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Researchers describe role of calcium in ability of Yersinias to cause disease

A more than 50-year-old question has now been answered. Chemists and microbiologists at the Biological Chemistry Center at Umeå University in Sweden are now able to describe in detail the role of calcium in the ability of the plague bacterium Yersinias to cause disease.

4 Dec 2012

Feeding probiotics to baby zebrafish accelerates their development into adulthood

Probiotics like those found in yogurt are not only good for people--they are also good for fish. A new study by scientists at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology found that feeding probiotics to baby zebrafish accelerated their development and increased their chances of survival into adulthood.

4 Dec 2012

Chronic periodontitis present more often in men with erectile dysfunction

Men in their thirties who had inflamed gums caused by severe periodontal disease were three times more likely to suffer from erection problems, according to a study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

4 Dec 2012

Inflammatory marker targeted in ear infection

Systemic injection of an antibody against granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor inhibits middle-ear inflammation induced by lipopolysaccharide in mice, study findings show.

3 Dec 2012

Current hospital cleaning protocol may be inadequate to rid MDR A. baumannii

Current hospital cleaning protocol may be inadequate to rid patient rooms of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter baumannii, according to a study in the December issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

1 Dec 2012

Researchers study antimicrobial peptides in fish gills to find solution for blocking human infections

Living in an environment teaming with bacteria and fungi, fish have evolved powerful defenses against waterborne pathogens, including antimicrobial peptides located in their gills. Undergraduate researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute are studying the biology and the mechanics of one of those peptides with the hope they can use that knowledge to create engineered surfaces that kill bacteria responsible for foodborne illnesses and hospital-acquired infections.

1 Dec 2012

Tissue damage, disease severity in C. diff. infection associated with disruption of PPARγ pathway

Researchers in the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute have discovered how a common diarrhea-causing bacterium sends the body's natural defenses into overdrive, actually intensifying illness while fighting infection.

1 Dec 2012

Study of hospital-acquired infection yields potential therapeutic target

30 Nov 2012

Guineafowl may spread Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus

Turkey raises and releases thousands of non-native guineafowl to eat ticks that carry the deadly Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus. Yet research suggests guineafowl eat few ticks, but carry the parasites on their feathers, possibly spreading the disease they were meant to stop, says a Turkish biologist working at the University of Utah.

30 Nov 2012

Project shows simple steps reduce hospital infections

Seven health care institutions participated in a quality-improvement project advanced by the Joint Commission and the American College of Surgeons to reduce colorectal surgical-site infection rates. During a two and a half year period, those facilities saved more than $3.7 million by avoiding 135 infections.

30 Nov 2012

Study shows how anaplasma phagocytophilum subverts natural processes

Bacteria that cause the tick-borne disease anaplasmosis in humans create their own food supply by hijacking a process in host cells that normally should help kill the pathogenic bugs, scientists have found.

30 Nov 2012

SLU study to use various assays for new TB vaccine development

A pilot study at Saint Louis University Center for Vaccine Development could shape the future of tuberculosis vaccine research by developing tests to identify the most promising vaccine candidates to address this global health crisis.

29 Nov 2012

New antifungal drugs could be developed based on substance bacteria use to decompose mushrooms

Soft rot diseases cause a great deal of damage in agriculture, and turn fruits, vegetables, and mushrooms to mush. By using imaging mass spectrometry together with genetic and bioinformatic techniques (genome mining), German researchers have now discovered the substance the bacteria use to decompose mushrooms.

29 Nov 2012

WellStar Health System implements Xenex’s room disinfection system

WellStar Health System was the first to implement and is the only health system in metro-Atlanta using Xenex Healthcare Services' room disinfection system in its patient and operating rooms. A "green," mercury-free technology, the Xenex system is the fastest, safest and most effective method for the advanced cleaning of hospital rooms, scientifically proven to destroy all major classes of microorganisms that cause hospital acquired infections (HAIs), such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile (C. diff).

29 Nov 2012

Diptheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine: an interview with Dr. Rudi Eggers, World Health Organisation

The Diptheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine is sometimes also called the “triple vaccine” and has been around for about 50 years, and it protects against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. These are serious diseases caused by bacteria.

28 Nov 2012

California researchers develop new strategy to find novel antibiotics for bacterial infections

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have developed a new strategy for finding novel antibiotic compounds, using a diagnostic panel of bacterial strains for screening chemical extracts from natural sources.

27 Nov 2012

Chronic suppurative lung disease: an interview with Dr Robyn Marsh

Chronic suppurative lung disease, or CSLD, is used to describe a range of lung diseases characterised by a chronic wet cough and progressive lung damage. We are interested in the non-cystic fibrosis forms of the disease with a focus on bronchiectasis – the severe form of CSLD.

26 Nov 2012