Posts

June 19, 2013

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PCR has revolutionised microbiology in food testing and clinical diagnosis since it was developed in 1983, allowing rapid identification of bacteria compared to conventional culture media. Its specificity is ideal when you know what you’re looking for, but what about when you have a clinical sample in which you’re not sure of the identity of the etiological agent? What diagnostic tools are out there able to identify - rapidly - the cause of an infection from an unpurified sample? Well, DNA […]

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3:00 PM | Smaller fleas upon their back to bite them

Rapid advances in genomics lead not only to the rapid growth of sequence databases but to discovery of fundamentally novel types of genetic elements.The post Smaller fleas upon their back to bite them appeared first on MicrobiologyBytes.

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2:05 PM | Breaking A Plate for Human Health

It’s difficult to overstate how our growing understanding of the trillions of microbes that live on and in the human body is radically changing the way we think about health and the prevention and treatment of a myriad of diseases. Not since Darwin unleashed onto the world the concept of Natural Selection, have humans been [...]The post Breaking A Plate for Human Health appeared first on Human Food Project.

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1:26 PM | WHO: H5N1’s Pandemic Phase Status

The current WHO phase of pandemic alert for avian influenza A(H5N1) is: ALERT # 7410 A little over a week ago the World Health Organization released their (interim) updated guidance on influenza (and other) pandemics (see WHO Unveils New Pandemic Guidance). Among the changes was the announcement of a new, 4 tier, pandemic phase alert system; Interpandemic Phase Alert Phase Pandemic Phase Transition Phase We are currently in the Alert […]

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12:03 PM | Arkansas: Scott County Chicken Positive for H7N7 Avian Flu

# 7409 According to the Poultry Federation, Arkansas is the only state that ranks in the top 10 for Broiler Chicken, Turkey, and Egg production. The state is second only to Georgia in producing broiler chickens, and third in the nation in the raising of turkeys. Combined, the value of poultry operations in Arkansas (in 2009) exceeded $3 billion dollars. Neighboring Oklahoma (Scott county is on the border) produces more than 1/2 billion dollars in […]

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10:51 AM | ECDC: Updated MERS-CoV Rapid Risk Assessment

# 7408 The ECDC, which last updated their MERS-CoV Risk Assessment in mid-May, has published an impressive update today that adds: Updated epidemiological situation including cases in new EU country Guidance on aircraft contact tracing Incubation period extended to 14 days Guidance to travelers to the Middle East. In this update the authors express – on more than one occasion – their concerns over the lack of data being […]

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9:00 AM | The secret of DNA methylation

Methylation refers to a chemical modification of DNA and this modification can occur in millions of positions in the DNA sequence. Until now, scientists believed that this epigenetic phenomenon actively reduced the expression of certain genes. Today, a team of researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, led by Emmanouil Dermitzakis, Louis-Jeantet Professor at [...]

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8:57 AM | 17 now sick with E. coli from Chicago-area restaurant

The number of cases reported in an E. coli outbreak has increased to 9 confirmed cases and 8 probable, DuPage County health officials said Tuesday. Six of the nine confirmed cases left people hospitalized, but all have been released, said … Continue reading →

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4:58 AM | Happy 23rd birthday, Jaucelynn

No summary available for this post.

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4:00 AM | Food-safety offenders to receive harsher penalties – in China

Shanghai has stepped up its punishment for those found to be endangering food safety by removing ceilings for fines and allowing the death penalty for severe crimes, a high official from Shanghai’s top court said on Monday. “The threshold for … Continue reading →

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3:48 AM | Mancini speaks: new effort in food safety training

In 2010, the Russian pavilion at Folklorama in Winnipeg (or, as the Guess Who were always introduced, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), was implicated in a foodborne outbreak of Escherichia coli O157 that caused 37 illnesses and 18 hospitalizations. The ethnic nature and … Continue reading →

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2:55 AM | Lowering loads: Campylobacter limits in chicken meat chain would reduce illness

A critical limit of 1,000 Campylobacter bacteria per gram of chicken would reduce the number of human disease cases by two-thirds, according to the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in the Netherlands. The Poultry Site reports … Continue reading →

June 18, 2013

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7:13 PM | Frustrated by chromatography?

Sometimes chromatography is not fun; deciphering the plumbing path, modules not always in the most convenient place and finally having to determine how the software works to perform the run and analyse your results. Then, when everything is running smoothly, the person with all this knowledge moves on and you are back at the start. [...]

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5:29 PM | NASA is exploring the effect of space travel on the human immune...

NASA is exploring the effect of space travel on the human immune system and microbiome with the Space Station Microbiome Experiment.

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5:21 PM | CDC MERS-CoV COCA Call: Transcript Plus Video/Audio Files Available

# 7407 Last week the CDC held a Clinician Outreach Communication Activity (COCA) call on the emerging MERS Coronavirus. Today, for those who were unable to attend last Thursday, the transcript, audio and webinar video of this hour long presentation are now available for download. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV): Information and Guidance for Clinicians Date: Thursday, June 13, 2013 […]

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3:05 PM | June 18 News: Autism Is Twice As Likely In Children Living Near High Air Pollution Areas | ThinkProgress

June 18 News: Autism Is Twice As Likely In Children Living Near High Air Pollution Areas | ThinkProgress. Great article and more science to add to the growing knowledge of autism mechanisms. Filed under: Activism, Climate Change, Science Communication Tagged: Biology, Environment, Genetics, research

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2:00 PM | Antibiotics & Agriculture Part 4: The Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance

The patient was in dire condition. A forty year old woman from Michigan, she had suffered badly from diabetes, kidney failure and a number of complications related to those diseases. Two years after she had started dialysis, disaster struck. She developed painful foot ulcers, and an infection in her leg that was so severe that the whole leg had to be amputated. What was worse was that immediately after the operation, her amputation wound became infected, with Staphylococcus aureus. In her only […]

Chang S., Sievert D.M., Hageman J.C., Boulton M.L., Tenover F.C., Downes F.P., Shah S., Rudrik J.T., Pupp G.R. & Brown W.J. & Infection with vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus containing the vanA resistance gene., The New England journal of medicine, PMID: 12672861

Zhu W., Murray P.R., Huskins W.C., Jernigan J.A., McDonald L.C., Clark N.C., Anderson K.F., McDougal L.K., Hageman J.C. & Olsen-Rasmussen M. & (2010). Dissemination of an Enterococcus Inc18-Like vanA Plasmid Associated with Vancomycin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 54 (10) 4314-4320. DOI: 10.1128/AAC.00185-10

Forslund K., Sunagawa S., Kultima J.R., Mende D., Arumugam M., Typas A. & Bork P. (2013). Country-specific antibiotic use practices impact the human gut resistome., Genome research, PMID: 23568836

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1:58 PM | ADVANCE Blog Notes: Interesting article by Mary Ann Mason at Slate.Com "In the Ivory Tower, Men Only"

There is a really interesting article at Slate.Com from Mary Ann Mason, the author of "Do Babies Matter" which I have written about here before. The post is titled "In the Ivory Tower, Men Only". The post tells some of the background behind the book and discusses issues about graduate school, post doctoral positions, applying for faculty jobs and more. The article also has some very good guidance for universities that would like to level the playing field: We all know what […]

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1:07 PM | MERS-CoV: Early Serological Results

Photo Credit NIAID # 7406 During my brief absence yesterday Helen Branswell of the Canadian Press broke the big story of the day, the long awaited results from retrospective testing of suspect cases from Jordan MERS-CoV cluster in April of 2012. If there’s anyone who hasn’t already read her article, I would invite you to do so now. When you return, I’ll have more: Earliest known MERS outbreak, in Jordan, infected at […]

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9:27 AM | Don’t keep doing the same inspection, crazy to expect different result

None of them get food safety. Politicians, inspectors, unions, bureaucrats, organizations and companies. There are many individuals who do, and contribute tremendously to making fewer people barf each day, but they operate in a climate of institutional indifference. It’s not … Continue reading →

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6:35 AM | Lost at sea: sailing log part 3

The second week of the expedition was only marginally easier than the first. Following the rough weather of the first week, we have been motor-sailing towards Mauritius with some beautiful sunny skies as the wind has not been fully with us and we had some time to make up. We saw the biggest pod of blue whales I have ever seen (actually the only pod I have ever seen) and it adopted Indigo as a new member of the clan coming alongside at less than 50 meters. A little scary but beautiful. Of […]

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5:29 AM | Food safety culture for produce in Australia

In public ways, Australia is 20 years in the food safety past, and so is my fashion. One friend(?) says Amy or Sorenne need to dress me before I go out. Looks aside, Amy says I give good talk, but … Continue reading →

June 17, 2013

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11:58 PM | Several sick, linked to Campylobacter at NY Burger & Beer Bash

Bacterial contamination was being blamed Monday for an outbreak of foodborne illness following the popular Burger & Beer Bash in Westchester County earlier this month. The county Health Department said Monday that the campylobacter bacterium was to blame for the … Continue reading →

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6:52 PM | Hey boy, you really activate my ventral midbrain.

By Brooke Napier Scientists at CalTech simultaneously found a way to stimulate your midbrain without invasive methods (ie: opening up your skull) and make you find them attractive. Chib, et al. reported in Translational Psychiatry that by using their newly designed noninvasive method called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the prefrontal cortex they were able to activate the interconnected midbrain. Why would you want to activate the midbrain? The ventral midbrain (also known […]

Chib VS, Yun K, Takahashi H & Shimojo S (2013). Noninvasive remote activation of the ventral midbrain by transcranial direct current stimulation of prefrontal cortex., Translational psychiatry, 3 PMID: 23756377

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5:59 PM | BacterioFiles Special Edition - ASM2013 General Meeting Day 3

Here's my summary of the third day of ASM2013, wherein I met with neat people and ideas. Download Episode (4.3 MB, 4.6 minutes) Session 1: Microbe-Microbe Interactions - Cell Contact-Dependent Outer Membrane Exchange in Myxobacteria Presented by Dan Wall Myxobacteria are super cool, a fascinating example of complex cooperative behavior in relatively simple single-celled organisms. They swarm around eating other bacteria until they get low on food, at which point they gather together to […]

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5:53 PM | What science education is really about

Watching this video, I realize why I didn’t actually learn anything until I started graduate school. Curiosity was a sin in my primary school. The teacher taught and the pupils needed to listen. This is how classes should be run. This is what science is about! Tweet This Post

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5:15 PM | A nice short piece in Nature Reviews Microbiology on the growing...

A nice short piece in Nature Reviews Microbiology on the growing “Culture-free Club” in clinical microbiology.

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4:00 PM | Microalgae: renewable biofuel source with no need for fresh water. Just give them our wastewater.

Last week, I presented illustrations for yeast and a microalgal species of Chlamydomonas. Today I will expound on part of this. Ongoing research is working to identify ways to circumvent the need for fresh water, a precious commodity, and costly fertilizer to cultivate microalgae for biofuel production. These microorganisms are a rich source of oils […]

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3:00 PM | How JC virus causes PML

JC polyomavirus is a bit of a mystery. Many people are infected with it, but few become ill as a result. This virus bides its time.The post How JC virus causes PML appeared first on MicrobiologyBytes.

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11:34 AM | The Lancet: Virological Analysis Of A MERS-CoV Patient

Spread of MERS-CoV Credit Dr Ian MacKay VDU MERS-CoV # 7405 With the announcement of 9 new MERS-CoV cases over the past week in Saudi Arabia, and unconfirmed media reports of 7 additional cases in Taif, our need to better understand this emerging virus grows greater with each passing day. Overnight The Lancet published a detailed report on the clinical symptoms and virological analysis of the 17th known MERS case – a 73 year old man […]

June 19, 2013

June 18, 2013

June 17, 2013

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