We present the first empirical study of fast-flux service networks (FFSNs), a newly emerging and still not widelyknown phenomenon in the Internet. FFSNs employ DNS to establish a proxy network on compromised machines through which illegal online services can be hosted with very high availability. Through our measurements we show that the threat which FFSNs pose is significant: FFSNs occur on a ...

Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is a gram-negative microbe involved in periodontitis. Strains with varying degrees of virulence have been identified, in healthy and periodontally compromised individuals alike. Hosts mount differential immune responses to its various serotypes and virulence factors. Studies have explored host immune response in terms of antibody titers, leukocyte responses...

The effectiveness of the potent antifungal drug fluconazole is being compromised by the rise of drug-resistant fungal pathogens. While inhibition of Hsp90 or calcineurin can reverse drug resistance in Candida, such inhibitors also impair the homologous human host protein and fungal-selective chemosensitizers remain rare. The MLPCN library was screened to identify compounds that selectively reve...

1185 Abstract The etiologic significance of Aspergillus fumigatus, a saprobic organism, has been described in a young pigeon which died due to severe respiratory distress. The fungus was easily demonstrated in the pneumonic lung both by cultural isolation as well as direct microscopy. The bird was kept in captivity and was given mouldy feed. Epidemiological investigation revealed the high conce...

Recent research suggested that plants behave differently under combined versus single abiotic and biotic stress conditions in controlled environments. While this work has provided a glimpse into how plants might behave under complex natural conditions, it also highlights the need for field experiments using established model systems. In nature, diverse microbes colonize the phyllosphere of Arab...

Patients with refractory carcinoma were treated with recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF) by intravenous (IV) infusion. During the period of treatment, studies of polymorphonuclear leukocyte superoxide (O2-) release in response to formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine (fMLP) and phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) and studies of chemotaxis in response to fMLP a...

Bacteria have traditionally been regarded as individual organisms growing in homogeneous planktonic populations. However, bacteria in natural environments usually form communities of surface-adherent organisms embedded in an extracellular matrix, called biofilms. Current antimicrobial strategies often fail to control bacteria in the biofilm mode of growth. Treatment failure is particularly freq...

Influenza virus infection triggers an increase in the number of monocyte-derived dendritic cells (moDCs) in the respiratory tract, but the role of these cells during antiviral immunity is still unclear. Here we show that during influenza infection, moDCs dominate the late activation of CD8+ T cells and trigger the switch in immunodominance of the CD8+ T-cell response from acidic polymerase spec...

The emergence of drug resistance in microbial pathogens provides a poignant example of an evolutionary process with a profound impact on human health. Fungal drug resistance poses a particular concern given the limited number of clinically useful antifungal drugs and the growing population of immunocompromised individuals vulnerable to life-threatening fungal disease [1]. The efficacy of most a...

Background The expression of catalytic phosphoinositol-3-kinase isoform δ (PI3Kδ) is restricted to the haematopoetic compartment. Accordingly, PI3Kδ serves as a drug target to eliminate leukaemic cells. However, we previously showed that PI3Kδ is indispensable for the function of natural killer (NK)-cells [1]. Thus, the therapeutic success of PI3Kδ inhibitors is likely to be compromised by unin...