Bacteria don’t have easy lives. In addition to mammalian immune systems that besiege the bugs, they have natural enemies called bacteriophages, viruses that kill half the bacteria on Earth every two days.

Current research suggests that a common oral bacterium may exacerbate autoimmune disease. The related report by Nichols et al, “Unique Lipids from a Common Human Bacterium Represent a New Class of TLR2 Ligands Capable of Enhancing Autoimmunity,” appears in the December 2009 issue of The American Journal of Pathology.

The estimated 4.6 million Americans involved in the equine industry may be at risk of developing respiratory symptoms due to poor air quality in horse barns, according to a questionnaire study undertaken earlier this year by investigators at Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. The study – which polled more than 80 New England [...]

Researchers confirmed previous findings that the sexual transmitted infection known as Trichomonas vaginalis is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer in a study published online September 9 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Investigators at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and the University of Connecticut Health Center (U.C.H.C.) have gained new understanding of the role hyaluronic acid (HA) plays in skeletal growth, chondrocyte maturation and joint formation in developing limbs. Significantly, these discoveries were made using a novel mouse model in which the production of HA is [...]