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AAO highlights dangers of wearing illegal costume contact lenses

Spooky contact lenses can complete your Halloween costume. But beware of the dangers of illegal costume contact lenses lurking on store shelves and invading online retailers.

25 Oct 2019

TB is not a life-long infection in most people

A new analysis challenges the longstanding notion that tuberculous infection is a life-long infection that could strike at any time and cause tuberculosis. Based on a review of clinical studies, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues show that people who test positive with immunologic TB skin or blood tests rarely develop TB.

25 Oct 2019

Scientists make breakthrough in the hunt for new C. diff vaccine

Scientists have made a breakthrough in the hunt for a new vaccine for killer hospital bug Clostridioides difficile (C. diff).

25 Oct 2019

Ultraviolet B light is good for the gut microbiome

A small study published in the journal Frontiers in Immunologyon October 24, 2019, shows that exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) light, which is commonly achieved through sunlight exposure, can trigger specific beneficial changes in the gut microbiome, which are dependent on the preceding serum levels of vitamin D.

24 Oct 2019

Gut microbiome is a reality in fetal life also

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation shows that in both mice and humans, the fetal gut has its own microbiome, which is probably derived straight from the maternal organism.

24 Oct 2019

Unhealthy gut microbiome reduces brain synaptic pruning, impairs learning

A new study by Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University has come up with more explanations of how gut microbes communicate with the brain neurons. The study, published in the journal Nature on October 23, 2019, examined the brains of mouse models and found that when the gut microbiome is significantly reduced, there are changes in gene expression in the brain’s microglial cells.

24 Oct 2019

Protein mutation that causes inflammatory bowel diseases becomes dysfunctional

A new study led by researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Canada and Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China has uncovered why a protein mutation that causes inflammatory bowel diseases is dysfunctional.

24 Oct 2019

UChicago researchers reveal the secret of cancer-related Warburg effect

A new study, led by researchers at the University of Chicago, provides an answer to why cancer cells consume and use nutrients differently than their healthy counterparts and how that difference contributes to their survival and growth.

23 Oct 2019

UAB researchers awarded grant to study a vaccine for gonorrhea

University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have been awarded a three-year contract with a total potential amount of $10 million to study the efficacy of the vaccine Bexsero - already licensed to prevent meningitis - in protecting vulnerable populations from infection with the bacteria that causes gonorrhea.

23 Oct 2019

Researchers discover conjugative plasmid that augments virulence in superbug

A recent research led by a scientist at City University of Hong Kong has discovered an easily transmitted DNA piece that can make a new type of hyper-resistant and deadly superbug become hyper-virulent quickly, posing an unprecedented threat to human health.

23 Oct 2019

E. coli superbug spreading by poor toilet hygiene, not through food

A new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases on October 22, 2019, says that one common superbug that causes more than 5,000 cases of food poisoning in England every year is spread not through contaminated food but through contaminated toilet surfaces.

23 Oct 2019

Study uses baker's yeast to show how genes interact to influence a surprising cellular outcome

Most diseases are complex--caused by faults in multiple genes--but studying how combinations of different genetic variants affect cellular traits is challenging.

23 Oct 2019

Findings point to potential interventions to improve preemie growth during high risk pregnancy

A study in humans and mice demonstrated that a fetus has its own microbiome, or communities of bacteria living in the gut, which are known to play important roles in the immune system and metabolism.

23 Oct 2019

Lifestyle of bacteria determines how they evolve antibiotic resistance

How bacteria live -- whether as independent cells or in a communal biofilm -- determines how they evolve antibiotic resistance, which could lead to more personalized approaches to antimicrobial therapy and infection control.

23 Oct 2019

Half the drugs in use damage gut bacteria, says new study

A startling presentation at UEG Week 2019, in Barcelona, reveals that the gut microbiome is at high risk for damage each time we use a drug from one or more of 18 commonly used groups. The effects may range from changes in the relative proportions of different beneficial and potentially harmful species to alterations in the cellular metabolism of the bacteria themselves.

23 Oct 2019

UofSC researchers find a new route for effective treatment of Gulf War Illness

A recent study led by scientists at the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health has shown that adjusting GI tract viruses by repurposing existing FDA-approved antiviral drugs offers a route for effective treatment for Gulf War Illness and its myriad of symptoms.

22 Oct 2019

SEPATH: New template to detect oncogenic viruses and bacteria in human DNA

A new study from the University of East Anglia describes a novel approach to detecting bacteria and viruses that may possibly be causing cancer. Many such associations have already been found, such as HPV (human papilloma virus) infection in cervical cancer, and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in stomach cancer.

22 Oct 2019

E. coli bacteria study may provide clues about drug resistance

Swapping a single amino acid in a simple bacterial protein changes its structure and function, revealing the effects of complex gene evolution, finds a new study published in the journal eLife.

22 Oct 2019

IBD far more common than expected, and will only increase in future

There are three times as many people with the chronic and debilitating bowel disorder called inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) as ever thought before, according to a new study presented today at UEG Week 2019, at Barcelona. Not only is the condition a distressing one in itself, but patients with IBD have a higher risk of colorectal cancer as well.

21 Oct 2019

Antibiotic resistance doubles in just two decades

Antibiotic resistance poses a grave challenge to many previously curable infectious diseases. At present, antibiotic resistance is proving to increase at a much faster rate compared to the development of new therapies.

21 Oct 2019