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Identification and Use of Intestinal Resident Bacteria that Mediate Protection Against Enteric Pathogens
7130 – The high susceptibility of neonates to intestinal infections has been assumed to be largely due to immaturity of the immune system, but the mechanism remains unclear. Resident intestinal bacteria provide several benefits to the host. A major function of the gut microbiota is to protect the host against colonization by pathogens; however, the specific group of bacteria that mediates... Read More
Use of compound GSK2606414 for the prevention of lung inflammation
6785 – Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a respiratory virus that infects the lung and respiratory tract and is a major cause of lower respiratory tract infections in young children and infants. RSV is extremely common and contagious, with nearly all children being infected with RSV by age two. Usually RSV results in mild cold-like symptoms in adults and healthy children, but in some patients,... Read More
Zinc oxide nanoparticles for antimicrobial medical device coating and potential enzyme inhibition
6741 – Nearly half of the two million hospital acquired infections are associated with the insertion of a medical device. These infections are caused by attachment and growth of bacteria on the medical device, leading to possible biofilm formation that can lead to a localized or even systemic infection. Medical device associated infections are the leading cause of hospital acquired blood infections.... Read More
Novel Acinetobacter baumannii biofilm inhibitors
6671 – Acinetobacter baumannii are opportunistic pathogens that are frequently associated with hospital acquired infections. Multi-drug resistant strains are not uncommon and even pan-resistant strains have been identified. This antibiotic resistance appears to be mediated through the formation of biofilms. Biofilms are formed through a highly structured extracellular polymeric matrix which... Read More
Production and Engineering of Enveloped Influenza Virus-Like Particles in yeast cells.
6531 – Influenza is a contagious, widespread viral infection that affects the respiratory system. Influenza affects nearly 5 million people and causes 250,000 to 500,000 deaths annually. The virus mutates rapidly, making it difficult to produce a long-term vaccination and therefore an annual vaccination must be developed. Currently, influenza vaccines are produced mainly using chicken egg-based... Read More
Prevention of HIV infection with a modified banana lectin
6309 – Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes the devastating acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) currently infects over 35 million people worldwide. Since the first reported cases in 1981, more than 25 million people have died of AIDS. In the United States alone, over 50,000 people are newly infected each year. While some current anti-retroviral treatments can slow the... Read More
Novel predictive and pharmacodynamic serum biomarkers for treatment with L-carnitine in patients with sepsis
6190 – Sepsis represents one of the fastest growing health-care problems today, and is responsible for more than 250,000 deaths every year. Annually, over 2.5 million patients are admitted to intensive care units due to severe sepsis and healthcare costs associated with sepsis exceeds $17 billion in the US alone. Despite the advancements in the sepsis treatment, management of the illness is... Read More
Delta-like 4 as a biomarker for tuberculosis diagnosis
6122 – Tuberculosis (TB) infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is second leading cause for deaths worldwide resulting from a single infection after HIV/AIDS. Currently, 19-43.5% of the world’s population is infected with M. tuberculosis of which 75% of the cases reported are in underdeveloped and developing countries. Most infections are latent and only 1 in 10 infected individuals progress... Read More
Uses of Flavivirus Protein 3D Structure and Protein Production
5988 – Described here is the 3-dimensional structure of the flavivirus nonstructural glycoprotein (NS1) as well as the methodology to produce, isolate, and purify NS1. In the fields of infectious diseases and virology this technological development will be group breaking for the development of vaccines, antivirals, antibodies, and diagnostics for the treatment of multiple infections from this... Read More
Treatment of Multi-Drug Resistant Bacterial Infections
5248 – At any given time, over 1.4 million people worldwide suffer from infectious complications acquired in a healthcare setting. Hospital acquired infections, or nosocomial infections, are also one of the leading causes of death around the world, particularly in economically underdeveloped nations. Hospital acquired infections add to functional disability and emotional stress of the patient... Read More
Mouse Model for Human Norovirus
5085 – UM File # 5085 Background Human noroviruses are the most common cause of foodborne disease worldwide. In the United States, they cause approximately 23 million infections each year, which amounts to over two-thirds of all foodborne gastroenteritis outbreaks. With their low infectious dose (18 – 1,000 virus particles), stability on inanimate surfaces, and resistance to conventional cleaning... Read More
Vaccine for Urinary Tract Infections
3550 – UM File # 3550 Background Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common infectious diseases and afflicts over half of the female population at least once in their lifetime - this accounts for approximately 11.3 million annual cases in the United States alone. Over 80% of community-acquired UTIs result from uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC and if left untreated can result in... Read More
Apyrase Treatments for Eradicating Infections and Heterotopic Ossification
5550 – Treatment of burn wound infection with apyrase and antibiotics in a mouse model resulted in improved bacterial killing by 1000 fold. Concomitantly, elevation of inflammatory cytokines and bacterial colonization was decreased in the wound. Nosocomial or hospital acquired infections (HAI) are a significant healthcare burden and concern. HAIs result in approximately 90,000 deaths per year in the... Read More
Nucleic Acids Involved in Production of Paraherquamides, Notoamides, and Malbrancheamides
5328 – Natural products are a great source of chemical diversity for drug discovery and development applications. Currently, over half of all the marketed drugs are natural products or their derivatives. Statins such a Lipitor, the number one selling drug on the market, are natural product derivatives. Given their great potential for therapeutic use, their marked disadvantage is the difficulty... Read More
Targeting Bacterial Virulence to Eradicate Pathogenic E. coli via the Microbiota
5166 – Diarrheal diseases are estimated to affect more than one billion people annually and to kill around two million children every year. In the United States, diarrheal diseases annually cause 128,000 hospital admissions and more than 3,000 deaths. Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) cause severe diarrhea and other complications that lead to life-threatening... Read More
Rapid Assessment for Adolescent Preventive Services
4240 – Although primary causes of death and injury in adolescent population are preventable in 75% of the general population, these causes are rarely screened or directly counseled during clinic visits. Statistics suggest that today’s adolescents are engaging in risk behaviors at earlier ages and with more diversity; health risk behaviors increase dramatically during each year of adolescence,... Read More
Methods for Generating Antigen-Specific T Memory Stem Cells
4226 – Adoptive T cell immunotherapy has shown its potent effect on inducing tumor regression. However, currently available technologies for generating tumor-reactive T cells primarily result in rapid terminal differentiation of the activated T cells, leading to the diminishment of adoptively transferred T cells and inefficacy to kill tumor cells in vivo. As such, lack of methods to generate... Read More
Mutable Vaccines
4181 – Vaccination plays an important role in preventing infectious diseases. Traditional vaccination methods employ pathogens' antigens as immunogens. The fixed nature of a traditional vaccine can be a major limitation to its success in preventing diseases caused by mutable pathogens (e.g., influenza, HIV, hepatitis C). As immune responses typically develop much more slowly than new variants... Read More
Novel Inhibition of HIV Protease
3813 – Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a collection of symptoms and infections resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), affecting over 30 million people worldwide. AIDS is the most severe acceleration of infection with HIV, which is a retrovirus that primarily infects vital organs of the human immune system. In the... Read More
Quantitation of HERV-K(HML-2) in Plasma from Cancer Patients
3459 – In the United States alone, an estimated 1.1 million people were living with diagnosed or undiagnosed HIV/ AIDS as of end of 2006. Currently, highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), whereby more than three drugs are concurrently administered, is one approach by which HIV/AIDS is treated. Prior to the practice of HAART, HIV-associated lymphoma occurred in approximately 5-10% of all... Read More
Sequence of Novel NOD Proteins
2541 – The removal of infectious agents by the host is fundamental for the survival of multicellular organisms. In animals and plants, the initial detection of microbial agents relies on specialized host receptors that recognize molecules expressed exclusively by microbes. NOD (nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain) proteins, a growing family of cytosolic proteins, have been implicated in... Read More
2.2-BIS-(HYDROXYMETHYL) Cyclopropylidenemethylpurines and - Pyrimidines as Antiviral Agents
2337 – Viruses are the etiologic cause of many life-threatening human diseases. Of special importance are herpes viruses such as herpes simplex 1 (HSV-1), herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) , cytomegalovirus (CMV0, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), varicella zoster virus (VZV) and human herpes viruses 6,7, and 8 (HHV-6,-7,-8) which are associated with many common viral illnesses. Various derivatives of... Read More
Inhibition of HIV Replication by Blocking IL-8 , GRO-alpha, and /or CXCR2 Function
1891 – Medical therapy for infection with the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) has improved over the last several years. However, many patients still fail to respond to the available pharmacologic agents, due to drug resistance and other factors. In addition, the antivirals currently available are often not well tolerated by patients. The currently available drugs for treating HIV-1... Read More
Compositions and Methods Useful in Prophylaxis and Treatment Conditions Related to Oxidative Damage, Endotoxemia and Chemical Toxicity
1855 – Endotoxic shock is a condition, provoked by the release of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from the outer membrane of most gram negative bacteria (e.g., Escherichia coli; Salmonella tymphimurium). One example of a condition involving Endotoxic shock is sepsis. Sepsis is a systemic reaction characterized by arterial hypotension, metabolic acidosis, decreased systemic vascular resistance,... Read More
Cell Culture System for Propagation of Kaposi's Sarcoma Associated Virus (HHVS)
1177 – Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) was originally described in the late 1800’s as a rare and relatively benign neoplasm of elderly men of Jewish or Mediterranean descent. Today, KS is recognized as the most common malignancy in AIDS patients, affecting approximately 20% of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1)-positive patients (1-3). AIDS-related KS (also known as epidemic KS) is clinically more... Read More