Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Life In Wisconsin @lifeinwisconsin.bsky.social · 3d

It should be noted that Google has noticed the backlash enough that they quietly published a code that would removed AI results for their searches.

An enterprising person built a default site to search without AI, and the results are goddamn refreshing as hell.
udm14.org

&udm=14 | the search engine Konami code

A quick way to get an AI-free search without any extra work.

udm14.org

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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 9d

Sex differences matter!
www.sciencealert.com/half-of-hear...

Half of Heart Attacks in Younger Women Aren't From Clogged Arteries

Traditionally, most heart attacks have been blamed on clogged arteries causing atherothrombosis – where blood clots block flow to the heart.

www.sciencealert.com

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Daniel Hurdiss @danielhurdiss.bsky.social · 11d

Epstein–Barr virus exploits desmocollin 2 as the principal epithelial cell entry receptor | @natmicrobiol.nature.com

sco.lt/6i4kd6

Epstein–Barr Virus Uses Desmocollin 2 to Infect Cells | Virus World

In a groundbreaking advancement in virology, scientists have unveiled the elusive mechanism by which Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), a pervasive human herpesvirus, infects epithelial cells. This discovery c...

sco.lt

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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 18d

My cousin died from a vaccine preventable illness, and that's part of why it's so important to me to work on the immunology of infectious disease. I know what's on the line.

Microbetv @microbetv.bsky.social · 18d

"If you're not vaccinated...there may not be any time."-Michal Tal

From Immune Booster 2: Sex differences in immune responses with Michal Tal (@immunofever.bsky.social )

Hosts:
@cindyleifer.bsky.social @bioprofbarker.bsky.social

Vaccines save lives

YouTube video by MicrobeTV

youtube.com

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 19d

What if this was your kid, you ask? I'll tell you. As an infectious disease immunologist, I protect my kids through vaccination. A measles outbreak reached my county when I had an infant. Knowing the risk for severe outcomes, I read the literature, vaccinated him EARLY and then rejoined the schedule

Post about my decision to vaccinate my baby ahead of schedule during a measles outbreak

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Microbetv @microbetv.bsky.social · 18d

Immune Booster 2: Sex differences in immune responses with Michal Tal

Immune Booster #2: Sex differences in immune responses with Michal Tal

YouTube video by MicrobeTV

youtu.be

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Microbetv @microbetv.bsky.social · 18d

"If you're not vaccinated...there may not be any time."-Michal Tal

From Immune Booster 2: Sex differences in immune responses with Michal Tal (@immunofever.bsky.social )

Hosts:
@cindyleifer.bsky.social @bioprofbarker.bsky.social

Vaccines save lives

YouTube video by MicrobeTV

youtube.com

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

ScreamingMD @screamingmd.bsky.social · 19d

Doubling down as a Toxicologist. The benefits far outweigh the harms.

Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 19d

What if this was your kid, you ask? I'll tell you. As an infectious disease immunologist, I protect my kids through vaccination. A measles outbreak reached my county when I had an infant. Knowing the risk for severe outcomes, I read the literature, vaccinated him EARLY and then rejoined the schedule

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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 19d

Linking to my full post from that time when I was faced with a measles outbreak with a kid that was below the recommended age for MMRV. I'm so sorry for the parents who will lose access to lifesaving vaccines for their babies.

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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · 19d

What if this was your kid, you ask? I'll tell you. As an infectious disease immunologist, I protect my kids through vaccination. A measles outbreak reached my county when I had an infant. Knowing the risk for severe outcomes, I read the literature, vaccinated him EARLY and then rejoined the schedule

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Michal Caspi Tal, PhD @immunofever.bsky.social · Sep 3

The only question now is what huge problem do YOU (reader) want to address with this incredible data set? The world's sequences are your oyster. Go make pearls!

Rayan Chikhi @rayanchikhi.bsky.social · Sep 3

🌎👩‍🔬 For 15+ years biology has accumulated petabytes (million gigabytes) of🧬DNA sequencing data🧬 from the far reaches of our planet.🦠🍄🌵

Logan now democratizes efficient access to the world’s most comprehensive genetics dataset. Free and open.

doi.org/10.1101/2024...

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Rayan Chikhi @rayanchikhi.bsky.social · Sep 3

🌎👩‍🔬 For 15+ years biology has accumulated petabytes (million gigabytes) of🧬DNA sequencing data🧬 from the far reaches of our planet.🦠🍄🌵

Logan now democratizes efficient access to the world’s most comprehensive genetics dataset. Free and open.

doi.org/10.1101/2024...

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Rayan Chikhi @rayanchikhi.bsky.social · Sep 3

Earth’s genetic diversity is a heritage of humanity. It has been an honour to explore this data with a team of dedicated scientists who shared our vision of making this data free and accessible to all 🌍🧬❤️ Thank you!

Updated preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2024...

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Rayan Chikhi @rayanchikhi.bsky.social · Sep 3

All Logan data is freely-available (cc0) right now. We show how Logan-Search (www.logan-search.org) can be used to uncover viral reactivation (HHV-6) in cell therapy products (TIL and CAR-T).

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

JAMA @jama.com · Sep 1

Adrenal insufficiency is a syndrome of cortisol deficiency.

This Review summarizes the pathophysiology of adrenal insufficiency and approaches to diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of adrenal crisis.

ja.ma/3HKk9Jr

An illustration from JAMA's review on adrenal insufficiency, dated June 16, 2025, showing normal and impaired hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis physiology with mechanisms leading to adrenal insufficiency.

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Sep 1

9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American."

It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Kelly Turnbull @coelasquid.bsky.social · Aug 31

Sometimes we’re unsatisfied with a thing we made because when it only existed in our head, we saw all the things it could have been and when it’s done we know all the things that it isn’t, but we can’t see the way it expands into a million new things when someone else unpacks it in their head. 🖊️🦑

Frustrated little dude gripping a pencil saying “how do I pack this down into something I can actually share?” While swirling rainbows labeled “INFINITE POTENTIAL” float around them.

Little dude frowns at a tiny grey box, exclaiming “all that work for THIS?!”

Little dude shoves the grey box into another little guy’s hands; Frowning, stomping off, and saying “Here you go, I made this, it sucks.”

Second little dude cracks open the box, swirling rainbows project out onto their face.

Second little dude stares in awe at all the swirling rainbows now floating around them.

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · Aug 29

“Over the past 20 years, Paris has undergone a major physical transformation, trading automotive arteries for bike lanes, adding green spaces and eliminating 50,000 parking spaces.

Part of the payoff has been invisible — in the air itself.”

Leadership, strategy, real action, common sense. #Paris

Paris said au revoir to cars. Air pollution maps reveal a dramatic change.

Air pollution fell substantially as the city restricted car traffic and made way for parks and bike lanes.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

NBC News @nbcnews.com · Aug 26

A federal-state partnership that monitors for foodborne illnesses quietly scaled back its operations nearly two months ago.

As of July 1, the critical surveillance program is monitoring for only two pathogens instead of the usual eight, a spokesperson for the CDC says.

The CDC quietly scaled back a surveillance program for foodborne illnesses

As of July 1, a critical surveillance program is monitoring for only two pathogens instead of the usual eight.

nbcnews.to

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · Aug 24

The year I was born. we basically had no idea why cancers happened and now we understand the underlying force behind it with 100% clarity and the molecular forces behind it with many orders of magnitude more resolution.

We were entirely in the dark, and now the room is lit.

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Danielle Beckman @daniellebeckman.bsky.social · Aug 8

Important paper by members of the European Academy of Neurology. "Healthcare systems should be aware of, and be prepared for a potential increase in the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases in the upcoming years." What has been the state of surveillance and awareness so far? #NeuroCovid

Need for awareness and surveillance of long-term post-COVID neurodegenerative disorders. A position paper from the neuroCOVID‐19 task force of the European Academy of Neurology

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

bioRxiv Immunology @biorxiv-immuno.bsky.social · Aug 24

Shared Immune and Epigenetic Pathways in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Melanoma Immunotherapy: A Cross-Disease Analysis with Prognostic and Therapeutic Implications https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.19.671053v1

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · Aug 24

@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social Pediatric long COVID Is characterized by myeloid CCR6 suppression and immune dysregulation @sarmoronlo.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · Aug 24

'LAIR1 inhibition enhanced peripheral and intratumoral CD8 memory T cell populations, induced a phenotypic shift of M2-like macrophages toward M1 macrophages, and normalized tumor collagen IV and structural components in the TME'
www.jci.org/articles/vie...

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Reposted by Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Thiago Carvalho @cyrilpedia.bsky.social · Aug 24

NB: I had never hear of LAIR1 until a stunning paper 9 years ago from Tan, Lanzavecchia et al that showed LAIR1 insertions into Ig loci, with somatic mutations in the LAIR1 sequences that shifted affinity from collagen to plasmodium-infected erythrocytes

www.nature.com/articles/nat...

A LAIR1 insertion generates broadly reactive antibodies against malaria variant antigens - Nature

Monoclonal antibodies with broad reactivity against antigens on the parasite that causes malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, are isolated from two subjects and are found to have an unusual insertion of an...

www.nature.com

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