LONDON – The largest-ever genomics study of Clostridium difficile has found an emerging new species of the bacterium is selected to thrive on a Western sugar-rich diet and to produce high levels of resistant spores, adapting it to maximize transmission in hospitals and other health care facilities.

HONG KONG – The complexity of interactions between the interleukin-17 (IL-17) family of receptors and ligands has been elucidated in a Chinese study, which may lead to development of specific targeting strategies for treating IL-17-related autoimmune inflammatory diseases, notably psoriasis.