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Jenna Veldhuizen

Discovery holds potential in destroying drug-resistant bacteria - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...130507155033.htm

shared by Jenna Veldhuizen on 08 May 13 - No Cached
  • Dr. Montelaro and his colleagues found that a particular sequence of amino acids on the tail end of HIV allow the virus to "punch into" and infect cells. The team manufactured a synthetic and more efficient version of this sequence -- called engineered cationic antimicrobial peptides, or "eCAPs" -- that laboratory tests have shown to rapidly destroy bacteria that are otherwise resistant to most standard antibiotics.
  • Traditional antibiotics typically work by poisoning important metabolic processes after being taken up by the target bacteria, a process that may take hours, or days, to clear a bacterial infection. In contrast, the eCAPs are specifically attracted to the surface of target bacteria where they disrupt the bacterial membrane, causing death within seconds, or minutes.
  • eCAPs work well against biofilms
  • Jenna Veldhuizen on 08 May 13
     
    very interesting...the same mechanism HIV uses to infect cells can be manufactured and used to destroy antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Nellie Bogunovic

Breast Milk Ingredient Could Prevent Deadly Intestinal Problem in Preemies - 1 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...130506181616.htm

shared by Nellie Bogunovic on 08 May 13 - No Cached
  • TLR4 is present in higher amounts in the blood vessel lining in preemies than in full-term babies
  • those bred to lack TLR4 in their blood vessels did not develop NEC
  • They found that breast milk contains high levels of sodium nitrate, which is converted to nitrite by gut bacteria. Nitrite can be directly converted to the vasodilator nitric oxide, which can both protect the intestinal lining and improve blood flow.
  • Jenna Veldhuizen on 08 May 13
     
    another advantage of breast feeding that could possibly prevent a pretty deadly condition in premature babies
  • Nellie Bogunovic on 10 May 13
     
    Can help prevent NEC that occurs in preemies
Tyrell Varner

The Black Sea is a goldmine of ancient genetic data - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...130506181709.htm

genetic data

shared by Tyrell Varner on 07 May 13 - No Cached
  • Tyrell Varner on 07 May 13
     
    The Black Sea is a hotspot for past plankton life.
Nate Scheibe

Microbes flourish at deepest ocean site | Life | Science News - 0 views

www.sciencenews.org/...flourish_at_deepest_ocean_site

ocean life

shared by Nate Scheibe on 08 May 13 - No Cached
  • Nate Scheibe on 08 May 13
     
    This gives "the ubiquity of bacteria" a whole new meaning. It is very cool that life can exist at the extremes.
Nate Scheibe

Alga borrows genes to beat the heat, acid and toxic metals | Life | Science News - 0 views

www.sciencenews.org/...the_heat_acid_and_toxic_metals

genes acid metals life

shared by Nate Scheibe on 08 May 13 - No Cached
  • Nate Scheibe on 08 May 13
     
    This is an interesting article about eukaryotes engaging in gene transfer with bacteria and archaea to survive in extreme environments.
Abdirizak Abdi

Your Immune System 'Remembers' Microbes It's Never Fought Before, New Study Says - 0 views

www.popsci.com/...ts-never-fought-new-study-says

shared by Abdirizak Abdi on 09 May 13 - No Cached
  • Abdirizak Abdi on 09 May 13
     
    How do naive cells accomplish this microbial memory generation? It's all about the environment. People are constantly exposed to countless bacteria, fungi and viruses, everywhere all of the time. T cells might act like they're reacting to something they've seen before--maybe the bacteria's proteins look similar to that of a harmless bug, and the cell is fooled.
Abdirizak Abdi

New Insights Into Ebola Infection Pave the Way for Much-Needed Therapies - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...130507134547.htm

shared by Abdirizak Abdi on 09 May 13 - No Cached
  • Abdirizak Abdi on 09 May 13
     
    Little research is available on how the Ebola virus buds from the plasma membrane of human cells, says senior study author Robert Stahelin of Indiana University School of Medicine. "By shedding light on this process, our study will help us to identify potential drug candidates that could interfere with this step in the viral life cycle.
Alletia DeMartino

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Turns Protein Into a Virulence Factor in One Easy Step - 0 views

www.infectioncontroltoday.com/...e-factor-in-one-easy-step.aspx

shared by Alletia DeMartino on 09 May 13 - No Cached
  • To infect its host, the respiratory pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa takes an ordinary protein usually involved in making other proteins and adds three small molecules to turn it into a key for gaining access to human cells.
  • P. aeruginosa, one of the most common causes of hospital-acquired pneumonia.
  • P. aeruginosa mostly uses this protein called elongation factor-Tu (EF-Tu) inside the cel
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • but she and her collaborators have learned that as a virulence factor, it could represent a vulnerability for the bacterium
  • EF-Tu is presumed to be an essential protein, and it's performing these moonlighting functions as well. If we figured out how it was doing that, we could devise strategies to inhibit it," says Goldberg.
  • acquired pneumonia and is the leading cause of death among critically ill patients whose airways have been damaged by ventilation, trauma, or other infections.
  • P. aeruginosa takes
  • the protein EF-Tu, which was generally thought to exist only inside the cell, and decorates the exterior of the cell with it, but in a modified form.
  • EF-Tu is modified somehow to mimic ChoP, allowing P. aeruginosa to enjoy the benefits of ChoP.
  • , ChoP carries out a crucial step for setting up an infection for a number of different types of respiratory pathogens.
  • Using a host of techniques, including mass spectrometry, site directed mutagenesis of key residues in the protein, and genetic loss of function/gain of function studies, they found that P. aeruginosa only makes small changes to EF-Tu to get it to mimic this powerful ligand. P. aeruginosa transfers three methyl groups to a lysine on EF-Tu, giving it a structure similar to ChoP and allowing it to fit in the PAFR receptor in the way ChoP does.
  • "It allows [P. aeruginosa] to adhere to the cells and invade,"
  • "Its interaction with humans is accidental. It's an opportunist. The fact that it has this novel modification on this protein that is inherent in the bacterium that enables it to attach and persist and cause disease is exciting,"
  • Alletia DeMartino on 09 May 13
     
    Interesting!! however, very scary. It just keeps modifying itself and being more virulent. what's next?!
Alletia DeMartino

Genes show one big European family - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...130507195642.htm

shared by Alletia DeMartino on 09 May 13 - No Cached
  • to a new study of the DNA of people from across the continent.
  • This was predicted in theory over a decade ago, and we now have concrete evidence from DNA data,
  • But even a pair of individuals who live as far apart as the United Kingdom and Turkey -- a distance of some 2,000 miles -- likely are related to all of one another's ancestors from a thousand years ago.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Ralph and Coop used ideas about the expected amount of genome shared between relatives of varying degrees of relatedness
  • Ralph and Coop looked for shorter blocks of DNA that were shared between cousins separated by many more generations
  • But in large samples, rare cases of distant sharing could be detected. With their analysis, Coop and Ralph were able to detect these shared blocks of DNA in individuals spread across Europe, and calculate how long ago they shared an ancestor.
  • Alletia DeMartino on 09 May 13
     
    kind of creepy to think about....
Nellie Bogunovic

Miracle Baby Who Got Melanoma in Womb Still Living - 0 views

gma.yahoo.com/80514838--abc-news-health.html

shared by Nellie Bogunovic on 09 May 13 - No Cached
  • Nellie Bogunovic on 09 May 13
     
    Didn't even know this could happen!
Nellie Bogunovic

CDC: Food Poisonings on the Rise, Improved Prevention Needed - 0 views

health.yahoo.net/...ise-improved-prevention-needed

shared by Nellie Bogunovic on 09 May 13 - No Cached
  • Nellie Bogunovic on 09 May 13
     
    Why proper aseptic techniques are so important ;)
Amy Jorgenson

Construction and evaluation of a novel recombinant T cell epitope-based vaccine against... - 0 views

iai.asm.org/...IAI.00566-12

shared by Amy Jorgenson on 08 May 13 - No Cached
  • Amy Jorgenson on 08 May 13
     
    This article discusses in great detail the complexity of creating a T-cell epitope-based vaccine to treat coccidiodiomycosis. This information was aslo used and discussed in our presentation.
Amy Jorgenson

Environmental variability and coccidiodiomycosis (valley fever) - 0 views

Kolivras, Korine N., Peter S. Johnson, Andrew C. Comrie, and Stephen R. Yool. 2001. "Environmental Variability and Coccidioidomycosis (valley Fever)." Aerobiologia 17 (1): 31-42

shared by Amy Jorgenson on 08 May 13 - No Cached
  • Amy Jorgenson on 08 May 13
     
    This was the review article used for our presentation. This article discusses the relationship between temperature and precipitation, and the prevalence of outbreaks of this disease.
Amy Jorgenson

Pathogen turns protein into a virulence factor in one easy step - 0 views

phys.org/...ein-virulence-factor-easy.html

shared by Amy Jorgenson on 08 May 13 - No Cached
  • Amy Jorgenson on 08 May 13
     
    This is more of a blurb (rather than an article) about P. aeruginosa making three small changes to the EF-Tu protein in order to gain entry into human cells. Understanding these changes appears to be a great link to understanding/studying hospital-acquired pneumonia. Not sure how I feel about the comment comparing proteins to a spork in a takeout meal....
Megan Rasmussen

Parents' saliva on pacifier could reduce kids' allergies, asthma Read more: http://www... - 0 views

www.foxnews.com/...d-reduce-kids-allergies-asthma

microbiology

shared by Megan Rasmussen on 08 May 13 - No Cached
  • Megan Rasmussen on 08 May 13
     
    First thought: eww, but interesting!
Abdirizak Abdi

Lucky Bacteria Strike It Rich During Formation of Treatment-Resistant Colonies: Researc... - 1 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...130508131819.htm

shared by Abdirizak Abdi on 08 May 13 - No Cached
  • Megan Rasmussen on 08 May 13
     
    Researchers are looking at how biofilms form in order to better understand how to battle their ability to be resistant to many antibiotics
  • Abdirizak Abdi on 09 May 13
     
    Like pioneers in search of a better life, bacteria on a surface wander around and often organize into highly resilient communities, known as biofilms. It turns out that a lucky few bacteria become the elite cells that start the colonies, and they organize in a rich-get-richer pattern similar to the distribution of wealth in the US economy, according to a new study..
Tyrell Varner

Despite inspections, raw milk sickened more than 100 | Fox News - 0 views

www.foxnews.com/...ned-scores-despite-inspections

shared by Tyrell Varner on 07 May 13 - No Cached
  • The only deficiencies that investigators found were that a mechanical milk bottle capper was broken, so employees had capped the bottles by hand, and that the water used to clean equipment was cooler than recommended (110 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, instead of 160 to 170 degrees F).
  • Tyrell Varner on 07 May 13
     
    The farm itself was up to code.
Nate Scheibe

Listeria outbreak linked to cheese; 1 dead, 4 sickened - CNN.com - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

outbreak cheese

shared by Nate Scheibe on 04 Jul 13 - No Cached
  • Nate Scheibe on 04 Jul 13
     
    Here is an outbreak that hits close to home.
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