These Bacteria Kill Bugs That Are Drug Resistant

Predatory bacteria – that eat others of their kind – could be a new weapon in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria or ‘superbug’, a new study suggests. A naturally occurring predatory bacterium is able to work with the immune system to clear multi-drug resistant Shigella infections in zebra-fish, researchers from Imperial College of London and Nottingham University in the UK said. It is the first time the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorous has been successfully used as an injected anti-bacterial therapy and represents an important step in the fight against drug-resistant infections, or ‘superbugs’. Shigella infection is responsible for over 160 million illnesses and over one million deaths every year – and is a common cause of travelers’ diarrhea. Cases of drug-resistant Shigella are also on the rise as, although the diarrhea usually clears up without treatment, antibiotics are often used even in mild cases to stop the diarrhea faster. To investigate Bdellovibrio’s ability to control drug resistant Gram-negative infections, researchers injected zebra-fish larvae with a lethal dose of Shigella flexneri strain M90T, resistant to antibiotics. Bdellovibrio was injected into the larvae’s infection site and a decrease in the number of Shigella was seen. In the absence of Bdellovibrio, zebra-fish Shigella numbers rose.

Embroys Development 'Pause' For Up To A Month

Scientists have found a way to pause the development of early mouse embryos for up to a month in the lab – and later resume normal growth – a finding with potential implications for assisted reproduction, aging and even cancer. The research involved experiments with pre-implantation mouse embryos, called blastocysts. Researchers from University of California, San Francisco in the US found that drugs that inhibit the activity of a master regulation of cell growth called in mTOR can put these early embryos into a stable and reversible state of suspended animation. Normally, blastocysts only a last day or two, max, in the lab. But blastocysts treated with mTOR inhibitors could survive up to four weeks. Researchers showed that paused embryos may quickly resume normal growth when mTOR inhibiters were removed, and developed into healthy mice if implanted back into a recipient mother. The drugs appear to act by reducing gene activity across much of the genome. The researchers believe that it should be possible to extend the suspended animation for much longer than the 30 days observed in the present study.

This Gene Could Help Fight Obesity

Scientists have identifies a gene that could protect against obesity by increasing the feeling of fullness, a finding that may lead to potential new therapies to treat eating-related disorders. Researchers from King’s College London and Imperial College London in the UK tested a high-fat diet, containing a fermentable carbohydrate, and a control diet on mice. They looked at the effect on food intake of those with and without the FFAR2 receptor, a protein coding gene. The results showed that mice fed the diet containing fermentable carbohydrates were protected against obesity. However, this protection was lost when the FFAR2 receptor was not present. Indeed, those with the receptor showed an increase of 130% in the satiety inducing gut hormone peptide YY, as well as an increased density of cells containing PYY, leading to an increased feeling of fullness. Obesity is currently one of the most serious global threats to human health, determined by genetic background, diet and lifestyle. We know that supplementing our diet with non-digestible carbohydrates reduce appetite and body weight gain, but in this study researcher demonstrate for the first time the essential role of the FFAR2 receptor in enabling specific dietary constituents to reduce food intake and protect against obesity. With this discovery, researcher can start to look at whether we can use diet or pharmaceutical means to change the cellular make-up of the gut in order to treat a host of disorders. This a major step forward in understanding the relationship between diet and appetite regulation. Until a few years ago dietary fiber was a thought of as inert, and having very little effect on physiology. So the fact it actually has a major impact on cells that help control appetite regulation in the colon is amazing. Researcher’s challenges now are to translate this into a technology that we can apply to humans. Researcher need to understand stand how they can use the knowledge and insight gained to develop food systems that are attractive to a large percentage of the population.

A Backpack That's Charged And Ready To Go

Finding a backpack designed to protect and carry your entire tech isn’t difficult these days. What sets the MOS Pack apart is that it can also help keep all of your gear charged. Available in black or grey, the MOS Pack features a cleaner look than most backpacks that are designed to carry all of your gadgets. The pack has a classic design, which means it doesn’t draw attention to itself, or make it obvious that you’re carrying around a bunch of expensive toys. When everything inside the pack is all wired up, the next time you’re in an airport and are lucky enough to find an available power outlet, you can plug in the short extension cable to charge the MOS Pack.