Metabolic tug-of-war: Microbial metabolism shapes colonization resistance against enteric pathogens.

A widely recognized benefit of gut microbiota is that it provides colonization resistance against enteric pathogens. The gut microbiota and their products can protect the host from invading microbes directly via microbe-pathogen interactions and indirectly by host-microbiota interactions, which regulate immune system function. In contrast, enteric pathogens have evolved mechanisms to utilize microbiota-derived metabolites to overcome colonization resistance and increase their pathogenic potential.

Meet the authors: Katerina Jones, Camila Bernardo de Brito, and Mariana Xavier Byndloss.

In an interview with Samantha Nelson, a scientific editor of Cell Chemical Biology, the authors of the review entitled "Metabolic tug-o-war: Microbial metabolism shapes colonization resistance against enteric pathogens" share their perspectives on the field and their lives as scientists.

Age and Sex Differences of Virtual Reality Pain Alleviation Therapeutic During Pediatric Burn Care: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Virtual reality (VR) effectively alleviates pain for pediatric patients during many medical procedures, such as venipuncture and burn care. In our previously published randomized clinical trial among 90 pediatric burn patients, participants in the active VR group had significantly lower scores for overall pain compared with participants in the standard care control and for worst pain compared with participants in the passive VR and control group. However, whether VR differs by a patient's age or sex remains unresolved.

Complications in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a widespread condition that predisposes patients to a myriad of complications, including cardiovascular disease, electrolyte and acid-base derangements, anemia, mineral-bone disease, and volume excess. The frequency of CKD complications increases with the stage of disease, becoming nearly ubiquitous in later stages. The complications of CKD have profound implications for patient management, laboratory monitoring, medication prescribing, and follow up.

A longitudinal descriptive assessment of US college COVID-19 dashboards.

Background: The purposes of this study were to (1) longitudinally examine US college and university COVID-19 dashboard content and (2) explore county-level population health and COVID-19 community indicators where colleges with large undergraduate enrollments were located.

Methods: We identified 10 colleges with the largest undergraduate enrollments. Next, we located all public and private two- and four-year nonprofit colleges ( = 58) in each respective county.