Latest Amoebozoa Stories

BioMed Central A 'cheater' mutation (chtB) in Dictyostelium discoideum, a free living slime mold able to co-operate as social organism when food is scarce, allows the cheater strain to exploit its social partner, finds a new study published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. The mutation ensures that when mixed with 'normal' Dictyostelium more than the fair share of cheaters become spores, dispersing to a new environment, and avoiding dying as stalk cells....

Ameba TV’s kids’ video content is available on-demand and on leading streaming TV platforms, including Google TV, Roku, and LG Smart TV Winnipeg, Canada (PRWEB) July 26, 2012 Ameba (http://www.amebatv.com), a multi-platform frontrunner in the exploding children’s streaming TV market, today announced that it has expanded its vast library of award-winning kids’ TV programming to include videos from Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band. USA Today and CBS recently named Lucky Diaz and...

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, May 29, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Winnipeg, Canada-based Ameba continues its aggressive growth with the launch of the Ameba app on the Google TV Internet-connected TV platform. The launch extends Ameba's reach to more than five million Internet-connected devices, which include Roku, LGE Smart TV, and now, Google TV. Ameba streaming TV service for children is also available on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, and online at www.amebatv.com. (Photo:...

Experiments explain why almost all multicellular organisms begin life as a single cell Any multicellular animal, from a blue whale to a human being, poses a special difficulty for the theory of evolution. Most of the cells in its body will die without reproducing, and only a privileged few will pass their genes to the next generation. How could the extreme degree of cooperation multicellular existence requires ever evolve? Why aren't all creatures unicellular individualists determined...

In what is believed to be the first human-to-human transfer of an amoeba organism, an exceptionally rare infection has been passed from an organ donor in Mississippi to at least one transplant recipient, officials with the Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention reported Friday.CDC spokesman Dave Daigle said four people in three states had received organs from a patient who died at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in November after suffering with neurological problems.Two of...

A new study suggests that some contact lens solutions do not properly disinfect against Acanthamoeba, a free-living organism in the environment that can cause a painful vision-threatening infection. The researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Service, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, Georgia, report their findings in the July 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.Acanthamoeba are found in a variety of...

WASHINGTON, June 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Schmidt & Clark, LLP, is announcing the results of an inspection conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration where investigators determined that a subsidiary of Abbott Park, Ill.-based Abbott Laboratories Inc. (NYSE: ABT) failed to disclose multiple reports of a serious parasitic eye infection for more than a year. In an Associated Press story reported June 20, 2009, Schmidt & Clark Managing...

Swimming in Florida lakes and rivers can be deadly if the Naegleria fowleri amoeba is present, public health officials warn. While no deaths were reported last year in Central Florida, three boys died of the infection in 2007, the Orlando Sentinel reported Sunday. The amoeba can be found in swimming pools, especially if they are not chlorinated. But it is most common in lakes, ponds and rivers, especially when the weather gets warm enough to lift the water temperature to 80 degrees,...

By Glaser, C Schuster, F; Yagi, S; Gavali, S; Bollen, A; Glastonbury, C; Raghavan, R; Michelson, D; Blomquist, I; Scharnhorst, D; Kuriyama, S; Reed, S; Ginsberg, M; Visvesvara, G; Wilkins, P; Anderson, L; Khetsuriani, N; Fowlkes, AL Balamuthia mandrillaris is a free-living ameba that causes encephalitis in humans (both immunocompetent and immunocompromised), horses, dogs, sheep, and nonhuman primates. The ameba is present in soil and likely is transmitted by inhalation of airborne cysts or...

By Josh Brodesky, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson Oct. 4--Brain-eating amoebas have taken up residence in Tucson's water supply as recent tests have shown their presence in 12 wells. While the discovery of the killer amoeba, known as Naegleria Fowleri, is surprising to at least one UA researcher, the microscopic bug's presence in the Old Pueblo's water supply doesn't pose any health risks. Tucson Water chlorinates its well water before distribution, killing the amoeba before the water...