Giovanni Di Guardo (He/Him)

Retired Professor of General Pathology and Veterinary Pathophysiology, University of Teramo, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

Italy

Nature Communications

News and Opinion

Enhanced infection susceptibility as a consequence of chronic starvation in polar bears

A recent article addresses the worrysome links existing between the progressively increasing Arctic Sea ice melting and the chronic starvation experienced by polar bears (Ursus maritimus) (1).

Giovanni Di Guardo

Feb 21, 2024

Behind the Paper

The evergreen power of anti-measles vaccination

Following the big drop in pediatric vaccination campaigns during the COVID-19 pandemic, a tremendous increase of measles disease cases has been observed across Europe in 2023 compared with the previous year.

Giovanni Di Guardo

Feb 07, 2024

Behind the Paper

Brain drain, an Italian drama since many, too many years!

Brain drain, a profuse haemorrhage of brilliant female and male minds, is known to affect Italy and the overall Italian Society since over 50 years.

Giovanni Di Guardo

Feb 01, 2024

News and Opinion

Environmental microbial aerosols should not be left aside in eco-epidemiological studies

Similarly to the 8 years preceding it (2015-2022), 2023 has been archived as the hottest among the last 140 years (Witze, 2024).

Giovanni Di Guardo

Jan 18, 2024

Behind the Paper

Land-to-Sea Pathogens' Transfer and its Relationship to Extreme Weather Phenomena in a One Health Perspective

Similarly to many other countries across the globe, several floods have been recorded in Italy throughout the last few decades, including those of catastrophic magnitude that occurred in the Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany regions last May and a few weeks ago, respectively.

Giovanni Di Guardo

Nov 21, 2023

News and Opinion

mRNA technology, a well-deserved Nobel Prize!

The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine has just been awarded by an ad hoc committee of medical professors from the prestigious Swedish Karolinska Institute to professor Katalin Karikó, an Hungarian biochemist, as well as to professor Drew Weissman, an American immunologist.

Giovanni Di Guardo

Oct 05, 2023

News and Opinion

Long COVID and cortisol, an intriguing relationship

Marked differences in immune response profiles of long COVID (LC)-affected patients as compared to matched control subjects not suffering from LC have been recently described. Still of interest, lower cortisol levels have been additionally reported in LC-affected individuals (1).

Giovanni Di Guardo

Sep 27, 2023

News and Opinion

Alien crab species as potential carriers of pathogens impacting marine megafauna's health and conservation

Climate change, with special emphasis on global warming, is believed to be a key driver of the accelerated rate of alien species expansion into the Mediterranean Sea basin and, more in general, into all marine and oceanic ecosystems (Zenetos and Galanidi 2020).

Giovanni Di Guardo

Sep 02, 2023

Life in Research

When an outstanding scientist makes a perfect pair with a great human being

This is a "news story" dealing with my esteemed colleague Antonio Fernández, a world-renowned veterinary pathologist and marine mammal scientist from the Veterinary Medical School of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where he serves as a full professor of Veterinary Pathologic Anatomy.

Giovanni Di Guardo

Aug 30, 2023

Behind the Paper

Cetaceans as Potentially Useful Animal Models for Human Central Nervous System Disorders

Stranded cetaceans provide a unique opportunity for gaining insight into their increasingly threatened health and conservation. Within this framework, cetaceans could also serve as potentially useful animal models for human central nervous system (CNS) diseases (Di Guardo, 2023).

Giovanni Di Guardo

Aug 23, 2023

Behind the Paper

Extreme weather events and scientific research in the Anthropocene epoch

The catastrophic flood which dramatically affected last May a large area of Emilia-Romagna region, in northern Italy, reminds us once again of the Italian territory's intrinsic fragility.

Giovanni Di Guardo

Jun 08, 2023

Behind the Paper

Tsunami-driven, transoceanic spread of microbial pathogens impacting cetacean health and conservation

This post refers to the very interesting, seminal article by Dr James T. Carlton and coworkers, published six years ago and dealing with an unprecedented, tsunami-driven, transoceanic spread of marine organisms following the dramatic 2011 earthquake in Eastern Japan (1).

Giovanni Di Guardo

Mar 18, 2023

Behind the Paper

The A(H5N1) avian influenza virus and its intriguing trajectories between domestic animals, wildlife and humans

While the SARS-CoV-2 betacoronavirus keeps undergoing mutations, thereby increasing its affinity to target cells and tissues and bypassing antiviral immunity, the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus A(H5N1) has alarmingly emerged, once again, in the global eco-epidemiological scenario.

Giovanni Di Guardo

Mar 09, 2023

News and Opinion

LRRC15, a newly identified, ACE-2-antagonizing SARS-CoV-2 viral receptor

A new SARS-CoV-2 viral receptor, "leucine-rich repeat containing protein 15" (LRRC15), has just been described by a team from the University of Sydney (Loo et al., 2023).

Giovanni Di Guardo

Feb 18, 2023

News and Opinion

Climate Change and One Health, One Earth, One Ocean

Although seas and oceans cover approximately 70% of our Planet, much more attention has been hitherto devoted to terrestrial ecosystems.

Giovanni Di Guardo

Feb 17, 2023

Behind the Paper

CoViD-19 and China, the story could repeat itself!

Following the draconian measures already put in place throughout the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, a very relaxed approach has been recently adopted by Chinese health authorities in order to stop the people's angry protests against the "zero Covid" strategy.

Giovanni Di Guardo

Jan 10, 2023

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