Microbiology and Immunology

I'm currently writing a paper on persister cells and their role in biofilm tolerance to all known antibiotics for one of my classes, and I've read several articles about persisters, but there is something I don't understand. The accepted explanation (or at least one of them) of how persisters are unaffected by antibiotics is that they are completely dormant, that is, nothing inside them is active; no cell wall synthesis, protein translation, enzymes, etc, all turned off. This means that even though the antibiotics do successfully bind their targets, it has no effect since their targets are effectively inanimate, and thus cannot be corrupted by the antibiotic. This I under…

What does "safe" mean here? Does it mean that if you get less than 100, 000/ml then the object you swabbed does not pose any threat to health? and if you get more than 100, 000/ml then touching that object can cause illness?

http://users.path.ox.ac.uk/~seminars/waldmannlibrary/Paper%2017.pdf Control of Regulatory T Cell Development by the Transcription Factor Foxp3 Can we go over the summary and a brief discussion into this article please. Would really appreciate it. Thank you!

What type of foods may cause poisoning?

Hiyya, Please could someone give me a helping hand... Im working on an assignment linking the effects of zinc deficiency on nutritional status and pneumonia... I understand that zinc deficiency affects: Th1 cytokine production, B lymphocyte help, antibody production, and causes an imbalance in th1 and th2.... Is anyone able to help me with the reason why there's a link to pneumonia?... like, what is it that zinc deficiency does that leaves us susceptible to pneumonia?? anyhelp would be most appreciated.. Thankyou

disinfectant are those which kills the microorganism but not their spores.

I am a student in non-English-speaking country,looking for a position in immunology. so I hope some here could help me to revise my motivation leeter. here is the letter I prepared. Dear prof. I’m a first year MSc student in department life science at the.......University,China.I would like to submit my candidature for the PhD position in Research groups Immunology division,department Infectious Diseases and Immunology, faculty Veterinary Medicine,........University. With a Bachelor’s in agronomy and an MSc in biophysics, I expect that the PhD position will contribute enormously to my future reserach plans. I also believe that I would be a valuable additi…

Hey everyone, I'm currently researching therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, like trastuzumab for breast cancer. There's one mechanism of action that is particularly interesting, but also poses a few questions that I can't find the answers to. When trastuzumab binds the HER2 antigen on cancer cells, it can induce antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity by recruiting effector cells which release cytotoxic agents like granzyme or perforin. In this case, NK cells have Fc receptors that bind to the Fc domain of trastuzumab. My question is, how does trastuzumab recruit the effector cells in the first place? How does it attract NK cells to attach to its Fc domain? …

I'm taking my first graduate/phd level immunology course. My prof has made it a task to assign a recently published paper to the class to present every week. He basically just hands us the paper and it's up to us to understand it. I have a lot of trouble in understanding some of the terms that, only if heard by an immunologist, would instantly know what it's experimental purpose is. My prof is strongly advocating a hands off sort of learning so I thought maybe you guys might be willing to help me out. This is the paper we got for this week http://www.jimmunol.org/content/184/5/2476.abstract What are LATY163F mice? What experimental purpose do they usually ser…

I was reading up on some different degrees, and came across Immunology and Molecular Virology and Microbiology at the school I was interested in. What's the difference between these? I'm interested in creating medicine and vaccines, so which of these would be more beneficial for that

Hi: I posted something similar in the past. I apologize profusely if anyone is annoyed by what might seem like a repetition of that post. However, if you read carefully, you’ll clearly notice some significant differences. My favorite bacteria are: 1. Not gram-negative 2. Free of lipopolysaccharide 3. Non-pathogenic 4. Non-toxic 5. Non-allergenic In terms of respiration, they are any one of the following: 1. Facultative-anaerobes [can use oxygen but don't need it] 2. Obligate anaerobes [can only survive in total or near-total absence of oxygen] 3. Aerotolerant-anaerobes [can survive in oxygen but don't use it for respiration or otherwise requir…

What is the difference between bacillus and bacilli?

What are the major groups of bacteria?

hello forum, apologies if the question i'm about to ask grosses you out. but it is a serious question about something i am genuinely curious about. i'm something of a "health nut". i stopped eating meat in 1989. i first had spirulina back around '90. i hadn't had any after that until a couple months ago, when all of a sudden i started craving the taste of spirulina. i bought a 1lb jar of now foods brand organic spirula powder. i add 7-10 grams into my twice-daily protein shakes (14-20g/day total). i was not surprised when i noticed my bowels flushed a deep, dark green color. that is to be expected, of course, given spirulina's high chlorophyll content. i …

Does it? Also: if its primary function is to boost the immune system, does it work on pretty much any virus (ex. stomach virus)? Does it work on non-viral illness that the immune system can do something about?

If you want to find information pertaining to antibiotics and other antimicrobials I think that the best guide is: The Antimicrobial Index Most importantly it is regularly updated and it is freely available with no registration. Its packed with antimicrobial susceptibility info in the form of minimum inhibitory concentration data and can be used to discover a vast variety of new antimicrobial agents. Hope you will also find it useful!

Will the use of commercially available human serum cause an activation of lymphocytes isolated from human whole blood by Ficoll gradient centrifugation when used for the in vitro cultures? The commercially available serum will not be used during the lymphocyte isolation but only later for the in vitro culture. Here is more info on the human serum that I use for the lymphocyte cultures: http://www.paa.com/cell_culture_products/sera/human_sera/human_serum_offtheclot.html (Cat. No. C15-020) Of course, I can also use the autologous serum obtained from the whole blood but there are experimental reasons why this not possible for all my experimental set-ups.

Hello everyone. As many who read the forum I have a great concern because doctors can not find my diagnosis. 4 years ago during my pregnancy, my first symptoms appeared: numbness in legs, hands, cramps and loss of strength. After many tests (EMG, lumbar puncture, muscle biopsy, MRIs, blood counts, etc) I was diagnosed with polyneuropathy. I was in a wheelchair, but with human immunoglobulin treatment, much effort, and rehabilitation, improvement, and currently use crutches. Specialists have taken me always neurologists, and for a while I see the rheumatologist also what they think may have been present or there is underlying vasculitis. Also, recently I was diagno…

i was reading a article about killing cancer cells with viruses. but unfortunately the article was written in October of 2004! so I was wondering if there was any new material since 2004? has this reached the point where they're conducting human trials yet?

I want to have MDs to notice this condition. All I want is for this to go away. I believe that there a lot of people where I live have this condition. MDs in my area dont diagnose this or refer people to a naturapath. That is unacceptable. In todays society there are instant remedies and prescriptions. Most people would want to get cured soon. No one is going to go through a diet and take herbs to get rid of the candida. If there was only something I could do. Is it possible to be a Microbiologist PhD and have this noticed in the medical community. I might even consider being an MD/PhD to get this through to the doctors who are treating these people.

Hi, I am interested in old 'cures' for tuberculosis. I have been reading in 'the white plague' by thomas dormandy that there was an Austrian firm that sold bottled mountain air as a possible cure for TB. This soudns really amazing to me, and therefore I wanted to know more about this (even hoped to obtain such a bottle). However, thus far I haven't found any additional information. Does anybody know: 1. if this is true (firm was called Goebel, from Gmunden, Austria, the product was called 'Luft from Ischl'). 2. Where to find more information on this. 3. where to find (a picture of) such a mountain air bottle. Thanks very much for your help.

I've started Post graduate training in Immunology 6 months ago at a particular dept of Immunology which provides, Routine Immunology, Autoimmunity, Transplant Immunology and Immunodeficiency Diagnostic & advisory services. My 1st year involves a basic orientation with Immunology in its Celllular/Molecular, Clinical & Practical Aspects. Now the basic reading list for this year goes like this: 1. Cellular and Molecular Immunology:by Abul K. Abbas MBBS, Andrew H. Lichtman MD PhD, and Shiv Pillai MD 2. Medical Immunology - Paperback (Mar. 23, 2001) by Tristram G. Parslow, Daniel P. Stites, Abba I. Terr, and John B. Imboden. 3. CLINICAL IMMUNOLOGY: A PR…

After a scare that turned out to just be a cyst (which still isn't a fun thing to have on your penis btw), I got wondering: on average, how many one-night stands do you have to have before you get a viral STD? I was expecting it to not be a strait-forward answer, but I can't find any answer anywhere... anyone got any ideas? I'm asking because I usually use a condom (long-term girlfriends excluded), but occasionally don't. I figure that if the answers, e.g., 10, then i'll have to aim to have sex w/out a condom so rarely that I only do it, say, 5 times in my life so as to minimize the risk of an incurable disease. If the answer's 20, I can do it twice as often whils…

I have this hangup about tests / window periods and how long should 1 wait for a test to be %100 conclusive. I'd really like someone to explain to me why if my body takes so long to build antibodies to 1 virus why it would not take the same amount of time for another. Lets take Herpes Type 1 vs Hep B vaccine vs HIV. Some time ago, I had a small nick (from what I thought was shaving) on my left lip and performed oral sex on my girlfriend. 10 Days later she came down ill and was diagnosed with Herpes Type 1...... I didn't think it had anything to do with me but the doctor tells me that it came from me and that's that.... A swab was never taken of my little nick, a…

So, I've just started my journey into the world of immunology and I'm already having trouble understanding a basic concept regarding complement proteins and their pathways. I understand the differences between the pathways, but for some reason cannot get something straight. When C4 levels are low, does this cause C3 to remain low through all the pathways? Also, If the complements are low, does this imply that the person will be more susceptible to bacterial and viral infections? Thanks in advance for any help.