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A device to mix liquids utilizing ultrasonics is the first and most difficult component in a miniaturized system for low-cost analysis of sputum from patients with pulmonary diseases such as tuberculosis and asthma. The device, developed by engineers at Penn State in collaboration with researchers at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Washington University School of Medicine, will benefit patients in the U.S., where 12 percent of the population, or around 19 million people, have asthma, and in undeveloped regions where TB is still a widespread and often deadly contagion.

To keep both animals and humans protected from Chagas disease, Texas A&M University System entities have been studying the parasite-host-vector interaction at sites in south-central Texas.

Health experts have warned for years that the overuse of antibiotics is creating "superbugs" able to resist drugs treating infection. But now scientists at Indiana University and elsewhere are finding evidence that an invisible war between microorganisms may also be catching humans in the crossfire.

Antibiotics are a blessing but may also be an empty promise of health when microbes develop resistance to our pharmacological arsenal. Globally, the emergence of antibiotic resistance is an important threat to both human and animal health.

Researchers from Griffith University's Institute for Glycomics, together with the Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio, have uncovered groundbreaking evidence to help vaccine developers prevent middle ear infections. A research paper titled 'A biphasic epigenetic switch controls immunoevasion, virulence and niche adaptation in non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae' has been published in the journal Nature Communications.

The first three-dimensional image capturing a critical malaria 'conductor' protein could lead to the development of a new class of antimalarial drugs. Researchers from Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute developed WEHI-842, a drug that blocks the malaria parasite protein plasmepsin V, killing the parasite. The discovery is a new step toward developing much needed new drugs for treating and preventing malaria.

This week at the American Crystallographic Association (ACA) 2015 meeting in Philadelphia, researchers from the National Cancer Institute will present three newly determined crystal structures, which collectively provide a starting point for structure-based drug design efforts to combat MERS. The work will be presented by George Lountos, a scientist in the lab of primary investigator David Waugh.

Scientists uncover a port of liver entry for malaria parasites in a report published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. If these results hold up in humans, drugs that target this entry protein might help prevent the spread of disease.