Mar 17, 2016 07:27 PM
(This post was last modified: Mar 17, 2016 07:28 PM by C C.)
Can these next-gen antibiotics defend against bioterrorism?
http://www.futurity.org/bioterrorism-ant...1121832-2/
EXCERPT: Early tests of radically redesigned antibiotics suggest the drugs could bolster defenses against biowarfare and bioterrorism. [...] “There are many pathogens that are resistant to all existing antibiotics—if you are infected with one of these totally resistant strains and show up in the clinic there’s nothing the doctors can do for you,” says Keiler. “If your immune system can fight off the infection, you’ll survive and if it can’t, you die. It’s back to pre-1940s-era medicine. If we don’t develop new drugs and the resistant genes are going to continue to spread, more and more diseases will become untreatable.”
He suggests that because the researchers are using a new compound and targeting a new pathway, Franscisella tularensis—and possibly other pathogens—may struggle to adapt resistance to the treatment. “One of the good things about our compounds is this is a new chemical, so it’s unrelated to any of the existing drugs, which means maybe there may not be enzymes out there to modify those drugs and inactivate them,” says Keiler. “Although we won’t know that until we get into the clinic....”
What Is a Tully Monster? Scientists Finally Think They Know
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-na...180958422/
EXCERPT: The oddball fossil that puzzled experts for almost 60 years . . . Now, an international team says they have at last cracked the mystery, and their answer overturns every other theory offered to date. Depending on who you asked, the Tully Monster could have been related to ribbon worms, snails, eel-like protovertebrates called conodonts or other ancient oddballs, like another nozzle-nosed creature called Opabinia. But based on studies of more than 1,200 fossil specimens, the researchers say the Tully Monster was really a vertebrate, specifically, a type of fish akin to modern lampreys. If they're right, the fossil changes what we know about the history of these aquatic bloodsuckers. “Instead of being a small, conservative lineage of bloodsucking fish, lampreys are inferred to have undergone a dramatic diversification, achieving some outlandish body plans and long forgotten modes of life,” says University of Manchester paleontologist Rob Sansom....
http://www.futurity.org/bioterrorism-ant...1121832-2/
EXCERPT: Early tests of radically redesigned antibiotics suggest the drugs could bolster defenses against biowarfare and bioterrorism. [...] “There are many pathogens that are resistant to all existing antibiotics—if you are infected with one of these totally resistant strains and show up in the clinic there’s nothing the doctors can do for you,” says Keiler. “If your immune system can fight off the infection, you’ll survive and if it can’t, you die. It’s back to pre-1940s-era medicine. If we don’t develop new drugs and the resistant genes are going to continue to spread, more and more diseases will become untreatable.”
He suggests that because the researchers are using a new compound and targeting a new pathway, Franscisella tularensis—and possibly other pathogens—may struggle to adapt resistance to the treatment. “One of the good things about our compounds is this is a new chemical, so it’s unrelated to any of the existing drugs, which means maybe there may not be enzymes out there to modify those drugs and inactivate them,” says Keiler. “Although we won’t know that until we get into the clinic....”
What Is a Tully Monster? Scientists Finally Think They Know
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-na...180958422/
EXCERPT: The oddball fossil that puzzled experts for almost 60 years . . . Now, an international team says they have at last cracked the mystery, and their answer overturns every other theory offered to date. Depending on who you asked, the Tully Monster could have been related to ribbon worms, snails, eel-like protovertebrates called conodonts or other ancient oddballs, like another nozzle-nosed creature called Opabinia. But based on studies of more than 1,200 fossil specimens, the researchers say the Tully Monster was really a vertebrate, specifically, a type of fish akin to modern lampreys. If they're right, the fossil changes what we know about the history of these aquatic bloodsuckers. “Instead of being a small, conservative lineage of bloodsucking fish, lampreys are inferred to have undergone a dramatic diversification, achieving some outlandish body plans and long forgotten modes of life,” says University of Manchester paleontologist Rob Sansom....