Clickable methionine as a universal probe for labelling intracellular bacteria.

Despite their clinical and biological importance, the cell biology of obligate intracellular bacteria is less well understood than that of many free-living model organisms. One reason for this is that they are mostly genetically intractable. As a consequence, it is not possible to engineer strains expressing fluorescent proteins and therefore fluorescence light microscopy - a key tool in host-pathogen cell biology studies - is difficult.

Predictors for recombinant HIV infection in a Thai cohort.

Recombinant human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection was associated with exchange of sex for money, ≥1 sex partner within the prior 6 months, and decline in CD4 cell count in this Thai cohort study. These findings suggest that recombinant HIV infection may have implications for HIV disease progression, safer sex practices, and vaccine development.

Characteristics of dengue virus-infected peripheral blood mononuclear cell death that correlates with the severity of illness.

The pathogenic mechanism of the severe form of dengue is complicated. Recent reports indicate that apoptotic death of various tissues or organs may be associated with vascular leakage, and ultimately leads to the death of DENV-infected patients. In the present study, we provide additional evidence supporting the detrimental role of apoptosis in DENV infection.