue, body aches, mental fog, and other symptoms that can persist for weeks or even months. This makes it especially challenging for athletes, whose performance depends on peak physical Blanchfield, who had been preparing for the biggest fight of her career, expressed her frustration after the cancellation. In a post-event interview, Blanchfield said, 'I feel like I've been robbed of a chance to prove myself. I was ready. I trained hard for this. This was supposed to be my statement fight.'Blanchfield didn't hold back when addressing Barber's withdrawal. 'It sucks. I don't know what happened. If it was really medical, I hope she's okay. But it's disappointing. We deserve answers, and fans deserve better,' she official word yet on when Barber might return to the octagon. She has not made a public statement about her health or a potential recovery timeline. The UFC has yet to announce whether the bout will be then, the women's flyweight division remains on pause.
Irish Examiner
7 days ago
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Natural Health: What can I do about getting a cold sore every summer?
I get a cold sore nearly every year when I go on a sun holiday. The intense heat seems to trigger it. I'm also a nervous traveller, which probably doesn't help. Is there anything I can do to head it off at the pass? Sunlight and stress are the top two triggers for cold sores. Being a nervous traveller will undoubtedly raise your stress levels, and when combined with sunshine, it's more likely the virus will reactivate. Other common triggers for the reactivation of cold sores include fatigue, fever, and menstruation. The herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) is responsible for cold sores and is thought to be carried by 80-90% of the population. Fortunately, only 20% will go on to develop sores. The amino acid lysine generally works well in preventing the herpes virus from flaring up. However, it is worth noting that while it may be effective for some individuals, it may not be effective for others. It's even more important to avoid another amino acid, arginine, which is required by the herpes virus for replication. Arginine-rich foods include chocolate, nuts, oats, carob, coconut and soybeans. Topically, propolis — made by bees from the collection of resins, gums, and sticky plant buds — will heal lesions significantly faster than antiviral medication Acyclovir, and also reduce the likelihood of additional infection. Check out Cork business Hanna's Bees for an extensive range of bee products, including propolis tincture at €14.50 for 20ml (and ideal size for travel). When there is potential for a viral outbreak or flare-up, it is crucial to supplement with vitamin C. Camu-camu is a rainforest fruit with an impressive 8-10% vitamin C content by weight, approximately 30 times that found in oranges, and powerful antiviral properties. Camu camu is also effective in treating other forms of herpes, such as shingles, genital herpes, and the Epstein-Barr virus. Camu-camu has been shown to alleviate cold sore outbreaks more quickly than a leading pharmaceutical drug and is an excellent option for those who don't respond to lysine supplementation. Expect to pay around €20-25 for a bottle of 60 capsules (500mg). You will need to take one capsule daily as a preventative measure or one capsule three times daily with food for three days to treat an existing outbreak. Camu camu is typically available from health stores and pharmacies. I'm in my 70s and have been diagnosed with a twisted colon. Is there anything I can do to ease the symptoms? I'm also coeliac and have IBS. You are probably already quite vigilant with all you eat and drink due to the restrictions of living with coeliac disease and IBS. A twisted colon often requires surgical intervention, so it is worth getting a follow-up appointment or a second opinion regarding your treatment options. Pure aloe vera juice has been successfully used in medical trials to treat IBS, as it helps soothe and heal the mucous membranes in the gut. It may help alleviate your symptoms. Please consult your doctor before taking it or any other natural remedy. If you are currently using psyllium husks or other fibre support to treat your IBS, then it is a good idea to take a break, as excessive fibre can be problematic with a twisted bowel. Juicing fresh organic fruits and vegetables may be worth considering, as this is an excellent way to get nutrients in when your digestive system is compromised. The information contained in this column is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult a doctor.
Montreal Gazette
20-05-2025
- Health
- Montreal Gazette
Labos: What we know — and don't — about vitamin D and multiple sclerosis
Though I rarely pass up an opportunity to remind people that taking vitamins and supplements is often pointless, the key to science is learning how to be a skeptic without being a cynic. The role of vitamin D in preventing or treating multiple sclerosis demonstrates just how difficult that can be. Multiple sclerosis is a complex disease. The ultimate cause is unclear though very likely immune-mediated and possibly triggered by pathogens like Epstein-Barr virus. It is nearly twice as common in women compared to men, which suggests genetics play a role. It is also more common in people living in northern latitudes and where lack of sunlight and vitamin D deficiency have been hypothesized as possible contributing factors. With any such association, it is always hard to tease out if vitamin D deficiency is an independent cause of disease or simply a marker of other underlying issues. With multiple sclerosis, genetic analyses suggested that it might in fact be a direct cause, which is why randomized controlled trials on the issue have been met with such interest. Recently, the D-Lay MS randomized clinical trial has suggested vitamin D might actually delay the progression of multiple sclerosis. It would be tempting to get excited by the results, but studies do not exist in a vacuum and previous research on this subject has not been very encouraging. A study in 2012, initially designed to look at bone mineral density, did not find that vitamin D affected relapse rates in MS patients. Two more studies in 2019 were equally disappointing: The SOLAR study took 229 patients with relapsing-remitting MS and randomized them to 14,000 units of vitamin per day versus placebo on top of regular interferon therapy. There was no clinical benefit but there was some improvement on the MRI scans of patients who took the high dose vitamin D. The CHOLINE study similarly randomized 181 patients with relapsing-remitting MS to 100,000 units of vitamin D weekly. It too showed no overall clinical benefit although some improvement in patients who were able to complete the trial. The 2023 VIDAMS trial tested high dose (5,000 units/day) versus low dose (600 units/day) vitamin D as an add-on to glatiramer instead of interferon in relapsing-remitting MS patients. It was negative. Shortly thereafter, 2024 saw the publication of a study in 204 patients with clinically isolated syndrome — that is, symptoms consistent with MS but who did not meet the diagnostic criteria. They received either placebo, 1,000, 5,000 or 10,000 units daily, but to no effect. The recent D-LAY MS trial was in a similar vein testing 303 patients with clinically isolated syndrome within the first 90 days of diagnosis. They received a very high dose of 100,000 units of vitamin D every two weeks. Vitamin D showed a reduction in disease activity from 74 per cent to 60 per cent of patients, but largely because of decreased MRI activity rather than fewer clinical relapses. Putting this most recent trial in a broader context is hard. The studies have all used different doses in different types of MS patients. Their numbers are small and possibly would not pick up small clinical improvements. Also, while improvements on MRIs are interesting, they are not a substitute for actual clinical and symptomatic improvement. The evidence base for vitamin D is not as strong as some would have you believe, but there is at least more evidence for multiple sclerosis than for heart disease or cancer. Given the low cost and lack of serious side-effects, vitamin D could be considered in the absence of any better alternative in someone with a new diagnosis. But we still need far larger trials to confirm a clinically meaningful benefit. Stay tuned.
Yomiuri Shimbun
17-05-2025
- Health
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Long Covid Patients Are Desperate for Treatments. These Trials May Help.
Kate Dearman/For The Washington Post Registered nurses Lana Howard, left, and Melissa Lehman help Shannon Watkins, a participant in the REVERSE-LC trial, prepare for a cardiopulmonary exercise test at the Center for Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Five years since the pandemic began, millions of people are still grappling with long covid, even as new patients are joining their ranks. 'Considering how far along we are and how tens of millions of people are suffering, we've done very little,' said Eric Topol, a professor of translational medicine and the executive vice president of Scripps Research. But researchers are pressing ahead with new clinical trials for more targeted treatments built on advances in our understanding of long covid. There's now a large body of research on the condition. 'It is absolutely not mysterious,' said Hannah Davis, co-founder of the Patient-Led Research Collaborative. 'This is a campaign of human service and scientific discovery,' said Wes Ely, professor of medicine and co-director of the Center for Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Immune dysfunction in long covid Long covid is an umbrella term, and treating it as one disease is, in a way, equivalent to thinking cancer is one entity as opposed to the hundreds of types, each with different diagnostics, prognosis and treatments, said Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis. Long covid potentially has many subtypes with different biological pathways and responses to different treatments, researchers said. 'It is a constellation of many things, and dissecting out those things is going to be the biggest challenge,' said Janna Moen, a neuroscientist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, who recently wrote a review about how the immune system affects the brain and spinal cord in people with long covid, which is awaiting peer review. 'It's going to mean that everybody is going to need a different treatment. Personalized medicine is going to become very necessary,' she added. One pathway to long covid may be through immune system dysfunction, where the 'immune system goes haywire,' Topol said. People have a 20 to 40 percent increased risk of developing different autoimmune issues following a coronavirus infection, four large datasets of millions of patients show. Some people with long covid also have persistently elevated autoantibodies, where the immune system mistakenly produces antibodies that attack healthy tissue – particularly in the nervous system – which may play a role in the condition, said Akiko Iwasaki, professor of immunobiology at Yale University School of Medicine. In addition, coronavirus infection can reactivate latent viruses, which may contribute to autoimmunity. The Epstein-Barr virus – known for its role in infectious mononucleosis and present in over 95 percent of adults – gets reactivated in a subset of people, which may be linked to developing long covid, Iwasaki said. Viral persistence Another pathway to long covid may be viral persistence, where bits of the coronavirus linger long after the acute infection. Viral persistence could chronically activate the immune system into producing a smoldering inflammation that can weaken the blood-brain barrier, which typically shields the brain. Inflammatory molecules could cross into the brain and trigger neuroinflammation. Many researchers were surprised to learn that viral particles can linger in the body even after the acute infection is over. 'We just didn't think of coronaviruses having the capability of lasting more than a couple of weeks,' said Michael Peluso, an assistant professor and infectious-disease clinician at the University of California at San Francisco. But fragments of the virus can stay in our bodies for far longer – 14 months after infection in some patients, and almost two years in some others. Coronavirus spike protein may be particularly disruptive and inflammation-inducing, lingering in the skull, meninges – the protective tissue around the brain – and the brain itself. It is also associated with inflammation and damage in the nervous system, according to a 2024 study. Yet another route to long covid may be through the inflammation of the endothelial cells that line blood vessels throughout the body, including the brain. The coronavirus spike protein also binds to clotting proteins in the blood, creating microclots that are themselves pro-inflammatory and alter immune cell activity, a 2024 study reported. Research has consistently found that people with long covid have reduced blood flow in the brain. All these different likely biological pathways of long covid are 'all kind of related unfortunately in a way that makes it very hard to parse out exactly what the problem is,' Moen said. Gaps in diagnosis and treatment Despite progress in basic research, there are no validated diagnostic tests for long covid. 'It is a patient-reported syndrome,' Peluso said. Though many other medical conditions are diagnosed wholly based on how people feel, such as pain disorders and depression, 'a lot of people use that to discount it or express skepticism or disparage the condition,' he said. As a result, long covid patients face challenges in getting adequate access to care. Though long covid is now more recognized in the medical fields, the onus is still on the patient to find doctors who will listen. 'We tend to stay the same or get worse. And we're very needy. We need a lot of medications. We need a lot of paperwork filled out,' said Moen, who as a long covid patient has seen dozens of doctors. 'A lot of them just don't like taking us as patients.' The lack of a biomarker has also stymied clinical trials looking for evidence of improvements, researchers said. 'There really needs to be a concerted, organized and well-funded biomarker discovery effort for this problem so that we can find a diagnostic test,' Peluso said. There are also no approved treatments for long covid. 'What's so sad here is people are so desperate, and we don't have anything validated,' Topol said. Vaccinations remain the best way to prevent coronavirus infection and lower the risk of subsequent long covid by reducing the severity of the initial infection and immune response. However, coronavirus vaccination rates this winter were 'dismal,' Al-Aly said. During an infection, the 'preponderance of evidence' shows that taking antivirals, such as Paxlovid, does decrease the risk of developing long covid later – though it's not unanimous, Al-Aly said. A 2025 clinical trial of over 20,000 participants found that people treated with another antiviral, molnupiravir, felt better, had fewer and milder symptoms, and took less time off work six months after infection. However, once long covid has developed, antivirals have not been effective, with two recent large randomized clinical trials finding no differences in outcomes compared with placebos. Instead, the strategy is to manage the symptoms – variable as they are – in each patient. There is no 'cookie-cutter protocol' for treating long covid, Ely said. 'The best clinicians evaluate them head to toe and see what their story is and how they're suffering. And they tailor their therapy accordingly,' he said. Davis, who has long covid, has tried blood thinners, antivirals and other repurposed drugs for her symptoms to varying degrees of success. Other patients have tried treatments such as hyperbaric oxygen chambers and plasmapheresis, which filters out and then replaces their blood, but studies on these interventions tend to be small and without a placebo control, Topol said. Searching for treatments Like the virus they study, researchers and clinicians have evolved in how they tackle long covid. Earlier clinical trials lumped together people with all kinds of long covid symptoms; now, researchers are increasingly stratifying patients by symptoms in the hopes of targeting specific biological pathways with their treatments. This approach would also make it more likely to spot therapeutic benefits that could otherwise be missed if given to a broader patient population. The treatment strategy has also shifted. 'All of the initial trials were really focused on targeting the virus, and now we're starting to see trials that are focusing on targeting the immune system,' Peluso said. Peluso, Ely and their collaborators are running a large double-blind, randomized clinical trial on a treatment seeking to turn off the immune 'light switch that is creating this disease state, creating so much human suffering,' Ely said. The trial, REVERSE-LC, will give patients baricitinib, which is an FDA-approved immunotherapeutic drug for treating other immune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and alopecia areata. Another ongoing double-blind, randomized clinical trial, called ADDRESS-LC, will test a different, more specific immunomodulator called bezisterim for neurocognitive long covid. Bezisterim is a novel anti-inflammatory agent that has been shown to selectively inhibit specific inflammatory pathways while not suppressing the immune system, said Penelope Markham, senior vice president at BioVie, a pharmaceutical company sponsoring the study. Importantly, it can cross the blood-brain barrier, meaning it may potentially treat neuroinflammation at its source, and is being developed to treat other inflammatory neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease. Still, researchers say what is coming down the pipeline is not enough compared with all the treatments that have been identified as promising. 'There's a lot of potential shots on goal. And you have to run through this, but you can't know until you've done the rigorous test,' Topol said. The goal of these clinical trials is to 'provide mercy, and mercy out of love … And my definition of mercy is my willingness to dive into their chaos and provide lifting and healing,' Ely said.
Business Wire
17-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Atara Biotherapeutics Appoints James Huang and Nachi Subramanian to Board of Directors
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATRA), a leader in T-cell immunotherapy, leveraging its novel allogeneic Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) T-cell platform to develop transformative therapies for patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases, announced the appointment of James Huang and Nachi Subramanian to its Board of Directors, effective following the completion the Company's previously announced $16 million offering that was announced on May 15, 2025. The offering closed on May 16, 2025. Mr. Huang has over 37 years of biotech experience and is the Founder and Managing Partner of Panacea Venture. Prior to Panacea Venture, Mr. Huang was a Managing Partner at Kleiner Perkins (KPCB) China where he focused on the firm's life sciences practice, and a managing partner at Vivo Ventures where he led numerous investments in China. He was also the president of Anesiva, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on pain-management treatments. Earlier in his career, he held senior roles in business development, sales, marketing, and research and development with Tularik Inc. (acquired by Amgen), GlaxoSmithKline LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb and ALZA Corp. (acquired by Johnson & Johnson). Additionally, Mr. Huang serves as a member of the board of directors of Kindstar Globalgene Technology, Inc., Connect Biopharma Holdings Limited, Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited and several private companies. He received an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Nachi Subramanian has served as a Managing Director at the Redmile Group since December 2021. He previously spent fourteen years at J.P. Morgan, where he held senior roles across the Private Markets and Global Cash Equities businesses. Nachi began his career in Institutional Equities at Bear Stearns. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from the University of California, Irvine. About Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. Atara is a leader in T-cell immunotherapy, leveraging its novel allogeneic Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) T-cell platform to develop transformative therapies for patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases. Atara is headquartered in Southern California.
