Tag Archives: PNAS
Microbial forensics: the science behind the Amerithrax investigation
Nearly a decade after the postal anthrax attacks in the USA that killed 5 individuals and infected more than 20 people, scientists have revealed the measures used to trace the Bacillus anthracis strain used in the bioterror attack in a … Continue reading
Filed under Genome sequence, Microbiology
Spreading Salmonella—hyper-replicating bacteria act as a reservoir for dissemination
New research reveals how Salmonella enterica spread in the gut and gallbladder—a subpopulation of Salmonella primed for invasion rapidly replicate in the host cell cytosol such that bacteria-laden cells are extruded out of the epithelial-cell layer releasing invasive Salmonella into … Continue reading
Filed under Infectious Disease, Microbiology, Uncategorized
Monkeypox infections on the increase in Africa
The incidence of a smallpox-like disease—caused by the monkeypox virus—has increased 20-fold in the Demoncratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the past 30 years, according to new research published online in the journal PNAS. The findings suggest that, as smallpox … Continue reading
Filed under Infectious Disease, Microbiology, Public Health, Vaccine
Silencing human RSV infection
A new therapy based on RNA interference (RNAi) successfully reduces respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in humans. The study, published free online in PNAS, demonstrates that therapeutic RNAi-based drugs are clinically effective, and suggests that similar ‘silencing’ therapies could be … Continue reading
Filed under Infectious Disease, Medicine, Microbiology, Uncategorized
A gene polymorphism helps protect against malaria, but makes you vulnerable to lupus
A polymorphism in the human gene FCGR2B is associated with susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but it is also associated with protection against malaria, according to a new study published in PNAS. The polymorphism was most common in people … Continue reading
Filed under Immunology, Infectious Disease, Public Health
Major bacterial pathogen jumped from humans to poultry
It’s not much fun being a broiler chicken. Not only will you eventually end up on someone’s plate but you get tarnished with the same brush as all of bird-kind and blamed as a harbinger of an infectious microorganism (bird … Continue reading
Filed under Infectious Disease, Microbiology
Adolescent alcohol abuse can lead to poor decision-making and greater risk-taking in adulthood*
(*Binge-drinking teenage tearaway rats make bad decisions in adulthood) Experiments in rats show that alcohol abuse in adolescence affected the animal’s decision-making in adulthood, leading them to make poorer decisions and take more risks, according to research by Bernstein and … Continue reading
Filed under Neurobiology
Psycho doesn’t lurk in your shower…….bacteria do
Our daily shower doesn’t just contain water; we can also get a face full of bacteria too. Shower heads can expose people to microbes, including potentially harmful pathogens according to research published this week by Pace (from the University of … Continue reading
Filed under Microbiology
