Bacteria-Resistant Hospital Fabrics That Actively Fight Microbes

Scientists have developed fully sterile fabrics by using enzymes that adhere antimicrobial particles with textiles. These fabrics could help eliminate infectious bacteria from medical textiles.

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Tuberculosis Resistance to Backup Drugs Increases

According to a new study, more than 40% of tuberculosis infections that are resistant to front-line antibiotic treatments have also become resistant to some common backup drugs. Efforts to control tuberculosis are being hindered by the emergence of multi drug-resistant (MDR) strains, making it harder to combat.

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Mutated Protein Allows Flu’s Lethality in Some Patients

The flu can be lethal in some patients, but benign in others. The reason that this is the way that flu infections work might be the cause of a protein, which might be mutated in patients who are more easily affected by the flu than others.

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Flies Drink Alcohol to Medicate Against Wasp Infections

It’s been reported that the common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, drinks alcohol to kill the wasps that have hatched inside of its body, which would otherwise eat it alive.

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Further Investigation into Mystery Tourette-Like Outbreak in a US School

Last week, school administrators at the LeRoy Central School District in northwestern New York state approved a plan that will allow further testing at the town’s high school, where a total of 19 people, 18 girls and one boy, developed a sudden-onset disorder with symptoms similar to Tourette’s syndrome.

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Virus Gene Syncytin Insinuated Itself in Mammalian DNA Millions of Years Ago

Syncytin is a gene that was found in the human genome, but is bears all of the hallmarks of originating from a virus. Back in 2000, a team of Bostonian scientists discovered it. The cells of syncytin were located only where the placenta made contact with the uterus. They fused together to form a single cellular layer, which is called the syncytiotrophoblast, essential for a fetus to draw nutrients from its mother.

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Scientists Find Cure for Neurocysticercosis, a Major Cause of Seizures

Neurocysticercosis is caused when people ingest pork that has gone bad and is the root cause of several types of seizures. In a new study that was published in the journal PLoS Pathogens, scientists at the Baylor College of Medicine have discovered that Substance P is the culprit of neurocysticerosis.

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