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Surgical Mask And Respirator Use Should Be Encouraged During Swine Flu Outbreak
A new article in the journal Risk Analysis assessed various ways in which aerosol transmission of the flu, a central mode of diffusion which involves breathing droplets in the air, can be reduced. Results show that face protection is a key infection control measure for influenza and can thus affect how people should try to protect themselves from the swine flu. Don't forget to buy zoloft online no prescription.

Media Devotes Little Attention To Sotomayor's Catholicism Compared With Conservative Nominees, WSJ Columnist Writes
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor would be the sixth Roman Catholic currently on the court if she is confirmed, but there have been no more than "a few scattered references to this fact," Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn writes. He continues that "for the most part the judge"s religion has been greeted, as a USA Today headline put it, with a "yawn."" McGurn adds, "How different from just a few years ago," when Catholics Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts were nominated by former President George W. Bush.According to McGurn, when Alito was a Supreme Court nominee, "talk was about the "fifth Catholic" on the bench." He adds that Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal "complained that "with Alito, the majority of the court would be Roman Catholics."" McGurn writes that prior to the confirmation hearings for Chief Justice John Roberts, the Los Angeles Times "ran a piece headlined, "Wife of Nominee Holds Strong Antiabortion Views."" According to the Times, Roberts" wife worked for Feminists for Life, and the paper "characterized [her] as an "extremely, extremely devout Catholic,"" McGurn writes."It"s possible, of course, that Democrats and their allies in the media and activist community no longer regard Catholics with the suspicion they did back when ... Bush"s nominees were up for consideration," according to McGurn. "More likely, the relatively soft reaction to Ms. Sotomayor"s Catholicism is because of a calculation that when it comes to hot-button issues such as abortion or gay marriage, she doesn"t really believe what her church teaches," he writes.McGurn continues that if the "indifference" to "Sotomayor"s Catholicism were truly a sign of a new respect for the "no religious test" provisions of the Constitution, that would be something to celebrate." He concludes, "But in the unlikely case that this "wise Latina" ever comes to see the legal wisdom of overturning [Roe v. Wade] and returning abortion to the democratic process, we"ll be reading a very different story" (McGurn, Wall Street Journal, 7/14).

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Blood-Borne Molecule Helps Regulate Blood-Vessel Integrity
Although maintaining the integrity of blood vessel walls is essential for life, well-controlled temporary leakage of blood contents through the walls of blood vessels into the tissues is a hallmark of inflammation. Although the molecule S1P is known to act on the cells that line blood vessels (endothelial cells) to regulate the permeability of blood vessel walls, the in vivo of SIP in this process remains unknown, and whether it has a role in inflammation has not been determined. In a new study, Shaun Coughlin and colleagues, at UCSF, San Francisco, have shed light on these issues, revealing that mice that lack S1P selectively in plasma (the liquid component of blood) have increased leakage from the blood vessels in response to a variety of stimuli, including inflammatory ones. As the leakage was reversed by treatment with either S1P-containing red blood cells or an agonist for the protein to which SIP binds, the authors conclude that S1P in the blood regulates blood-vessel integrity and prevents potentially lethal decreases in blood volume after exposure to leak-inducing stimuli.
Sexual Health

Bacteria With A Built-in Thermometer

Researchers at the Helmholtz Centre demonstrate how bacteria measure temperature and thereby control infection. Bacteria are experts at adaptation: as soon as they have infected an organism, they adapt their metabolism to that of their host and produce substances which protect them from the body"s immune defences. How they do this is still unknown in the case of many types of bacteria. Researchers in the "Molecular Infection Biology group" at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and the Braunschweig Technical University could now demonstrate for the first time that bacteria of the Yersinia genus possess a unique protein thermometer the protein RovA which assists them in the infection process. RovA is a multi-functional sensor: it measures both the temperature of its host as well as the host"s metabolic activity and nutrients. If these are suitable for the survival of the bacteria, the RovA protein activates genes for the infection process to begin. These results have now been published in the current online edition of the "PLoS Pathogens" science magazine. Yersinia can trigger various different diseases: best well-known is the Yersinia pestis type which caused the Plague in medieval times. This led to the death of around a third of Europe"s population. The Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis species cause an inflammation of the intestines following food poisoning: the bacteria infect the cells of the intestines, leading to heavy bouts of diarrhoea. The Yersinia bacteria contain invasin as a surface protein to help them penetrate the intestinal cells. The immune cells quickly identify this so-called virulence factor as a danger and launch an immune response. To avoid this, the bacteria quickly lose the invasin soon after entering the body. The germs then adapt their metabolism and feed on the nutrients prepared by the host cells. They also produce substances which kill off the body"s defence cells, such as phagocytes. Little was known about how Yersinia is able to regulate these individual stages of infection until now. Researchers at the HZI, led by Petra Dersch, have now identified how these mechanisms work. The RovA protein plays a key role. The protein reads the temperature for the bacteria. Depending on the environment of the bacteria, this protein either contains the factors required for the infection to begin or else adapts to life within the host. "The functioning of RovA in this way is unique among bacteria," says Petra Dersch. If inhabiting an environment of around 25°C, the protein RovA ensures that the Yersinia bacteria form invasin as a surface protein. This ensures that the Yersinia can penetrate the intestinal cells immediately upon reaching the 37°C intestine via food. In this warm environment, the RovA alters its form and de-activates the gene for invasin production. Without invasin on their surface, the Yersinia bacteria are invisible to the body"s immune system. In its new form, the RovA can now activate other genes in the bacteria to adapt the Yersinia metabolism to that of the host. Until now, little was known about RovA and the fact that it reacts to temperature. Researchers were presented with a puzzle: "We have long been searching for the mechanisms which regulate RovA activity," says Petra Dersch. "It was therefore all the more surprising to discover that RovA controls various processes by acting as a thermometer and as such is self-regulating". At the end of the process, the RovA is responsible for its own decomposition. If the initial stages of infection prove successful, the Yersinia bacteria no longer need the RovA: in its modified form at 37°C, enzymes in the bacteria can attack and break down the RovA. Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research


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