Uropathogenic bacteria leave a mark

Ancient lentiviruses leave their mark.

O ne of the most remarkable insights from the human genome project was that more genetic material is devoted to vertically transmitted and defective remnants of once-infectious retroviruses, commonly referred to as endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), than to human protein-coding DNA (1). Current estimates place the ERV component of the human genome at 5–8%, comprising at least 31 distinct families,...

Home laundering can leave bacteria on uniforms.

Antimicrobial Resistance among Uropathogenic Bacteria in Rural Kerala, India

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most common of infections in the clinical practice. Among the bacterial agents of UTI, E. coli continues to be the commonest in both community acquired and hospital acquired cases (Gupta et al., 2002). Other pathogens include Klebsiella, Pseudomonas and other non-fermenters, Enterococcus, Staphylococcus, Enterobacter, Citrobacter, Proteus, etc. Over the last...

Rationally designed small compounds inhibit pilus biogenesis in uropathogenic bacteria.

A chemical synthesis platform with broad applications and flexibility was rationally designed to inhibit biogenesis of adhesive pili assembled by the chaperone-usher pathway in Gram-negative pathogens. The activity of a family of bicyclic 2-pyridones, termed pilicides, was evaluated in two different pilus biogenesis systems in uropathogenic Escherichia coli. Hemagglutination mediated by either ...

KL-6 in acute lung injury: will it leave its mark?

Studies have indicated that measuring biochemical measures of epithelial injury in plasma and alveolar fluid may be useful in predicting outcome in acute lung injury. The present commentary briefly reviews the evidence supporting the use of these biochemical biomarkers of epithelial injury in acute lung injury, and in particular KL-6, as well as their limitations. The article additionally propo...