News

Imagine wearing clothes with layers of paper that protect you from dangerous bacteria. A Rutgers-led team has invented an inexpensive, effective way to kill bacteria and sanitize surfaces with devices made of paper.

Bacteria need mutations -- changes in their DNA code -- to survive under difficult circumstances. When necessary, they can even mutate at different speeds. This is shown in a recent study by the Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics at KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Belgium. The findings open up various new avenues for research, ranging from more efficient biofuel production methods to a better treatment for bacterial infections and cancer.

A new type of wound dressing could improve thousands of people's lives, by preventing them from developing infections. The dressing, a type of compression held in place by a bandage, uses an antibacterial substance formed from the shells of crustaceans like shrimps. It is described in a paper published in the May issue of Radiation Physics and Chemistry.

There are deep-seated conflicts throughout the Western world about how to handle the influx of refugees and immigrants--should we close our borders or bid the newcomers welcome? New research reveals that such opposing points of view are grounded in more than deliberate thought and reasoned arguments. At the level of preconscious processing, strong feelings about immigrants are controlled by something as surprising as the immune system.

Zika virus can persist in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), lymph nodes and colorectal tissue of infected rhesus monkeys for weeks after the virus has been cleared from blood, urine and mucosal secretions, according to a study published online in Cell. The research was led by Dan H. Barouch, MD, PhD, and colleagues at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School and was funded in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Our bodies are constantly under siege by foreign invaders; viruses, bacteria and parasites that want to infiltrate our cells. A new study in the journal eLife sheds light on how germ cells - sperm and egg - protect themselves from these attackers so that they can pass accurate genetic information to the next generation.

Antimicrobial resistance is a major societal problem as there are resistant bacteria to any antibiotic available, and they spread across countries and continents. For this a novel antibacterial medicine with a low potential of resistance development is urgently needed. Researchers from Spain, The Netherlands, and United Kingdom have joined efforts to identify bacterial histidine kinase inhibitors that can be further developed as novel antibacterial medicines.

Reprocessing endoscopes, particularly flexible endoscopes, requires numerous steps for proper cleaning and high-level disinfection. Studies have demonstrated that not all of these steps are followed by sterile processing personnel, leading to potential transmission of infectious organisms to patients during invasive procedures using contaminated scopes.

Scientists and physicians at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, working with colleagues at the U.S. Navy Medical Research Center - Biological Defense Research Directorate (NMRC-BDRD), Texas A&M University, a San Diego-based biotech and elsewhere, have successfully used an experimental therapy involving bacteriophages -- viruses that target and consume specific strains of bacteria -- to treat a patient near death from a multidrug-resistant bacterium.