Background: In vitro studies have demonstrated that lithium has antiviral properties, but evidence from human studies is scarce. Lithium is used as a mood stabilizer to treat patients with bipolar disorder. Here, the aim was to investigate the association between lithium use and the risk of respiratory infections in patients with bipolar disorder. To rule out the possibility that a potential association could be due to lithium's effect on psychiatric symptoms, we also studied the effect of valproate, which is an alternative to lithium used to prevent mood episodes in bipolar disorder.
Method: We followed 51,509 individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the Swedish Patient register 2005-2013. We applied a within-individual design using stratified Cox regression to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) of respiratory infections during treated periods compared with untreated periods.
Results: During follow-up, 5,760 respiratory infections were documented in the Swedish Patient Register. The incidence rate was 28% lower during lithium treatment (HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.61-0.86) and 35% higher during valproate treatment (HR 1.35, 95% CI 1.06-1.73) compared with periods off treatment.
Conclusions: This study provides real-world evidence that lithium is associated with decreased risk for respiratory infections and suggests that the repurposing potential of lithium for potential antiviral or antibacterial effects is worthy of investigation.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40345-020-00208-y | DOI Listing |
Elife
December 2024
Department of Medical Informatics, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
An unprecedented amount of SARS-CoV-2 data has been accumulated compared with previous infectious diseases, enabling insights into its evolutionary process and more thorough analyses. This study investigates SARS-CoV-2 features as it evolved to evaluate its infectivity. We examined viral sequences and identified the polarity of amino acids in the receptor binding motif (RBM) region.
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March 2025
Regional Level Viral Research & Diagnostic Laboratory (RVRDL), Department of Microbiology, Jawaharlal Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, India.
Objectives: Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is recognized as a significant cause of acute respiratory infections among infants under 5 years of age.
Methods: Nasal swabs collected from January 2021 to June 2024 were screened to detect hMPV using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Furthermore, representative positive samples were sequenced and subjected to phylogenetic analysis.
Toxicol Rep
December 2024
Laboratory of Forensic Chemistry and Toxicology, School of Forensic Sciences, National Forensic Sciences University, Delhi, India.
Antibiotics are indispensable in modern healthcare, playing a critical role in mitigating bacterial infections. Azithromycin is used to fight upper respiratory tract infections, however has potential toxic effects that remain inadequately understood. In our present study, azithromycin exposure to led to significant physiological and behavioral change, with pronounced effects observed at the studied concentration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Rep
March 2025
Department of Physiology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria.
A global decline in male fertility has been reported, and climate change is considered a major cause of this. Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, and results from greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide and methane that act as a blanket wrapped around the earth, trapping heat and elevating temperatures. Sad to say, the consequences of climatic variation are beyond the dramatic elevated temperature, they include cold stress, increased malnutrition, air pollution, cardiovascular diseases respiratory tract infections, cancer, sexually transmitted infections, mental stress, and heat waves.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Immunol
December 2024
Department of Life Science Frontiers, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
Age-associated differences in the effect of repetitive vaccination, particularly on memory T-cell and B-cell responses, remain unclear. While older adults (aged ≥65 years) exhibited enhanced IgG responses following COVID-19 mRNA booster vaccination, they produced fewer spike-specific circulating follicular helper T cells-1 than younger adults. Similarly, the cytotoxic CD8 T-cell response remained diminished with reduced PD-1 expression even after booster vaccination compared with that in younger adults, suggesting impaired memory T-cell activation in older adults.
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