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Johns Hopkins researchers warn of new infectious diseases and death due to global warming

The Journal of Clinical Investigation recently published "Viewpoint" articles by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine professors who warn that global climate change is likely to unlock dangerous new microbes, as well as threaten humans' ability to regulate body temperature.

From Johns Hopkins Medicine 22 Jan 2020

Study sheds light on mechanisms that underlie a rare genetic condition

A team of researchers at CHU Sainte-Justine and Université de Montréal has shed light on the mechanisms that underlie a rare genetic condition by creating the first cellular model of the disease.

22 Jan 2020

New method determines the atomic structure of natural products more rapidly, accurately

Many drugs are derived from natural products. But before natural products can be exploited, chemists must first determine their structure and stereochemistry.

21 Jan 2020

Lung microbiome of critically ill patients is predictive of clinical outcomes

Changes in the lung microbiome may help predict how well critically ill patients will respond to care, according to new research published online in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

21 Jan 2020

Microbiomes may have considerable impact on animal fertility and reproduction

It is an awkward idea, but a couple's ability to have kids may partly depend on who else is present. The reproductive tracts of males and females contain whole communities of micro-organisms.

17 Jan 2020

Research could be starting point for wound dressings with 'built-in infection stoppers'

Infections are a dreaded threat that can have fatal consequences after an operation, in the treatment of wounds, and during tissue engineering.

17 Jan 2020

Study uncovers how rice blast fungus uses its own cell wall to launch an attack

In response to environmental changes and nutrient starvation, cells are known to undergo extreme alterations. This includes switching from one type to another (“differentiation”) and changes in metabolic pathways (“metabolic switching”).

14 Jan 2020

Study suggests average body temperature in humans falling

For decades, people have considered the average human body temperature to be 98.6 F, or 37 degrees Celsius. However, a new study published January 7, 2020, in the journal eLifeindicates this may no longer be the norm – and the researchers suggest a reason for their observed drop in average temperature.

13 Jan 2020

Extremely low concentrations of acetic acid could alter cellular processes in rice blast fungus

All living organisms respond and adapt to changes in their environment. These responses are sometimes so significant that they cause alterations in the internal metabolic cycles of the organism--a process called "metabolic switching." For example, rice blast fungus--a pathogenic fungal species that causes the "rice blast" infection in rice crops--switches to the "glyoxylate cycle" when the nutrient source starts to deplete.

8 Jan 2020

Study uncovers genes controlling mycorrhizal colonization in soybean

Like most plants, soybeans pair up with soil fungi in a symbiotic mycorrhizal relationship. In exchange for a bit of sugar, the fungus acts as an extension of the root system to pull in more phosphorus, nitrogen, micronutrients, and water than the plant could on its own.

6 Jan 2020

Tackling antibiotic resistance head-on with CRISPR

With modern advances in genetic engineering occurring almost every day, the latest discovery concerns antibiotic resistance. Using the powerful gene editor CRISPR, scientists reported the development of a gene-drive system that is 100 times as efficient as other current systems at inactivating a specific bacterial gene responsible for making the bacterium antibiotic-resistant and which is present as multiple copies within the same bacterial cell.

16 Dec 2019

Yeasts derived from food can reduce multi-drug resistant fungal infections

A study by researchers in the United States and India has shown that probiotic yeasts derived from food are able to reduce the virulence of, and even prevent infections by, several types of fungi that are responsible for life-threatening infections in hospitalized and immune-compromised individuals, including the multi-drug resistant Candida auris, which was recently listed as an urgent threat by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in its 2019 Antibiotic Resistance Threats report.

10 Dec 2019

'Achilles' heel' of deadly superbug identified

A deadly superbug that infects an estimated 54,500 Americans a year has a secret weapon, a protein, that allows it to defy antibiotic treatment and immune system attacks.

9 Dec 2019

Researchers to use human bone remains for studying predictable, postmortem microbes

It's one of the most salient questions in any death investigation, and one of the first asked by both law enforcement and loved ones: Not just how, but when did a person die?

9 Dec 2019

New compounds with herbicidal potential isolated from marine-derived fungus

Scientists of Far Eastern Federal University and the G.B. Elyakov Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry together with German colleagues spotted six new and three already known biologically active compounds in a new strain of the fungus Penicillium piltunense first time isolated.

6 Dec 2019

Ommochromes have antimicrobial, antioxidant and antimutagenic properties

Ommochromes, the pigments that colour the skin of squids and other invertebrates, could be used in the food and health sectors for their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. This is confirmed by the analyses carried out by researchers from the University of Sonora in Mexico and the Miguel Hernández University in Spain.

5 Dec 2019