Nearly everyone has seen mushrooms poking their frilled caps up through the litter in a forest, and probably many have assumed they were plants. They are not; they are the fruiting bodies of a fungus, and their sole purpose is…
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Microbial physiology is the study of the function and biology of microbes. All physiology is the study of living organisms and their parts, so the microbial variation investigates the relationship of structure and function in microorganisms like bacteria. The metabolism…
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Trichinella spiralis, a nematode parasite, is the cause of the disease trichinosis, known to be found in undercooked pork products. Trichinella are the smallest known parasites to infect humans and have a strange life cycle. Small adult worms mature within…
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Popularly known as ‘roundworm’, Ascaris lumbricoides is probably the largest nematode to infect humans as it can grow up to a meter with an average size of about 45 cm. It affects over 1 billion people worldwide and its prevalence…
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Microorganisms are everywhere. They support life as we know it. They can live far out in the atmosphere and have been found as high as twenty miles up. They also live deep into our soils, and even beneath rocks. They…
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Entamoeba histolytica, often written as E. histolytica, is a protozoan parasite which is thought to have infected as many as 50 million humans worldwide. Its life cycle does not make for comfortable reading. Mature cysts – clusters of individual trophozoites encased…
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Crabs are very familiar denizens of any coastal area. Some form the basis for very important food fisheries, while others are notorious for invading the homes of less robust species, while others still are quiet occupants of the shore, neither…
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Theileria is a genus of protozoan parasites (family Theileriidae, suborder Piroplasmorina) transmitted by ticks. Several species cause theileriosis in ruminants by multiplying in the white blood cells, causing tumor-like growth, and then invading the red blood cells. The Wellcome Trust…
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Schistosoma is a nematode parasite responsible for causing the disease Schistosomiasis or ‘bilharzia’ in humans. Although most infections settle without any complications, and sometimes without any significant symptoms, some may develop life threatening events. Although the disease causing Schistosoma worms…
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Back in the day, law enforcers thought that the most important evidence in a crime was that provided by eye witnesses. However, eye witnesses are in fact part of the evidence, and what they have witnessed may have been so…
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