A research team has discovered a key molecular mechanism that contributes to antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus epidermidis, a type of staphylococcus that lives on the skin, Academia Sinica reported.
Staphylococcus bacteria are notorious for quickly developing resistance to antibiotics and are the main culprit in hospital-acquired infections that can kill patients admitted for other illnesses.
Among them, staphylococcus epidermidis usually lives on the skin and causes no harm to healthy people, the team from Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biological Chemistry said.
It can, however, cause severe infections in immune-suppressed patients and those with catheters or other surgical implants, said Andrew Wang (王惠均), vice president of Academia Sinica and the research team’s leader.
The key to understanding the mechanism described by the team is that the bacteria protects itself from the host’s immune system and enhances its resistance to antibiotics by producing a biofilm.
The groundbreaking research revealed the structure of the protein component — Teicoplanin-associated Locus Regulator (TcaR) — that effectively prevents the formation of the biofilm under normal conditions.
“It is very exciting to note that our study has clearly delineated the antibiotic binding site of TcaR and the mechanism of how antibiotics induce biofilm formation,” Wang said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
RSS