AI Article Synopsis
- COVID-19 has highlighted the need for a shift from traditional public health approaches to a broader perspective on planetary health, emphasizing the importance of systems science in tackling future pandemics.
- The study of epigenomics, which examines how both genetic and environmental factors influence disease, presents opportunities to enhance our ability to develop innovative treatments and diagnostics for infectious diseases.
- While the pandemic has led to some environmental improvements, such as reduced pollution, it has also caused negative impacts, such as increased plastic waste; understanding these factors could inform strategies to address upcoming ecological challenges and health crises.
Article Abstract
With coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), we have witnessed a shift from public health to planetary health and a growing recognition of the importance of systems science in developing effective solutions against pandemics in the 21st century. COVID-19 and the history of frequent infectious outbreaks in the last two decades suggest that COVID-19 is likely a dry run for future ecological crises. Now is the right time to plan ahead and deploy the armamentarium of systems science scholarship for planetary health. The science of epigenomics, which investigates both genetic and nongenetic traits regarding heritable phenotypic alterations, and new approaches to understanding genome regulation in humans and pathogens offer veritable prospects to boost the global scientific capacities to innovate therapeutics and diagnostics against novel and existing infectious agents. Several reversible epigenetic alterations, such as chromatin remodeling and histone methylation, control and influence gene expression. COVID-19 lethality is linked, in part, to the cytokine storm, age, and status of the immune system in a given person. Additionally, due to reduced human mobility and daily activities, effects of the pandemic on the environment have been both positive and negative. For example, reduction in environmental pollution and lesser extraction from nature have potential positive corollaries on water and air quality. Negative effects include pollution as plastics and other materials were disposed in unconventional places and spaces in the course of the pandemic. I discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with the science of epigenomics, specifically with an eye to inform and prevent future ecological crises and pandemics that are looming on the horizon in the 21st century. In particular, this article underscores that epigenetics of both viruses and the host may influence virus infectivity and severity of attendant disease.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/omi.2021.0024 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Integrating social learning, social networks, and non-parental transgenerational plasticity.
Trends Ecol Evol
January 2025
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Transgenerational plasticity (TGP) has largely focused on how parental exposure to ecological conditions shapes the phenotypes of future generations. However, organisms acquire information about their ecological environment via social learning, which can also shape TGP in profound ways. We demonstrate that non-parents alter how parents detect and respond to environmental cues in ways that spillover to affect offspring, non-parents influence offspring even without direct physical interactions, and parental cues received by offspring can alter the phenotypes of other juveniles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiotic factors shape the structure and dynamics of denitrifying communities within cyanobacterial aggregates.
Environ Res
January 2025
Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restorations, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Center for Global Change and Ecological Forecasting, Institute of Eco-Chongming, Shanghai, China. Electronic address:
Eutrophication caused by human activities has severely impacted freshwater ecosystems, leading to harmful cyanobacterial blooms that threaten water quality and ecosystem stability. During blooms, denitrification is a key process for nitrogen removal, which can occur both in the sediment and in the waterbody mediated by cyanobacterial aggregate (CA)-associated microorganisms. In this study, the structure, dynamics and assembly mechanisms of CA-associated nirK-, nirS-, and nosZ-encoding denitrifying communities were investigated in the eutrophic Lake Taihu across the bloom season.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBarriers and facilitators for female practitioners in orthopaedic training and practice: a scoping review.
ANZ J Surg
January 2025
College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia.
Background: Despite advances in medical education and professional opportunities, orthopaedic surgery remains the least gender-diverse medical specialty, with women significantly underrepresented globally. This scoping review aims to synthesize existing literature to provide a comprehensive overview of the barriers and facilitators encountered by females in orthopaedic surgery training and practice.
Methods: A comprehensive search of Medline (OVID), Scopus, Embase, Emcare, and CINAHL was performed from inception to 14 July 2024.
Ecological Momentary Assessment for Adolescents With Anorexia Nervosa and Their Parents/Caregivers in Family-Based Treatment.
Int J Eat Disord
January 2025
Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.
Introduction: Studies have shown that early weight gain in family-based treatment (FBT) predicts treatment response in adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN); however, research examining factors associated with early weight gain in FBT is limited. This study tested the feasibility and acceptability of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in early FBT, particularly to capture momentary data on family climate during mealtimes.
Methods: Using multiple methods, quantitative (EMA) and qualitative (interviews) data were collected in the first 4 weeks of FBT.
Generation Victoria (GenV): protocol for a longitudinal birth cohort of Victorian children and their parents.
BMC Public Health
January 2025
Murdoch Children's Research Institute, 50 Flemington Road, Parkville, VIC, 3052, Australia.
Background: In a world confronted with new and connected challenges, novel strategies are needed to help children and adults achieve their full potential, to predict, prevent and treat disease, and to achieve equity in services and outcomes. Australia's Generation Victoria (GenV) cohorts are designed for multi-pronged discovery (what could improve outcomes?) and intervention research (what actually works, how much and for whom?). Here, we describe the key features of its protocol.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!