Publications by authors named "H Mobley"
Measuring bacterial growth rates is routine, however, determining growth rates during infection in host has been more challenging. Peak-to-trough ratio (PTR) is a technique for studying microbial growth dynamics, calculated using the ratio of replication origin () copies to that of the terminus (), as originally defined by whole genome sequencing (WGS). WGS presents significant challenges in terms of expense and data analysis complexity due to the presence of host DNA in the samples.
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- * The study focuses on utilizing the urease promoter for a gene expression system that can be activated by urea, which is common in the urinary tract and crucial for CAUTI research.
- * Researchers created various reporter constructs to analyze how different elements affect promoter activity, aiming to provide a customizable platform for studying gene expression in the context of urinary tract infections.
Article Synopsis
- - Between 2% and 15% of pregnant women have asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB), which can lead to serious pregnancy complications like pyelonephritis and low-birth weight infants, but routine screening is often missing in developing countries.
- - The Aquagenx water quality test kits, typically used for water testing, have been adapted to detect ASB in urine, showing high accuracy in clinical samples and minimal false positive and negative rates.
- - This innovative ASB screening protocol using Aquagenx not only has the potential to improve healthcare in low-resource settings but could also effectively diagnose the majority of ASB cases, as it covers 90.1% of the common causative agents.
Bloodstream infections (BSIs) are common in hospitals, often life-threatening and increasing in prevalence. Microorganisms in the blood are usually rapidly cleared by the immune system and filtering organs but, in some cases, they can cause an acute infection and trigger sepsis, a systemic response to infection that leads to circulatory collapse, multiorgan dysfunction and death. Most BSIs are caused by bacteria, although fungi also contribute to a substantial portion of cases.
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- The text discusses a healthcare-associated pathogen that leads to infections in the bloodstream, lungs, and urinary tract, highlighting the importance of its capsule polysaccharide in its ability to cause disease.
- It describes how different capsule genetic sequences (specifically KL1, KL2, and KL5) impact the pathogen’s ability to colonize organs and survive in various infection models, with KL1 and KL2 strains being particularly adept at causing disease.
- The study also finds that the capsule of KL1 and KL2 strains helps resist attack by immune cells (macrophages), which may enhance the pathogen’s survival and ability to spread during infection.