RSS Feed Microbiology

Anthony Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD. Teresa Schraeder, the interviewer, is a clinical assistant professor at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI. Supplement to: Johnston MI and Fauci AS. An HIV Vaccine – Challenges and Prospects. N Engl J Med 2008;359:888-90.

Now well into the third decade of the pandemic of HIV and AIDS, we have seen dramatic successes in the treatment of HIV-infected persons in the United States and many other countries. Yet the pandemic still rages.

Authors: Franz E, van Bruggen AH There is an increased concern that plants might be more important as a carrier for human enteric pathogens like E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica serovars than previously thought. This review summarizes the knowledge available on the ecology of E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica in the primary production chain of leafy green vegetables (in particular lettuce), including manure, manure-amended soil, and crop. Based on the available literature, suggestions are made for the control of these pathogens. The suggested approach of oligotrophication of agro-ecosystems fits in the wider approach to lower environmental emissions of nutrients from manure application and to enhance the suppression against plant pathogens. PMID: 18728991 [PubMed - as ...

This article reviews PsaA, its structure and role in pneumococcal virulence, immunogenicity, and potential to reduce nasopharyngeal colonization (a major prerequisite for pneumococcal pathogenesis) as a component of a common pneumococcal protein vaccine. PMID: 18728990 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Critical Reviews in Microbiology)

Authors: Eberly JO, Ely RL Hydrogenases are metalloproteins that catalyze the oxidation and reduction of molecular hydrogen and play a crucial role in many microbial metabolic processes. A subset of hydrogenases capable of functioning at temperatures from 50 to 125 degrees C is found in thermophilic microorganisms. Most known thermotolerant hydrogenases contain a [NiFe] active site and are either bidirectional or uptake type. Although no exhaustive survey has been done of the ecological diversity of thermophilic hydrogen-reducing or oxidizing bacteria, they appear to exist in virtually every thermophilic environment examined to date. Thermotolerant hydrogenases share many similarities with their mesophilic counterparts, but they have several features in addition to thermotolerance that...

[The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.] 

Some people never forget a face. Others never forget a flu. Even if they were infected more than 90 years ago. A team of American scientists studied 32 people who survived the 1918 flu epidemic. That virus, also called the Spanish flu, killed an estimated 20 to 100 million people worldwide.

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Conclusion:
A five SNP method for dividing GBS into biologically valid groups has been developed. These SNPs are ideal for high throughput surveillance activities, and combining with more rapidly evolving loci when additional resolution is required. (Source: BMC Microbiology – Latest articles)

Arsenic, a deadly poison, kills by blocking the ability of cells to produce and consume energy. Yet, some red and green slime mats in briny hot springs in Mono Lake, Calif., use the potent compound rather than water to carry energy during photosynthesis (the process used by bacteria and plants that converts sunlight into food) new research in Science reveals. [More]

Scientists have developed a two-pronged protein that grabs immune system cells with one arm and introduces them to cancer cells it has snagged with the other. The result: eradicated tumors–at certain doses. [More]

You probably think you’re doing everything you can to stay healthy: you get lots of sleep, exercise regularly and try to avoid fried foods. But you may be forgetting one important thing. Relax! Stress has a bigger impact on your health than you might realize, according to research presented yesterday at the annual conference of the American Psychological Association in Boston. [More]