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Nanobacteria are claimed to be cell-walled microorganisms with a diameter well below the generally accepted lower limit (about 0.2 micrometres) for bacteria.
Claims of their being living organisms are controversial. If they are living, there is speculation that they may be a new form of life, rather than bacteria.
Structures in the Martian meteorite ALH84001 have been interpreted by some as fossilized nanobacteria, but the origin of the structures is disputed.
Nanobacterium sanguineum was proposed in 1998 as an explanation of certain kinds of pathologic calcification ( apatite in kidney stones) by Finnish researcher Olavi Kajander and Turkish researcher Neva Ciftcioglu, working at the University of Kuopio in Finland. According to the researchers the particles self-replicated in culture, and claimed to have identified a DNA sequence.
Further studies by another group reached different results, suggesting peculiar yet inanimate etiology of the disease.
A paper published in 2000This page is about the year 2000. See 2000 AD for the UK comic book, Number 2000 for other uses. 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar), and also the International Year for a Culture of Peace''. Events Y2K passes without the seri by a team lead by John Cisar of the US National Institutes of HealthThe National Institutes of Health is an institution of the United States government which focuses on medical research. The Institutes are located in Bethesda, Maryland. The predecessor of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) began in 1887 as the Labora proposed that the "self-replication" was, infact, an unusual form of crystalineIn mineralogy and crystallography, a crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms in a crystal. A crystal structure is composed of a unit cell a set of atoms arranged in a particular way, which is periodically repeated in three dimensions on a latti growth, and that contamination may have been the source of the DNA.
The fact that the Finnish group have set up a company in Florida, Nanobac Life Sciences, Inc., to sell kits for the identification of nanobacteria and are developing treatments for the supposedly associated diseases, has also raised doubts concerning their impartiality.
In a press release Nanobac Life Sciences, Inc. claims that a strong correlation has been found between antibodies to nanobacteria and coronary artery calcification (associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease). The results were obtained using a testing kit produced by Nanobac and tests on 198 patients were led by Stephen Epstein, Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute, Washington Hospital Center, WashingtonWashington is a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It should not be confused with Washington, DC, the nation's capital. To avoid confusion, the state is often called Washington state . Although the state capital is Olympia, the largest c.
In 20042004 is a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 2004 calendar), and has also been designated the: International Year of Rice International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition Elections are to be held in 73 co a team lead by Dr. John Lieske of the Mayo ClinicThe Mayo Clinic is a world-renowned medical practice operated by the Mayo Foundation, a not-for-profit organization based in Rochester, Minnesota. The first and largest facility of the Mayo Clinic is also located in Rochester, but additional large clinic in MinnesotaMinnesota ( In Detail) (Full size) State nickname: North Star State Other U. States Capital Saint Paul Largest City Minneapolis Governor Tim Pawlenty Area Total Land Water % water Ranked 12th225,365 kmē206,375 kmē18,990 kmē8. 4% Population Total ( 2000) D claimed to have discovered nanobacteria in diseased human arteries. Their results were accepted by the American Journal of Physiology - Heart and Circulatory Physiology , Virginia M. Miller et al., in May 2004 after extensive revision.
Unlike the Finnish researchers, those at the Mayo Clinic apparently have no linked commercial interests. Working with particles less than 0.2 micrometres in size, they found indirect evidence that the particles had self-replicated, and found that they had a cell-like appearance under an electron microscope. They also believe that the particles are producing RNA, since they absorbed one of its building blocks, uridine, in greater quantities than would be expected in the case of pure absorption (by crystals such as apatite). Using an antibody produced by the Finnish researchers, the particles were found to bind to diseased arterial tissue, and to the same sites to which a DNA stain bound. The researchers now hope to isolate RNA and DNA from the particles.