Toward an alternative for antibiotics to fight bacterial infections?

Public release date: 3-Jul-2012
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Contact: Sooike Stoops
sooike.stoops@vib.be
32-474-289-252
VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology)

VIB researcher Mohamed Lamkanfi, connected to the Ghent University, discovered that mice that do not produce the receptor protein NLRP6, are better protected against bacterial infections and can easier remove bacteria from the body. Therapeutic drugs that neutralize NLRP6 could be a possible treatment option, in addition to the use of antibiotics, for fighting bacterial infections. His research was published in the leading scientific magazine Nature.

Mohamed Lamkanfi (VIB Ghent University): "Our lab investigates the role of the innate immunity, which is of crucial importance to protect the body against bacteria and other pathogens. We started looking for genetic mutations that lead to an increased sensitivity to infections. Our research showed that mice with NLRP6 are less resistant to bacteria and have greater difficulty removing the bacteria from the body. This NLRP6 plays a disastrous role in the entire process."

New therapeutic track?

The discovery of Mohamed Lamkanfi is not insignificant. The first line treatment for bacterial infections is and will remain antibiotics, of course. However, due to the intensive use of antibiotics in the fight against infections, also the resistance of the bacteria grows against this group of medicines. Sometimes this makes it much more difficult for doctors to treat a patient efficiently.

Mohamed Lamkanfi: "Our search for products to help immune systems in the fight against bacterial infections is very important. In spite of the availability of antibiotics bacterial infections continue to pose a serious threat to public health all over the world. Now that we have exposed the role of the receptor protein NLRP6 in the immune response, we can start thinking about the clinical application thereof for the treatment of bacterial infections. A vaccine, in my opinion, seems less suitable, but a medicine that neutralizes the receptor protein NLRP6, is a possibility. Of course not in the immediate future, but it does deserve all the attention to research this further."

###

---

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 3-Jul-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Sooike Stoops
sooike.stoops@vib.be
32-474-289-252
VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology)

VIB researcher Mohamed Lamkanfi, connected to the Ghent University, discovered that mice that do not produce the receptor protein NLRP6, are better protected against bacterial infections and can easier remove bacteria from the body. Therapeutic drugs that neutralize NLRP6 could be a possible treatment option, in addition to the use of antibiotics, for fighting bacterial infections. His research was published in the leading scientific magazine Nature.

Mohamed Lamkanfi (VIB Ghent University): "Our lab investigates the role of the innate immunity, which is of crucial importance to protect the body against bacteria and other pathogens. We started looking for genetic mutations that lead to an increased sensitivity to infections. Our research showed that mice with NLRP6 are less resistant to bacteria and have greater difficulty removing the bacteria from the body. This NLRP6 plays a disastrous role in the entire process."

New therapeutic track?

The discovery of Mohamed Lamkanfi is not insignificant. The first line treatment for bacterial infections is and will remain antibiotics, of course. However, due to the intensive use of antibiotics in the fight against infections, also the resistance of the bacteria grows against this group of medicines. Sometimes this makes it much more difficult for doctors to treat a patient efficiently.

Mohamed Lamkanfi: "Our search for products to help immune systems in the fight against bacterial infections is very important. In spite of the availability of antibiotics bacterial infections continue to pose a serious threat to public health all over the world. Now that we have exposed the role of the receptor protein NLRP6 in the immune response, we can start thinking about the clinical application thereof for the treatment of bacterial infections. A vaccine, in my opinion, seems less suitable, but a medicine that neutralizes the receptor protein NLRP6, is a possibility. Of course not in the immediate future, but it does deserve all the attention to research this further."

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-07/vfi-taa070312.php

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Tornado crash mission enters recovery phase

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/search-missing-raf-pilots-resume-085508056.html

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Conservative Kids' White House Protest Ruined by Suspicious Package

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/conservative-kids-white-house-protest-ruined-suspicious-package-221238994.html

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Plant's Chemistry Gets Mice To Spit Seeds

60-Second Science | More Science

Rodents feeding on sweet mignonette love the fruit, but dislike the spicy seeds. So they spit them out, thereby dispersing them--to the plant's benefit. Karen Hopkin reports.

June 14, 2012

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How does a Venus flytrap know when to snap shut? Can it actually feel an insect?s tiny, spindly legs? And how do cherry blossoms know when to bloom? Can they...

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Plants that use animals to disperse their seeds can find themselves in a pickle. They need to make fruit tasty enough to entice the local fauna. But they also need to make sure that their animal assistants don?t digest the very seeds they?re meant to spread.

In Israel?s Negev Desert, a plant called sweet mignonette came up with a distasteful strategy. Critters called spiny mice feed on mignonette. They love the fruit. But they hate the seeds. And so they spit them out all over the place. Just as the plant planned. That?s according to a study in the journal Current Biology. [Michal Samuni-Blank et al, Intraspecific Directed Deterrence by the Mustard Oil Bomb in a Desert Plant]

Sweet mignonette produces little black berries that house about 20 seeds apiece. Inside those seeds is an enzyme. When a berry-chomping mouse crushes a seed, the enzyme is freed up to produce compounds that taste like hot mustard. Hence, ptooey, better leaving through chemistry.

Researchers armed with video cameras observed the mice spitting the pits like kids eating watermelon on a summer day. Nearly three-quarters of the spit-soaked seeds landed intact?and they actually germinated twice as fast as seeds taken directly from the fruit itself. It?s like a Dickens book: Great Expectorations.

?Karen Hopkin

[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast]
?

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U.S. military to observe gay pride month in June

By Pauline Jelinek

Associated Press

POSTED: 02:06 p.m. HST, Jun 14, 2012

AP

In this June 13, 2012 file photo, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Officials said today that they're planning the first-ever event to recognize gay and lesbian troops.
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WASHINGTON ? Last summer, gays in the military dared not admit their sexual orientation. This summer, the Pentagon will salute them, marking June as gay pride month just as it has marked other celebrations honoring racial or ethnic groups.

In the latest remarkable sign of change since the military repealed the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, the Defense Department will soon hold its first event to recognize gay and lesbian troops. It comes nine months after repeal of the policy that had banned gay troops from serving openly and forced more than 13,500 service members out of the armed forces.

Details are still being worked out, but officials say Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wants to honor the contributions of gay service members.

"Now that we've repealed 'don't ask, don't tell,' he feels it's important to find a way this month to recognize the service and professionalism of gay and lesbian troops," said Navy Capt. John Kirby, a spokesman.

This month's event will follow a long tradition in the Pentagon of recognizing diversity in America's armed forces. Hallway displays and activities, for example, have marked Black History Month and Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month.

Before the repeal, gay troops could serve but couldn't reveal their orientation. If they did, they would be discharged. At the same time, a commanding officer was prohibited from asking a service member is he or she was gay.

Although some feared repeal of the ban on serving openly would cause problems in the ranks, officials and gay advocacy groups say no big issues have materialized ? aside from what advocacy groups criticize as slow implementation of some changes, such as benefit entitlements to troops in same-sex marriages.

Basic changes have come rapidly since repeal ? the biggest that gay and lesbian soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines no longer have to hide their sexuality in order to serve. They can put photos on their office desk without fear of being outed, attend social events with their partners and openly join advocacy groups looking out for their interests.

OutServe, a once-clandestine professional association for gay service members, has nearly doubled in size to more than 5,500 members. It held its first national convention of gay service members in Las Vegas last fall, then a conference on family issues this year in Washington.

At West Point, the alumni gay advocacy group Knights Out was able to hold the first installment in March of what is intended to be an annual dinner in recognition of gay and lesbian graduates and Army cadets. Gay students at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis were able to take same-sex dates to the academy's Ring Dance for third-year midshipmen.

Panetta said last month that military leaders had concluded that repeal had not affected morale or readiness. A report to Panetta with assessments from the individual military service branches said that as of May 1 they had seen no ill effects.

"I don't think it's just moving along smoothly, I think it's accelerating faster than we even thought the military would as far as progress goes," said Air Force 1st Lt. Josh Seefried, a finance officer and co-director of OutServe.

He said acceptance has been broad among straight service members and has put a spotlight on unequal treatment that gays continue to receive in some areas. "We are seeing such tremendous progress in how much the military is accepting us, but not only that ? in how much the rank and file is now understanding the inequality that's existing right now," he said.

That's a reference to the fact that same-sex couples aren't afforded spousal health care, assignments to the same location when they transfer to another job, and other benefits. There was no immediate change to eligibility standards for military benefits in September. All service members already were entitled to certain things, such as designating a partner as one's life insurance beneficiary or as designated caregiver in the Wounded Warrior program.

As for other benefits still not approved, the department began a review after repeal with an eye toward possibly extending eligibility, consistent with the federal Defense of Marriage Act and other applicable laws, to the same-sex partners of military personnel.

"The department is carefully and deliberately reviewing the benefits from a policy, fiscal, legal, and feasibility perspective," Eileen Lainez, a Pentagon spokeswoman said Thursday.

Gay marriage has been perhaps the most difficult issue.

Though chaplains on bases in some states are allowed to hold what the Pentagon officials call "private services" ? they don't use the words wedding or marriage ? such unions do not garner marriages benefits because the Defense of Marriage Act says marriage is between a man and a woman.

The policy known as "don't ask, don't tell" was in force for 18 years, and its repeal was a slow and deliberate process.

President Barack Obama on Dec. 22, 2010, signed legislation repealing it. Framing the issue as a matter of civil rights long denied, Obama said that "we are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot ... a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal."

The military then did an assessment for several months to certify that the forces were prepared to implement it in a way that would not hurt military readiness. And it held training for its 2.25 million-person force to inform everyone of the coming change and what was expected.

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Why hot, humid air triggers symptoms in patients with mild asthma

ScienceDaily (June 6, 2012) ? May is asthma awareness month, and with summer right around the corner, a study shows that doctors may be closer to understanding why patients with mild asthma have such difficulty breathing during hot, humid weather. The study, appearing in the June print issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, found that patients who inhaled an asthma drug before breathing in hot, humid air were able to prevent airway constriction that volunteers without asthma did not experience in the same environment.

Ipratropium, a drug occasionally used for asthma, prevents airway muscle contraction and increases airflow to the lungs. Its success in combating the air temperature response suggests that hot, humid air triggers asthma symptoms by activating airway sensory nerves that are sensitive to an increase in temperature.

"We know that breathing cold, dry air induces airway constriction in asthmatics," said Don Hayes, MD, medical director of the Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Program at Nationwide Children's Hospital. "But the effects that temperature increases have on airway function in these patients are generally overlooked. We know very little about the mechanisms that cause symptoms when asthmatic patients are exposed to hot, humid air."

Dr. Hayes and his colleagues at the University of Kentucky Medical Center (where Dr. Hayes was on staff prior to joining Nationwide Children's late last year) enrolled patients with mild asthma and healthy controls in a study to assess their pulmonary reaction to hot, humid air. Six asthmatic patients (ranging from 21 years of age to 26) and six healthy subjects (between 19 and 46) were asked to breathe into a device designed to deliver air at certain desired temperatures and humidity levels. The device produced a humidified gas mixture of air either hot or room temperature. Subjects breathed via a mouthpiece into this free stream of air for four minutes and were asked to pant. Investigators measured participants' airway resistance before and for 16 minutes immediately following the challenge. They also measured body temperature, heart rate, arterial blood pressure and oxygen saturation before and afterward.

Results showed that breathing of hot, humid air triggered an immediate increase in airway resistance in patients with mild asthma, but caused either only a very small or no response in healthy subjects. Breathing hot, humid air also triggered consistent coughs in those with asthma. When the asthmatic participants used an ipratropium aerosol before the challenge, they did not experience airway constriction.

"We don't fully understand the mechanisms underlying these responses," said Dr. Hayes, who is the study's primary author.

A recent study by the same research group found that airway sensory nerves called C-fiber nerves were activated with the temperature within the chest was elevated to about 102 degrees Fahrenheit. These data were developed in Lu-Yuan Lee's, MD, laboratory at the University of Kentucky using animal models. Dr. Lee's laboratory has a 20-year history of National Institutes of Health funding to study C-fiber sensory nerves in the lung.

"When C-fiber sensory nerves are stimulated, a number of pulmonary defense reflex responses can occur, including cough and bronchoconstriction," said Dr. Hayes, also a faculty member at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

"This study is a good example of how we can translate findings from a research laboratory into a better understanding and more in-depth knowledge about how to prevent and treat diseases in patients," said Dr. Lee.

Dr. Hayes says further research is needed to completely understand how patients' bodies react to hot and humid air and is planning such studies at Nationwide Children's. Overall, he says that this data provides evidence to support that ambient air temperatures and humidity levels are very important in asthma and this research introduces potential new drug targets for the treatment of asthma.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. D. Hayes, P. B. Collins, M. Khosravi, R.-L. Lin, L.-Y. Lee. Bronchoconstriction Triggered by Breathing Hot Humid Air in Patients with Asthma: Role of Cholinergic Reflex. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2012; 185 (11): 1190 DOI: 10.1164/rccm.201201-0088OC

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Luxury Homes and New Construction Real Estate in Franklin, MA

Building a new luxury home in Franklin, MA requires time, patience and money. One example of recent new construction in Franklin is a $940,000 custom colonial with approximately 4,500 square feet of living space. Ground breaking will begin soon.

Every facet of the home is described to the nth degree; suppliers were visited for the first time with many future visits to occur, and an architectural plan has been designed that will continue to be tweaked as construction proceeds. There were numerous builder/buyer/agent meetings at the lot and in the office. Selecting the right lot and placing the home properly on that lot are critical for the best exposure to the sun and creatively designing rooms with the right sized windows.

Builders who are using green building resources and buyers designing custom homes are very conscious of these sustainable materials. Composite items are used inside and out. Trex, Hardiplank and Certainteed are just a few of the most popular names. Newly constructed Franklin homes now commonly use materials such as rigid foam insulation, siding that is a wood-cement material and structural materials made of engineered wood, just to name a few.

Luxury Resale Homes

Due to the reduced land costs, new construction can now be purchased at a righteous price compared to previous years. Luxury resale homes cannot compete with this reduced offering for new luxury homes with the latest energy efficiency and many new sustainable products. Many luxury resale homes are selling for their original purchase price, some are selling for less than the original purchase price, and many are short sales because of the competition created by luxury new home sales in Franklin. One can actually build a new luxury home for a price that?s more reasonable than the resale home because the lot costs are greatly reduced.

Some of those resale homeowners who were previously top executives of companies are now unemployed and cannot afford their mortgage payments. Luxury homes in Franklin, MA can be purchased at a ?respectable price.?

Luxury Houses for Rent in Franklin

Some homeowners are not ready to unload their luxury homes, so they have opted to move to a more modest home and lease that luxury home. The rental market in Franklin, MA is very strong. Luxury houses for rent in Franklin are renting for $4,500 to $5,000 per month. They rent quickly to executives who have been transferred to the Franklin area. These are executives who are not certain if their new jobs are secure, and rather than commit to a purchase, they lease for a year. Renting a luxury home is their best option at this time, and Franklin is a very desirable town for growing families. Our schools are very good, and our athletic programs are spectacular.

New Construction and the Franklin Real Estate Market

The luxury home market has been nonexistent for the past four years in Franklin. The year 2010 was the bottom of the new construction market. Land was not selling and builders were not building luxury or standard-sized new homes in Franklin.

As the resale market continues to improve, builders are seeing daylight again. Homeowners who are now able to sell their resale homes are considering buying larger, young resale homes. The young resale homeowners are the new homebuyers for the luxury home market. These are the buyers who will make two moves in order to secure their new luxury home. They are storing their furniture and renting for a year while they watch their new custom home being built.

There are new construction subdivisions being introduced to the market; individual lots are being purchased by small builders and medium priced homes are under construction on those lots. Custom homes are gaining strength at a slow but steady pace, and this new construction activity is like an injection of a mild steroid. The Franklin luxury home market will gain strength and redeem itself as first- and second-time homebuyers gain the strength and courage to participate in the real estate market again. It?s a domino effect and it works both ways. The high-end homes fall first, and they are the last to stand up straight again. It?s encouraging to witness this turnaround in the Franklin, MA luxury home market with emphasis on new construction. It?s a breath of fresh air to all real estate agents.

Written by Barbara Todaro

Tagged as: franklin, luxury, massachussetts, new construction, new home, real estate, rental, renting

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