Infections / 28.10.2024

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Asaf Levy Senior Lecturer, Assistant Professor Plant Pathology and Microbiology The Robert H Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment Hebrew University of Jerusalem MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Bacteria encode many compounds used to target neighboring microbes or cause disease in hosts, including humans. Classic antibiotics (small molecules) are one well-studied group of antimicrobials encoded by bacteria. A less-studied group consists of short protein toxins. These proteins are produced by bacteria and injected into target cells to kill them. In this study, we focused on a group of protein toxins called polymorphic toxins, which carry a short toxin domain at their end, which we termed “PTs” (an acronym for polymorphic toxins) and are roughly 100 amino acid long. We developed a new algorithm to scan 107,000 bacterial genomes and discover novel PTs encoded by these bacteria. We then experimentally confirmed 9 new PT families that can kill bacteria and pathogenic fungi, including human pathogens, such as Candida auris and Aspergillus fumigatus. We saw that two of the toxins kill cells by degrading their DNA. (more…)
Author Interviews, CMAJ, OBGYNE / 19.02.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anick Bérard PhD FISPE Research chair FRQS on Medications and Pregnancy Director, Réseau Québécois de recherche sur le médicament Professor, Research Chair on Medications, Pregnancy and Lactation Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Montrealand Director, Research Unit on Medications and Pregnancy Research Center CHU Ste-Justin   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Yeast infections are common during pregnancy (10%). Although topical treatments are first-line therapies, yeast infections during gestation are often more severe and are resistant to topical options. Hence, low dose oral fluconazole is often the treatment of choice for pregnant women (1 dose for 1 day). Human and animal studies have shown that high dose of fluconazole is teratogenic.Few studies are available for the risk associated with low dose of fluconazole (the most used during pregnancy). Also, no one has studied the combined effect of low- and high-dose fluconazole use during pregnancy on overall adverse pregnancy outcomes (spontaneous abortions, stillbirths and major malformations).  (more…)