Oral administration of polymyxin to specific-pathogen-free C3H/Law mice which with previously contaminated with gram-negative bacteria resulted in complete suppression of cecal gram-negative bacteria. Suppression of cecal gram-negative bacteria was accompanied by reduction of the cecal endotoxin concentration from 10 to 1 microgram/g of cecal content as measured with a microtechnique for the Li...

Soil bacteria such as pseudomonads may reduce pathogen pressure for plants, both by activating plant defence mechanisms and by inhibiting pathogens directly due to the production of antibiotics. These effects are hard to distinguish under field conditions, impairing estimations of their relative contributions to plant health. A split-root system was set up with barley to quantify systemic and l...

The human pathogen Helicobacter pylori acquires cholesterol from membrane raft domains in eukaryotic cells, commonly known as "lipid rafts." Incorporation of this cholesterol into the H. pylori cell membrane allows the bacterium to avoid clearance by the host immune system and to resist the effects of antibiotics and antimicrobial peptides. The presence of cholesterol in H. pylori bacteria sugg...

BACKGROUND  Not all risk factors for acquiring multidrug-resistant (MDR) organisms are equivalent in predicting pneumonia caused by resistant pathogens in the community. We evaluated risk factors for acquiring MDR bacteria in patients coming from the community who were hospitalized with pneumonia. Our evaluation was based on actual infection with a resistant pathogen and clinical outcome during...

BACKGROUND Targeting conserved proteins of bacteria through antibacterial medications has resulted in both the development of resistant strains and changes to human health by destroying beneficial microbes which eventually become breeding grounds for the evolution of resistances. Despite the availability of more than 800 genomes sequences, 430 pathways, 4743 enzymes, 9257 metabolic reactions an...

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans responds to pathogenic bacteria with conserved innate immune responses and pathogen avoidance behaviors. We investigated natural variation in C. elegans resistance to pathogen infection. With the use of quantitative genetic analysis, we determined that the pathogen susceptibility difference between the laboratory wild-type strain N2 and the wild isolate CB485...

In recent years, new strategies for bacteria determination have been developed in order to achieve rapid detection and adequate limits of quantification microorganisms. This review classifies voltammetric sensors according whether the are directly or indirectly detected. Direct methods based on recognition themselves, either labeled label-free mode. contrast, indirect detect a metabolite produc...

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a ubiquitous bacterium and an emerging nosocomial pathogen. This bacterium is resistant to many antibiotics, associated with a number of infections, and a significant health risk, especially for immunocompromised patients. Given that Caenorhabditis elegans shares many conserved genetic pathways and pathway components with higher organisms, the study of its intera...

Bacterial infections: By and large PCT levels are elevated in bacterial infections as reported by several studies, but the feature of the response can be different. For example higher peak PCT concentrations are expected in Gram negative as compared to Gram positive infections. Furthermore, differences may also be seen even within the family of Gram negative bacteria: as higher peak PCT concent...

The gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli and its close relative Salmonella enterica have made important contributions historically to our understanding of how bacteria control DNA supercoiling and of how supercoiling influences gene expression and vice versa. Now they are contributing again by providing examples where changes in DNA supercoiling affect the expression of virulence traits tha...