antibiotics

New drugs against MRSA, other superbugs still lacking

harminka — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:14:54 -0600

Infectious disease experts warn that new drugs are urgently needed to treat six drug-resistant bacteria that cause most hospital infections and increasingly escape the effects of antibiotics.

Single largest class of drugs causing liver injury

harminka — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:59:54 -0600

Antibiotics are the single largest class of agents that cause idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (DILI), reports a new study in Gastroenterology, an official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

Local retail meat safe from antibiotic-resistant organisms

harminka — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:31:46 -0500

Rhode Island Hospital researchers report that findings from a new study of retail meat in the Providence, RI area indicate little to no presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The study, prompted by the identification of such organisms in retail meat in Canada, Europe and Asia, is among the first in this country to look at the possible spread of infection through retail meat.

New chemical key that could unlock hundreds of new antibiotics

harminka — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:28:19 -0500

Chemistry researchers at The University of Warwick and the John Innes Centre, have found a novel signalling molecule that could be a key that will open up hundreds of new antibiotics unlocking them from the DNA of the Streptomyces family of bacteria.

US doctors regularly prescribe real drugs as placebo treatments

harminka — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 10:54:29 -0500

Many rheumatologists and general internal medicine physicians in the US say they regularly prescribe "placebo treatments" including active drugs such as sedatives and antibiotics, but rarely admit they are doing so to their patients, according to a study on bmj.com today.

How antibiotic sets up road block to kill bacteria

harminka — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:08:46 -0500

Scientists have taken a critical step toward the development of new and more effective antibacterial drugs by identifying exactly how a specific antibiotic sets up a road block that halts bacterial growth.

Disinfectants can make bacteria resistant to treatment

harminka — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:42:24 -0500

Chemicals used in the environment to kill bacteria could be making them stronger, according to a paper published in the October issue of the journal Microbiology. Low levels of these chemicals, called biocides, can make the potentially lethal bacterium Staphylococcus aureus remove toxic chemicals from the cell even more efficiently, potentially making it resistant to being killed by some antibiotics.

Groundbreaking discovery may lead to stronger antibiotics

harminka — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:11:55 -0500

The last decade has seen a dramatic decline in the effectiveness of antibiotics, resulting in a mounting public health crisis across the world. A new breakthrough by University of Virginia researchers provides physicians and patients a potential new approach toward the creation of less resistant and more effective antibiotics.

New way to make malaria medicine first step in finding new antibiotics

harminka — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 07:19:29 -0500

University of Illinois microbiology professor William Metcalf and his collaborators have developed a way to mass-produce an antimalarial compound, potentially making the treatment of malaria less expensive.

Toward improved antibiotics using proteins from marine diatoms

harminka — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:50:54 -0500

Researchers in Florida are reporting an advance toward tapping the enormous potential of an emerging new group of antibiotics identical to certain germ-fighting proteins found in the human immune system.

Blame underlying chest infection more than antibiotics

harminka — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:29:09 -0500

Children who are given antibiotics in their first three months often wheeze at 15 months of age. However, this wheezing is probably more due to the presence of chest infections than to the use of antibiotics.

Researchers analyze how new anti-MRSA antibiotics function

harminka — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:21:02 -0500

A new paper by Shahriar Mobashery, Navari Family Professor in Life Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, and researchers in his lab provides important insights into promising new antibiotics aimed at combating MRSA.