News
Maternal Bacterial Infections Trigger Abnormal Proliferation of Neurons in Fetal Brain
March 9th 2016St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have discovered how pieces of bacterial cell wall cross the placenta and enter developing neurons, altering fetal brain anatomy and cognitive functioning after birth. The study appears today in the scientific journal Cell Host & Microbe.
Researchers Identify Key Step in Process of Shigella Infection
March 9th 2016Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Division of Infectious Diseases are investigating the mechanism by which several important pathogenic species of bacteria deliver proteins into the cells of the organisms they are infecting. In a paper receiving advance online publication in Nature Microbiology, the team describes determining a key step in how the diarrheal pathogen Shigella injects proteins into target host cells. Their findings may apply to additional bacterial species, including Salmonella and those responsible for typhoid fever, bubonic plague and many hospital-acquired pneumonias.
WHO Committee Meets on Zika Virus, Increase in Neurological Disorders and Neonatal Malformations
March 8th 2016The second meeting of the Emergency Committee (EC) convened by Margaret Chan, MD, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR 2005) regarding clusters of microcephaly cases and other neurological disorders in some areas affected by Zika virus was held by teleconference on March 8, 2016.
Preemies' Gut Bacteria Reveal Vast Scope of Antibiotic Resistance
March 7th 2016A new study of gut bacteria in premature infants reveals the vast scope of the problem of antibiotic resistance and gives new insight into the extreme vulnerability of these young patients, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Immune Factor Allows Viral Infections to Become Chronic
March 7th 2016Many viral diseases tend to become chronic - including infections with the HI virus. In persons affected, the immune response is not sufficient to eliminate the virus permanently. Scientists at the University of Bonn have now identified an immune factor which is partially responsible for this. Their results give rise to hopes for new therapeutic approaches. The work, which included researchers from the University of Cologne and the Technical University of Munich, is being published in the journal Nature Immunology.
