Oncology & Cancer

Predicting infection risk in childhood cancer

A statistical model can accurately predict the risk of bloodstream infections in a subset of children with cancer, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Vaccination

Discovery sets stage for vaccine against gastric cancer, ulcers

H. pylori is one of the most common disease-causing bacteria. More than half of the world's population have the bacteria in their body; and while in Canada overall prevalence of H. pylori is between 20% and 30%, some groups—including ...

Medical research

Using phages to eradicate Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections

A new study describes the use of phage therapy to eradicate multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in a living organism (in vivo) with important new implications for antibiotic resistance.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Surge in gonorrhea cases in Denmark: Up by 46% between 2021 and 2022

Across the European continent, sexually transmitted infections (STI) caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae have gone up in recent years, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. New data from ...

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Antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic resistance is the ability of a microorganism to withstand the effects of antibiotics. It is a specific type of drug resistance. Antibiotic resistance evolves via natural selection acting upon random mutation, but it can also be engineered by applying an evolutionary stress on a population. Once such a gene is generated, bacteria can then transfer the genetic information in a horizontal fashion (between individuals) by plasmid exchange. If a bacterium carries several resistance genes, it is called multiresistant or, informally, a superbug. The term antimicrobial resistance is sometimes used to explicitly encompass organisms other than bacteria.

Antibiotic resistance can also be introduced artificially into a microorganism through transformation protocols. This can aid in implanting artificial genes into the microorganism. If the resistance gene is linked with the gene to be implanted, the antibiotic can be used to kill off organisms that lack the new gene.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA