(Press-News.org) New Orleans, Louisiana - June 1, 2015 - Prevalence of a recently discovered serotype of oral bacterium, with a possible link to a number of systemic diseases, was found for the first time in a small cohort of African-American schoolchildren in a southwest Alabama town, according to research being presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
Streptococcus mutans serotype k, first discovered in Japan in 2004, has been linked to a number of systemic diseases, including bacteremia, infective endocarditis and hemorrhagic stroke. "However, the bacteria evaluated in the present study were missing the proteins suggested to link S. mutans serotype k with these systemic diseases," said Stephanie Momeni, a doctoral candidate in the UAB Department of Biology, which is housed in UAB's College of Arts and Sciences and lead author of the study.
"S. mutans is associated with oral disease, but some serotypes have been reported to be more invasive and thus may also contribute to systemic disease," Momeni said. "The S. mutans serotype k found in this study has undetermined significance since it lacks the previously identified invasive genes. Given the small sample size, results are considered preliminary."
Samples were collected from schoolchildren between the ages of 5 and 10 as part of an ongoing longitudinal epidemiological study of S. mutans. A total of 57 children were tested with primers specific to each serotype and collagen-binding proteins. The study found serotypes c (84 percent), e (3 percent) and k (11 percent), with no serotype f observed. Two samples were untypeable.
Although the bacteria evaluated in this study were all missing the collagen-binding proteins suggested to link S. mutans serotype k and systemic disease, some scientists propose these genes may be acquired over time or that these organisms could have other unknown proteins possibly associated with systemic disease.
S. mutans is frequently associated with the formation of cavities. There are four known serotypes (c, e, f and k) that colonize humans, of which minor oral serotypes f and k are reported least often (less than 5 percent of the time). The purpose of this study was to determine the serotypes of 100 randomly selected S. mutans bacterial isolates and then determine whether these isolates possess two collagen-binding proteins, Cnm and Cbm, reportedly associated with systemic disease.
Momeni says further study is needed to determine if the S. mutans serotype k strains found in this study have other invasive qualities associated with systemic diseases. Furthermore, she adds, the prevalence of serotype k reported in this study may be conservative since only individual bacterial isolates were tested. This number could be considerably higher when more oral isolates are analyzed from each individual
INFORMATION:
The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research provided research funding for the project.
Stephanie Momeni will participate in a media availability both live and online on Sunday, May 31, 2015 at 11:30 a.m. CDT. The availability will be broadcast from room 350 in the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and can be watched online at http://bit.ly/asmpr15. Reporters are encouraged to ask questions in person or via Twitter using the hashtag #asmlive.
This research was presented as part of the 2015 General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology held May 31- June 2, 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana. A full press kit for the meeting, including tipsheets and additional press releases, can be found online at
http://www.asm.org/index.php/asm-newsroom2/81-news-room/93500-gm-press-2015.
The American Society for Microbiology is the largest single life science society, composed of over 39,000 scientists and health professionals. ASM's mission is to advance the microbiological sciences as a vehicle for understanding life processes and to apply and communicate this knowledge for the improvement of health and environmental and economic well-being worldwide.
New Orleans, Louisiana - May 31, 2015 - The antibacterial effectiveness of Agion silver zeolite technology was tested on door handles across the Penn State Erie campus and after four years of sampling, a significant difference was observed between the bacterial populations isolated from silver versus control-coated door handles. This research is presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
"In our study we have analyzed the bacterial populations found on silver- and control-coated door handles within four different building on the Penn State ...
A new study led by UC Santa Cruz researchers has found that a protein associated with cancer cells is a powerful suppressor of the biological clock that drives the daily ("circadian") rhythms of cells throughout the body. The discovery, published in the June 4 issue of Molecular Cell (and online now), adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting a link between cancer and disruption of circadian rhythms, while offering new insights into the molecular mechanisms of the biological clock.
The ticking of the biological clock drives fluctuations in gene activity and protein ...
A Northwestern University team has confirmed a new way to help the airline industry save dollars while also saving the environment. And the solution comes in three dimensions. By manufacturing aircrafts' metal parts with 3-D printing, airlines could save a significant amount of fuel, materials, and other resources.
Led by Eric Masanet, the team used aircraft industry data to complete a case study of the life-cycle environmental effects of using 3-D printing for select metal aircraft parts, a technique that is already being adopted by the industry. The team concluded that ...
Carnegie Mellon University chemists, led by Mark Bier, have separated and weighed virus particles using mass spectrometry (MS). This is the first time that researchers successfully used matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization MS to analyze a mixture of intact virus particles.
Bier, research professor of chemistry and director of Carnegie Mellon's Center for Molecular Analysis, and graduate student Logan Plath will present their findings in a poster session at the American Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics today, June 2, ...
In a clinical study of patients in the United States and China, researchers found that a low-cost, portable, battery-powered microendoscope developed by Rice University bioengineers could eventually eliminate the need for costly biopsies for many patients undergoing standard endoscopic screening for esophageal cancer.
The research is available online in the journal Gastroenterology and was co-authored by researchers from nearly a dozen institutions that include Rice, Baylor College of Medicine, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the National Cancer Institute.
The ...
BOSTON, MA - Use of antidepressants late in pregnancy has been controversial since the FDA issued a Public Health Advisory in 2006 warning that the use of antidepressants in late pregnancy may increase risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN), a condition that typically occurs in term or near-term infants and presents within hours of birth with severe respiratory failure requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation. The 2006 public health advisory was based on a single epidemiologic study that found a six-fold increase in risk associated with ...
An analysis of approximately 3.8 million pregnancies finds that use of antidepressants late in pregnancy may be associated with an increased risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN), according to a study in the June 2 issue of JAMA. However, the absolute risk was small and the risk increase appears more modest than suggested in previous studies. PPHN is a rare but life-threatening condition that occurs when a newborn's circulation system doesn't adapt to breathing outside the womb.
Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn is associated with ...
Implementation of a pre-surgical intervention that included screening for the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, treating patients who were positive for this bacteria, and the administration of antibiotics based on these culture results was associated with a modest reduction in S. aureus surgical site infections, according to a study in the June 2 issue of JAMA.
S. aureus carriage increases the risk of S. aureus surgical site infections (SSIs). The risk for these infections may be decreased by screening patients for nasal carriage of S. aureus and decolonizing carriers ...
An analysis of the use of computerized clinical decision support systems regarding orders for advanced diagnostic imaging found that the systems failed to identify relevant appropriateness criteria for the majority of orders, according to a study in the June 2 issue of JAMA.
Computerized clinical decision support (CDS) systems that match patient characteristics against appropriateness criteria to produce algorithmic treatment recommendations are a potential means of improving care. The Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 mandates use of CDS systems for the ordering ...
Using tools that help physicians decide whether to use expensive imaging studies such as MRI scans can help reduce the ordering of unnecessary tests, but implementation of the tools in real-world settings has many challenges, according to a new RAND Corporation study.
The tools, computer-based programs that match a patient's characteristics against treatment criteria and recommend a treatment, helped increase the proportion of tests for Medicare fee-for-service patients rated as appropriate, according to findings published in the June 2 edition of the Journal of the American ...
