Mycobacterial infections cause major health problems for people and animals, including human tuberculosis, bovine tuberculosis and Johne’s disease. Johne’s disease (or paratuberculosis) afflicts 9...
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Fungal infections such as aspergillosis and Valley Fever can be life threatening, particularly in immune-compromised patients. These patients are vulnerable to fungal strains that flourish in hospital...
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Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in American men, causing more than 27,000 deaths every year. An estimated one man in seven will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime. ...
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Ovarian cancer is the most fatal gynecological cancer, killing 15,000 women in the Unites States every year. The overall five-year relative survival rate for women with ovarian cancer is 46 percent. T...
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Blastomyces dermatitidis is a soil fungus found throughout the world, and is especially prevalent in the river valleys and Great Lakes region of the United States. If spores are inhaled, blastomycosis...
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Almost 90,000 Americans develop end-stage renal disease each year.  Kidney transplantation is the best therapy for these patients and offers them an improved quality of life.  Although m...
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Mengovirus is a picornavirus that causes encephalomyocarditis in humans and other animals.
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Of the approximately 65 million domestic dogs in the United States, between 1.5 and 2.5 million will contract canine hemangiosarcoma, an incurable tumor of the cells that line blood vessels. Death usu...
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Almost 200,000 men in the United States develop prostate cancer each year. More than 60,000 people develop melanoma. Early diagnosis is key to survival because the best treatment and prognosis for the...
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Botulinum neurotoxins produced by Clostridium botulinum are the most potent toxins known. Because of the threat of bio-terrorism, sensitive methods for detecting botulinum neurotoxin are needed; howev...
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DNA damage occurs in organisms as a result of exposure to environmental chemicals and radiation. Failure to repair this damage can lead to tumor formation and cancer. Although a gene has been found in...
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The NADH cytochrome b5 reductase/cytochrome b5 system can transfer electrons to other enzymes, including those involved in the metabolism of fatty acids, toxins and drugs. In the past, NADH cytochrome...
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La Crosse virus is an etiologic agent for childhood encephalitis in North America. Structurally, the nucleocapsid of this virus is enclosed by a host-derived lipid envelope holding two virion glycopro...
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Each year, approximately 20,000 American women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and about 15,000 women die of the disease.  The overall five-year relative survival rate for women with ovarian ca...
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The standard assay for measuring viral infectivity is a plaque assay in which a semisolid agar applied over cells limits the spread of virus progeny from isolated infected cells to neighboring cells, ...
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Botulinum toxin is used for cosmetic procedures and to treat neurological disorders from spasmodic disorders to chronic pain syndromes.  The most widely used form of botulinum toxin is the seroty...
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Influenza is a major human disease caused by one of three types of influenza viruses. Type A viruses cause the most severe illnesses and are responsible for most epidemics; type B viruses generally ca...
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