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POPSSwine flu found in US cat Doesn't say if it was sexually transmitted. Then again, if he took the fridge off the cat, it would probably be able to breathe more efficiently.
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POPSAt Celllogix we are stewards of our own bodies Life is about change. As we each experience it we are subjected to change by forces beyond our control; and we too are the instruments of change. A well-lived life is about growing, changing, and evolving into someone better, stronger, wiser and more alive.
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POPSGlass Microbiology - Luke Jerram Quite an amazing display of glass art sculptures. Microbes never looked quite so beautiful. Mind you, under the microscope they probably look awesome. The whole article is well worth a read. Their is a slideshow of the various microbes and short bits of info about the various diseases ie. small pox, HIV etc. "The sculptures were designed in consultation with virologists from the University of Bristol using a combination of different scientific photographs and models. They were made in collaboration with glassblowers Kim George, Brian Jones and Norman Veitch."
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POPSDangers of Bactrim, Septrin, Septra Sebastian Amyes, professor of medical microbiology at Edinburgh University, condemned the general use of Septrin and Bactrim. "One has to examine the moral argument, the ethical argument, of administering a drug known to provoke serious side-effects - some leading to death - when it doesn't have an active role," he said.
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POPSIrish Boffins reach conclusion on cow farts
But there may be no need for all that, says Dr Lorraine Lillis of University College Dublin. She and her team of top Irish guff boffins have recently carried out a trial in which three cows were fed a special diet including fish oil rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and had their noxious bottomnal emissions sequestered for analysis. The special fish-fuelled cow farts, according to Lillis, contained 21 per cent less methane than everyday bovine flatulence products. "The fish oil affects the methane-producing bacteria in the rumen part of the cow's gut, leading to reduced emissions," said Lillis, speaking at a microbiology conference in Harrogate today. "Understanding which microbial species are particularly influenced by changes in diet and relating them to methane production could bring about a more targeted approach to reducing methane emissions in animals." However, simply using fish oil as in the trial might be a bit troublesome. "Fish oil is expensive and difficult to get
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POPS A Cure For Honey Bee Colony Collapse? The loss of honey bees could have an enormous horticultural and economic impact worldwide. Honeybees are important pollinators of crops, fruit and wild flowers and are indispensable for a sustainable and profitable agriculture as well as for the maintenance of the non-agricultural ecosystem. Honeybees are attacked by numerous pathogens including viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites. For most of these diseases, the molecular pathogenesis is poorly understood, hampering the development of new ways to prevent and combat honeybee diseases. So, any progress made in identifying causes and subsequent treatments of honey bee colony collapse is invaluable. "Now that we know one strain of parasite that could be responsible, we can look for signs of infection and treat any infected colonies before the infection spreads" said Dr Higes, principle researcher.
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POPSHas Bioterrorism Effort Increased Risk of Attack? Basically, the argument is that, by increasing the number of labs that handle bioweapons, you increase the risk of a bioweapon either being used or released by error. “The simplest, most likely path for an individual or group to acquire a bioweapons capability is to obtain bioweapons agents and training by penetration of a U.S. bioweapons-agents research project,” said Richard H. Ebright , a scientist at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “One well-placed graduate student, post-doctoral fellow or technician... It’s only a matter of time.”
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POPSSingle Species Ecosystem Gives Hope For Life on Other Planets Scientists extracted all of the DNA present within 5,600 liters of fluid from a fracture deep within the mine. Expecting to find a mix of species within the fluid, the researchers were surprised to find that 99.9% of the DNA belonged to one bacterium, a new species. The remaining DNA was contamination from the mine and the laboratory. A community of a single species is almost unheard of in the microbial world. But this little bacteria has been happily living on its own and seems to have all of the genetic machinery to enable it to survive independently. Since it is the only species in the ecosystem, it must extract everything it needs from an otherwise dead environment.
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