Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Identify bacterial diseases that caused historically important plagues and epidemicsDescribe the link between biofilms and foodborne diseasesExplain how overuse of antibiotic may be creating “super bugs”Explain the importance of MRSA with respect to the problems of antibiotic resistance

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The drug colistin is considered the “last resort” treatment for infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. However, bacterial resistance to colistin is becoming increasingly prevalent, posing a public health threat. To help determine how to address this problem, researchers recently examined a highly colistin- resistant strain of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen. The researchers identified a colistin-degrading protease (Cdp) in the strain and confirmed its role in resistance. In coculture experiments with the colistin-susceptible bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, S. maltophilia inactivated colistin via Cdp and thereby protected P. aeruginosa from the antibiotic. This suggests that Cdp-mediated resistance might substantially limit colistin’s efficacy against polymicrobial infections, such as cystic fibrosis, even if some of the microbes present are sensitive to colistin..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This communication material is based on the findings of the study titled Probiotic as Alternative to Antibiotic in Broiler Diets of Jesus P. Cocal and Lilibeth A. Roxas (as cited in Gintong Saliksik: Multi-Disciplinary Research Journal of CNSC (Volume I No. 1, 2010)). This aims to simplify the presenation of the effects of antibiotic and probiotic on broiler chickens. It is written in Filipino because it is the mother-tongue of the intended audience who are poultry owners and farmers.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Antibiotic resistance is increasingly prevalent, with costs to the economy and to human health. Globally, antibiotic usage in livestock is expected to increase by 66% by 2030, and antibiotics used in animals are clinically relevant to humans. Better understanding the effects of different antibiotics and manure management practices will help to decrease the potential for antibiotic resistance. In a recent study, researchers examined the effects of different manure composting techniques in dairy and beef cattle treated with different antibiotic regimens. They found that the total antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) expression, or “resistome,” changed with the progression of composting with time. The relative abundance of ARGs decreased over time in all conditions, except when the compost was externally heated, but in contrast to the overall trend, some ARGs, including Sul1, intI1, beta lactam, and plasmid-associated genes, increased in all finished composts..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

All of us have felt sick at some point in our lives. Many times, we find ourselves asking, "What is the quickest way that I can start to feel better?" During this two-lesson unit, students study that question and determine which form of medicine delivery (pill, liquid, injection/shot) offers the fastest relief. This challenge question serves as a real-world context for learning all about flow rates. Students study how long various prescription methods take to introduce chemicals into our blood streams, as well as use flow rate to determine how increasing a person's heart rate can theoretically make medicines work more quickly. Students are introduced to engineering devices that simulate what occurs during the distribution of antibiotic cells in the body.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Chronic diarrhea is a messy disease that can even be fatal. In addition to being widespread in humans, it’s common in captive rhesus macaques, which are important research animals. However, the causes of chronic diarrhea are often murky. To learn more, researchers recently compared the gut microbiomes of rhesus macaques with and without chronic diarrhea. According to metagenomic sequencing, sick macaques had significant depletion of Lactobacillus bacteria but increased abundance of opportunistic pathogens and bacteria that degrade the protective intestinal mucus layer. Metabolic pathways related to virulence factor synthesis were also activated in macaques with diarrhea, whereas beneficial short-chain fatty acid pathways were enhanced in asymptomatic macaques. In addition, compared with those of asymptomatic macaques, the gut bacteria of sick macaques had higher expression of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and greater resistance to most tested antibiotics..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Students are introduced to a challenge question. Towards answering the question, they generate ideas for what they need to know about medicines and how they move through our bodies, watch a few short videos to gain multiple perspectives, and then learn lecture material to obtain a basic understanding of how antibiotics kill bacteria in the human body. They learn why different forms of medicine (pill, liquid or shot) get into the blood stream at different speeds.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections have become a public health crisis. Their incidence has increased in the past decades, driven by the acquisition of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), but how these ARGs are acquired by bacteria in the environment is not completely known. Human interaction with the environment can spread resistant bacteria, further influencing the antibiotic resistance properties of environmental microbes. In a new study, researchers sought to characterize how human activities influence the environmental “resistome.” They surveyed the microbiome, resistome, and mobilome of planktonic microbial communities in the Han River. The study was extensive, with samples spanning the length of the river over three seasons. Using integrative metagenomic analyses, they found that fecal contamination from humans influenced the resistome in densely populated areas of the river, but interestingly, fecal bacteria weren’t the main factor influencing the ARG increase..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

In this problem-based learning module, students will examine how natural selection is involved in the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria.  They will evaluate methods to preventing antibiotic resistant bacteria from developing.  Finally students will synthesize a plan to educate community members on preventing the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"In the age of antibiotic-resistant microbes, developing new anti-infective alternatives is crucial. A new study takes a novel approach – turning our gaze back on the microbes that colonize us. Commensal skin bacteria are fundamental to maintaining the skin barrier and protecting us from pathogenic microbes. While dysbiosis of the skin microbiome is associated with diseases such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, in healthy skin, skin commensals protect the host by supporting the immune system and impairing the growth or virulence of competitors. Researchers screened of over 3000 human skin isolates to evaluate bacterial competition. Their results revealed a strain of Staphylococcus hominis with activity against Gram-positive pathogens, mediated by a molecule called MP1. Using either a “probiotic” approach or nanoparticles could replicate the effect of MP1, reducing infection by the pathogenic bacteria Staphylococcus aureus in mice. While future studies will determine whether S..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Antimicrobial resistance is one of our most serious health threats. Infections from resistant bacteria are now too common, and some pathogens have even become resistant to multiple types or classes of antibiotics (antimicrobials used to treat bacterial infections).

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The gut microbiome helps regulate gastrointestinal physiology, partly by interacting with the extensive enteric nervous system (ENS). Under disease conditions, gut microbiome alterations are often accompanied by ENS disruption, but it’s unclear exactly how the microbiota regulates gut function and the ENS. To learn more, a new study examined the effects of microbiome depletion and restoration in mice. Antibiotic-induced microbiome depletion caused structural and functional changes in the gut. These changes were accompanied by loss of neurons from both ENS layers (the submucosal and myenteric plexuses) in the ileum and proximal colon and by loss of enteric glia from the myenteric plexus in the ileum. Natural microbiome recovery restored gut function and promoted the growth of new neurons and glia..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Antibiotic-resistant bacteria like carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) pose a serious threat to human health. Some resistant pathogens can exist alongside our commensal microbiota at undetectable levels. Antibiotic use can lead to outgrowth of these subclinically colonized bacteria. A recent study sought to better understand the interaction between the gut microbiota and CRE during subclinical colonization and outgrowth. First, researchers exposed wild-type mice to the CRE _K. pneumoniae_. While the levels of _K. pneumoniae_ were not detectable after exposure, the post-exposure microbiome was disrupted. Then, administration of an antibiotic cocktail, ampicillin, vancomycin, or azithromycin induced _K. pneumoniae_ outgrowth while reducing overall microbial diversity. Vancomycin only induced outgrowth in a subset of mice. The researchers found these outgrowth-susceptible mice had differences in mRNA stability pathways and xylose abundance..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.