Just one post today. Invading oral bacteria found in liver cirrhosis patients guts, obesity, biofilms and dispersal, motile and electric bacteria, dengue, and Weird Al Yankovic.
General microbiome
Radio show: City Visions: Exploring the Human Microbiome
“City Visions host David Onek explores these questions and more with Bay Area leading researchers Katie Pollard of the Gladstone Institutes, Susan Lynch of UCSF, and Peter diLaura of Second Genome.”
Human gut microbiome
Alterations of the human gut microbiome in liver cirrhosis – Nan Qin – Nature
“Here we characterize the gut microbiome in liver cirrhosis by comparing 98 patients and 83 healthy control individuals… Most (54%) of the patient-enriched, taxonomically assigned species are of buccal origin, suggesting an invasion of the gut from the mouth in liver cirrhosis. “
Obesity, inflammation, and the gut microbiota – Amanda J Cox – The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology
“In this Review, we provide evidence supporting perturbation of the intestinal microbiota and changes in intestinal permeability as potential triggers of inflammation in obesity.”
Opinion: (Self-) infections with parasites: re-interpretations for the present
Julius Lukeš – Trends in Parasitology
“Here, we critically review cases in which humans were deliberately infected with parasites. Moreover, we summarize the contribution of (self-) infections and propose protist and helminth candidates, chosen on the basis of several criteria, to test as possible therapy for selected human diseases.”
General Microbiology
Dispersed cells represent a distinct stage in the transition from bacterial biofilm to planktonic lifestyles – Song Lin Chua – Nature Communications
“Here we use single-nucleotide resolution transcriptomic analysis to show that the physiology of dispersed cells from Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms is highly different from those of planktonic and biofilm cells. “
Brownian motion? – Bacteria swim with bodies and flagella – Kevin Stacey – Brown University
“Using a new technique to track the swimming motion of a single bacterium, researchers have discovered that the movement of the bacterium’s body — not just thrust from the flagellum — allow movement through fluids.”
Bacteria that don’t need to eat: Meet the electric life forms that live on pure energy – Catherine Brahic – New Scientist
“Unlike any other living thing on Earth, electric bacteria use energy in its purest form – naked electricity in the shape of electrons harvested from rocks and metals. “
Cell communication: Stop the microbial chatter – Vivien Marx – Nature
“Bacteria can coat everything from thermal springs to teeth. Researchers are looking for antibiotics that can subvert the signalling that the microbes use to carve their niche.”
Dengue
Safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of a recombinant tetravalent dengue vaccine: A meta-analysis of randomized trials – Vivaldo G. da Costa – Vaccine
“..we conducted a meta-analysis to determine a more precise estimate of the overall parameters of safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of CYD-TDV. A data search was conducted in the PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and SciELO databases with defined selection criteria.”
Kinome siRNA screen identifies novel cell-type specific dengue host target genes – Yong-Jun Kwon – Antiviral Research
“To identify novel human host cell targets important for dengue virus infection and replication, an image-based high-throughput siRNA assay screening of a human kinome siRNA library was conducted using human hepatocyte cell line Huh7 infected with a recent dengue serotype 2 virus isolate BR DEN2 01-01.”
Dr. Bik’s Picks
A functional role of the sky’s polarization pattern for orientation in the greater mouse-eared bat – Stefan Greif – Nature Communications
“Here we demonstrate that the female greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) uses polarization cues at sunset to calibrate a magnetic compass, which is subsequently used for orientation during a homing experiment. “
Science and politics: Hello, Governor – Virginia Gewin – Nature
“When California’s governor enlisted the aid of two palaeoecologists, their careers took an unusual turn.”
YouTube distraction: Foil – Weird Al Yankovic music video
“fungal rot, bacterial formation, microbes, enzymes, mould and oxidation”
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Microbiome Digest - Bik's Picks 