E. coli News and Research

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E. coli or Escherichia coli is the name of a type of bacteria that lives in your intestines. Most types of E. coli are harmless. However, some types can make you sick and cause diarrhea. One type causes travelers' diarrhea. The worst type of E. coli causes bloody diarrhea, and can sometimes cause kidney failure and even death. These problems are most likely to occur in children and in adults with weak immune systems. You can get E. coli infections by eating foods containing the bacteria. To help avoid food poisoning and prevent infection, handle food safely. Cook meat well, wash fruits and vegetables before eating or cooking them, and avoid unpasteurized milk and juices. You can also get the infection by swallowing water in a swimming pool contaminated with human waste. Most cases of E. coli infection get better without treatment in 5 to 10 days.

Phenotype microarrays compare growth characteristics of pathogenic and non-pathogenic E. coli

Dr Karin Heurlier and colleagues at the Universities of Nottingham and Birmingham in conjunction with Biolog Inc of California USA, used powerful high throughput analytical tools (phenotype microarrays) that enabled them to compare about 2000 growth characteristics of several pathogenic (disease-causing) E. coli with a non-pathogenic laboratory E. coli strain.

9 Sep 2009

New probiotic provides protection against the fatal E. coli disease

Researchers in Australia are developing diversionary tactics to fool disease-causing bacteria in the gut. Many bacteria, including those responsible for major gut infections, such as cholera, produce toxins that damage human tissues when they bind to complex sugar receptors displayed on the surface of cells in the host's intestine.

8 Sep 2009

Microbe's multilayer defence mechanisms could treat fungal infections

Unravelling a microbe's multilayer defence mechanisms could lead to effective new treatments for potentially lethal fungal infections in cancer patients and others whose natural immunity is weakened.

8 Sep 2009

Preliminary lab results of SHBAN hand sanitizer solution announced

BioTech Medics, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: BMCS) announces that it has received preliminary independent clinical testing of its patented SHBAN™ Hand Sanitizer Solution to demonstrate it kills the H1N1 (Swine) Influenza A virus.

3 Sep 2009

Eye disease medication lowers death rate among Ethiopian children

Children in Ethiopia who received the antibiotic azithromycin as a method for controlling the contagious eye disease trachoma had a lower odds of death compared to children who did not receive the antibiotic, according to a study in the September 2 issue of JAMA.

2 Sep 2009

Enzymes could be targeted to kill dangerous pathogens

Researchers at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham), University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and University of Maryland have demonstrated that an enzyme that is essential to many bacteria can be targeted to kill dangerous pathogens.

28 Aug 2009

Researchers discover elusive nanoscale movements of ribosomes at work

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have for the first time captured elusive nanoscale movements of ribosomes at work, shedding light on how these cellular factories take in genetic instructions and amino acids to churn out proteins.

24 Aug 2009

New findings to prevent urinary tract infections

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center may have a new way to stop and even prevent the urinary tract infections (UTIs) that plague more than a third of all adults, some of them repeatedly.

21 Aug 2009

First batch of cancer vaccine from Cancer Vaccine Collaborative goes into trial

The first batch of NY-ESO-1 recombinant protein produced in a facility supported entirely by non-profit entities has successfully cleared regulatory review and has entered clinical testing. The clinical trials are part of the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative, a joint program of the Cancer Research Institute, Inc. (CRI) and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Ltd. (LICR).

13 Aug 2009

J. Craig Venter Institute offers new Affymetrix array for faster identification of E. coli and shigella

Affymetrix, Inc. and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)-supported Pathogen Functional Genomics Resource Center (PFGRC) at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) today announced the launch of the Affymetrix FDA-ECSG custom microarray for identifying and discriminating between different strains of E. coli and Shigella.

6 Aug 2009

New technique captures bacterial infection on film

Researchers have developed a new technique that allows them to make a movie of bacteria infecting their living host.

27 Jul 2009

Potential malaria transmission-blocking vaccine

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute have for the first time produced a malarial protein (Pfs48/45) in the proper conformation and quantity to generate a significant immune response in mice and non-human primates for use in a potential transmission-blocking vaccine.

26 Jul 2009

Special pathway makes bacteria vulnerable - new target for tailored antibiotics

More and more strains of bacteria are developing resistance to previously life-saving antibiotics. Researchers at TUM, the Technische Universitaet Muenchen, have shed light on a metabolic step that appears in many aggressive microorganisms -- such as tuberculosis and malaria pathogens -- and that may provide a promising target for a new class of antibiotics. The researchers present their results in the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie.

14 Jul 2009

By manipulating oxygen, scientists coax bacteria into a wave

Bacteria know that they are too small to make an impact individually. So they wait, they multiply, and then they engage in behaviors that are only successful when all cells participate in unison. There are hundreds of behaviors that bacteria carry out in such communities. Now researchers at Rockefeller University have discovered one that has never been observed or described before in a living system.

13 Jul 2009

One secret to how tuberculosis resists the host immune system

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is arguably the world's most successful infectious agent because it knows how to avoid elimination by slowing its own growth to a crawl. Now, a report in the July 10 issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, offers new insight into the bugs' talent for meager living.

9 Jul 2009

Bioprocess increases vaccine yield

Empa researchers have managed to adapt a process for manufacturing certain vaccines - in particular that against Haemophilus influenzæ bacteria - for use in bioreactors, with the result that the yield is enhanced enormously.

12 Jun 2009

Yeast 'DNA damage sensor' provides chemotherapy resistance clue

Cancer Research UK scientists have been part of an international collaboration that has revealed the structure of a protein found in simple yeast cells and shown how it flags up damaged DNA for repair. The results of their study are published in Nature*. The finding may provide clues as to how some cancer cells become resistant to certain chemotherapy drugs.

11 Jun 2009

New understanding of structure of bacteria responsible for traveler's diarrhea

Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), the Naval Medical Research Center and the National Institutes of Health, have solved the structure of thin hair-like fibers called "pili" or "fimbriae" on the surface of bacteria that cause traveler's diarrhea.

9 Jun 2009

New antibiotics could come from a DNA binding compound that kills bacteria in 2 minutes

A synthetic DNA binding compound has proved surprisingly effective at binding to the DNA of bacteria and killing all the bacteria it touched within two minutes.

8 Jun 2009

Discovery 'significant step' in understanding leukaemia drug resistance

Scientists have pinpointed an enzyme responsible for breaking down and inactivating a key childhood leukaemia drug, which could help to explain why around 20 per cent of patients do not respond to therapy. Their findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

8 Jun 2009