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Even bacteria have a kind of immune system they use to defend themselves against unwanted intruders in their case, viruses. Scientists at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, Germany, were now able to show that this defense system is much more diverse than previously thought and that it comes in multiple versions. Their goal is to use the various newly discovered versions of the CRISPR-Cas gene for the targeted manipulation of genetic information, particularly for medical purposes.

In October 2011, more than 275 participants convened at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., for a multidisciplinary Medical Device Reprocessing Summit sponsored by the FDA in collaboration with the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI). The fall 2011 summit built on an FDA public workshop on reprocessing in summer 2011. For all participants, the summit proved to be an opportunity for a renewed emphasis on performing all the necessary steps in reprocessing reusable medical devices to ensure clean and disinfected or sterilized devicesnot just in the universe of regulations, standards, and best practices, but also in the harried clinical environments and diverse sterile processing centers that are ground zero for reprocessing.

The International Association of Healthcare Central Service Materiel Management (IAHCSMM) has long been an outspoken advocate of state certification of central service (CS) professionals. Certification and continuing education credits keep technicians up-to-date on standards-based instrument processing practices, so these professionals can be skilled, competent and confident in their ability to keep patient safety and quality at the forefront.

A new virus that causes severe breathing distress and kidney failure elicits a distinctive airway cell response to allow it to multiply. Scientists studying the Human Coronavirus-Erasmus Medical Center, which first appeared April 2012 in the Middle East, have discovered helpful details about its stronghold tactics.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week kicked off its 62nd Annual Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Conference in Atlanta, beginning a week-long conference dedicated to showcasing the life-saving work of its current EIS officers, or disease detectives, and welcoming the incoming class of officers to the two-year postgraduate EIS program.