The Microbe that Saved Villagers from the Nazis

Proteus vulgaris

Valerie Soledad

The Microbe that Saved Villagers from the Nazis

During World War II, millions of people were forced into labor camps run by the Nazis. Two Polish physicians discovered a microbe that saved their village from this fate.

Dr. Eugeniuz Lazowski and Dr. Stanislav Matulewicz learned about a microbe, Proteus vulgaris OX19, a soil microbe. Proteus is a Gram negative, rod-shaped bacterium. It is classified as enteric bacteria, and is a facultative anaerobe. Proteus OX19 has the same o-polysaccharides as the pathogenic bacteria Rickettsia prowazekii. These o-polysaccharides are thought to be the antigens responsible for antibody production in humans. There, infection by Proteus OX19, a non-pathogenic bacteria, causes the same immune response as infection by Rickettsia, a highly pathogenic and contagious bacteria that causes typhus.

The physicians had the residents of Rozavadow, Poland inoculated with Proteus OX19. Blood samples from the inoculated individuals then became positive for antibodies indicating typhus infection. As more and more tests came up positive for typhus, German officials became convinced that there was a typhoid epidemic in the town. They were particularly fearful of typhus because the disease had not occurred in Germany for over 25 years, and so their naïve population would have been very susceptible.

A team of German doctors sent to investigate the "typhus epidemic" was shown a man dying of pneumonia as proof of the effects of typhus. As typhus carriers, the townspeople were not conscripted into forced labor, and the Nazis avoided that area of Poland. So the little bacterium, Proteus vulgaris OX19 saved possibly hundreds of lives, and is further proof that "Microbes Rule!"


References:

http://web.umr.edu/~microbio/BIO221_2001/proteus_vulgaris_ox19.html

Salyers A, Whitt D (2001). Microbiology: Diversity, Disease, and the Environment. Betheseda, MD: Fitzgerald Science Press, Inc.

Amano KI, Williams JC, Dasch GA. Structural properties of lipopolysaccharides from Rickettsia typhi and Rickettsia prowazekii and their chemical similarity to the lipopolysaccharide from Proteus vulgaris OX 19 used in the Weil-Felix test. Infect Immun 1998 Mar;66(3):923-6

Biotechnology firms

The top 10 publicly-traded biotechnology companies, ranked by 2008 sales, are:

Amgen
Genentech
Serono
Biogen Idec
Chiron Corporation
Genzyme
MedImmune
Pfizer
Millennium Pharmaceuticals
Applied Biosystems


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biotechnology#Biotechnology_firms

What exactly is biological engineering?

What exactly is biological engineering?


Biological engineering involves the engineering of living systems and the application of engineering principles to problems that also require a strong knowledge of biology and ecology. Biological engineering can further be broken down into three technical fields: Ecological, Bio-environmental and Bio-Systems:

• Ecological

Ecological engineering is a new discipline created to design natural ecosystems for societal and environmental benefits. Students in this option earn an accredited engineering degree while gaining an ecology background through field courses. Optional areas of focus include wetlands, ecosystem restoration, ecosystem modeling, microbial ecology, and coastal and river systems. Graduates with an ecological engineering specialty are in demand in governmental agencies, consulting firms, industry and environmental advocacy groups.

• Bio-Environmental

Bio-environmental engineering includes the design, development, and management of biological systems to improve the quality of the environment. Students learn to address water quality, air pollution, and environmental contamination issues for farmers, municipalities, and industries using a biological systems approach.

Bio-environmental engineers work to remediate past environmental problems and prevent future pollution. Industries involved in waste management or remediation, government agencies, and environmental consulting firms provide job opportunities for graduates who choose this option.

• Bio-Systems

Bio-systems engineers have the opportunity to work with plants, animals, humans, cells in tissue culture, and microorganisms. Graduates who have chosen this specialty pursue careers in biotechnology, biomedical engineering, biochemical processing, and bio-instrumentation.


The above has been adapted from the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering web page at: http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/fabe/academics/engineering_program_overview.htm

Men do have trouble hearing women, scientists find

Men do have trouble hearing women, scientists find Sat Aug 6, 7:29 PM ET


LONDON (AFP) - Men who are accused of never listening by women now have an excuse -- women's voices are more difficult for men to listen to than other men's, a report said.

The Daily Mail, quoting findings published in the specialist magazine NeuroImage, said researchers at Sheffield university in northern England discovered startling differences in the way the brain responds to male and female sounds.

Men deciphered female voices using the auditory part of the brain that processes music, while male voices engaged a simpler mechanism, it said.

The Mail quoted researcher Michael Hunter as saying, "The female voice is actually more complex than the male voice, due to differences in the size and shape of the vocal cords and larynx between men and women, and also due to women having greater natural 'melody' in their voices.

"This causes a more complex range of sound frequencies than in a male voice."

The findings may help explain why people suffering hallucinations usually hear male voices, the report added, as the brain may find it much harder to conjure up a false female voice accurately than a false male voice.

How is engineering applied to medicine and biology?

How is engineering applied to medicine and biology?

The description below is reprinted from the BMEnet Homepage which in turn is reprinted from publications of the Biomedical Engineering Society and the American Society for Engineering.

Education:

"Biomedical engineering combines engineering expertise with medical needs for the enhancement of health care. It is a branch of engineering in which knowledge and skills are developed and applied to define and solve problems in biology and medicine. Students choose the biomedical engineering field to be of service to people; for the excitement of working with living systems; and to apply advanced technology to the complex problems of medical care. The biomedical engineer is a health care professional, a group which includes physicians, nurses, and technicians. Biomedical engineers may be called upon to design instruments and devices, to bring together knowledge from many sources to develop new procedures, or to carry out research to acquire knowledge needed to solve new problems."