Category Health/Medical

E. coli bacteria. Credit: NIAID

For invading bacteria that have figured out how to scavenge iron from their hosts, it’s a fine place to grow and reproduce. And for millions of women a year, that means painful, burning, potentially dangerous urinary tract infections. Now, in an ironic twist, scientists prevented UTIs in mice by vaccinating them with the same molecules that the bacteria usually use to grab iron and fuel their growth. They caution that a human UTI vaccine based on the approach is still years away. But the success of vaccination with the small iron-grabbing molecules, ie siderophores, paves the way for further research.

The same team previously reported success in preventing UTIs using a vaccine made of proteins from the bacteria, called uropathogenic Escherichia coli or UPEC...

agitating host-microbiota interactions to cause low-grade gut inflammation can promote colon carcinogenesis

Emulsifiers, added to most processed foods to aid texture and extend shelf life, can alter intestinal bacteria in a manner that promotes intestinal inflammation and colorectal cancer, according to a new study. The findings, published in the journal Cancer Research, show regular consumption of dietary emulsifiers in mice exacerbated tumor development. Colorectal cancer, the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, was responsible for about 700,000 deaths in 2012. There is increasing awareness that intestinal microbiota play a role in driving colorectal cancer.

The microbiota is also a key factor in driving Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, the two most common for...

Vigorous exercise amplified increase in hormone levels

Twelve weeks of aerobic exercise significantly boosted testosterone levels in overweight and obese men, with the greatest increases seen among vigorous exercisers, according to research presented at the Integrative Biology of Exercise 7 meeting in Phoenix. Researchers from Tsukuba University and Ryutsu Keizai University in Japan previously found that a combination of diet and exercise was effective in increasing the testosterone in this population. For this study, however, they looked specifically at the effect of regular aerobic exercise on testosterone levels.

“Testosterone is a male sex hormone, and low circulating testosterone levels lead to various health disorders in men...

In the conventional electron micrograph at left, it is difficult to distinguish form and function of two hippocampal astrocytes in a mouse brain. The multicolor micrograph at right marks the two astrocytes using different color lanthanides and more clearly shows where they contact and nurture the same synapse (dark railroad lines). Credit: Image courtesy of Stephen Adams, NCMIR, UC San Diego

Electron microscopy (EM), which uses particle beams of accelerated electrons to interrogate specimens, has long been a leading technology for revealing the shape and structure of the tiniest objects, from the cells which make up the bodies organs and microbes to individual building blocks or molecules which comprise cells, in often dramatic 3D detail...