A meningitis epidemic hits West Africa every year, affecting 25 000 to 200 000 people. It has long been known that the timing of this epidemic and its spatial distribution within the “Meningitis Belt”, situated between 10° and 15° North, are closely linked to climatic conditions. Involved in the AMMA programme ( 1 ), IRD and University of Paris-VII researchers ( 2) produced the first quantified description of this relationship using statistical methods. They linked up the annual changes in atmo
A team of researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, The Catalan Institute of Oncology and the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) have published a study indicating that exposure to organochlorine compounds, which we ingest in our diets, increases the risk of suffering colorectal cancer.
The authors have identified two types of compounds, present in the blood of cancer patients, in double the quantity of the non-affected population undergoing the study. In a
Members of the second most important family of drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis can cause serious dermatological conditions in a quarter of patients under treatment, reveals a study published today in the journal Arthritis Research and Therapy.
Last year saw the withdrawal of frontline anti-arthritis drug Vioxx, which belongs to the cox-2 inhibitors family, when it was revealed that it poses a significant risk of heart attack and stroke. Similar findings were reported f
The portable device will speed up performing paternity tests, identifying bacterial infections and detecting genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
A team of researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona has developed new miniature sensors for analysing DNA. The sensors have the same size and thickness as a fingernail and reduce the time needed to identify DNA chains to several minutes or a few hours, depending on each chain. These sensors can be applied to many different t
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a bacterium that can cause respiratory tract infections, which can be life threatening in patients who have cystic fibrosis. It is therefore important to develop a vaccine against this pathogen. Appearing online on 1 April 2005 in advance of print publication of the May issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Ronald Crystal and colleagues from Cornell University use a novel strategy to create a genetic vaccine against P. aeruginosa.
The researchers us
New findings from Mayo Clinic indicate that cT3 prostate cancer, a disease in which the cancer has spread locally from inside the prostate to immediately outside it, is operable and has 15-year cancer survival rates of almost 80 percent.
“These patients have a better chance if they undergo surgery and are living longer than if they undergo radiation therapy,” says Horst Zincke, M.D., Ph.D., Mayo Clinic urologist and senior study investigator.
Treatment of this type o
Six months on ’CJ’ normalizes blood vessel function-relaxation and may protect against heart disease
Protection against a wide variety of diseases is among the many benefits of a diet high in whole fruits and vegetables. Cranberries over the years have been identified with preventing or ameliorating urinary tract infections and playing a positive role gum disease, ulcers and even cancer.
Recent work shows that cranberries contain naturally derived compounds (antio
The right answer could yield better anesthetics, as well as improved stroke and heart attack outcomes – for everyone
For a human, mere minutes without oxygen (called anoxia) resulting from cardiac arrest, cerebral stroke or being trapped under water can lead to profound tissue damage and even death. However a Western painted turtle can survive anoxia for months without apparent tissue damage. Why, and how?
“Key to surviving anoxia is the shutting off of energy-utilizing
Genetically engineered mice will help U-M scientists decipher signals that trigger gastric cancer in humans
When it comes to gastric cancer, too little stomach acid can be just as dangerous as too much, according to scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School. Both extremes create inflammatory changes in the stomach lining and a condition called chronic atrophic gastritis, which over time often leads to cancer.
In research published in the March 31 issue of
A University of Liverpool scientist has discovered how the food poisoning bug E.Coli 0157 became deadly to humans.
Twenty-three years ago a harmless gut bacterium called E. coli developed the ability to kill people through food poisoning, bloody diarrhoea and kidney failure. Normally E. coli bacteria live in the intestine and don’t pose any danger, but some varieties can cause fatal food poisoning. The most serious in the UK is E. coli O157, which is carried by livestock (mainl
With the new Leica M844 F40, Leica Microsystems introduces an ophthalmic surgical microscope that significantly improves visibility and working conditions for the surgical team during the eye surgery, while protecting the eyes of both surgeon and patient. Brilliant optics, outstanding illumination, perfect balance and easy of use: These are the highlights of the new premium-class microscope system from Leica Microsystems.
One microscope for all disciplines
As eye surgeons
There is currently not enough evidence to suggest that multivitamin and mineral supplements prevent infections in elderly people, finds a study published online by the BMJ today.
Ageing is associated with an increased risk of infection. So, as the number of elderly people in developed nations continues to rise, there has been great interest in the use of supplements to help prevent infections.
Researchers identified eight trials evaluating the effect of multivitamin
A novel high-tech microscope will be brought to the marketplace, giving laboratories everywhere fascinating new insights into living organisms. EMBLEM Technology Transfer GmbH (EMBLEM), the commercial entity of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), announced today that it has signed a licensing deal with technological leader Carl Zeiss to commercialise a new technology called SPIM (Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy).
“Microscopes have to evolve to keep up with t
Cannabis-based medicines given in a highly-controlled clinical environment unexpectedly lead to strong psychotic effects
Volunteers taking cannabis-based therapeutic drugs as part of a controlled trial, which had been approved by an ethics board as safe for the subjects, experienced psychotic effects just as strong as if they had smoked cannabis. These findings, highly unexpected in such a controlled environment, are published today in the peer-reviewed, Open Access journal BMC P
Asthma is the most common cause of exercise-induced shortness of breath in children and adolescents. While a diagnosis of asthma is often correct, University of Iowa pediatric pulmonary physicians caution that other unrelated conditions also can cause shortness of breath during exercise.
In cases where the asthma diagnosis is questionable, the UI experts recommend further testing to identify the true cause of exercise-induced shortness of breath. “Asthma usually responds well to
Chagas disease, which is transmitted to humans by a blood-sucking insect known as an Assassin bug, is the most devastating parasitic infection in Central and South America and Mexico. The protozoan parasite that causes the disease, Trypanosoma cruzi, infects 16 to 18 million people, causing severe chronic illness and tens of thousands of deaths per year.
Until now, there has been no effective treatment for the long-term, chronic form of Chagas disease, which kills up to one-third
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