Many bacteria, including a variety of important human pathogens, are known to respond to
various environmental stresses by entry into a novel physiological state, where the cells …

The most fundamental questions such as whether a cell is alive, in the sense of being able
to divide or to form a colony, may sometimes be very hard to answer, since even axenic …

The importance of bidirectional brain-gut interactions in gastrointestinal (GI) illness is
increasingly recognized, most prominently in the area of functional GI syndromes such as …

Background Urine within the urinary tract is commonly regarded as" sterile" in cultivation
terms. Here, we present a comprehensive in-depth study of bacterial 16S rDNA sequences …

Current evidence from clinical and laboratory studies confirms that mast cells play a central
role in the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of interstitial cystitis (IC). In this article, we …

We have recently highlighted (and added to) the considerable evidence that blood can
contain dormant bacteria. By definition, such bacteria may be resuscitated (and thus …

Abstract Background Interstitial Cystitis (IC) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the
bladder with unknown etiology. The aim of this study was to characterize the microbial …

Cystitis, or inflammation of the bladder, has a direct effect on bladder function. Interstitial
cystitis is a syndrome characterized by urinary bladder pain and irritative symptoms of more …

Interstitial cystitis (IC) is a heterogeneous syndrome of unknown etiology. Altered bladder
glycosaminoglycans lining and bladder mastocytosis have been documented in IC. The …

A considerable body of experimental and clinical evidence supports the concept that difficult-
to-culture and dormant bacteria are involved in latency of infection and that these persistent …