Today, we’ll have some dengue, neuroleptospirosis, and black slime in deli slicers. Pretty nasty stuff. Make sure to scroll down to the dolphin story.
Dengue
Chloroquine interferes with dengue-2 virus replication in U937 cells – Kleber Juvenal Silva Farias – Microbiology and Immunology
“In the present work, CLQ was effective against DENV-2 replication in U937 cells, and also caused a statistically significant reduction in expression of proinflammatory cytokines. “
Other microbiology
Actionable Diagnosis of Neuroleptospirosis by Next-Generation Sequencing
Michael R. Wilson – New England Journal of Medicine
“Unbiased next-generation sequencing of the cerebrospinal fluid identified 475 of 3,063,784 sequence reads (0.016%) corresponding to leptospira infection. Clinical assays for leptospirosis were negative.”
also see:
In a First, Test of DNA Finds Root of Illness – Carl Zimmer – New York Times
“Even a biopsy of his brain tissue told the doctors nothing. It was then that Dr. Gern called on Dr. DeRisi, who agreed to use the experimental DNA technology to try to find what was causing the boy’s ailments.”
Evolving With a Little Help From Our Friends – Carrie Arnold – Quanta Magazine
“The findings, published in Science in July 2013, highlight a surprising idea in biology: that symbiosis — a long-term, stable and often beneficial interaction between organisms — could drive two populations apart, the first step in the development of new species.”
Review: Coping with low pH: molecular strategies in neutralophilic bacteria – Peter Lund – FEMS Microbiology Reviews
“Among the most favoured mechanisms are the pumping out of protons, production of ammonia, and proton-consuming decarboxylation reactions, as well as modifications of the lipid content in the membrane”
Negative impact of laws regarding biosecurity and bioterrorism on real diseases – N. Wurtz – Clinical Microbiology and Infection
“These limitations have seriously negatively impacted the number of collaborations, the size of research projects and more generally scientific research on microbial pathogens.”
Bacteria are everywhere
But will it slice the Salmonella?
Broken Seals, Black Slime, Stowaway Bacteria: The Flaw in Many Deli Slicers – James Andrews – FoodSafetyNews
““A little bit of Salmonella oozed out every time they washed it,” Anderberg said. “It would emerge when they cleaned it and made the wet slicer assembly vertical — it just kind of drained out to where the meat was being sliced.””
And it charges via USB, which is so convenient under the shower.
Squeaky clean pores with Luna Mini – Morgan Bornstein – The Gadgeteer
“The Luna Mini is a skincare device that utilizes “sonic pulsations” to break up the bacteria, oil, and makeup that cause breakouts, as well as smooth and refine skin texture. “
Marine Mammals (also see the Picks)
Deep-diving sea lions exhibit extreme bradycardia in long-duration dives
Birgitte I. McDonald – The Journal of Experimental Biology
“We investigated dive fH in five adult female California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) during foraging trips by instrumenting them with digital electrocardiogram (ECG) loggers and time depth recorders. “
Because swimming with dolphins is so 2013.
The Swimming Pigs of the Bahamas – Ella Morton – Slate
“The pigs of Big Major Cay spend their days lolling about on the beach, catching waves, and swimming out to greet visiting boats in the hope of scoring food.”
Chromosomal structure and organization
Review: Reshaping chromatin after DNA damage: the choreography of histone proteins – Sophie E. Polo – Journal of Molecular Biology
“This review presents our current knowledge of chromatin dynamics in the mammalian cell nucleus in response to DNA-double strand breaks and UV lesions.”
The 3D Genome in Transcriptional Regulation and Pluripotency – David U Gorkin – Cell Stem Cell
“Here, we review principles of 3D genome organization in mammalian cells. We focus on the emerging relationship between genome organization and lineage-specific transcriptional regulation, which we argue are inextricably linked.”
Science and Publishing
Mission possible: putting trainees at the center of academia’s mission
Viviane Callier & Nathan L Vanderford – Nature Biotechnology
“Under the current system, many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are treated as cheap and easily replaceable labor, and the enterprise of academic research as a whole emphasizes fancy equipment, infrastructure, top-tier publications and the pursuit of research funding”
Science and Art
Life Magnified – Carl Zimmer – National Geographic
“If you travel through Dulles Airport in the near future, you may see some lovely scientific images on the walls.”
Dr. Bik’s Picks
Google for genomes – Karl Gruber – Nature Biotechnology
“In May, Google Genomics launched a preview of its application programming interface (API) that allows DNA sequence storage on Google’s cloud infrastructure. “
The comments are hilarious. ““Free willy” has a whole new meaning now.”
In 1965, a young woman lived in isolation with a male dolphin in the name of science. It got weird. – Florence Waters – National Post
“For 10 weeks, from June to August 1965, the St Thomas research centre became the site of Lilly’s most notorious and highly criticized experiment, when his young assistant, Margaret Howe, volunteered to live in confinement with Peter, a bottlenose dolphin.”
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Microbiome Digest - Bik's Picks 