Poisoning News and Research

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Bacteria of the Yersinia genus possess a unique protein thermometer

Bacteria are experts at adaptation: as soon as they have infected an organism, they adapt their metabolism to that of their host and produce substances which protect them from the body's immune defences. How they do this is still unknown in the case of many types of bacteria.

20 May 2009

Salmonella’s weakness for sugar predicts its downfall

For the first time UK scientists have shown what the food poisoning bug Salmonella feeds on to survive as it causes infection: glucose.

19 May 2009

Banned toxic chemicals in Australian everyday products

Australia's leading consumer advocacy organisation CHOICE says an investigation has revealed that many chemicals freely available in Australia are no longer registered in Europe because of safety concerns.

13 May 2009

New initiative to ensure the safe use of methadone

The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched an initiative to help ensure the safe use of methadone.

30 Apr 2009

New understanding of 3D structure of bacterial secretion proteins

New details of the composition and structure of a needlelike protein complex on the surface of certain bacteria may help scientists develop new strategies to thwart infection.

26 Apr 2009

Key genetic mechanism a potential key to new class of antibiotics

Researchers have determined the structure of a key genetic mechanism at work in bacteria, including some that are deadly to humans, in an important step toward the design of a new class of antibiotics, according to an accelerated publication that appeared online today as a "paper of the week" in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

20 Apr 2009

Canadian experts on irritable bowel syndrome

While more than six per cent of Canadians suffer from this troublesome disease - characterized by on-going abdominal pain, discomfort, bloating, and severe bouts of either diarrhoea or constipation - most Canadians, including many physicians, know little about it.

16 Apr 2009

Health problems associated with Chinese slimming capsules

Taking herbal food supplements is certainly not free of risk. Since 2005, the poison emergency centers in the German cities of Freiburg and Gottingen have registered a total of 17 patients with health problems after taking Chinese slimming capsules.

8 Apr 2009

New understanding on how probiotics can prevent disease

Using probiotics successfully against a number of animal diseases has helped scientists from University College Cork, Ireland to understand some of the ways in which they work, which could lead to them using probiotics to prevent and even to treat human diseases.

1 Apr 2009

Stem cell infusion and hyperbaric oxygen treatment improve islet function in diabetes

A study to determine if patients with type 2 diabetes can benefit from a combination of autologous (patient self-donated) stem cell infusions (ASC) and hyperbaric (above the normal air pressure of ) oxygen treatment (HBO) before and after ASC has found "significant benefits" in terms of "improvements in glycemic control" along with "reduced insulin requirements."

12 Mar 2009

Space-grown bacteria help explain Salmonella illness

Salmonella bacteria research from two recent NASA space missions discovered key elements of the bacteria's disease-causing potential that hold promise for improving ways to fight food-borne infections on Earth.

11 Mar 2009

Researchers probe mechanisms of infection

A newly discovered receptor in a strain of Escherichia coli might help explain why people often get sicker when they're stressed.

10 Mar 2009

New protein identified in bacterial arsenal

Nearly a billion years ago, bacteria evolved an insidious means of infecting their hosts - a syringe-like mechanism able to inject cells with stealthy hijacker molecules. These molecules, called virulence factors, play a sophisticated game of mimicry, imitating many of the cells' normal activities but ultimately co-opting them to serve the bacteria's needs.

3 Mar 2009

Researchers block immune cell rush behind deadly sepsis

Researchers have found a way to block the ability of white blood cells to sprint toward the sites of infection when such speed worsens the damage done by sepsis, the often fatal, whole-body bacterial infection, according to a study published today in the journal Blood.

24 Feb 2009

Low cholesterol, depression in men linked to early death

New Geisinger research shows that men with a combination of low total cholesterol and depression were seven times more likely to die prematurely from unnatural causes, such as suicide and accidents.

10 Feb 2009

Link found between Parkinson's disease genes and manganese poisoning

A connection between genetic and environmental causes of Parkinson's disease has been discovered by a research team led by Aaron D. Gitler, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

2 Feb 2009

Salmonella prompts recall of Kellogg's snacks

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials in the United States have confirmed the presence of salmonella in a popular snack made by food giant Kellogg.

19 Jan 2009

MRSA's weak point visualised by scientists

An enzyme that lives in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and helps the dangerous bacterium to grow and spread infection through the human body has been visualised for the first time, according to a study out today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

19 Jan 2009

Clioquinol - gastrointestinal drug could become anti-aging treatment

Recent animal studies have shown that clioquinol – an 80-year old drug once used to treat diarrhea and other gastrointestinal disorders – can reverse the progression of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.

6 Jan 2009

Discovery of new way for bacteria to transfer toxic genes to unrelated bacterial species

In a laboratory experiment, the scientists from NYU School of Medicine discovered that Staphylococcus aureus, a notorious bacterium that causes toxic shock syndrome and many other types of infections and is the scourge of hospitals nationwide due to its growing antibiotic resistance, could co-opt viral parasites as secret pipelines for transferring toxin genes to vastly different bacterial species.

6 Jan 2009