A team of researchers based partly in South Africa has identified a key set of immune system molecules that helps determine how effectively a person resists infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Their work shows that mothers with a specific type of genetic makeup may be less likely to pass HIV to their offspring.
The finding has important implications for the development of vaccines to combat the AIDS epidemic, according to Bruce D. Walker, a Howard Hughes Medical In
• Possessive mother in law? Nope…
• Drunken uncle? Nope…
• Nagging auntie? Nope…
In fact, the answer is food poisoning bacteria.
Meet Aston University Christmas bug buster Dr Anthony Hilton, expert in food microbiology. He is calling for extra care to be taken this Christmas to prevent food poisoning outbreaks. Although bacteria do pose a threat to health throughout the year statistics show that there are a higher number of food poisoning cases in December, wi
Overweight and obesity in young adulthood and middle age may have devastating effects on future Medicare expenditures, particularly given the continued and alarming increase in prevalence of obesity in the United States during recent decades, according to a study published in the Dec. 8 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study, conducted by Martha L. Daviglus, M.D., professor of preventive medicine, and colleagues at Northwestern University Feinbe
Using hairlike microelectrodes and computer analysis, neurobiologists at Duke University Medical Center have demonstrated that they can see the detailed instant-to-instant electrical “brainscape” of neural activity across a living brain.
In their study on rats, they demonstrated that they could distinguish in unprecedented detail the patterns of brain activity — including fleeting changes in communication among brain structures — in awake animals, as they fall sleep and as they
One more letter should be added to the alphabetic list of warning signs of melanoma, a potentially deadly skin cancer, according to a group of NYU School of Medicine dermatologists and their Australian colleagues. Based on a review of the medical literature, they recommend adding the letter “E” — for “evolving” — to the first four letters of the alphabet that are already used widely to help physicians and adults identify suspicious moles on the skin.
Their report is published i
BACKGROUND: Insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) is a protein known to play a role in eliminating amyloid peptides that cause destructive plaques and tangles in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Until now, little has been known about the cellular and molecular regulation of IDE.
FINDINGS: Using animal models and human tissue, the research team 1) identified a shortfall of IDE protein in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients; 2) found a cause-effect relationship between insul
A multicenter study of 821 patients referred for breast biopsy based on prior examinations that suggested cancer finds that while magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) distinguishes between benign and malignant breast tumors better than mammography, biopsies are still needed to confirm the diagnosis.
The study, called the International Breast MR Consortium, was carried out in 14 university hospitals in the United States and Europe, including Johns Hopkins, from June 1998 through Octob
As survival rates have steadily improved for children with heart defects, physicians have focused more attention on improving quality-of-life factors such as neurological and cognitive abilities. A new study shows that newborns with congenital heart disease often have abnormally low blood flow in their brains before they undergo surgery.
Researchers from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia led the study, published in the December issue of The Journal of Thoracic and C
Teenagers suffering from bulimia may in fact be fighting a two-front war, coping with the effects of a devastating eating disorder while struggling with a chronic form of depression, reveals research by Texas A&M University psychologist Marisol Perez, who says the finding has critical implications for the way the disorder is treated.
Often masked by the bulimia itself, dysthymia – a lower-level, chronic form of depression – is often present in bulimics and may even predispose t
Endoscopy can be a deeply uncomfortable experience. Improving matters, BIOLOCH researchers are attempting to apply the motion techniques used by lower animal forms to endoscopy technology to develop a prototype capable of ‘pulling’ itself into a patient’s internals, rather than being pushed as it is now.
Having a tube pushed inside you, no matter how small or how sensitively applied, is not a procedure anyone would want to repeat. Plus there is always the risk of tearing de
The recent rise in obesity may be partly due to the reduced amount of time we spend asleep, according to new research from the University of Bristol, UK.
Dr Shahrad Taheri from Bristol University, and colleagues in the United States, examined the role of two key hormones that are involved in regulating appetite – ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin increases feelings of hunger while leptin acts to suppress appetite.
People who habitually slept for 5 hours were found to have 15%
The Novosibirsk researchers have managed to establish connection between mice’s aggressive behavior, biochemical modifications in their brain and the genes that cause those modifications.
Aggressive behavior is to a large extent genetically determined. The evidence of that are experiments with laboratory animals, including their successful selection into high- and low-aggressive lines. However, the “aggression gene” as such will hardly be ever found. Nevertheless, the researcher
ASH news tips from M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center offers these news items presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH).
Combining two biologic agents with chemotherapy forms a potent drug regimen that is showing promise in treating patients who have relapsed with the most common kind of leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cance
A noninvasive fingertip test can identify patients with the earliest stages of heart disease and may prove cost-effective as a screening test, according to the findings of a Mayo Clinic study published this week in the Journal of American College of Cardiology.
“Atherosclerosis tends to affect all of the blood vessels in the body, and is not just limited to the arteries of the heart,” explains Amir Lerman, M.D., the Mayo Clinic cardiologist who led the study. “We expected patie
USC study finds differences in survival according to lymphoma type in post-HAART era
When it comes to treating HIV-positive patients with blood cancers, not all lymphomas are created equal, according to hematologists from the University of Southern California. Although physicians have treated all types of lymphomas in HIV/AIDS patients with the same drug regimens, researchers from the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital say the drugs are significantly more effec
New research from the University of Pittsburgh shows the human body has difficulty adjusting to dramatic time changes such as those experienced by working shifts or traveling across time zones.
The NASA-funded study, detailed in this month’s Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, was designed to examine the protocols the space agency uses to assign sleep-wake schedules that ensure astronauts are always able to handle their demanding tasks at peak performance. The findings
Feedback
