Tag: "antimicrobial" at biology news

Newly found sensing system enables certain bacteria to resist human immune defenses

...acteria protect itself by warding off attacks from antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which are defense molecules sent ...chart a path to designing new drugs to bolster our antimicrobial treatment options,” notes NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. Led by Michael Otto, Ph.D., of NI...

Understanding why C. difficile causes disease -- it's hungry

...uced such as when people take antibiotics or other antimicrobial drugs. Then, C. difficile can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammations of the colon. In 2002 a new, more virulent strain began appearing in hospitals in the United States and Canada. Recently, this strain was shown to...

Maggots rid patients of MRSA

...re relieving dressings to protect them. No topical antimicrobial agents or growth factors were used on the study ulcer. All but one of the patients was cleared of the superbug. During the treatment period, no adverse reactions were reported and there was a reduction in sloughy necrotic tissue and an increase in...

Natural antibiotics yield secrets to atom-level imaging technique

...m-killing properties of natural antibiotics called antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which are produced by virtually all animals, from insects to frogs to humans. AMPs are the immune system's early line of defense, battling microbes at the first places they try to penetrate: skin, mucous membranes and other surfaces....

Researchers from the UGR use a bacterium to obtain biopreservatives from food

...hat AS-48 is a bacteriocin (protein substance with antimicrobial activity) produced by Enterococcus faecalis S-48. ...acterial membranes and will also help in designing antimicrobial molecules with new characteristics. "Our work," states Marina Sánchez, "has determined which AS-48 a...

Trojan horse strategy defeats drug-resistant bacteria

A new antimicrobial approach can kill bacteria in laboratory experiments and eliminate life-threatening infections in mice by interfering with a key bacterial nutrient, according to research led by a University of Washington scientist. The joint project, conducted at th...

Scientists perform 'tricky' operation

...related to those involved in various mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance. As a result of the genome being sequenced, she has since been able to localise specific genes of interest to the whole chromosome and begin the mapping process. "Mapping the genome is the next step in the genome sequencing of T. vag...

Manual dishwashing study digs up dirt on dish cleanliness

...nce for bacteria," Pascall said. "It seems to have antimicrobial properties, which was a big surprise to us." Lee, a doctoral candidate of food, agricultural and biological engineering, and Pascall, assistant professor of food science and technology, published their findings in the Journal of Food Engineering. ...

ASU researchers test antibacterial effects of healing clays

... an older geologic condition, from a time when the antimicrobial property was likely inherited." Crystal structure, the interlayer, the way other materials, metals, ions bind to clays, the absorptive characteristics of clays, all could potentially play a role in the antibacterial activity they find in the one F...

'Failed' experiment yields a biocontrol agent that doesn't trigger antibiotic resistance

...a versatile concept that doesn't apply to just one antimicrobial agent." Filutowicz and Burgess, wine enthusiasts who are as comfortable fermenting grapes as they are transforming bacterial plasmids, partnered with students from the Weinert Applied Ventures Program at the UW-Madison School of Business to develop...

Faster, more accurate tuberculosis test developed

...en days, making them clinically relevant. Standard antimicrobial tests can take up to several months. The MODS test relies on three principles: (1) Mycobacterium tuberculosis grows faster in liquid medium than in solid medium; (2) TB grows in characteristic tangles or coils and these characteristic cord formatio...

Worms produce surprise insight into human fever

... bugs peristalsis, low gut pH, lytic enzymes, and antimicrobial peptides to prevent microbial colonization of the intestine. In dissecting two conserved pathways required for C. elegans immunity to bacteria, Aballay found a wealth of data on innate immunity plus a surprising insight into another classic meta...

Study defines effective microbicide design for HIV/AIDS prevention

...rious polymer gels or creams that carry the active antimicrobial ingredients, in determining the success or failure...most scientists have concentrated on improving the antimicrobial compounds themselves, rather than their delivery. "There is a huge push to produce microbicides th...

EGF receptor activation prevents microbes from going more than skin deep

...ne response to kill invading microbes by producing antimicrobial polypeptides (AMPs). As overt infection in the skin is a rare event, researchers have theorized that AMPs must not only help fight infection, but play a role in preventing infection from developing in the first place. In a study appearing online on ...

Friendly bacteria in chewing gum that bites back

...aining the artificial sweetener xylitol, which has antimicrobial properties, have also been shown to suppress the bacteria that fight tooth decay. Other potential uses of Lactobacillus include the prevention of body odour. BASF are looking into producing a deodorant based on L. aladoris, which can inhibit odour-...

Scientists re-engineer a well-known antibiotic to counter drug resistance

... to the bacteria to such a degree that the loss of antimicrobial activity is reduced nearly 1,000 fold, Boger said.... re-engineered antibiotics and compared them in an antimicrobial assay against VanA, a strain of the bacteria that is highly resistant to treatment by glycopeptide a...

Less antibiotic use in food animals leads to less drug resistance in people, study shows

...also realized the apparent benefits of restricting antimicrobial use in animals. Sweden prohibited the use of fluoroquinolones for food animals in 1986, Norway has never licensed their use in food animals, and both countries have reported low trends--similar to Australia's--in fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobact...

Researchers use dirt to stay one step ahead of antibiotic resistance

...evelop diverse ways to survive or resist the toxic antimicrobial compounds produced by their neighbors," said Wright. "Their coping tactics may be able to give us a glimpse into the future of clinical resistance to antibiotics." "This research suggests that not only can the study of resistance in the soil help ...

Antibacterial coatings cut infection rates

... South Wales, where he and Dr Hua Zhu assessed the antimicrobial efficiency of the coatings. "The result is a good understanding of how the coatings work and in which way we can make them work for best effect. We have established recipes for practical applications of the furanone coatings onto different devices. ...

New peptide antibiotic isolated from American oyster

...ns for managing many diseases in oysters. The new antimicrobial peptide "American oyster defensin" (AOD) may prote...s the first time that researchers have isolated an antimicrobial peptide from any oyster species, he says. NC State veterinary medicine postdoctoral research associ...

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