62 posts · 30,490 views
A bit of fun and a bit of science mixed in with a bunch of diseases gives us Disease Prone. A jargon-free look into the world's most interesting diseases.
James Byrne
47 posts
Thomas Tu
0 posts
Sort by: Latest Post, Most Popular
View by: Condensed, Full
- September 14, 2011
- 06:05 PM
- 436 views
Peptidoglycan - The bacterial wonder wall
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
Quick, can you describe your grandparents? Staphylococcus aureus, or the Golden Staph, can and it is a single cell. If you couldn’t you should visit them more often. In any case, a very cool paper came out recently but before we can get there we need to begin by going backwards to explain a very important bacterial structure called peptidoglycan.... Read more »
Turner, R., Ratcliffe, E., Wheeler, R., Golestanian, R., Hobbs, J., & Foster, S. (2010) Peptidoglycan architecture can specify division planes in Staphylococcus aureus. Nature Communications, 1(3), 1-9. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1025
van Heijenoort J. (2001) Formation of the glycan chains in the synthesis of bacterial peptidoglycan. Glycobiology, 11(3). PMID: 11320055
- September 9, 2011
- 01:51 AM
- 261 views
Acinetobacter baumannii the most opportunisitic-ist pathogen you know
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
A. baumannii does not mess around. As opportunistic pathogens go it’s pretty out there. An aerobic, gram negative, almost entirely antibiotic resistant (largely through passive mechanisms) bacterium that’s developing such a terrible reputation that it has picked up the nickname ‘Iraqibacter’, but that’s mostly because of the high proportion of A. baumannii infections in returned American troops.... Read more »
Mussi, M., Gaddy, J., Cabruja, M., Arivett, B., Viale, A., Rasia, R., & Actis, L. (2010) The Opportunistic Human Pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii Senses and Responds to Light. Journal of Bacteriology, 192(24), 6336-6345. DOI: 10.1128/JB.00917-10
McBride, M. (2010) Shining a Light on an Opportunistic Pathogen. Journal of Bacteriology, 192(24), 6325-6326. DOI: 10.1128/JB.01141-10
Reddy, T., Chopra, T., Marchaim, D., Pogue, J., Alangaden, G., Salimnia, H., Boikov, D., Navon-Venezia, S., Akins, R., Selman, P.... (2010) Trends in Antimicrobial Resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii Isolates from a Metropolitan Detroit Health System. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 54(5), 2235-2238. DOI: 10.1128/AAC.01665-09
Dijkshoorn, L., Nemec, A., & Seifert, H. (2007) An increasing threat in hospitals: multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 5(12), 939-951. DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro1789
- August 2, 2011
- 08:57 PM
- 349 views
Antibiotics are good for more than just killing
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
As a community here @sciamblogs we decided to each cover something chemistry related on each of our individual blogs to coincide with the World Chemistry Congress taking place in Puerto Rico. This scared the bejeezus out of me as I’m a biologist, not a chemist, and I’ve never been brilliant at the textbook chemistry stuff from my undergraduate classes. Also, a wise biology teacher once told me that all chemistry is boring until it starts moving, then its biology.... Read more »
Falconer, S., Czarny, T., & Brown, E. (2011) Antibiotics as probes of biological complexity. Nature Chemical Biology, 415-423. DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.590
- July 28, 2011
- 07:56 PM
- 435 views
Can’t fall asleep? You don’t want to read this then.
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
Unlike narcolepsy, which has been shown to have genetic and environmental triggers insomnia seems to have no genetic component. The closest thing to a genetic insomnia is the ominously named fatal familial insomnia, which my old friend Thomas wrote about here.
A diagnosis of insomnia relies on the way the following questions are answered, “Do you experience difficulty sleeping?” or “Do you have difficulty falling or staying asleep?” You answer yes to either of those an........ Read more »
Reiner PB, & Kamondi A. (1994) Mechanisms of antihistamine-induced sedation in the human brain: H1 receptor activation reduces a background leakage potassium current. Neuroscience, 59(3), 579-88. PMID: 8008209
Roth T, & Roehrs T. (2003) Insomnia: epidemiology, characteristics, and consequences. Clinical cornerstone, 5(3), 5-15. PMID: 14626537
Jacobs GD, Pace-Schott EF, Stickgold R, & Otto MW. (2004) Cognitive behavior therapy and pharmacotherapy for insomnia: a randomized controlled trial and direct comparison. Archives of internal medicine, 164(17), 1888-96. PMID: 15451764
- July 16, 2011
- 05:46 PM
- 346 views
Narcolepsy…zzzZZZzzz…
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
Everyone knows what narcolepsy looks like from movies like the ridiculous display in Deuce Bigalow (one of the ‘adorable misfit bunch of suitors’) to other more subdued examples like Mike in My Own Private Idaho. Oh, and when I say that, I mean people know the stereotype of the instantaneous drop during dinner into a bowl of soup. What I really mean is that the stereotype isn’t the norm at all.... Read more »
Klein J, & Sato A. (2000) The HLA system. Second of two parts. The New England journal of medicine, 343(11), 782-6. PMID: 10984567
Mignot E. (2001) A commentary on the neurobiology of the hypocretin/orexin system. Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 25(5 Suppl). PMID: 11682267
Maret S, & Tafti M. (2005) Genetics of narcolepsy and other major sleep disorders. Swiss medical weekly, 135(45-46), 662-5. PMID: 16453205
Zorick FJ, Salis PJ, Roth T, & Kramer M. (1979) Narcolepsy and automatic behavior: a case report. The Journal of clinical psychiatry, 40(4), 194-7. PMID: 422531
- June 26, 2011
- 01:37 AM
- 477 views
Soylent brown – “Shit burgers”
by thomastu in Disease Prone
Sorry again for the lack of activity on the blog. I am going pretty well on my thesis, thanks for asking. Anyway, I was drinking with a couple of friends of mine who are doing their PhDs in environmental health … Continue reading →... Read more »
He, X., Cheng, L., Li, W., Xie, X., Ma, M., & Wang, Z. (2008) Detection and distribution of rotavirus in municipal sewage treatment plants (STPs) and surface water in Beijing. Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A, 43(4), 424-429. DOI: 10.1080/10934520701795731
Fong, T., Phanikumar, M., Xagoraraki, I., & Rose, J. (2009) Quantitative Detection of Human Adenoviruses in Wastewater and Combined Sewer Overflows Influencing a Michigan River. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 76(3), 715-723. DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01316-09
- June 24, 2011
- 07:25 PM
- 564 views
No door? No problem. T. cruzi uses the window to cause Chagas Disease
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
For invasive pathogens the only way to survive, and consequently make you sick, is to get inside your cells. This is a rough exercise as you have an immune system working everywhere in the body to prevent this and the cell to be invaded is none too happy with the idea either so invasive pathogens must use tricks.... Read more »
Jermy A. (2011) Parasitology: Adding insult to injury. Nature reviews. Microbiology, 9(7), 484. PMID: 21625249
Andrade LO, & Andrews NW. (2005) The Trypanosoma cruzi-host-cell interplay: location, invasion, retention. Nature reviews. Microbiology, 3(10), 819-23. PMID: 16175174
Fernandes MC, Cortez M, Flannery AR, Tam C, Mortara RA, & Andrews NW. (2011) Trypanosoma cruzi subverts the sphingomyelinase-mediated plasma membrane repair pathway for cell invasion. The Journal of experimental medicine, 208(5), 909-21. PMID: 21536739
- June 18, 2011
- 12:00 AM
- 575 views
Anti-cancer Fungi
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
Mycology, the study of fungi, is an often-overlooked member of the microbiology family. Having said that there are plenty of dedicated mycologists out there doing all sorts of cool stuff and plenty more fungal species doing all sorts of weird and wonderful things.... Read more »
King-Fai Cheng, & Ping-Chung Leung. (2008) General review of polysaccharopeptides (PSP) from C. versicolor: Pharmacological and clinical studies. Cancer Therapy. info:/
Luk SU, Lee TK, Liu J, Lee DT, Chiu YT, Ma S, Ng IO, Wong YC, Chan FL, & Ling MT. (2011) Correction: Chemopreventive Effect of PSP Through Targeting of Prostate Cancer Stem Cell-Like Population. PloS one, 6(6). PMID: 21674070
- June 11, 2011
- 01:05 AM
- 348 views
To Tattoo or Not To Tattoo
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
One of the things I didn’t realise about getting a tattoo the first time was just how much mess it makes and how much blood there is. It doesn’t make any sense really given that I was completely aware a bunch of needle were going to repeatedly puncture my skin but, honestly, I’d never really thought about the blood. I can assure you if I had known I probably would have wussed out.
... Read more »
Wagle WA, & Smith M. (2000) Tattoo-induced skin burn during MR imaging. AJR. American journal of roentgenology, 174(6), 1795. PMID: 10845532
Tope, W., & Shellock, F. (2002) Magnetic resonance imaging and permanent cosmetics (tattoos): Survey of complications and adverse events. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 15(2), 180-184. DOI: 10.1002/jmri.10049
Hartwig, V., Giovannetti, G., Vanello, N., Lombardi, M., Landini, L., & Simi, S. (2009) Biological Effects and Safety in Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 6(6), 1778-1798. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph6061778
- June 3, 2011
- 07:22 PM
- 2,221 views
Treating the Bends
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
ResearchBlogging.org
Last week I wrote about the Bends, a medical problem based in an understanding of physics that results in bubbles of (primarily) nitrogen in your blood if you move from one atmospheric pressure to another to quickly, typically surfacing from depth while diving too fast.
The therapy is actually very simple – take the person back to the depth they were diving at to force the bubbles to resolve into the blood. This immediately solves of the symptoms of the condition but........ Read more »
Vann RD, Butler FK, Mitchell SJ, & Moon RE. (2011) Decompression illness. Lancet, 377(9760), 153-64. PMID: 21215883
Acott, CJ. (1999) Oxygen toxicity: A brief history of oxygen in diving. South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal. info:/
Clark JM. (1974) The toxicity of oxygen. The American review of respiratory disease, 110(6 Pt 2), 40-50. PMID: 4613232
- May 28, 2011
- 09:00 AM
- 846 views
Physics Medicine = The Bends
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
Arguably many diseases can be based in physics including heart disease, atherosclerosis and pretty much anything else to do with the pipes in your body but a disease known as ‘the bends’ or ‘decompression sickness’ invokes a bunch of physics laws and principles and then also requires a physics based treatment to deal with it.
... Read more »
Vann RD, Butler FK, Mitchell SJ, & Moon RE. (2011) Decompression illness. Lancet, 377(9760), 153-64. PMID: 21215883
- May 6, 2011
- 07:06 PM
- 286 views
Zombies Pt 2 (or how I distracted my students)
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
Last week I mentioned how my students sidetracked me in a tute regarding introductions to the origins of life and in particular the acronym HOMR standing for Homeostasis, Organisation, Metabolism and Replication by initiating a discussion of whether or not zombies technically were alive. Well, the following week they had a test that occupied half the allocated tutorial time so instead of letting them out early I extended the discussion to real world zombies.
After a little investigation it beca........ Read more »
Costanzo JP, Lee RE Jr, & Lortz PH. (1993) Glucose concentration regulates freeze tolerance in the wood frog Rana sylvatica. The Journal of experimental biology, 245-55. PMID: 8409827
Andersen, S., Gerritsma, S., Yusah, K., Mayntz, D., Hywel‐Jones, N., Billen, J., Boomsma, J., & Hughes, D. (2009) The Life of a Dead Ant: The Expression of an Adaptive Extended Phenotype. The American Naturalist, 174(3), 424-433. DOI: 10.1086/603640
Jones JL, Kruszon-Moran D, & Wilson M. (2003) Toxoplasma gondii infection in the United States, 1999-2000. Emerging infectious diseases, 9(11), 1371-4. PMID: 14718078
PHILLIPS, W., & CANNON, L. (1978) Ecological observations on the commercial sand crab, Portunus pelagicus (L.), and its parasite, Sacculina granifera Boschma, 1973 (Cirripedia: Rhizocephala). Journal of Fish Diseases, 1(2), 137-149. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2761.1978.tb00014.x
Tarry, D. (2009) Dicrocoelium dendriticum: The Life Cycle in Britain. Journal of Helminthology, 43(3-4), 403. DOI: 10.1017/S0022149X00004971
- April 8, 2011
- 10:45 PM
- 631 views
Yes We C(r)an(berry)!
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
That title is awful I know but I'm tired. Cut me some slack :) I ran into a something that I have heard about before but assumed was rubbish and never really looked into it properly. A friend of mine insisted it was the case so I looked it up and I have to say, I was a little surprised.
So this is what cranberries look like. I never knew.
Cranberry juice is apparently very good at prevent urinary tract infection, particularly in women. There have been a few studies approaching it from d........ Read more »
Raz, R., Chazan, B., & Dan, M. (2004) Cranberry Juice and Urinary Tract Infection. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 38(10), 1413-1419. DOI: 10.1086/386328
Gross, L. (2006) Bacterial Fimbriae Designed to Stay with the Flow. PLoS Biology, 4(9). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0040314
BODEL PT, COTRAN R, & KASS EH. (1959) Cranberry juice and the antibacterial action of hippuric acid. The Journal of laboratory and clinical medicine, 881-8. PMID: 13801916
Sobota AE. (1984) Inhibition of bacterial adherence by cranberry juice: potential use for the treatment of urinary tract infections. The Journal of urology, 131(5), 1013-6. PMID: 6368872
- April 2, 2011
- 07:58 PM
- 660 views
Exploding Head Syndrome - No pun required
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
This is an old post from my previous blog. Recently it has been seeing a lot of activity so I thought I'd play around with it a bit and re-post it here. Enjoy :)
Sometimes when searching for disease to write about a wonderful thing happens. The clouds part, cherubs descend, angels play intricate harp-based musical compositions, and a beam of light illuminates the link to a wonderful disease. This happened to me the other day, and now, without further ado, let me introduce you to Exploding Hea........ Read more »
Chakravarty, A. (2008) Exploding head syndrome: report of two new cases. Cephalalgia, 28(4), 399-400. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2982.2007.01522.x
Evans RW, & Pearce JM. (2001) Exploding head syndrome. Headache, 41(6), 602-3. PMID: 11437900
Kallweit U, Khatami R, & Bassetti CL. (2008) Exploding head syndrome--more than "snapping of the brain"?. Sleep medicine, 9(5), 589. PMID: 17709298
Pearce JM. (1989) Clinical features of the exploding head syndrome. Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry, 52(7), 907-10. PMID: 2769286
- March 11, 2011
- 06:24 PM
- 700 views
Capsular Polysaccharide and Pneumococcal Disease
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
A paper came out as an ePublication ahead of print this week looking at the capsular polysaccharide of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Want to know how I know? I wrote it :)
Insert stock photo of pneumo. Check.
It seems a little wrong to blog my own paper but in reality more people will read this blog entry than will read the paper itself, and that’s fine. Its relevance is very narrow and the work very preliminary but really it’s the drive behind the work that is important. So lets talk about........ Read more »
Byrne JP, Morona JK, Paton JC, & Morona R. (2011) Identification of Streptococcus pneumoniae Cps2C Residues that Affect Capsular Polysaccharide Polymerisation, Cell Wall Ligation and Cps2D phosphorylation. Journal of bacteriology. PMID: 21378192
Morona JK, Miller DC, Morona R, & Paton JC. (2004) The effect that mutations in the conserved capsular polysaccharide biosynthesis genes cpsA, cpsB, and cpsD have on virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae. The Journal of infectious diseases, 189(10), 1905-13. PMID: 15122528
- February 18, 2011
- 10:11 PM
- 867 views
Third hand smoking - Can we ban this poison already?
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
I’m not going to write a post on why smoking is bad, it’s too obvious and if you don’t understand why then your probably never going to find this post anyway. I’m not even going to talk about second hand smoking, ie. blowing your death cloud at me on the street. Again it’s obvious why it’s bad and may even be worse than smoking the cigarette itself as second hand smokers don’t get the benefit of a filter. No, this post is about third hand smoking, a fun new way smokers can harm th........ Read more »
Avol EL, Gauderman WJ, Tan SM, London SJ, & Peters JM. (2001) Respiratory effects of relocating to areas of differing air pollution levels. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 164(11), 2067-72. PMID: 11739136
Sleiman M, Gundel LA, Pankow JF, Jacob P 3rd, Singer BC, & Destaillats H. (2010) Formation of carcinogens indoors by surface-mediated reactions of nicotine with nitrous acid, leading to potential thirdhand smoke hazards. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(15), 6576-81. PMID: 20142504
- February 4, 2011
- 06:14 PM
- 575 views
Flooding and disease
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
I’m not sure what the coverage has been like overseas but most of the east coast of Australia has been hit pretty hard. First there were biggest floods Australia has seen for a VERY long time that started in Queensland and continue to affect the east cost of Australia. Then, instead of letting Queensland off the hook for a few weeks nature hit the coast with a cyclone THE SIZE OF THE U.S.A. that might move so far inland that it could dump rain into my state, which is a desert, halfway across ........ Read more »
Ohl, C. (2000) Flooding and human health. BMJ, 321(7270), 1167-1168. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.321.7270.1167
Howard MJ, Brillman JC, & Burkle FM Jr. (1996) Infectious disease emergencies in disasters. Emergency medicine clinics of North America, 14(2), 413-28. PMID: 8635416
- January 25, 2011
- 06:51 PM
- 686 views
The Australia Antigen
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
I feel a little left out some times on the internet as many (but certainly not all) of my bloggy friends are English or American. So, just to fill you in, the 26th of January is Australia Day and it commemorates the landing of our first fleet in 1788 and the planting of the British flag in what was then known as New Holland and is now known as Sydney Cove, New South Wales, Australia. Most people celebrate the day with a public holiday, a beer or two, a barbi and the TripleJ Hottest 100.
We wil........ Read more »
Blumberg, B. (1984) Landmark article Feb 15, 1965: A "new" antigen in leukemia sera. By Baruch S. Blumberg, Harvey J. Alter, and Sam Visnich. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 252(2), 252-257. DOI: 10.1001/jama.252.2.252
Lee WM. (1997) Hepatitis B virus infection. The New England journal of medicine, 337(24), 1733-45. PMID: 9392700
- January 21, 2011
- 06:13 PM
- 806 views
Halitosis - Your mouth smells like arse
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
Sometimes I'm going to write about rare cancers or blood diseases and sometimes I’m going to write about bad breath. That’s just the way I roll.
Halitosis literally means “condition of the breath” and has many causes and just as many home remedies. Original therapies (and by original I mean 1550 BC) like heavily herb infused wines didn’t remove the bad breath but like mints and other modern treatments they just attempted to cover the bad smell with something more pleasant.
Halitos........ Read more »
Suarez FL, Furne JK, Springfield J, & Levitt MD. (2000) Morning breath odor: influence of treatments on sulfur gases. Journal of dental research, 79(10), 1773-7. PMID: 11077993
- January 7, 2011
- 07:02 PM
- 625 views
Jumping Frenchmen of Maine Syndrome
by James Byrne in Disease Prone
Well I’m back! I’m not going to pretend like you missed me but I hope your glad to see another post out of me. I did a bit of writing during my time off to build up a bit of a backlog so hopefully I can keep posting regularly for a while. Anyway, without any further ado…
Jumping Frenchmen of Maine Syndrome
Best. Disease. Name. Ever.
This disease was first observed in 1878 by the neurologist Dr. George Miller Beard, a guy I will definitely talk about again, in French-Canadians, lumberjacks........ Read more »
Saint-Hilaire MH, Saint-Hilaire JM, & Granger L. (1986) Jumping Frenchmen of Maine. Neurology, 36(9), 1269-71. PMID: 3528919
Saint-Hilaire, M., & Saint-Hilaire, J. (2001) Jumping Frenchmen of Maine. Movement Disorders, 16(3), 530-530. DOI: 10.1002/mds.1080
Howard R, & Ford R. (1992) From the jumping Frenchmen of Maine to post-traumatic stress disorder: the startle response in neuropsychiatry. Psychological medicine, 22(3), 695-707. PMID: 1410093
topics
join us!
Do you write about peer-reviewed research in your blog? Use ResearchBlogging.org to make it easy for your readers — and others from around the world — to find your serious posts about academic research.
If you don't have a blog, you can still use our site to learn about fascinating developments in cutting-edge research from around the world.
