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Irish study to look at how bacteria, Yersinia enterocolitica, enters the food chain

Monitoring of pig carcasses and pig meat in slaughterhouses, butchers' premises and retail outlets will be undertaken in Ireland over the next two years in an attempt to determine how a human disease causing bacteria, Yersinia enterocolitica, enters the food chain, scientists announced today (Tuesday 4 September 2007) at the Society for General Microbiology's 161st Meeting at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which runs from 3-6 September 2007.

4 Sep 2007

Study identifies osteopontin as a key player in the body's immune response to chronic stress

Osteopontin (OPN), a protein molecule involved in many different cellular processes, plays a significant role in immune deficiency and organ atrophy following chronic physiological stress, resulting in increased susceptibility to illness.

4 Sep 2007

Discovery of monoclonal antibodies which may make a successful Hepatitis C vaccine a reality

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infects up to 500,000 people in the UK alone, many of the infections going undiagnosed.

4 Sep 2007

Mice stressed in simulated weightlessness show organ atrophy

A ground-based, experimental model used to simulate astronaut weightlessness in space has provided Rutgers scientists an opportunity to study the effects of stress on immune organs.

4 Sep 2007

Hepatitis E virus in Europe

Hepatitis E virus infections can be fatal in pregnant women, but until recently doctors thought the disease was confined to China, India and developing countries.

4 Sep 2007

Low salt foods just as safe as conventionally processed ones

Low salt foods are just as safe or safer than high salt level products in spite of expectations that cutting salt levels in food would increase the risk of spoilage by bacteria, say scientists today (Tuesday 4 September 2007) at the Society for General Microbiology¡¦s 161st Meeting at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which runs from 3-6 September 2007.

4 Sep 2007

Cooked ham could soon be given a 39 day shelf life

Cooked ham could soon be given a 39 day shelf life, according to scientists speaking today (Tuesday 4 September 2007) at the Society for General Microbiology¡¦s 161st Meeting at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which runs from 3-6 September 2007.

4 Sep 2007

Marine sponges may bring about new drugs

Thousands of interesting new compounds have been discovered inside the bodies of marine sponges according to scientists speaking today (Tuesday 4 September 2007) at the Society for General Microbiology's 161st Meeting at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which runs from 3-6 September 2007.

4 Sep 2007

Autoimmune response, triggered by genes, can be a barrier to producing a viable offspring

Plant biologists at the Max Planck Institute of Developmental Biology and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered that an autoimmune response, triggered by a small number of genes, can be a barrier to producing a viable offspring.

4 Sep 2007

New phages to treat bacterial diseases

Viruses found in the River Cam in Cambridge, famous as a haunt of students in their punts on long, lazy summer days, could become the next generation of antibiotics, according to scientists speaking today (Monday 3 September 2007) at the Society for General Microbiology's 161st Meeting at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which runs from 3-6 September 2007.

3 Sep 2007

Leafy greens and E. coli

The rise in year-round consumption of fresh leafy greens such as lettuce and baby spinach is increasing the difficulty of keeping produce free from contamination by food poisoning bacteria, according to US scientists speaking at the Society for General Microbiology's 161st Meeting at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which runs from 3-6 September 2007.

3 Sep 2007

Researchers discover nature uses a recurring molecular strategy to defend against infection

With infections increasingly resistant to even the most modern antibiotics, researchers at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) report in the September issue of Nature Reviews Microbiology on new clues they have uncovered in immune system molecules that defend against infection.

30 Aug 2007

Autophagy-induced signals are essential for normal development

A cannibalistic process called autophagy spurs dying embryonic stem cells to send "eat me" and "come get me" signals to have their corpses purged, a last gasp that paves the way for normal mammalian development, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

30 Aug 2007

How does Listeria monocytogenes survive with nothing to live on?

Try going for a couple of weeks without food and see what shape you're in, or if you're around at all by then. Let some dangerous bacteria do the same thing and there's a chance they may do more than survive; they can grow stronger and remain as virulent as ever.

29 Aug 2007

New understanding of what makes a major global bacterial infection deadly

Researchers believe they have discovered why a bacterial lung infection is so lethal in the early stages, and it's not what medical authorities had thought, according to research published in the journal Immunity.

28 Aug 2007

New understanding of Nipah virus

A collaborative team of scientists from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) here, and the Australian Animal Health Laboratory have demonstrated an important biological feature of the deadly Nipah virus that can infect and kill both animals and humans.

24 Aug 2007