Tag: Bacteria

Could Your Cat Give You the Plague?

Officials in Deschutes County, Ore., announced last week that a local resident had been diagnosed with the plague — and that the resident had probably been infected by a pet cat. The cat, which was symptomatic, died from the infection, but the human patient is currently recovering, said Emily Horton, a public health program manager […]

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Quaker Oats Recalls More Products Over Potential Salmonella Contamination

The Quaker Oats Company added more products this week to a recall that started last month over possible salmonella contamination, raising the total number of products to more than 60. Quaker Oats, which is owned by PepsiCo, initially recalled 43 products, including granola bars, cereals and various snack foods. On Thursday, the company added 24 […]

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Turning history of science into a comic adventure

The Covid-19 pandemic taught us how complex the science and management of infectious disease can be, as the public grappled with rapidly evolving science, shifting and contentious policies, and mixed public health messages. The purpose of scientific communication is to make the complexity of such topics engaging and accessible while also making sure the information […]

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The Destruction of Gaza’s Health Care Promises Grave Consequences

I started training to be a doctor in the aftermath of the gulf war. It was a dark time to commit to a career of healing. U.S. sanctions and relentless bombings had decimated our medical infrastructure and endangered our access to medical supplies. Surrounded by devastation, we fought to heal, to operate, to comfort — […]

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China Respiratory Illness: U.S. Health Officials Say Cause is Known

A small group of Republican senators on Friday called on President Biden to ban travel from China to protect against an outbreak of respiratory illnesses in children there, even as scientists and global and American health officials said there were no signs of a threatening new pathogen. Instead, those experts said, the evidence so far […]

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Exactly How Much Life is on Earth?

What’s in a number? According to a recent calculation by a team of biologists and geologists, there are a more living cells on Earth — a million trillion trillion, or 10^30 in math notation, a 1 followed by 30 zeros — than there are stars in the universe or grains of sand on our planet. […]

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Search algorithm reveals nearly 200 new kinds of CRISPR systems

Microbial sequence databases contain a wealth of information about enzymes and other molecules that could be adapted for biotechnology. But these databases have grown so large in recent years that they’ve become difficult to search efficiently for enzymes of interest. Now, scientists at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, the Broad Institute of […]

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How Viral Infections Cause Long-Term Health Problems

Every day, Davida Wynn sets herself one task: Take a bath. Or wash the dishes. Or make an elaborate meal. By the end of the chore, she is exhausted and has to sit or lie down, sometimes falling asleep wherever she happens to be. “Anything beyond that is truly excruciating,” Ms. Wynn, 42, said. Her […]

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Microbes could help reduce the need for chemical fertilizers

Production of chemical fertilizers accounts for about 1.5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. MIT chemists hope to help reduce that carbon footprint by replacing some chemical fertilizer with a more sustainable source — bacteria. Bacteria that can convert nitrogen gas to ammonia could not only provide nutrients that plants need, but also help […]

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A New Way to Prevent S.T.I.s: A Pill After Sex

Why It Matters: Rates of S.T.I.s are skyrocketing. In 2021, there were 1.6 million cases of chlamydia, more than 700,000 cases of gonorrhea and nearly 177,000 cases of syphilis in the United States, together tallying up to $1.1 billion in direct medical costs. (Rates of babies born with syphilis also soared that year, with nearly […]

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Warming Oceans May Raise Risk of Bacterial Infections

On a warm day in early July, Ed Houlihan guided kayakers on a four-mile trip on Cape Cod from Popponesset Bay up the Mashpee River to a freshwater pond. It was three hours of paddling round trip, but afterward Mr. Houlihan, 83, felt no worse for wear — at first. Five days later, his left […]

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Smart pill can track key biological markers in real-time

Researchers from MIT, Boston University, and elsewhere report a smart pill the size of a blueberry that could be a game changer in the diagnosis and treatment of bowel diseases. That’s because it is the first technology compatible with ingestion that can automatically detect — and report on in real time — key biological molecules […]

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Bruce Springsteen Is Treated for Symptoms of Peptic Ulcer Disease. What Is It?

Bruce Springsteen announced on Wednesday night that he would be postponing September shows because he is being treated for symptoms of peptic ulcer disease. Such symptoms are common, said Dr. William Chey, chief of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at Michigan Medicine, and typically include nausea and burning, stabbing pain in the upper abdomen […]

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Technologies for water conservation and treatment move closer to commercialization

The Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) provides Solutions Grants to help MIT researchers launch startup companies or products to commercialize breakthrough technologies in water and food systems. The Solutions Grant Program began in 2015 and is supported by Community Jameel. In addition to one-year, renewable grants of up to $150,000, the […]

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Tiny magnetic beads produce an optical signal that could be used to quickly detect pathogens

Getting results from a blood test can take anywhere from one day to a week, depending on what a test is targeting. The same goes for tests of water pollution and food contamination. And in most cases, the wait time has to do with time-consuming steps in sample processing and analysis. Now, MIT engineers have […]

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