Monthly Archives: 2021
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December 29, 2021Posted: December 28, 2021Read MoreDo food labels tell the full story of what consumers are eating? In the U.S., many citizens may be unaware of how much inulin they may be consuming on a daily basis.
As a result, individuals who consume inulin may suffer from digestive discomfort without knowing the true cause.(1) On many food labels, there is helpful and descriptive information that allows the consumer to be aware of what they are...
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December 15, 2021Posted: December 14, 2021Read MoreWill Releasing Genetically Modified Mosquitos Finally Conquer Malaria?
For the first time, scientists have shown that a new kind of genetic engineering, known as a "gene drive," can crash populations of malaria-spreading mosquitoes.
The objective of the study was to alter three species of mosquito most responsible for disease transmission – Anopheles gambiae, A. coluzzii and A. arabiensis. The photo...
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November 30, 2021Posted: November 29, 2021Read MoreMelioidosis (also called Whitmore’s Disease) is an infectious and potentially fatal bacterial disease affecting approximately 165,000 individuals worldwide.(1) Symptoms of this disease range from mild fever, chest pain, and cough to more severe symptoms such as ulcers, chronic respiratory illness, and even central nervous system infection.(2, 3) Thankfully, person-to-person spread is extremely rare.(4)...
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November 23, 2021Posted: November 22, 2021Read MoreIn the United States, Campylobacter is the most common bacterial cause of diarrhea, affecting 1.5 million U.S. residents every year.(1) Approximately 30% of Campylobacter strains have decreased susceptibility to fluoroquinolones (e.g., ciprofloxacin) or macrolides (e.g., azithromycin), the antibiotics commonly used to treat infections, which poses a serious threat to public health.(2)
In August 2017... -
November 08, 2021Posted: November 07, 2021Read MorePlastic is invaluable to the scientific community from Petri plates to syringes and almost everything in between. Scientific research alone accounts for approximately 1.8% of global plastic production.(1) With the COVID-19 pandemic the need of the scientific community is increasing due to the increased need for plastic used for PPE, plastic tubes, pipets, etc.(2) While plastic use is vital for many...
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October 20, 2021Posted: October 19, 2021Read MoreMore deadly than Lyme Disease...
In 1958, a five-year-old boy from Powassan, Ontario, Canada presented to a children’s hospital complaining of dizziness; his parents also described tremors of his left arm. Electroencephalogram readings showed a widespread disturbance in the patient’s brain. The patient’s condition began to rapidly decline, and within six days he died.
Portions of the patient’s brain...
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October 04, 2021Posted: October 03, 2021Read MoreThe discovery of a cause, as well as treatment, for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) may involve our commensal gut bacteria.
Millions of adults suffering from RA experience chronic pain, chronic inflammation, and often severe functional disability of the joints. Onset in older populations is a well-known risk factor, and RA is three times as likely in women.(1)
Many anecdotes of restrictive diets alleviating...
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September 14, 2021Posted: September 13, 2021Read MoreOcean bacteria and viruses take up residence, but for a limited amount of time.
As an individual initiates their first stride into the piercing cold ocean, our lungs are not the only part of our body greeted by the shock of the drastic change in environment. A brutal battle, invisible to the naked eye, has detrimentally affected those complex organisms who call our skin microbiome “home.”
In a 2019...
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September 13, 2021Posted: September 12, 2021Read MoreHans Christian Gram, credited as the inventor of the Gram staining technique, was a pioneering biologist who devised the system of classification which led to as many as 30,000 formally named species of bacteria being investigated. Gram, working with German pathologist and microbiologist Karl Friedländer, devised the technique in Berlin in the early 1880s.
Today marks the 168th birth anniversary...
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September 07, 2021Posted: September 06, 2021Read MoreIs a New and Better Vaccine Coming Soon?
A new player in the field of COVID vaccines could be arriving soon. The trials so far are encouraging for both safety and efficacy. It even has some advantages over the Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J vaccines that have become so familiar to us.
Novavax, headquartered in Maryland, has enrolled over 30,000 volunteer individuals in the US and Mexico in their Phase 3...
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August 11, 2021Posted: August 10, 2021Read MoreWant to lower your risk of contracting a MAP-related malady? Here's how.
Emerging research is implicating Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis (MAP) as the etiological cause of various diseases including inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease, Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, multiple sclerosis and autism.(8) This species of bacteria is a relative of M. tuberculosis...
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August 04, 2021Posted: August 03, 2021Read MoreIs there a correlation between the end of mask mandates and the rise in cases of the common cold and influenza?
The start of the summer is aligning with another new beginning, one in which many around the world make a return to the “New Normal” and relearn what life was like before COVID-19. While some take baby steps in adjusting to a post-pandemic landscape, most are ready to step into their typical...
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August 02, 2021Posted: August 01, 2021Read MoreAntidepressants may be our best bet in treating Ebola
The 2013 to 2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa made global headlines and inflamed discussion as the largest single outbreak of this deadly virus. The lack of a vaccine approved for use in humans and the rapid rate of mutation in the Ebolavirus genus create a particular vulnerability to large-scale outbreaks. While vaccination development focuses...
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July 14, 2021Posted: July 13, 2021Read MoreCan H. pylori colonization offer some protection against disease?
Helicobacter pylori is an organism typically known as the culprit of painful stomach ulcers and severe abdominal pain, although there is now growing evidence which suggesting that there may be advantages to colonization by this acid-loving organism.
In several studies conducted during the 1990s and 2000s, correlations emerged between...
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June 28, 2021Posted: June 27, 2021Read MoreSome patients have become infected with TB from contaminated graft material. How are they screened for infectious disease?
In June of this year, it was discovered over 100 patients may have been exposed to tuberculosis originating from cadaver-derived material used in their bone graft procedures.
Second only to blood, human bone is the next most transplanted tissue and is uniquely suited to heal itself...
