Ecology and Medicine Converge at the Microbiome-Host Interface.

The human body is home to a dense and diverse population of bacteria, viruses, and eukaryotes, collectively termed the microbiome. Research on host-microbiome interactions continuously demonstrates the importance of this microbial community to human physiology and its involvement in a myriad of diseases. This, in turn, sparks great interest in developing means for beneficially modulating the microbiome, such as fecal microbiome transplantation and probiotics.

Reconciling protective and pathogenic roles of the NLRP3 inflammasome in leishmaniasis.

Leishmaniasis is a global health problem that affects more than 2 billion people worldwide. Recent advances in research have demonstrated critical roles for cytoplasmic sensors and inflammasomes during Leishmania spp. infection and pathogenesis.

The Significant Other Checklist: measuring the problems experienced by family members of drug users.

Historically, much attention has been given to the multifaceted problems experienced by drug abusers. Recently, greater attention has been given to the family members of drug abusers, but unfortunately, most of this attention has focused on family relationships and has overlooked the problems experienced by family members of drug users (DUs). To date, there is no psychometrically sound, multidimensional assessment tool available to systematically assess the economic, behavioral, and psychological problems encountered by these family members.

Predicting repeat self-harm in children--how accurate can we expect to be?

The main objective of the study was to find which variables predict repetition of deliberate self-harm in children. The study is based on a group of children who took part in a randomized control trial investigating the effects of a home-based family intervention for children who had deliberately poisoned themselves. These children had a range of baseline and outcome measures collected on two occasions (two and six months follow-up).