Bacteria News and Research

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Scientists look at the ecosystem within us

For more than 100 years, scientists have known that humans carry a rich ecosystem within their intestines.

26 Jun 2007

Does air pollution have a bigger effect on the immune system of females than males?

Does air pollution have a bigger effect on the immune system of females than males? It did among mice exposed to ozone -- a major component in air pollution that is known to negatively affect lung function -- and then infected with pneumonia, as significantly more females died from the infection than males.

26 Jun 2007

Stanford researchers get scoop on baby poop!

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine are as interested in a baby's poop as doting parents are, and for good reason.

26 Jun 2007

FDA cracks down on dietary supplements

It's taken a few years but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. has finally established a set of regulations to ensure good manufacturing practices for dietary supplements.

25 Jun 2007

New hope for Alzheimer's disease

Scientists have provided new details about how proteins used to destroy bacteria and viruses may help treat Alzheimer?s disease.

23 Jun 2007

Invertebrate immune systems are anything but simple

A hundred years since Russian microbiologist Elie Metschnikow first discovered the invertebrate immune system, scientists are only just beginning to understand its complexity.

23 Jun 2007

Report on MRSA to show superbug is widespread in hospitals

The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) will release the results of the first nationwide study on the prevalence of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in U.S. healthcare facilities.

23 Jun 2007

Anacor finds novel mechanism for lead anti-fungal drug, AN2690

Anacor Pharmaceuticals, a privately held pharmaceutical company, has announced that the journal Science will publish results of research that details how AN2690, the company's lead clinical candidate, kills fungal cells by interfering with synthesis of a specific protein required for fungal growth.

23 Jun 2007

RNA polymerase points to new targets for drug design

Researchers at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) have new information on the structure of a key enzyme in bacteria that could lead to improved antibiotics and less antibiotic resistance.

23 Jun 2007

FDA makes final ruling on dietary supplements

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced a final rule establishing regulations to require current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) for dietary supplements.

22 Jun 2007

Resistant gut bacteria will not go away by themselves

E. coli bacteria that have developed resistance to antibiotics will probably still be around even if we stop using antibiotics, as these strains have the same good chance as other bacteria of continuing to colonise the gut, according to a thesis at the Sahlgrenska Academy.

20 Jun 2007

New screening kit for vaginal infections

The Vagisil Screening Kit For Vaginal Infections - an inhome screening kit offering rapid results - is now available to help women make a more accurate assessment of what type of infection their vaginal discharge and vulvar symptoms might indicate.

20 Jun 2007

Low carb diets lower levels of good bacteria in gut

Scientists at Aberdeen's Rowett Research Institute have shown that a very low carbohydrate weight-loss diet results in a four-fold reduction in the numbers of certain types of bacteria in the gut of obese men.

20 Jun 2007

Acquired DNA key to certain bacterial infection

Researchers announced this week the discovery of a mechanism by which Mycobacterium avium - a bacterium which can result in serious lung infections and is prevalent in emphysema and AIDS patients among others - infects tissue cells or macrophages and thus compromises the body's immunity.

19 Jun 2007

Women infected with bacteria known to cause periodontal disease more likely to have more severe oral bone loss

A study conducted in a large sample of postmenopausal women by University at Buffalo epidemiologists has provided new information on the prevalence of certain gum-disease-causing oral bacteria in this population and the association of the bacteria with oral bone loss.

19 Jun 2007

Low carb diets may increase the risk for bowel cancer

Researchers in the UK are suggesting that low-carbohydrate diets such as the Atkins diet may increase a persons risk of developing bowel cancer.

19 Jun 2007

Better understanding of how the body fights off mucosal pathogens

In a finding that could have important implications for HIV vaccine research, new research at Weill Cornell Medical College illuminates the ways in which the body prevents its mucosal surfaces from being overwhelmed by bacteria.

17 Jun 2007

Starving Listeria bug of oxygen makes it turn nasty

If the Listeria monocytogenes bacteria behind food poisoning are starved of oxygen, they are liable to turn really nasty according to research published in the online journal BMC Microbiology.

17 Jun 2007

New understanding of how Staphylococcus aureus hides

A major cause of human and animal infections, Staphylococcus aureus bacteria may evade the immune system" defences and dodge antibiotics by climbing into our cells and then lying low to avoid detection.

17 Jun 2007

Biologists unravel genetic secrets of the silk of spiders

Biologists at the University of California, Riverside have identified the genes, and determined the DNA sequences, for two key proteins in the dragline silk of the black widow spider an advance that may lead to a variety of new materials for industrial, medical and military uses.

16 Jun 2007