Derivates of the Antifungal Peptide Cm-p5 Inhibit Development of Biofilms In Vitro.

Growth in biofilms as a fascinating and complex microbial lifestyle has become widely accepted as one of the key features of pathogenic microbes, to successfully express their full virulence potential and environmental persistence. This also increases the threat posed by , which has a high intrinsic ability to persist on abiotic surfaces including those of surgical instruments and medical tubing. In a previous study, cyclic and helical-stabilized analogues of the antifungal peptide Cm-p5 were designed and synthetized, and proved to have increased activities against and , but not against planktonic cells cultivated in suspension cultures.

A Cerberus-Inspired Anti-Infective Multicomponent Gatekeeper Hydrogel against Infections with the Emerging "Superbug" Yeast Candida auris.

The pathogenic yeast Candida auris has received increasing attention due to its ability to cause fatal infections, its resistance toward important fungicides, and its ability to persist on surfaces including medical devices in hospitals. To brace health care systems for this considerable risk, alternative therapeutic approaches such as antifungal peptides are urgently needed. In clinical wound care, a significant focus has been directed toward novel surgical (wound) dressings as first defense lines against C.

Bioassay for Endothelial Damage Mediators Retrieved by Hemoadsorption.

Hemoadsorption devices are used to treat septic shock by adsorbing inflammatory cytokines and as yet incompletely defined danger and pathogen associated molecular patterns. In an ideal case, hemoadsorption results in immediate recovery of microvascular endothelial cells' (mEC) function and rapid recovery from catecholamine-dependency and septic shock. We here tested a single device, which consists of polystyrene-divinylbenzene core particles of 450 μm diameter with a high affinity for hydrophobic compounds.

Semen-mediated enhancement of HIV infection is donor-dependent and correlates with the levels of SEVI.

Background: HIV-1 is usually transmitted in the presence of semen. We have shown that semen boosts HIV-1 infection and contains fragments of prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) forming amyloid aggregates termed SEVI (semen-derived enhancer of viral infection) that promote virion attachment to target cells. Despite its importance for the global spread of HIV-1, however, the effect of semen on virus infection is controversial.