Tag Archives: infection
Lung infections and the origins of rheumatoid arthritis
Five percent of individuals worldwide develop an autoimmune disease. The causes of the majority of autoimmune diseases is unknown. But it is recognised that various tissues are damaged by over-activation of our immune system in response to
Inner myeloid gene network as a nexus of hematopoiesis and infection
The immunological system is equipped with efficient and tunable mechanisms to remove immediately pathogens from our body. Invasion of microbes in the blood is an emergency state, because they can trigger inflammatory responses, leading to sepsis. Therefore,
Surgical energy in the contaminated wound: too much of a good thing?
Surgical energy has been widely used since its invention in the early 1900. Today, electrosurgery accounts for 80% of all dissections and hemostasis. For surgical energy we commonly refer to the capability of an electrosurgical unit (ESU)
Staphylococcus pseudintermedius infection: a downside to man’s best friend?
Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is a bacteria identified in the past decade that is increasingly recognized to cause infections in people. S. pseudintermedius colonizes ~90% of healthy dogs, and the common sites are the pharynx, nares, rectum, and skin.
Landscapes of jasmonates during flower development and leaf stresses
Hormones are small compounds which regulate many aspects of life, from organ development to environmental adaptations. Jasmonates are plant hormones controlling various biological processes including flower development and defense against insects and fungi. In order to conserve
How does fever work? As a non-specific stressor
Despite the spectacular discoveries in immunology and recent biotechnological advances, amazingly there has been no consensus on how fever functions to help control infections. Does the heat of fever act as an immune stimulant, or does it
Neonatal sepsis affects neurodevelopment in premature infants
The infancy neurological development, known like neurodevelopment, is a process influenced by multiple biological and environmental factors. Infants with birth weight less than 1500 grams _also known as very low birth weight infants (VLBW infants)_ constitute a
Discovering how treatments for emphysema might lead to infections
Smoking related lung diseases include emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Smokers are also at increased risk of pneumonia – bacterial infections of the lung. Together COPD and pneumonia are ranked as the 3rd and 4th
Vaccine research on Africa’s cattle-killing East Coast fever: A short (somewhat potted but handsomely illustrated) history
Tremendous research progress has been made over the last ten years to better control the deadly African disease of cattle known as East Coast fever. This disease is caused by a single-celled organism, Theileria parva, which is carried
Infections in right-sided heart valves often leave doctors with no right answer
A normal human heart has four chambers and four valves. When these valves are working well, they stop blood from flowing backwards and are essential to good heart function. Two valves are in the right side of
Obligatory intracellular bacterium exploits evolutionarily conserved host signaling pathway to survive
In order to survive, obligately intracellular pathogens exploit host cellular signaling pathways and other cellular processes via molecular interactions between pathogen – secreted “effectors” and host target proteins to reprogram host cell functions. However, the molecular mechanisms
Normal mouth fungus changes after admission to the intensive care unit
The mouth is an important entry point into the body. Under normal conditions the mouth has many kinds of fungus, called the oral mycobiome, that help the body maintain health and resist infections. Several factors contribute to
Poor blood sugar control in elderly people with diabetes is associated with increased infection risk
Diabetes guidelines for doctors (such as those by NICE) suggest that they consider relaxing the blood sugar control targets for older people. This is because older people are less likely to get the long-term benefits of improved
An “appealing” small virus
In 1975 in London , an australian researcher, doctor Yvonne Cossart has detected by immunological procedures a new virus in the serum of a blood donor; the name of the blood pocket was B19 so this virus
Should we use gentamicin cream to prevent exit-site infection in peritoneal dialysis?
Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) is one of the treatment modalities for kidney failure. With PD, the toxins from the blood are removed through the abdominal membrane (peritoneum) into the fluid, which is put into the abdomen through a
Bad news for people with a penicillin allergy
There are over 500,000 hospitalizations annually in the U.S. in which patients will have a reported allergy against first line antibiotics. Beta-lactams are the largest group of antibiotics which include penicillins, cephalosporins, and carbapenems. These antibiotics are
