Six HIV programmes keep TB prevention working; a gut byproduct and a drop of blood add two lab results
Tuberculosis preventive treatment reduced disease and deaths in six HIV programmes. A gut-bacteria byproduct lessened brain injury in mice, and a four-microlitre blood test flagged raised bile acids without naming a specific liver condition.
Science··Evening
TB prevention holds in six HIV programmes
The PROTECT study followed people with HIV in Haiti, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Ukraine and Zimbabwe, and found that tuberculosis preventive treatment, mostly six months of isoniazid, reduced tuberculosis and deaths in routine programme settings. The work, published in The Lancet HIV with N Sarita Shah as first author, found the benefit was largest when treatment began within the first two weeks of entering HIV care and remained present up to eight weeks. More than 13 million people have received tuberculosis preventive treatment worldwide since the 2018 PEPFAR commitment.[1]
A gut byproduct lessened injury damage in mice
Mice given indole-3-propionic acid daily for two weeks before a traumatic brain injury showed less swelling, less neuronal death and less tissue damage three days later, and performed better on movement, learning and memory tests for up to 14 days. The compound forms when gut bacteria break down tryptophan. Yan Qu at the Air Force Medical University in Shaanxi and colleagues first measured it in blood from people with traumatic brain injuries and found higher levels alongside less swelling around lesions and better neurological outcomes at six months; that part of the work is observational and does not show the molecule made the difference. The animal experiment was run in mice, so nothing here demonstrates a protective effect in people. The study appears in Interdisciplinary Medicine.[2]
Stiffer red cells flag bile acids in four microlitres
Researchers at the University of Toledo report that raised circulating bile acids make red blood cells more resistant to osmotic lysis, and used that resistance as a screen. In patients with cholestatic liver disease and matched controls, the assay separated the two groups. The paper in American Journal of Physiology—Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, with Beng San Yeoh as first author and Matam Vijay-Kumar and Sadhana Kumari leading, also used mouse models of spontaneous cholemia. Vijay-Kumar describes drawing four extra microlitres alongside a routine blood glucose test and reading the result after 10 to 20 minutes. The assay flags raised bile acids without diagnosing a specific liver condition. A patent application covering the method has been filed.[3]
