DEADLY MICROBES - MICROBES USED AS A BIOLOGICAL WEAPON

Lice, Humans, and Microbes

Lice are small, wingless, minor ectoparasites of mammals and birds. More than 540  blood-sucking lice (Phthiraptera: Anoplura) have been described with each host having its own type of louse, suggesting the cospeciation of the lice species with their host. Among these, two lice species from two different genera infest humans: Pediculus humanus and Phthirus pubis (pubic “crab” l...

Potential of indigenous microbes as helping agents for

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of heavy metal tolerant soil microbes inoculation on growth and metal uptake of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), couch grass (Triticum repens) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa) in a soil spiked (and subsequently aged) with increasing concentrations of Pb. A soil sample (soil 1) was spiked with increasing (0 to 1500 mg/kg) concentrations of Pb and in...

Viscoelasticity in Biological Systems: A Special Focus on Microbes

Beneficial Microbes

Probiotics influence the immune system, both at the local and systemic level. Recent findings suggest the relation between microbiota and the immune system alters with age. Our objective was to address direct effects of six bacterial strains on immune cells from young and aged mice: Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1, Lactobacillus casei BL23, Lactococcus lactis MG1363, Bifidobacterium breve ATCC157...

Talking microbes

The popular press typically describes microorganisms mainly as diseasecausing bugs that should be eliminated using antimicrobial drugs. However, this mindset overlooks both the substantial scientific contributions gleaned from studying microbial biology and our growing understanding that different microorganisms are fundamentally distinct in ways that need to be accounted for in drug discovery ...