Illumina Sequencing MRSA

Illumina, one of the 3 major next-gen sequencing platforms on the market is back in the news with this article by MIT's Technology Review.  The article explains the efforts made by the Sanger Institute to track and understand the evolution and spread of MRSA, the antibiotic-resistant form of Staphylococcus aureus by sequencing its genome using Illumina sequencers.  Unfortunately, there was no link to any actually published work, nor did they mention what sequencer they were using (probably a 'Genome Analyzer II'), but I will poke around the web and try to dig up some more info.  The article is very interesting, regardless.

A New Hope...

Readers,

Well, it was quite the drought, and even though the idea was to have a "rebuilding break", not much was accomplished.  The blog does have a new catchy name and I'll be adding some subject avatars shortly, but other than that, not much has changed.

Due a recent lack of home internet service, I will once again be posting mostly from my phone and work which will delay (even further) the aquisition of an actual domain name, as well.

So enjoy....

Attention

Ok. It's coming. A new blog soon! Stay tuned!

Note to readers:

Readers,

I am very sorry for the recent lack of posts on this blog.  I have been working really hard on a couple of articles that I would like to post soon and I am trying to move the blog over to its own domain.  I assure you that I will mitigate this drought of content, and try to expidite the publishing of those new articles ASAP.

Also, in an effort to maintain the usefulness and depth of the site, I will be adding some new writers soon to help post content.  These new writers will be very specialized in other fields and their science and technology credentials are consistent with the integrity you have come to expect from Science.Blog.Science.

I will admit, also that I have been distracted recently, mostly because of the purchase of my new iPhone (which is consuming a lot of my time now but should help create more content in the future). 

Please continue to e-mail me any relevant news stories, topics, and feedback.  They are all very essential to the preservation and continuation of this blog.

                       Thank You,

                       Nick

So why aren't we doing this???

Normally the bumps on Adult Swim are mildly funny and somewhat informative, but this weekend they had one that really grabbed my attention.  They showed this image of how much area it would take to power the globe on solar panels.  Keep in mind most of these areas are deserts.

click on image below to enlarge

To quote Adult Swim, "So why aren't we doing this...".

Of course they go on to explain why with another image of Uncle Sam, well, lets just say befriending an oil derrick.

Lack of Sleep, Alzheimers linked

In a new study published this week in "Science", researchers at Washington University witnessed a significant increase in accumulation of the protein Amyloid beta in mice when they were deprived of sleep.  High levels of Amyloid Beta that populate the extracellular space are a hallmark for Alzheimer's Disease and this link to sleep levels will raise concern for those who suffer from insomnia and other sleep related issues.  The study also links orexin, a protein associated with the regulation of sleep cycles, with the increased levels of AB.  When the mice were injected with orexin they stayed awake longer and the amount of AB increased dramatically, but when orexin was inhibited in the mice, AB decreased over time.  This shows hope as a possible treatment for Alzheimer's disease in the future.

Face Full of Pathogens: Shower Heads and Your Health

This morning I woke up, desperately flailed my arm against my alarm clock, streched, brushed my teeth, and then jumped in my shower to remove all the diverse microbial communities that had built up on me since my last shower.  As soon as the water is hot I stick my face under it and let it massage my face for a few seconds before I begin my cleaning routine.  What I did not realize was that I was getting a face full of morning pathogens, many of which I inhale along with the steam clouding the inside of the shower.

In a recent publication from the University of Colorado, and as reported by futurity.org, your shower head could contain massive amounts of Mycobacterium avium in biofilms inside of it.  M. avium, a pathogen linked to pulmonary disease, can exist in aggregates up to 100X the normal "background" levels of your municipal water supply.

I highly recomend the article on futurity and also the video posted below.  The article is a cliff-hanger, though, since it doesn't give you any good method of cleaning your shower head and eradicating the pathogenic colonies that reside in it.  The bacteria seems to have a resistance to bleach and chlorine (and since it is in our water supply I would assume flourine as well), and when they did clean the shower in a different study with bleach, a similar pathogen Mycobacterium gordonae actually increased 3 fold!  I would guess due to the elimination of competing microbes.