In agriculture, Aspergillus originally was considered a serious problem largely because of its prevalence in the biodeterioration of stored crops and as an opportunistic pathogen of field crops, particularly under high moisture conditions. During the early 1960s, the discovery of aflatoxins associat ...

Atopy is a genetic predisposition to developing certain hypersensitivity reactions such as asthma, hay fever (allergic rhinitis), and food allergies. Allergic reactions to Aspergillus in atopic individuals can be caused by fungal spores in the air and from fungi ingested in food. Airborne spores are ...

The bacterial genus Pseudomonas includes the opportunistic human pathogen P. aeruginosa, plant pathogenic bacteria, plant beneficial bacteria, ubiquitous soil bacteria with bioremediation capabilities and other species that cause spoilage of milk and dairy products. P. aeruginosa can cause chronic o ...

Bacterial polysaccharides represent a diverse range of macromolecules that include peptidoglycan, lipopolysaccharides, capsules and exopolysaccharides; compounds whose functions range from structural cell-wall components (eg peptidoglycan), and important virulence factors (eg Poly-N-acetylglucosamin ...

One-step DNA Fragment Assembly and Circularization for Gene Cloning Peijun Zuo and A. Bakr M. Rabie This article describes a one-step procedure based on Taq polymerase for the precise assembly of DNA fragments into circular constructs as long as 6 kb. The only prior step needed was the amplification ...

Joni Tillotson and Glenn S Tillotson, Pennsylvania, USA writing in Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy (August 2009) describe the book: Bacterial Secreted Proteins: Secretory Mechanisms and Role in Pathogenesis Publisher: Caister Academic Press Editor: Karl Wooldridge ISBN: 978-1-904455-42-4 " ...

Mansour Mohamadzadeh, Northwestern University, Illinois, USA writing in Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy (August 2009) describes the book: Microbial Toxins: Current Research and Future Trends Publisher: Caister Academic Press Editor: Thomas Proft ISBN: 978-1-904455-44-8 "This is a book ...

Much has been learnt about the epidemiology of Legionnaires' disease since the causative bacterium Legionella was first identified in 1976. National surveillance systems and research studies were established early, and in recent years improved ascertainment and changes in clinical methods of diagnos ...

The family Pasteurellaceae comprise a large and diverse family of Gram-negative bacteria with members ranging from important pathogens such as Haemophilus influenzae to commensals of the animal and human mucosa. Information on the biology of these organisms has grown in recent years, driven by the d ...

Vaccination is the primary method for the prevention of influenza and its complications. The continual genetic and antigenic variation that influenza viruses undergo requires constant global surveillance to identify and select new variants with epidemic potential or novel viruses with pandemic poten ...