Background: The Persian Gulf is a suitable habitat for various types of marine species. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the epidemiology and clinical findings of injuries inflicted by marine creatures in the Persian Gulf, south Iran. Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, medical records of patients with diagnosis of marine animal exposures treated at 6 refe...

Marine bacteria are microrganisms that have adapted, through millions of years, to survival in environments often characterized by one or more extreme physical or chemical parameters, namely pressure, temperature and salinity. The main interest in the research on marine bacteria is due to their ability to produce several biologically active molecules, such as antibiotics, toxins and antitoxins,...

In this contribution, we propose a new synthetic approach to tetrodotoxin (TTX), one of the most famous marine toxins that, after first preparing functionalized linear substrate, forms cyclohexane core from substrate utilizing our mercuric triflate (Hg(OTf)2)-catalyzed cycloisomerization reaction. The concept was applied synthesis 11-nor-6,7,8-trideoxyTTX and 11-nor-4,9-anhydro-6,7,8-trideoxyTT...

The long-term consequences of climate change and potential environmental degradation are likely to include aspects of disease emergence in marine plants and animals. In turn, these emerging diseases may have epizootic potential, zoonotic implications, and a complex pathogenesis involving other cofactors such as anthropogenic contaminant burden, genetics, and immunologic dysfunction. The concept...

A convergent biomimetic synthesis of hemibrevetoxin B from d-glucal and d-arabinose utilizes an electrophile-promoted cascade anti-Baldwin cyclization of an epoxy alcohol. The epoxy alcohol arises from a palladium-catalyzed coupling of a highly functionalized organozinc compound and an alkenyl iodide, which serve as two chiral building blocks of similar size and complexity. This first successfu...

Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is a common foodborne disease related to the consumption of subtropical and tropical marine finfish which have accumulated naturally occurring toxins through their diet. The concerned –ciguatoxic -fish are either feeding on small algae species known as dinoflagellates or feeding on toxic herbivore fish. The main toxic dinoflagellate is Gambierdicus toxicus which i...

Reports of illness after exposure to marine water appear to be increasing, and there is evidence that the rate of infection is proportional to both the amount of time swimmers are exposed and the levels of pollution in the waters where they swim. In this issue, researchers from Harvard University led by Sarah E. Henrickson conclude that human activities are contributing to illnesses associated ...

Marine bacterial isolates cultured from the digestive tracts of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) contaminated with paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) were screened for the ability to reduce the toxicity of a PST mixture. Seven isolates reduced the overall toxicity of the algal extract by > or = 90% within 3 days. These isolates shared at least 99% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with five Pseudoa...

The story starts in November 1995 with an incident of human food poisoning in the Netherlands following the consumption of blue mussels, Mytilus edulis, that had been harvested in Killary Harbour, Ireland. The symptoms--nausea, vomiting, severe diarrhea, and stomach cramps--were similar to diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP). Levels of DSP toxins in the mussels, however, were found to be very ...

UNLABELLED Members of the genus Vibrio include many pathogens of humans and marine animals that share genetic information via horizontal gene transfer. Hence, the Vibrio pan-genome carries the potential to establish new pathogenic strains by sharing virulence determinants, many of which have yet to be characterized. Here, we investigated the virulence properties of Vibrio proteolyticus, a Gram-...