Antibiotic in Biological News

Fewer deaths with preventive antibiotic use

Administering antibiotics as a preventive measure to patients in intensive care units (ICUs) increases their chances of survival. This has emerged from a study involving nearly sixthousand Dutch patients in thirteen hospitals. Researchers at University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht have published t...

Biomedical engineers' detective work reveals antibiotic mechanism

(Boston) -- A series of genetic clues led a team of Boston University biomedical engineers to uncover exactly how certain antibiotics kill bacteria. The findings could help rejuvenate the efficacy of older antibiotics and reveal new antibiotic targets within bacterial cells. "The research speak...

New antibiotic candidates from Braunschweig

This press release is available in German . A group of antibiotic natural products discovered at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig points out a new mode of action against pathogenic bacteria. Isolated from myxobacteria, the substances prevent an enzym of the ...

New antibiotic beats superbugs at their own game

The problem with antibiotics is that, eventually, bacteria outsmart them and become resistant. But by targeting the gene that confers such resistance, a new drug may be able to finally outwit them. Rockefeller University scientists tested the new drug, called Ceftobiprole, against some of the dead...

Test of bacteria toxin delivery system could pave way for new antibiotic drugs

Jerusalem, June 16, 2008 Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have achieved a breakthrough in monitoring the toxin-delivery system of highly pathogenic bacteria an accomplishment that could help pave the way for new drugs that will be capable of neutralizing those germs. Most b...

Researchers uncover mechanism of action of antibiotic able to reduce neuronal cell death in brain

Research Highlights: Mechanism of action of compound found to induce neurotransmitter activity in brain cells The findings may lead researchers to develop potential novel therapies to treat Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntingtons disease, epilepsy, stroke/ischemia, d...

Manure management reduces levels of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes

MADISON, WI, November 26, 2007- Antibiotic resistance is a growing human health concern. Researchers around the globe have found antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals to be present in surface waters and sediments, municipal wastewater, animal manure lagoons, and underlying groundwater. In a recent...

Researchers discover new strategies for antibiotic resistance

TORRANCE (August 29, 2007) - 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 uncove...

NIH awards $6.5 million grant to UT Southwestern to develop new antibiotic

DALLAS March 25, 2008 Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have been awarded a $6.5 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop a new anti-microbial compound to target bacterial pathogens such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli. Though many...

Study finds antibiotic resistance in poultry even when antibiotics were not used

A surprising finding by a team of University of Georgia scientists suggests that curbing the use of antibiotics on poultry farms will do little ?if anything ?to reduce rates of antibiotic resistant bacteria that have the potential to threaten human health. Dr. Margie Lee, professor in the UGA Co...

New approach could lower antibiotic requirements by 50 times

Antibiotic doses could be reduced by up to 50 times using a new approach based on bacteriophages. Steven Hagens, previously at the University of Vienna, told Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI, that certain bacteriophages, a type of virus that infects bacteria, can boost the effect...

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

MADISON - A failed experiment turned out to be anything but for bacteriologist Marcin Filutowicz. As he was puzzling out why what should have been a routine procedure wouldn't work, he made a discovery that led to the creation of a new biological tool for destroying bacterial pathogens - one that...

Controlling antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in hospitals

In one of the first national studies on guidelines that control antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in hospitals, researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine, the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. and the Richard Roudebush Veterans Administration Medical Center report that hospitals that...

New study shows antibiotic may protect the heart

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers studying rapamycin, an antibiotic used to boost organ survival in transplant patients, have found that the drug may protect the heart against tissue damage following acute heart attack. In the July issue of the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardio...

Hopkins study suggests commercially available antibiotic may help fight dementia in HIV patients

An antibiotic commonly used to treat a variety of serious infections may also help prevent dementia in HIV patients, according to a test-tube study of human brain cells by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine neurologist Jeffrey Rumbaugh, M.D., Ph.D. Results of the lab study with ceftriaxo...

Evolution follows few of the possible paths to antibiotic resistance

Darwinian evolution follows very few of the available mutational pathways to attain fitter proteins, researchers at Harvard University have found in a study of a gene whose mutant form increases bacterial resistance to a widely prescribed antibiotic by a factor of roughly 100,000. Their work indica...

Creation of antibiotic in test tube holds promise for better antibiotics

Scientists have made nisin, a natural antibiotic used for more than 40 years to preserve food, in a test tube for the first time using nature's toolbox. They also identified the structure of the enzyme that makes nisin and gives it its unique biological power. The work -- published in the March 1...

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

The scientists replaced a single atom from the molecular structure of vancomycin aglycon, a glycopeptide antibiotic that attacks the bacteria by inhibiting cell wall synthesis, significantly increasing the drug's spectrum of activity. In recent years, a number of the most common strains of enteroco...

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

Australia's policy of restricting antibiotic use in food-producing animals may be linked with lower levels of drug-resistant bacteria found in its citizens, according to an article in the May 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online. Campylobacter jejuni is a leading bacter...

Researchers use dirt to stay one step ahead of antibiotic resistance

Dirt may be a key to how bacteria that infect humans develop a resistance to antibiotic drugs. In an article in the January 20 issue of the journal Science, McMaster University researchers say that study of bacteria found in dirt may be the key in identifying how and why antibiotic resistance hap...

Pair of studies offer new clues to combat antibiotic resistance

In the continuing battle against antibiotic resistance, two new studies shed light on the complex defense mechanisms pathogenic bacteria use to evade antibiotic attack, an understanding of which could lead to new, more effective antibiotics to help save lives and combat the growing problem of antib...

New peptide antibiotic isolated from American oyster

North Carolina Sea Grant researchers have isolated a new peptide antibiotic from the American oyster that may have implications for managing many diseases in oysters. The new antimicrobial peptide "American oyster defensin" (AOD) may protect against bacteria in Crassostrea virginica, a species th...

Reducing antibiotic use lowers rates of drug-resistant bacteria

Fewer antibiotic prescriptions leads to fewer "superbugs." That's the take-home message behind a new study in the Oct. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online. The study found that reducing antibiotic use for pediatric respiratory tract infections resulted in lower rates of c...

Agricultural antibiotic use contributes to 'super-bugs' in humans

Doctors have become increasingly concerned by the problem of "super-bugs" - bacteria that have become resistant to standard antibiotics. It is well known that a high rate of antibiotic prescribing in hospitals contributes to the emergence of drug resistant bacteria. But for some antibiotics, an eve...

Gaining ground in the race against antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic resistance has put humans in an escalating 'arms race' with infectious bacteria, as scientists try to develop new antibiotics faster than the bacteria can evolve new resistance strategies. But now, researchers have a new strategy that may give them a leg up in the race -- reproducing in...

Large-scale Computer Simulations Reveal New Insights Into Antibiotic Resistance

Novel use of genetic testing methods helped public health officials control and limit the further spread of four outbreaks of foodborne hepatitis A virus in 2003 related to the consumption of green onions, according to a detailed analysis published in the October 15 issue of The Journal of Infectio...

New book explains antibiotic resistance for a broad audience

Media coverage about "superbugs" that defy current treatments has increased the public's awareness of and fears surrounding the issue of antibiotic resistance. A new book from ASM Press, Revenge of the Microbes: How Bacterial Resistance is Undermining the Antibiotic Miracle, provides an in-depth ov...

Chemical Engineer Kao Explores Antibiotic Synthesis With DNA Chips

Ask Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering Camilla Kao to describe a bacterium, and she'll compare it to a factory capable of producing antibiotics, immunosuppressants and anti-cancer drugs that no chemist can synthesize. Bacteria normally produce antibiotics to inhibit other bacterial strains...

To Stop Evolution: New Way Of Fighting Antibiotic Resistance Demonstrated By Scripps Scientists

A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of Wisconsin have demonstrated a new way of fighting antibiotic resistance: by stopping evolution. In the June issue of the open-access journal PloS Biology, the team describes how a protein called LexA in the bacterium Es...

Measuring hormone cuts antibiotic use in half in pneumonia patients

Measuring a hormone in the blood can help doctors greatly reduce the number of days pneumonia patients have to take antibiotics to cure their infection, according to a study to be presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference on May 24. In the study, pneumonia patients whose...

Researchers make gains in understanding antibiotic resistance

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers chiseling away at the problem of antibiotic resistance now have a detailed explanation of how the drugs' main cellular target in bacteria evolves to become resistant to some of these medications. The findings are already leading to new experimental antibi...

New Drugs For Bad Bugs: UF Approach Could Bolster Antibiotic Arsenal

Call it a chemical crystal ball. A new approach to predict whether a drug in development is likely to work and which dose is best could get antibiotics to market faster and more cheaply, say University of Florida researchers. In recent years, scientists worldwide have sounded the alarm: There sim...

Pinhead-size worms + robot = new antibiotics

... In an advance that could help ease the antibiotic drought, scientists in Massachusetts are describing successful use of a test that enlists pinhead-sized worms in efforts to discover badly needed new ...

Test helps in fight against lung infections and for treating other life-threatening infections

...th system. Patients spend more time in hospitals, antibiotic costs and treatment costs increase as more aggress...as shown very positive results in selecting proper antibiotic treatment for serious lung infections in patients ...e bioFILM PA™ kit as guidance, an additional antibiotic not normally used in CF lung infections was added....

Early detection and quick response are key to defense against anthrax attack

...f thousands, who would start becoming sick anywhere from 24 hours to a week or more after the attack. With appropriate and timely administration of an antibiotic treatment program, exposed individuals would be spared from developing inhalational anthrax infection. ...

C. difficile spores spread superbug

... New research suggests that antibiotic treatment could be asymptomatically inducing the t...ol in hospitals, to include all patients receiving antibiotic treatment - although logistically complex - is wor... in this case the mouse - primarily in response to antibiotic treatment but also in response to immune impaired ...

Munich researchers discover new target for tailored antibiotics

... hold harmful pathogens in check by interfering with their ability to produce essential compounds. Ever more bacterial strains are developing multiple antibiotic resistances, however, rendering previously life-saving medications ineffective. That is why researchers around the world are searching for new reactio...

U Alberta researcher in same group as Darwin and Hawking

...ing recognized for a body of research that centers on the identification of antibiotic peptides in bacteria. antibiotic peptides play an important role in food preservation and may have potential...

Antibiotics take toll on beneficial microbes in gut

...rved what changes in the gut microbiota occurred immediately after the antibiotics were stopped or six weeks following the end of treatment. "Both antibiotic treatments caused significant changes in the gut microbial community. However, in the mice given cefoperazone, there was no recovery of normal diversi...

Plant microbe shares features with drug-resistant pathogen

...f antibiotics in both strains. "This suggests that antibiotic resistance is part of the species' core genome, an...erve as a reservoir for opportunistic pathogens or antibiotic resistance genes. "This is something that should b...r sp. 638, neither of which contain broad spectrum antibiotic resistance or virulence factors that would allow t...