Biofilm
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Microplastics are increasingly found polluting waterways and causing unknown damage to the health of animals and humans. Now, a new study provides evidence there's cross over with another looming public health threat – antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
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It can be difficult to separate water from oil, which makes water pollution tricky to clean up. Now, researchers at North Carolina State University have found that a bacterial biofilm membrane can effectively let water through while keeping oil out.
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When bacteria colonize the surface of items such as medical implants, they form antibiotic-resistant coatings known as biofilms. Scientists have devised a new way of removing such films, and it involves magnetically steering augmented tea plant buds.
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A Medieval medical book hold the key to new ways to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Scientists have found that a medical recipe from the ancient Bald's Leechbook is effective against five strains of bacteria that cause biofilm infections.
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Bacteria build protective communities called biofilms that make it tough to get antibiotics in, leading to further health problems. But now, researchers have found a new weakness in biofilms that could be exploited.
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Bacteria tend to build colonies behind barriers known as biofilms, which are hard for antibiotics to penetrate. Now, researchers at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have developed a hybrid antibiotic that can punch through some biofilms.
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An incredible study has demonstrated the potential of a wound dressing that can fight bacterial infections using a weak electrical field. Offering a novel way to battle antibiotic-resistant infections, the dressing has been approved by the FDA and is currently being tested in human burn patients.
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Tuberculosis is currently curable, but the bacteria responsible for it are fast evolving resistance to our antibiotics, thwarting attempts to keep the disease under control. Scientists have found a new compound that can boost the power of existing antibiotics and even reverse the bugs’ resistance.
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An army of tiny robots scuttling about inside your mouth cleaning your teeth. It's a disquieting thought, and yet it might be one of the most effective ways to deal with the sticky bacterial biofilms that coat our choppers – as well as water pipes, catheters and other tough-to-clean items.
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Hospital-acquired infections are a serious problem, and the most common type of such infections occurs when catheters are inserted into blood vessels. A new coating, however, shows promise for killing bacteria at insertion sites, keeping them from establishing biofilm colonies on the catheters.
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Water used for hand-washing is relatively easy to treat for reuse, and now engineers at ETH Zurich have built and tested a standalone hand-washing station for use in public places and developing countries that can do just that.
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Get enough bacteria in one place and they settle down into longer-term colonies, building sticky biofilms that protect them from our best cleaning efforts. But now, researchers from the University of Illinois have designed a technique that uses microbubbles as a scrubber to blast biofilms away.