Bugs in the system

Bugs play a large role in our life. Bugs can be either good, or bad for us. Microorganisms, such as gut microbiota, are usually beneficial to us. They provide a barrier to pathogenic organisms and help to digest our food. However, microbiota also produce Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), a metabolite of dietary phosphatidylcholine and L-carnitine, that has been recently been shown to increase the risk of arterial thrombotic events, such as myocardial infarction and stroke. In this issue of Thrombosis Research, Reiner and colleagues have investigated whether plasma levels of TMAO also associate with recurrent venous thromboembolism, major or non-major bleeding, and mortality in a cohort study of elderly patients with acute VTE [1].

Source: Thrombosis Research - January 30, 2019 Category: Hematology Authors: Henri H. Versteeg, Marc Rodger Source Type: research