TWiP 13: Toxoplasmosis

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Created on Wednesday, 14 July 2010 22:01

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Vincent and Dickson continue their discussion of the obligate intracellular protozoan Toxoplasma gondii with a consideration of the clinical consequences of infection and pathogenesis.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

Isopod fish parasites (thanks, Kevin!)

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TWiP #13 (61 MB .mp3, 84 minutes)

TWiP 12: Toxoplasma gondii

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Created on Thursday, 17 June 2010 20:40

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Vincent and Dickson introduce the obligate intracellular protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, one of the most successful parasites on earth.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

Global clinical burden of malaria (PLoS Medicine)

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TWiP #12 (70 MB .mp3, 98 minutes)

TWiP 11: One times three million

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Created on Wednesday, 02 June 2010 17:31

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Vincent and Dickson continue their discussion of malaria, with emphasis on clinical aspects of the disease.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

The quest for a malaria vaccine (Meet the Scientist 49)

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TWiP #11 (63 MB .mp3, 87 minutes)

TWiP 10: Plasmodium life cycle

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Created on Wednesday, 19 May 2010 22:11

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Vincent and Dickson trace the life cycle of Plasmodium in a mosquito and in a human host.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

• Mosquito cycle - sporogany (jpg)
• Plasmodium falciparum cycle (jpg)
• Plasmodium vivax cycle (jpg)
• Plasmodium falciparum ring forms and gametocytes in blood (jpg)
• Plasmodium stages (jpg)
• Letters read on TWiP 10

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TWiP #10 (62 MB .mp3, 86 minutes)

TWiP 9: Mala aria

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Created on Thursday, 06 May 2010 02:01

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Vincent and Dickson move on to protozoan parasites with a discussion of the early history of malaria.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

• Malaria history at CDC
• Radio New Zealand show on hookworms (thanks James!)
• Tapeworm brain infection serious health concern (thanks Jim!)
• Pig farmers try to limit pork tapeworm spread (thanks Gopal!)
• Bizarre tongue-eating fish parasite (thanks Arsen!)
• Letters read on TWiP 9

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TWiP #9 (59 MB .mp3, 82 minutes)

TWiP 8: Frog legs and parasite tales

Details

Created on Thursday, 22 April 2010 16:21

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Dickson reads his story about sparganosis caused by the diphyllobothroid tapeworm Spirometra mansonoides.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

• Spirometra life cycle (jpg)
• Dickson on vertical farming (CNN episode on YouTube, thanks Jesse!)
• Laboratory identification of parasites (CDC, thanks Michael!)
• Gold nanoparticles take out brain parasite (Cosmos Magazine, thanks Gary!)
• Letters read on TWiP 8

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TWiP #8 (60 MB .mp3, 83 minutes)

TWiP 7: Tapeworms are fantastic!

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Created on Friday, 09 April 2010 01:30

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Vincent and Dickson continue their discourse on tapeworms, covering the fish and dog varieties.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

• FAT the enemy that is shortening your life is BANISHED. How? With sanitized tapeworms. Easy to swallow! (jpg).
• D. latum life cycle (jpg)
• D. latum adult (jpg)
• Diphyllobothrim proglottid (jpg)
• Diphyllobothrim bothria (jpg)
• Coracidium hatching from egg (jpg)
• Dog tapeworm life cycle (jpg)
• The Alien lifecycle (jpg)

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TWiP #7 (70 MB .mp3, 97 minutes)

TWiP 6: Tapeworms, the long and short of it

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Created on Thursday, 25 March 2010 12:01

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Vincent and Dick talk about the anatomy and life cycle of beef and pork tapeworms, and why House was wrong about neurocysticercosis.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

• Taenia saginata life cycle (jpg)
• Taenia saginata adult (jpg)
• Taenia saginata scolex (jpg)
• Taenia saginata gravid proglottid (jpg)
• Taenia solium life cycle (jpg)
• Taenia solium adult (jpg)
• Taenia solium scolex (jpg)
• Facial cancer in Tasmanian devils (thanks PhogDog!)

Science Picks

Dickson Peace through vaccine diplomacy by Peter Hotez
Vincent Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer

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TWiP #6 (73 MB .mp3, 101 minutes)

TWiP 5 - The nurse cell

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Created on Thursday, 04 March 2010 04:30

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Vincent and Dick discuss the nurse cell, a unique structure formed in the host muscle by Trichinella species.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

• Infective muscle larva (jpg)
• Schematic of a larva invading a muscle cell
• Nurse cell formation (scroll down the page)
• Dickson's gallery of Trichinella images
• Electron micrographs of stichocytes

Weekly Science Picks

Dickson Every Living Thing by Rob Dunn

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TWiP #5 (57 MB .mp3, 79 minutes)

TWiP 4: Trichinella life cycle

Details

Created on Saturday, 30 January 2010 17:27

Written by Vincent Racaniello

Vincent and Dick trace the life cycle of Trichinella spiralis in an infected host.

Host links: Vincent Racaniello and Dickson Despommier

Links for this episode:

• Trichinella life cycle (jpg)
• Newborn larva entering muscle cell (jpg)
• Adult T. spiralis in columnar epithelial cell (jpg)
• Adult female T. spiralis (jpg)
• Infective first stage T. spiralis larva in Nurse cell in muscle tissue (jpg)
• Adult female T. spiralis with fully formed larvae in uterus (jpg)
• Adult male T. spiralis with claspers on tail (jpg)
• Clinical correlations in trichinosis (jpg)
• Letters read on TWiP #4

Weekly Science Picks

Dickson David Scharf's pictures of microbial life
Vincent The Nobel Laureate Meetings at Lindau

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TWiP #4 (59 MB .mp3, 82 minutes)