Latest news with #EnvironmentalMicrobiology
Mint
16-06-2025
- Health
- Mint
Aspergillus fumigatus, lethal fungus spreading across US raises alarm — Florida, Texas, California & more states at risk
A deadly fungus that can rot human tissue from within is rapidly spreading across the United States, with experts sounding alarm over rising temperatures, widespread drug resistance, and the lack of national disease tracking. According to a report in The Daily Mail, the airborne fungus Aspergillus fumigatus is nearly impossible to avoid and poses an especially grave risk to individuals with weakened immune systems. The fungus causes aspergillosis, a serious lung infection that can lead to organ failure and death, particularly in cancer, asthma, or HIV patients. As the news report notes, its spores are so small they are inhaled without notice. Once inside the lungs, the fungus can trigger chronic infections or even spread to the brain, heart, and kidneys in more invasive forms. Despite its danger, aspergillosis is not a reportable disease in the US — meaning infections, hospitalizations, and fatalities are not systematically tracked, making outbreaks difficult to identify. Citing health data, the news outlet reported that invasive aspergillosis hospitalisations in the US rose by around 3% annually between 2000 and 2013. By 2014, nearly 15,000 hospital stays were linked to the infection, costing an estimated $1.2 billion. Intensive care autopsies also revealed it ranks among the top four infections most likely to cause death. Around 400,000 people are estimated to suffer from chronic pulmonary aspergillosis, the long-term form of the disease. Invasive cases, though less common, are far more fatal — with only 59% of organ transplant patients surviving a year after infection, and just 25% of stem cell transplant patients, according to studies cited by The Daily Mail. The fungus thrives in warm, damp environments and can survive temperatures above 120°F in compost piles. According to The Daily Mail, the highest exposure levels are being recorded in Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, and California — states with hot, humid climates and extensive farming activity. Dense urban centers like New York, Houston, and Los Angeles are also vulnerable due to aging infrastructure and population density. A University of Manchester study warned, the news report stated, that if fossil fuel use continues unchecked, Aspergillus fumigatus could expand by over 75% by 2100, putting millions more at risk across the southern US. Perhaps most concerning is the rising drug resistance. Azole antifungal drugs — commonly used to treat human infections — are also widely applied in agriculture to protect crops. Experts cited by the news outlet said that this practice may be driving environmental resistance, with drug-resistant fungal spores jumping from soil to humans. A study in Applied and Environmental Microbiology found azole-resistant strains of Aspergillus fumigatus in farm soils across at least seven US states. Some strains are resistant to multiple standard treatments, and the mixing of fungal types may be accelerating the resistance crisis. The World Health Organization has named Aspergillus fumigatus a "critical priority" due to its high mortality rates and the increasing threat of untreatable infections. The news outlet reported that the WHO is urging global investment in new antifungal drugs, faster diagnostic tools, improved hospital protocols, and enhanced training for healthcare professionals. The organization is also calling on pharmaceutical firms to include children in clinical trials for fungal treatments. Doctors are advising those with compromised immune systems to avoid gardening, soil, and moldy environments, wear protective masks in dusty areas, and ensure clean air circulation in hospitals and homes. US hospitals have begun strengthening mold inspections and antifungal protocols in response to the growing concern.
Time of India
23-04-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Scientists discover a new organism that conducts electricity
Looks like scientists have found a new cousin to the eels! Well, not another eel , but a bacterium that can conduct electricity. And no, it doesn't zap, but it does work like biological wiring hidden in the mud. The findings are published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology . The novel species of bacteria act as electrical wiring, and could hold the potential to develop bioelectronic devices for use in medicine, industry, food safety, and environmental monitoring and cleanup. The researchers discovered the cable bacteria species in a mud flat at the Oregon coast and named it Ca. Electrothrix yaqonensis is named in honor of the Native Americans of the region where the species was found. Poll Would you support funding for further research on bioelectronic applications of bacteria? No Yes Cheng Li, who was a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon State University at the time of the research, and Clare Reimers, distinguished professor emerita in the OSU College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, identified the new species. Provided by Cheng Li The new cable bacteria have rod-shaped cells connected in a line, with a shared outer membrane, forming filaments that can reach several centimeters in length. Though conductivity is unusual among bacteria, this is an adapted process to optimize their metabolic processes in the sediment environments in which they live. The new organism shares similarities with the Ca. Electrothrix genus and the other known cable bacteria genus, Ca. Electronema, in terms of metabolic pathways and genes. 'This new species seems to be a bridge, an early branch within the Ca. Electrothrix clade, which suggests it could provide new insights into how these bacteria evolved and how they might function in different environments,' Li said. 'It stands out from all other described cable bacteria species in terms of its metabolic potential, and it has distinctive structural features, including pronounced surface ridges, up to three times wider than those seen in other species, that house highly conductive fibers made of unique, nickel-based molecules.' The fibers are responsible for the bacteria's ability to perform long-distance electron transport, linking oxygen or nitrate at the surface with sulfide deeper in the sediment. This ability to carry out chemical reactions over distance makes them important for sediment chemistry and nutrient cycling. 'These bacteria can transfer electrons to clean up pollutants, so they could be used to remove harmful substances from sediments. Also, their design of a highly conductive nickel protein can possibly inspire new bioelectronics,' Li added. FULL I Big Update On Trump Tariffs; '18 Proposals On Paper. Terms With India...' I Karoline Leavitt Cable bacteria can live in both freshwater and saltwater environments, and also thrive in diverse climatic conditions. The new organism gets its name, Ca. Electrothrix yaqonensis from the Yaqona people, whose ancestral lands encompassed Yaquina Bay. Yaqona referred to the bay and river that made up much of their homeland, as well as to the people themselves. representative img 'Naming an ecologically important bacterium after a Tribe recognizes its historical bond with the land and acknowledges its enduring contributions to ecological knowledge and sustainability,' Li further added. (Pic courtesy: Cheng Li)
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
A Queen Bee Lives 20 Times Longer Than Her Workers. Scientists Want to Steal Her Secrets For Humanity.
Upcoming research funded by the UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) will investigate the secrets of longevity in honeybee queens. Queens eat royal jelly, which has antioxidants and less sugar than the honey tkhat workers eat. This is thought to be part of the reasons queens outlive worker bees. The gut bacteria of queen bees are thought to be connected to their much longer lifespans as well. If you ever bought a bottle of vitamins, you've probably seen supplements touting the benefits of royal jelly—a substance worker bees secrete from their glands—on the shelf nearby. It can also be found in anti-aging skincare. And it turns out, there is a reason for the hype. While it is uncertain whether taking royal jelly capsules or slathering it on your face will slow down the aging process, we do know that queen bees can live up to 20 times longer than workers. And some of that might have to do with royal jelly, which queens and larvae destined for queendom dine on exclusively (0ther factors in their longevity include insulin and their gut microbiomes). Despite having identical DNA to worker bees, queen bees live longer, and humans want in on it, which is the reason all those products exist—and why a new research project is buzzing. The UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) is funding deeper investigations into how queen bees are able to outlive generations of workers. Unlike the honey and bee pollen worker bees eat, the royal jelly reserved for queens is much lower in sugar and rich in vitamins, nutrients, and fatty acids. It also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Gorging on royal jelly isn't going to make you immortal, but the ways in which it affects the biology of queen bees may someday be applied to us. 'If we're able to disentangle, and to reverse engineer, how nature has solved these challenges for them, that can be transformative for pausing aging, human fertility, transport of organs and provide new means of fighting disease,' Yannick Wurm, a newly appointed program director who will join seven others in this endeavor, said in a press release. This isn't the first time queen bees will be in the spotlight (like most royals), but it will build on previous studies that determined some potential reasons why queens live longer than anyone else in the hive. Their gut health has been found to have a significant role in their extended lifespan. A 2024 study by researchers from the College of Animal Science and Technology at Shandong Agricultural University in Shandong, China, found that microbes in the gut of a queen bee allow her to live long past her workers because they inhibit insulin signaling. 'One of the mechanisms by which queen bees live longer than worker bees would be reducing the degree of oxidative damage by upregulating antioxidant genes' expressions via inhibiting [insulin signaling],' the research team said in that study, published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The insulin signaling pathway is a metabolic pathway—a series of linked chemical reactions that allows insulin to increase the uptake of glucose, or how much goes into fat and muscle cells. It also regulates blood sugar levels by reducing the amount of glucose synthesized in the liver. Worker bees consume high levels of sugar because of all the honey they eat, and the pancreas releases insulin to help with the uptake of glucose from the bloodstream. Since Queens survive on royal jelly, they're not eating nearly as much sugar. What the Shandong researchers found was that transplanting gut microbes from a queen into workers without gut microbes extended workers' lives, most likely because the queen's gut bacteria regulates food intake. Insulin signaling and antioxidant pathways were also found to be related. Royal jelly contains antioxidants, which reduce oxidative stress, or cell damage from free radicals—highly unstable and reactive oxygen molecules that can break down parts of DNA, potentially causing cancer and other diseases. In another 2024 study, published in Scientific Reports, a different team of researchers observed honeybee queens and saw that older queens had larger gut microbes, which suggested that there was a relationship between their gut microbiome and immune health. Whether or not royal jelly (and other aspects of being a queen bee) can extend our own lives remains a mystery for now. But with the upcoming ARIA project, the queen might finally give up some of her secrets. You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
