Over the past few months, the Flint water crisis has been covered at length by various media outlets, including here on microBEnet. Here is an update on the situation from NY Times. The Legionnaire’s cases started popping up around June 2014. This article discusses the poor water management in Flint, as well as the inadequate response …
This recent PLoS One article on Associations with Fungal DNA and Mycotoxins in Classroom Dust seems especially appropriate considering the blossoming of flowers and accompanying seasonal allergies that’s now happening in our part of the world. Sick building syndrome (SBS) is associated with the following symptoms: ocular, nasal, throat and dermal symptoms, headache and tiredness. Norback et al (2016) studied …
Great opportunity If you are a student in the Master’s program, PhD student or post-doctoral fellow, if you believe that efficient, comfortable and healthy buildings are not only possible but necessary, if you are interested in building lasting collaborations and have fun doing it all, the summer school is for you. Event Description: ISIAQ summer …
So having gained a reputation as the toilet guy (e.g. Slate, RedOrbit, microBEnet) I felt like I just had to write about this article. Plus it sounds really cool. This article is by Jennifer Fouquier (also cool) who is in Scott Kelly’s lab at UC San Diego San Diego State. The title “Rapid assemblage of …
The CDC recently had to correct an error in a flooring report – it was a silly calculation error that we have all made before, but that had a huge outcome. They forgot to convert feet to meters in their report, meaning they severely underestimated health risks related to formaldehyde in laminate flooring. The risks are …
The title of this commentary in Microbiome, “Making microbiology of the built environment relevant to design” gets right to the heart of one of the long-standing issues in the field. Thanks in no small part to the Sloan Foundation program in the Microbiology of the Built Environment, as well as technological changes in DNA sequencing… …
Got notified of this paper by some automated Google Scholar searchers I have set up (this one for papers on microbial forensics) and I thought it would be of interest to some.: Source: Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology – Considerations for estimating microbial environmental data concentrations collected from a field setting By Erin E …
A recent paper Dzieciol et al uses 16S pyrosequencing to characterize the bacterial biofilms on floor drains. Listeria monocytogenes was also tested for using both cuture-independent and -dependent techniques. Here is the abstract: Sanitation protocols are applied on a daily basis in food processing facilities to prevent the risk of cross-contamination with spoilage organisms. Floor drain water …
Your weekly update of the literature on microbes of the built environment sensu lato. Microbes in the house Rhinitis, Ocular, Throat and Dermal Symptoms, Headache and Tiredness among Students in Schools from Johor Bahru, Malaysia: Associations with Fungal DNA and Mycotoxins in Classroom Dust – Dan Norbäck – PLOS ONE (OA) There are few studies …
The essayist, philosopher and literary naturalist Loren Eiseley has been famously quoted for saying “If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water…” There is no better place to explore the magic than an aquarium. Today’s molecular microbiology capabilities go way beyond the ability to satisfy our scientific curiosity. They enable …