{"title":"Gas Plasmas Gently Rid Contact Lenses, Other Surfaces of Pathogens","authors":"D. Holzman","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.238.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.238.1","url":null,"abstract":"Gas plasmas consisting of ionized air at ambient temperature can disinfect contact lenses in 2 minutes, according to Michael G. Kong of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., and his collaborators at several universities in the United Kingdom. The procedure is effective against bacteria, spores, fungi, and even cysts of Acanthamoeba protozoans, which are notoriously difficult to kill or remove from such surfaces. Thus, treating lenses with such plasmas will likely be effective in preventing keratitis, a serious inflammation of the cornea that can lead to blindness. Details appeared 18 March 2016 in Applied and Environmental Microbiology (doi:10.1128/AEM.03863–15).","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"238-239"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63639805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"US Policy Proposals for Gain-of-Function Research Raise Global Questions","authors":"J. Fox","doi":"10.1128/microbe.11.239.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/microbe.11.239.1","url":null,"abstract":"Officials seem poised to accept the updated broad framework for assessing gain-of function (GoF) research proposals that the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) developed last year, making it the basis for federal policy. As part of a painstaking vetting of those proposals, NSABB members presented their draft guidance publicly under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington, D.C., in March, asking for feedback from scientific and science policy experts.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"239-240"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63639866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Adapting to Predators in the Publishing Biome: Predatory publishers produce low-quality publications at great cost to both authors and the public, acquiring content largely through deception","authors":"Robin Hunziker","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.236.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.236.1","url":null,"abstract":"As the recipient of the email above, you might be reasonably confused about what you just read, particularly if you skipped over the footnotes. Did ASM just invite you to publish in its Journal of Bacteriology? If not, is ASM sponsoring some sort of new open access journal to build off of its Journal of Bacteriology? Is there some other connection? Unfortunately, misleading solicitations like this one are becoming increasingly common as a new breed of publisher—affectionately dubbed “predatory publishers”—continues to emerge.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"236-237"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1128/MICROBE.11.236.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63639991","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Food Sources Harbor Antibiotic-Resistant Pathogens, Part 2: Antibiotic-resistant strains from food reservoirs at the local level can quickly disseminate, leading to worldwide public health risks","authors":"Shannon Weiman","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.247.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.247.1","url":null,"abstract":"Some foods serve as important reservoirs of antibiotic-resistant bacteria—from produce to seafood, livestock, and poultry, according to researchers who presented their findings during the 2015 ICAAC held in San Diego last September. These reservoirs expose food workers and consumers to pathogens, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), extended-spectrum β-lactamase Escherichia coli (ESBL-E. coli), and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). All these pathogens may be carried asymptomatically or can cause difficult-to-treat infections, some confined to the gastrointestinal tract, while others cause more invasive disease. Due to blurring of boundaries between local and global markets, local food production practices can lead to regional and even worldwide public health risks when contaminated foods disperse resistant strains to distant locations, experts warn.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"247-252"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1128/MICROBE.11.247.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63640341","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The International Space Station: an Extreme Environment for Key Host-Microbe Discoveries: Microgravity encountered during spaceflight helps to determine how various forces influence microbes as they interact with hosts and environments","authors":"C. M. Ott, T. Marshburn, C. Nickerson","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.253.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.253.1","url":null,"abstract":"Experiments aboard the space station that test how microorganisms function in microgravity add to our understanding of how microorganisms behave in extreme environments. By reducing gravity, which has been a constant force throughout evolution, and exposing microbes to radiation in space, we can improve our understanding of microorganisms on Earth.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"253-261"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1128/MICROBE.11.253.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63640393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"PCR for Everything—Seeking Value in Speed: With faster and more comprehensive diagnostic tests becoming widely available, we need to think more carefully about whether they truly improve patient care","authors":"B. Lopansri","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.209.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.209.1","url":null,"abstract":"In the summer of 2013, a patient arrived in our emergency department with complaints of high fever and abdominal pain. She came to us straight from the airport following her return from a 3-month visit to India. Identified as septic, she was “pan-cultured,” meaning readily obtained fluids and substances were sent immediately to begin cultures. Due to concerns for bacterial gastroenteritis, she received ceftriaxone in the emergency department and ciprofloxacin after admission. Fevers continued and blood cultures yielded Escherichia coli, which was phenotypically resistant to most antibiotics, including ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin, but susceptible to “last-resort” carbapenems, which were then used to treat her.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"209-215"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1128/MICROBE.11.209.1","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63639474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Repurposing Drugs, and Fresh Outcomes from Other Familiar Sources","authors":"J. Fox","doi":"10.1128/microbe.11.193.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/microbe.11.193.1","url":null,"abstract":"In the face of new and emerging infectious disease threats, it is prudent to look back at old or even ancient sources to uncover a drug or entity that might work anew or in a different context, according to several researchers who spoke during the 2016 ASM Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting last February. Here, let us consider the old in three specific ways: revisiting licensed drugs, using old phage for new purposes, and looking at old beasts for new antimicrobials.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"193-194"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63639513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Unexpected Taxa and Mixotrophy Help To “Sink” Carbon in Oceans","authors":"B. Digregorio","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.196.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.196.1","url":null,"abstract":"In nutrient-poor regions of the ocean, several types of “unexpected taxa” are “most strongly associated with carbon export,” according to Lionel Guidi from the CNRS Laboratoire d'Oceanographie de Villefranche-sur-Mer in France and his collaborators. Separately, but also unexpectedly, mixotrophy appears to play a larger than previously appreciated role in sequestering carbon into the ocean's depths, according to Ben Ward from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and Michael Follows of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"196-197"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63639329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sequencing, Not Culture, Proved Fast Way To Find New Hot Spring Virus","authors":"C. Potera","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.195.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.195.1","url":null,"abstract":"Culture-independent methods are making it possible to discover and partly characterize viruses and their hosts straight from hot springs such as those in Yellowstone National Park (YNP)—short-circuiting the traditional approach that depends on first growing samples in vitro, according to Rebecca Hochstein at Montana State University (MSU) in Bozeman and her collaborators. In this way, they discovered the Acidianus tailed spindle virus (ATSV), which infects archaeal species found in the Crater Hills Thermal Basin of YNP. Details appeared 13 January 2016 in the Journal of Virology (doi:10.1128/JVI.03098–15).","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"195-196"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63639219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ink and LED","authors":"S. Maloy","doi":"10.1128/MICROBE.11.188.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/MICROBE.11.188.1","url":null,"abstract":"This edition of Microbe magazine marks a new experiment with digital publishing. It is our first online-only edition. It has become common for people to do more and more reading on digital devices, whether reading scientific articles at our desk or catching up with the latest news on our mobile devices.","PeriodicalId":87479,"journal":{"name":"Microbe (Washington, D.C.)","volume":"11 1","pages":"188-188"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"63638750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}