MicrobeWorld

Antibiotics are being investigated as a new way to treat chronic lower back pain. It's thought that up to one in four cases may actually be caused by infection and not by mechanical problems such as poor posture or improper lifting.

In a Danish study, more than half the patients were either c... Read More

It is already known that blueberries are rich in antioxidants and vitamins. New research from the Lund University Faculty of Engineering in Sweden shows that blueberry fibers are important and can alleviate and protect against intestinal inflammations, such as ulcerative colitis. The protective ... Read More

Capillary-driven microfluidics could drastically change point-of-care diagnostics, thanks to IBM researchers Luc Gervais and Emmanuel Delamarche.

At IBM’s Zurich Research Laboratory, the scientists created a one-step immunoassay by combining microfluidic elements and reagents such as analyte ... Read More

On episode #69 of the podcast This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, and Rich review recent outbreaks of mumps in the UK, US, and Israel, protection of mice against 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus ... Read More

Roche AG's Genentech unit has licensed an experimental new technology that uses antibodies to fight influenza, including H1N1 swine flu, Harvard's Dana Farber Cancer Institute said on Monday.

Dana-Farber said it and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute had signed a license agreement... Read More

A common plant virus lures aphids to infected plants by making the plants more attractive, but when the insects taste the plant, they quickly leave for tastier, healthier ones. In the process, the insects rapidly transmit the disease, according to Penn State entomologists.

"The virus improves... Read More

Scientists have discovered a new and easier way to transform stem cells from human fat into induced pluripotent stem cells using virus-free techniques.

Experts at the Stanford University
School of Medicine have developed a novel method using minicircles, rings of DNA, to induce pluripotency ... Read More

In the past year, the media has hyped the swine flu as if it were the Black Death. People have been reminded to wash their hands to the point of excess. Antibacterial products have been flying off the shelves at local super markets across the country. But the swine flu is a far cry from the deva... Read More

The dead of winter may not be the time when most people's thoughts turn toward the allure of a hamburger on the grill. But from a food safety standpoint, it's probably the safest time there is to eat ground beef.

"The theory is that animals are carrying higher levels of E. coli during the sum... Read More

Good bacteria, called probiotics, live within our intestinal tract. They are also known as comensual cells which outnumber human cells, 10 to 1. In other words, we are made up of more good bacteria than human cells which shows how important they are to health.

Antibiotics Kill Good Bacteria
... Read More

San Diego-based Optimer Pharmaceuticals has nailed the second big trial designed to prove it has a new antibiotic for a deadly infection people can get in hospitals.

Optimer said today that it reached its main goal of showing its experimental antibiotic, fidaxomicin, was roughly equivalent to... Read More

A new poll found the majority of parents have gotten or intend to get their children vaccinated against swine flu, but the majority of adults have not gotten or do not want swine flu vaccine for themselves.

The poll by Harvard School of Public Health shows 44 percent believe the H1N1 flu pand... Read More

Fewer people are getting sick with the swine flu than is typical for influenza rates this time of year - but public health officials still aren't ready to say the pandemic is over.

For the third week in a row, national rates of flulike illness are below the seasonal average, the U.S. Centers ... Read More

For millions of Americans, Super Bowl Sunday is all about going to somebody else's house for eating and drinking before, during, and probably after the game between the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts. Millions of tons of that food will be prepared by amateurs.

For their stake, you... Read More

China's reckless use of antibiotics in its health system and agricultural production is fuelling an explosion of drug-resistant superbugs that threaten global health.

Scientists have warned that Chinese doctors routinely prescribe multiple doses of antibiotics for sore throats, while farmers'... Read More

The biodiversity of the Earth never ceases to astonish. One example that has radically changed the face of biology is the discovery of a group of organisms called archaea (pronounced “ar-kee-ah”). It was thought that all creatures on Earth were divided into two main evolutionary categories, but ... Read More

In the age-old battle between man and microbe, people have tried in countless ways to keep their surroundings germ-free, ranging from plain old scrubbing, heat sterilization and chemical disinfectants to high-tech solutions like irradiation or drug-eluting coatings.

Now a new approach could m... Read More

The anticancer drugs, such as DNA replication inhibitors, stimulate bacterial adhesion and induce the bacterial SOS response. As a variety of bacterial mutants can be generated during SOS, novel phenotypes are likely to be selected under the drug pressure.Presentation of the hypothesisBacteria g... Read More

Monash University biochemists have found a critical piece in the evolutionary puzzle that explains how life on Earth evolved millions of centuries ago.

The team, from the School of Biomedical Sciences, has described the process by which bacteria developed into more complex cells and found thi... Read More

Unlike antibiotics, which kill many different types of bacteria, antiviral drugs for the most part need to target individual, specific viruses. A drug that attacks a multitude of viruses -- an antibiotic for viruses, effectively -- would be a significant boon for medicine. And a group of researc... Read More