Publications by authors named "M A Widdowson"
Background: Understanding COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) in preventing severe disease is critical to inform vaccine policy. We used the test-negative design to estimate VE against SARS-CoV-2-confirmed hospitalisation in adults ≥18 years in the eastern WHO European Region.
Methods: We included patients hospitalised for severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) at sentinel surveillance sites in Albania, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Serbia, and in Kosovo.
Background: The gut microbiota has been implicated in adult obesity, but the causality is still unclear. It has been hypothesized that an obesity-prone gut microbiota can be established in infancy, but only few studies have examined the early-life gut microbiota in relation to obesity in childhood, and no consistent associations have been reported. Here, we examine the association between the early-life gut microbiota and body mass index (BMI) development and body composition throughout childhood.
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- Midlife cardiovascular risk factors, like Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) and obesity, may lead to cognitive impairment and dementia, with systemic inflammation being a potential link.
- A study assessed middle-aged individuals with and without uncomplicated T2DM, measuring their cognitive abilities and levels of certain inflammatory markers (like IL-17A) over four years.
- Results showed that higher levels of IL-17A were correlated with poorer executive function, regardless of T2DM status, suggesting this inflammatory marker may play a role in cognitive decline in midlife.
Article Synopsis
- Campylobacteriosis and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are major global concerns, especially in Africa, which has the highest campylobacteriosis rates and significant AMR prevalence in Campylobacter spp. from humans and animals.
- A study analyzed 178 Campylobacter isolates (81 from human diarrheal patients in Kenya and 97 from poultry in Tanzania) between 2006-2017, using whole-genome sequencing and antimicrobial susceptibility testing.
- The findings revealed high sequence type diversity and noted that multidrug resistance was significantly higher in poultry (40.9%) compared to humans (2.5%), highlighting the need for better antimicrobial management in livestock.