Enterococcus faecalis
is a gram positive, catalase negative bacteria that is an increasing worry for clinicians as a cause of hospital-acquired infections.
It is a normally occurring bacteria in the intestines, bile ducts, and genitourinary system. However, when there is local overgrowth due to other flora being suppressed (especially by cephalosporins) it causes clinically important urinary and biliary tract infections.
Interestingly, Enterococcus faecalis has an outer capsule that prevents it from being degraded by bile salts.
Of particular worry is the ability of Enterococcus faecalis to enter the bloodstrean and colonize heart valves in su...
Source: Inside Surgery - March 15, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Editor Tags: Infectious Disease cephalosporins enterococcus UTI vancomycin resistant Source Type: blogs
Theoretical chloride clusters
An international team of chemists has looked at the seemingly esoteric subject of microsolvation of chloride pairs. They have found that in computer models, at least, it takes about forty water molecules to make a pair of negative chloride ions stay together.
I asked team leader Utah University’s Alexander Boldyrev about the wider importance of this study which could affect geochemical research, atmospheric and climate science as well as having implications for chemical engineering.
Steam, containing dissolved alkali halide ions, can form clusters of Na+(H2O)n and Cl-(H2O)n. Based on our results it is now possible ...
Source: Sciencebase Science Blog - March 7, 2014 Category: Medical Scientists Authors: David Bradley Tags: Science Source Type: blogs
