Should You be Worried About Ebola??

Since we are beginning the unit which covers epidemiology, I thought it would be a good time to bring up the current news topic of the continuing Ebola epidemic which is turning out to be the worst Ebola outbreak in history and has the potential to become pandemic. As you know by now, Ebola is a hemorrhagic virus which is most commonly seen in Africa. Once the infection sets in, there is a loss of many immune cells and endothelial cells resulting in an extremely weakened patient who is not only unable to put up a good fight, but will experience the breakdown of blood vessels leading to large amount of blood loss.

The article from Vox.com titled "Americans should panic about Ebola, but not because it threatens the United States" focuses on the idea of what is happening now with the virus to make it a more formidable threat later. There is speculation that mutations in the virus are leading to Ebola becoming endemic in West Africa so that it ..."becomes a constant threat rather than an episodic one.". The article goes on to discuss the potential ramifications of endemic Ebola for global travel, health care, business, and the human condition in general. Ebola may not be a direct threat to kill you in the U.S., but in terms of worldwide human suffering, it is worthy of great concern.

Read the entire article here: http://www.vox.com/2014/10/14/6971585/ebola-panic-africa-america

Excuse Me, Can I Borrow a Cup of ATP?

There is a popular belief that eukaryotic mitochondria are a result of co-evolution of primitive eukaryotes and their prokaryotic symbiotes.  The hypothesis of this co-evolution stems mainly from the fact that eukaryotic mitochondria have several characteristics which resemble bacteria which no other organelle (besides chloroplasts in plants) possess. These characteristics include circular DNA, 70s ribosomes and reproduction via binary fission.

Many of the stories speculate that the relationship was a mutualistic one where both the eukaryotic cell and the prokaryote found benefit in their union, but a new study is showing evidence that the prokaryote may have been an energy parasite.

An article published at ScienceDaily.com reports on a University of Virginia study that used DNA sequencing to compare the genomes of bacterial species thought to be closely related to mitochondria. The researchers are predicting that the prokaryotic parasites actually took ATP from the host cell but after successive generations began to switch the direction of ATP transport and became beneficial to the host.

You can read the entire article here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141016165955.htm

DNA Sequencing: A new Tool in the Diagnostic Toolbox

An article from Popsci.com titled "DNA Sequencing Diagnoses Boy's Mysterious Bacterial Disease", gives an account of the diagnosis of Leptospira infection in a boy who was not showing the typical signs of this type of infection. When traditional means of diagnosis were not successful in identifying the cause of the boy's illness, experimental DNA sequencing was successful. Click the link below to read more about this beginning of the genetic revolution in medicine.

Read more: http://www.popsci.com/article/science/dna-sequencing-diagnoses-boys-mysterious-bacterial-disease

Just Creeping Along...

A report published by Max Planck Gessellschaft in Germany, titled "The Pirate in the Microbe" discusses research involved the "Twitching Fimbriae". We discussed this type of cell mobility in Module 2 using Psuedomonas aeruginosa as a model organism. The P. aeruginosa  "throws"grappling hook-like fimbriae out to attach to a substrate and then moved along the substrate as the fimbriae contracted.

This article focuses on work with Neisseria gonorrhoeae and thoughts on how the direction of movement is chosen. I found it interesting that the path of movement may come down to which fimbriae contracts the strongest leading to a mostly random "decision" of where to go.

Click here to read the original article.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae fimbriae
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