salmonella

Blow here: New breathalyzer may screen for diabetes, lung cancer

Within a couple years, a single exhale may tell us more about our personal health than merely the current state of our oral hygiene -- and without relying on dogs to sniff out our problems.

The answer lies in a device called the Single Breath Disease Diagnostics Breathalyzer. Back in 2010, Stony Brook University researcher Perena Gouma began testing an earlier iteration in preclinical trials; for use with diabetes patients; now she has developed a sensor that might enable the detection of a range of diseases in a single exhale.

The sensor, which lives in a device about half the … Read more

Get ready for your infections to glow in the dark

There hasn't been another major radioactive leak, but soon we could see flesh wounds glowing in the dark. Researchers at the University of Sheffield in the U.K. have developed a gel that glows under ultraviolet light when it comes in contact with many kinds of bacteria.

The gel also appears to be effective in fighting the bacteria at the same time.

"The polymers (in the gel) incorporate a fluorescent dye and are engineered to recognize and attach to bacteria, collapsing around them as they do so," Sheffield Professor Sheila MacNeil explains in a statement. "This change in polymer shape generates a fluorescent signal that we've been able to detect using a handheld UV lamp."

Project lead Dr. Steve Rimmer adds that the technology could help reduce the overuse of antibiotics. In testing, the gel has been able to detect the presence of serious bacterias including Salmonella, E. Coli, MRSA, and meningitis.… Read more

Say sayonara to salmonella

On April 10 of this year, hospitals recorded the first case of what would become a three-month possibly tomato-linked (though now the suspected culprit is the dreaded jalapeno pepper) salmonella outbreak. By the time the FDA lifted the warning on July 17,1220 people in 42 states had been affected by the virus, leading to an estimated $100 million loss recorded by the tomato industry. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com)

The outbreak served as a rude awakening for some that food safety is still something worth caring about. In the 1980s, salmonella poisoning presented itself as a threat to people eating … Read more

Food sanitizer for the home kitchen

Between mad cows and agricultural imports from China, you don't have to be a germaphobe to be slightly paranoid about your food. And even though there are devices developed for such tasks as sensing bacteria in uncooked meat, we can't help but wonder how well these things work--and how much of a chance we're willing to take.

That's where the "CulinaryPrep" comes in, claiming not only to detect the bad stuff but also eradicate it from the food in question. Using something called the "Grovac Process," which the device's manufacturer says … Read more