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Gut bacteria helps develop more beige fat with restricted calorie intake

Mice with a lower calorie intake live longer and are both healthier and leaner. A team of researchers funded by the SNSF may have found the reason for this positive effect: much of it is down to gut microbial communities and how they affect the immune system.

31 Aug 2018

UTA scientists map function of enzymes to provide keys for developing new drugs

UTA biochemists are mapping the function of specific enzymes which may facilitate development of new drugs to fight bacterial infection, cancer and potentially neurodegenerative diseases like autism, Down syndrome, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's.

30 Aug 2018

Researchers provide new virulence clues through genomic study of anthrax strains

By analyzing genomic sequences from more than 400 strains of the bacterium that causes anthrax, researchers have provided the first evidence that the severity - technically known as virulence - of specific strains may be related to the number of copies of certain plasmids they carry.

30 Aug 2018

UH researchers win $3.5 million grant to develop technology that combats multi-drug resistant bacteria

Two UH researchers have won a five-year, $3.5 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop technology that will quickly suggest the most promising combinations of antibiotics to kill certain resistant bacteria.

30 Aug 2018

Protein aggregates may play protection role against toxic stresses

Protein aggregates have a bad reputation in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, but in bacteria, inheritance of aggregates by daughter cells may help protect against the same toxic stresses that triggered them in parental cells, according to a new study publishing 28 August in the open access journal PLOS Biology, by Sander Govers, Abram Aertsen, and colleagues at KU Leuven, Belgium.

29 Aug 2018

A non-canonical approach may improve radiation treatment for cancer

Although the success or failure of radiation therapy for cancer has long been associated with the intrinsic radio-resistance or radio-sensitivity of tumor cells, a new approach is demonstrating that radiation can take credit for an additional benefit - causing highly effective secondary immune responses that can enhance anti-tumor immunity.

28 Aug 2018

New combination treatment could help some people with advanced melanoma

A UCLA-led study has found that a treatment that uses a bacteria-like agent in combination with an immunotherapy drug could help some people with advanced melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer, live longer.

28 Aug 2018

Most commonly prescribed drugs to primary care patients are not often tested

Drugs most commonly prescribed to patients seen by primary care physicians are not often tested in the patients who go to these clinics, where most people receive their care, say investigators at Georgetown University Medical Center and Yale School of Medicine.

28 Aug 2018

Peptilogics held pre-IND meeting with FDA to develop PLG0206 for treating prosthetic joint infections

Peptilogics, a development stage company utilizing its innovative peptide platform to treat multidrug-resistant bacterial infections, today announced it recently held a pre-Investigational New Drug (pre-IND) meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to discuss the regulatory pathway for the development of PLG0206 for the treatment of prosthetic joint infections.

25 Aug 2018

New pharmacologic approach discovered to stop immune cell death

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have discovered a way to stop immune cell death associated with multiple diseases, including sepsis, inflammatory bowel disease, and arthritis.

24 Aug 2018

Gut microbial signature may help identify causes of chronic malnutrition in children

Chronic malnutrition, usually associated with an inflammation of the small intestine, affects one in every four children under the age of five. It is the leading cause of child mortality in low-income countries and is also responsible for severe stunting.

24 Aug 2018

Texas man bitten by shark being treated for flesh-eating bacteria infection

Blain Shelton, a 42-year-old Texas man was swimming around 200 yards off the shore of Boliver Island near Galveston on 9th of August when he encountered a shark.

24 Aug 2018

Location of proteins on bacterial surface can impact pathogenicity of pneumococcal strains

Successful pathogenic strains of pneumococci have two proteins that, owing to their location on the surface of the bacteria, enhance their survival and ability to cause disease, a study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in Nature Communications, reports.

23 Aug 2018

A late-life surprise: Taking care of frail, aging parents

"This won't go on for very long," Sharon Hall said to herself when she invited her elderly mother, who'd suffered several small strokes, to live with her.

23 Aug 2018

Scientists gain new insight into the immune system and infections

Researchers from Sydney have found that the body contains a special structure that can act as front line soldiers in case of infections. These are the cells that could be the main agents in preserving vaccine-memory, they find.

22 Aug 2018

New report highlights continuing threat of antimicrobial resistance by dangerous bacteria

Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (also known as CPE) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae continue to be the most commonly reported organisms with critical resistances to antimicrobials across Australia, according to a national report released today.

22 Aug 2018

Simple paper-based test identifies falsified and substandard antibiotics

Antibiotics - medicines that treat bacterial infections - have saved millions of lives worldwide since their discovery in the early 20th century.

22 Aug 2018

Scientists discover peptides that can be used as new antibiotic candidates

The human body produces many antimicrobial peptides that help the immune system fend off infection. Scientists hoping to harness these peptides as potential antibiotics have now discovered that other peptides in the human body can also have potent antimicrobial effects, expanding the pool of new antibiotic candidates.

21 Aug 2018

Scientists find two molecules that may combat cancer and chronic infections

To fight viral infections, your immune system calls on CD8 T cells to kill the infected cells. The CD8 T cells can also be used in immunotherapy approaches to kill cancer cells, including the CAR T cell therapy currently attracting broad public attention.

21 Aug 2018

Understanding How Antibodies Shape the Gut Microbiome

Dr. Keiichiro Suzuki discusses the importance of IgA in the human body, and his recent research study, which showed that IgA interacts with the gut microbiome and promotes the growth of healthy bacteria.

20 Aug 2018