Assessing the contribution of plastic-associated obesogenic compounds to cardiometabolic diseases.

Purpose Of Review: To present recent evidence that strengthens the concept that exogenous pollutants contribute to adipose dysfunction and increased rates of disease and to highlight the ineffective regulation of this risk as industry switches to related but similarly toxic variants.

Recent Findings: Substitutes for common phthalates and the highly regulated bisphenol A (BPA) show similar deleterious effects on adipocytes. The well tolerated limit for BPA exposure has been reduced in Europe to below the level detected in recent population studies.

On the Evolutionary Trajectory of SARS-CoV-2: Host Immunity as a Driver of Adaptation in RNA Viruses.

Host immunity can exert a complex array of selective pressures on a pathogen, which can drive highly mutable RNA viruses towards viral escape. The plasticity of a virus depends on its rate of mutation, as well as the balance of fitness cost and benefit of mutations, including viral adaptations to the host's immune response. Since its emergence, SARS-CoV-2 has diversified into genetically distinct variants, which are characterised often by clusters of mutations that bolster its capacity to escape human innate and adaptive immunity.