All Articles Tagged As: antibiotics
Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital could change the playing field of man versus bacteria. Charles Serhan, Ph.D., director of the BWH Experimental Therapeutics and Reperfusion Injury Center, has identified pathways of naturally occurring molecules in our bodies that can enhance antibiotic performance.
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Viruses that can target and destroy bacteria have the potential to be an effective strategy for tackling hard-to-treat bacterial infections. The development of such novel therapies is being accelerated in response to growing antibiotic resistance, says Dr. David Harper at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Dublin.
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Manuka honey could help clear chronic wound infections and even prevent them from developing in the first place, according to a new study published in Microbiology. The findings provide further evidence for the clinical use of manuka honey to treat bacterial infections in the face of growing antibiotic resistance.
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Some of the nastiest smelling creatures on Earth have skin that produces the greatest known variety of antibacterial substances that hold promise for becoming new weapons in the battle against antibiotic-resistant infections, scientists are reporting. Their research on amphibians so smelly (like rotten fish, for instance) that scientists term them "odorous frogs" appears in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research.
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A novel antibacterial protein targeted against E. coli O157:H7 may offer a way to prevent or treat food-borne bacterial infections. Results in an animal model of E. coli infection showed that the orally administered protein could prevent or treat E. coli O157:H7-induced diarrhea and intestinal inflammation when administered either on a preventative basis or after diarrhea onset. Moreover, treated animals also carried and shed fewer of the E. coli O157:H7 bacteria in their feces.
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The treatment of serious infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus (Golden Staph) is complicated by the development of antibiotic resistance. Seriously ill patients, vulnerable to infections can be at additional risk if antimicrobial agents become less effective in fighting infections.
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 | Ching-Hong Yang, a microbiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has developed a compound that shuts off the "valve" in a pathogen's DNA that allows it to invade and infect, blocking infection without the threat of antibiotic resistance.
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A vampire-like bacteria that leeches onto specific other bacteria -- including certain human pathogens -- has the potential to serve as a living antibiotic for a range of infectious diseases, a new study indicates.
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 | A novel way of increasing the amounts of antibiotics produced by bacteria has been discovered that could markedly improve the yields of these important compounds in commercial production. It could also be valuable in helping to discover new compounds. With the ever-growing threat from antibiotic resistance, these tools will be very useful in ensuring that we have enough of these useful compounds in the future. ...> Full Article |
 | a research team at the Portuguese CBA research (University of Lisbon) and the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência has shown that, surprisingly, when both mechanisms of resistance are playing out in the bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli), its ability to survive and reproduce is increased. ...> Full Article |
 | Antibiotics are among the greatest achievements of medical science. But lately the former multi-purpose weapon fails in the battle against infectious diseases. Bacteria are increasingly developing resistance to antibiotics. Researchers have now found a therapeutic equivalent which could replace penicillin and related pharmaceuticals.
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Scientists have uncovered the structure of the protein complex that assembles the tiny hair-like strands that cover the outside of bacteria. Called pili, these "hairs" allow bacteria to group together and stick to human cells to cause infection -- and are therefore a key target for a new generation of antibiotics.
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 | For cooperation to persist in the often violently competitive realm of bacteria, cheaters must be kept in line. Two Indiana University Bloomington biologists have learned that in one bacterium, at least, bacterial cooperators can evolve to "police" the cheaters and arrest their bids for dominance. ...> Full Article |
 | A group of proteins that act as the body's built-in line of defense against invading bacteria use a molecular trick to induce bacteria to destroy themselves, researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine have determined. The research could point the way toward new anti-bacterial treatments that could take on bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. ...> Full Article |
 | For the first time, scientists have been able to paint a detailed chemical picture of how a particular strain of bacteria has evolved to become resistant to antibiotics. The research is a key step toward designing compounds to prevent infections by the recently evolved, drug-resistant "superbugs" that are infecting hospitalized patients and others. ...> Full Article |
Call them the Jason Bournes of the bacteria world.Going "off the grid," like rogue secret agents, some bacteria avoid antibiotic treatments by essentially shutting down and hiding until it's safe to come out again, says Thomas Wood, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University.
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 | Bacteria that grow in the antennae of wasps help ward off fungal threats by secreting a 'cocktail' of antibiotics explains a scientist at the Society for General Microbiology's Spring Conference in Harrogate. ...> Full Article |
 | The part of bacterial DNA that often carries antibiotic resistance is a master at moving between different types of bacteria and adapting to widely differing bacterial species, shows a study made by a research team at the University of Gothenburg in cooperation with Chalmers University of Technology. The results are published in an article in the scientific journal Nature Communications. ...> Full Article |
 | Encapsulating antibiotics inside nanofibers, like a mummy inside a sarcophagus, gives them the amazing ability to destroy drug-resistant bacteria so completely that scientists described the remains as mere "ghosts," according to a report today at the the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society. ...> Full Article |
Genetic resistance to antibiotics is not the only trick bacteria use to resist eradication -- they also have a second defense strategy known as persistence that can kick in.
Researchers reporting in the Journal of Medical Microbiology have now demonstrated for the first time that interplay occurs between the two mechanisms to aid bacterial survival. The findings could lead to novel, effective approaches to treat multi-drug resistant infections.
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 | Researchers led by Iowa State's Edward Yu have discovered the crystal structures of pumps that allow bacteria to resist heavy metal toxins and antibiotics. Their discovery is reported in the Sept. 23 edition of the journal Nature. ...> Full Article |
Repeated use of an antibiotic that is considered generally benign, because users seldom incur obvious side effects, induces cumulative and persistent changes in the composition of the beneficial microbial species inhabiting the human gut, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found.
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At a historic three day conference at Uppsala University, Sweden, 190 delegates representing 45 countries and many leading stake holders -- civil society, academia, industry, governments, authorities, supranational organizations -- agreed on Wednesday to turn a new page and move towards concerted action on antibiotic resistance.
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Cockroaches could be more of a health benefit than a health hazard according to scientists from the University of Nottingham, who have discovered powerful antibiotic properties in the brains of cockroaches and locusts.
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The growing problem of antibiotic resistance, which compromises our ability to treat common infections, represents one of the greatest threats to public health worldwide. Researchers, politicians and representatives from public health organizations and the pharmaceutical industry will gather in Uppsala from Sept. 6-8 to discuss global strategies.
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Detailed pictures published today reveal how a new type of experimental antibiotic can kill bacteria that are already resistant to existing treatments. The findings, from researchers at GSK and co-funded by the Wellcome Trust, could ultimately help scientists to develop new antibiotics to tackle the bacteria responsible for many hospital and community-acquired infections.
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 | A study led by researchers from Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona describes one of the mechanisms in which pathogenic bacteria populations control the way they spread over the surface of the organs they infect and stop when they detect the presence of an antibiotic, only to resume again when the effect wears off. The star of this process is the RecA protein, which significantly increases its concentration at the start of the bacteria DNA repair mechanism. ...> Full Article |
 | When certain bacteria reproduce by splitting in two, one cell inherits a propeller for swimming and the other builds a stalk to cling to surfaces. University of Washington researchers developed biosensors to observe what was going on biochemically. They found that a signaling chemical c-di-GMP was unevenly distributed during cell division, and that the swimming cell got less than the stalk cell. The biosensors enabled the researchers to measure these fluctuations in a single bacterium smaller than any animal or plant cell. ...> Full Article |
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