PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Have our bodies held the key to new antibiotics all along?

2014-10-01
(Press-News.org) As the threat of antibiotic resistance grows, scientists are turning to the human body and the trillion or so bacteria that have colonized us — collectively called our microbiota — for new clues to fighting microbial infections. They've logged an early success with the discovery of a new antibiotic candidate from vaginal bacteria, reports Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society.

Matt Davenport, a C&EN contributing editor, explains that the human microbiota produces thousands of small molecules. Some have been discovered and tested, but by and large, very little is known about most of them. However, it could be well worth finding out more. Doctors are already prescribing pharmaceuticals based on small molecules made by exotic bacteria from the earth and sea, meaning our own microbes could be an untapped and accessible source of novel drugs. But rifling through all of the microbiota's natural products for a hit is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

To shrink that haystack, one team of scientists took a systematic, computer-assisted approach. They designed software to compare the microbiota's collective genes, or microbiome, against genes that are already known or suspected to play a role in producing small molecules that help keep microbes, and maybe their hosts, healthy. The team found more than 3,000 such gene clusters. One of those, from the vaginal bacteria Lactobacillus gasseri, contains the code for a small molecule that is very similar to a recently discovered antibiotic now undergoing clinical testing. When the scientists tested the Lactobacillus molecule in the lab, they found it attacked Gram-positive bacteria, some of which can cause human illness.

INFORMATION:

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 161,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Follow us: Twitter Facebook



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Lift weights, improve your memory

Lift weights, improve your memory
2014-10-01
Here's another reason why it's a good idea to hit the gym: it can improve memory. A new Georgia Institute of Technology study shows that an intense workout of as little as 20 minutes can enhance episodic memory, also known as long-term memory for previous events, by about 10 percent in healthy young adults (see a video demo). The Georgia Tech research isn't the first to find that exercise can improve memory. But the study, which was just published in the journal Acta Psychologica, took a few new approaches. While many existing studies have demonstrated that months of ...

Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, October 2014

2014-10-01
Materials – Vehicle Lightweighting ... For about the price of leather seats, automakers can trim approximately 362 pounds off the body and chassis of a midsize passenger vehicle, according to an Oak Ridge National Laboratory study. Researchers analyzed an array of materials – carbon fiber, advanced high-strength steel, aluminum alloys, magnesium alloys – that could replace steel. While the carbon fiber composite option reduced weight by 35 percent at an additional cost of $1,317, a combination of advanced high-strength steel and alloys resulted in a 25 percent weight ...

Stressed out: Research sheds new light on why rechargeable batteries fail

Stressed out: Research sheds new light on why rechargeable batteries fail
2014-10-01
Pity the poor lithium ion. Drawn relentlessly by its electrical charge, it surges from anode to cathode and back again, shouldering its way through an elaborate molecular obstacle course. This journey is essential to powering everything from cell phones to cordless power tools. Yet, no one really understands what goes on at the atomic scale as lithium ion batteries are used and recharged, over and over again. Michigan Technological University researcher Reza Shahbazian-Yassar has made it his business to better map the ion's long, strange trip—and perhaps make it smoother ...

What happens in our brain when we unlock a door?

What happens in our brain when we unlock a door?
2014-10-01
People who are unable to button up their jacket or who find it difficult to insert a key in lock suffer from a condition known as apraxia. This means that their motor skills have been impaired – as a result of a stroke, for instance. Scientists in Munich have now examined the parts of the brain that are responsible for planning and executing complex actions. They discovered that there is a specific network in the brain for using tools. Their findings have been published in the Journal of Neuroscience. Researchers from Technische Universität München (TUM) and the Klinikum ...

Neural activity predicts the timing of spontaneous decisions

2014-10-01
Researchers have discovered a new type of brain activity that underlies the timing of voluntary actions, allowing them to forecast when a spontaneous decision will occur more than a second in advance. 'Experiments like this have been used to argue that free will is an illusion, but we think that this interpretation is mistaken,' says Zachary Mainen, a neuroscientist at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, in Lisbon, Portugal, who led the research, published on Sept. 28, 2014, in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The scientists used recordings of neurons in an area ...

Laying siege to beta-amyloid, the key protein in Alzheimer's disease

Laying siege to beta-amyloid, the key protein in Alzheimers disease
2014-10-01
The peptide —a small protein— beta-amyloid is strongly associated with Alzheimer's disease; however, researchers are still looking for unequivocal proof that this peptide is the causal agent of the onset and development of the disease. The main obstacle impeding such confirmation is that beta-amyloid is not harmful when found in isolation but only when it aggregates, that is when it self-assembles to form the so-called amyloid fibrils "We are not dealing with a single target, beta-amyloid alone, but with multiple ones because each aggregate of peptide, which can go from ...

Changing Antarctic waters could trigger steep rise in sea levels

2014-10-01
Current changes in the ocean around Antarctica are disturbingly close to conditions 14,000 years ago that new research shows may have led to the rapid melting of Antarctic ice and an abrupt 3-4 metre rise in global sea level. The research published in Nature Communications found that in the past, when ocean temperatures around Antarctica became more layered - with a warm layer of water below a cold surface layer - ice sheets and glaciers melted much faster than when the cool and warm layers mixed more easily. This defined layering of temperatures is exactly what is ...

Eighty percent of bowel cancers halted with existing medicines

Eighty percent of bowel cancers halted with existing medicines
2014-10-01
An international team of scientists has shown that more than 80 per cent of bowel cancers could be treated with existing drugs. The study found that medicines called 'JAK inhibitors' halted tumour growth in bowel cancers with a genetic mutation that is present in more than 80 per cent of bowel cancers. Multiple JAK inhibitors are currently used, or are in clinical trials, for diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, blood cancers and myeloproliferative disorders. Bowel cancer is the second-most common cancer in Australia with nearly 17,000 people diagnosed ...

Nanoparticles accumulate quickly in wetland sediment

Nanoparticles accumulate quickly in wetland sediment
2014-10-01
DURHAM, N.C. -- A Duke University team has found that nanoparticles called single-walled carbon nanotubes accumulate quickly in the bottom sediments of an experimental wetland setting, an action they say could indirectly damage the aquatic food chain. The results indicate little risk to humans ingesting the particles through drinking water, say scientists at Duke's Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEINT). But the researchers warn that, based on their previous research, the tendency for the nanotubes to accumulate in sediment could indirectly ...

Robot researcher combines nature to nurture 'superhuman' navigation

2014-10-01
Computer modelling of the human eye, the brain of a rat and a robot could revolutionise advances in neuroscience and new technology, says a QUT leading robotics researcher. Dr Michael Milford from QUT's Science and Engineering Faculty says the new study uses new computer algorithms to enable robots to navigate intelligently, unrestricted by high-density buildings or tunnels. "This is a very Frankenstein type of project," Dr Milford said. "It's putting two halves of a thing together because we're taking the eyes of a human and linking them up with the brain of a rat. "A ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Students with overprotective parents are more vulnerable to anxiety during their transition to university, researchers find

Seagrass as a carbon sponge?

Study shows how smoking drives pancreatic cancer

Unveiling the identity of Crohn's disease T cells

Frontiers Forum Deep Dive series: Biological ‘moonshot’ accelerates efforts to genetically map life on Earth

After early-life stress, astrocytes affect behaviour

UMD developing AI-powered warning system to predict disease tied to extreme weather

New study links grain foods to healthier diet patterns, metabolic health and everyday accessibility

Korea University College of Medicine explores 'Health for Humanity' at K-CLUB International Symposium with world-renowned scholars

Regular walking prevents chronic back pain

Broccoli seeds can spread resistance to multiple fungicides

New AI tool addresses accuracy and fairness in data to improve health algorithms

Researchers design robot that can find, pick hidden strawberries

Effective urban planning from real-world population tracking

EWG study: PFAS water treatment has double benefits, cutting toxic PFAS and carcinogens

MIT Press expands Direct to Open (D2O) open access model in 2026 with publishing partners

Pork protein improves recovery, mood and inflammation in military cadets following combat fitness test

Mount Sinai unveils Emergency Department transformation after extensive upgrades and renovations

Uncovering language learning strategies for Japanese university students in STEM

The invisible influence: How cultural cognitive biases influence visuomotor adaptations

New sugar-based stabilizer keeps sweat sensors working under acidic conditions

Stress & Stars: Two more ERC Starting Grants for ISTA

ERC honors Hebrew University scientists for pioneering brain and language studies

Theresa Rienmüller and Robert Winkler receive ERC Starting Grants

ERC grant helps to explore innovative approaches to improve the diagnosis of ADHD in adults

Hidden chemistry of Earth’s core revealed by how it froze

IRB Barcelona researchers uncover a new strategy to tackle obesity by activating brown fat

Biological ‘moonshot’ accelerates efforts to genetically map life on Earth

New papers reveal how gut-brain interactions shape eating behaviors

Meal timing in later life may matter for health and longevity

[Press-News.org] Have our bodies held the key to new antibiotics all along?