A strong antigen-specific T-cell response to HIV infection is important for controlling virus replication; however, because HIV selectively infects and replicates in CD4 T cells, increased number of these cells in response to viral infection may also be detrimental as these cells provide fuel for the infection to grow.
In the March 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Mark Feinberg and colleagues, of Emory University Vaccine Center, analyze the specific parameters of T-cell ac
Whether depression is linked to having an under-active thyroid gland has been debated for many years. Research published in BMC Psychiatry this week suggests that some patients with depression may be suffering from a subtle autoimmune thyroid condition, which could hinder their recovery. The study also suggests that physicians could use indicators of thyroid function to predict patients’ responsiveness to antidepressants. As inpatients with depression often undergo routine thyroid tests, th
Proteomics screen identifies novel prostate cancer target
The Burnham Institute’s Jeffrey Smith, Ph.D. has discovered that orlistat, commonly prescribed as an anti-obesity drug, has a positive side-effect: it inhibits cancer growth. Dr. Smith made this discovery using an activity-based proteomics screening technique developed in his laboratory that makes it possible to identify active targets and simultaneously screen for their inhibitors. These results will be published in the j
Alcohol-exposed babies respond more slowly to their environment, and take longer to calm down Most of the research on prenatal alcohol exposure has been conducted with children.
A new study uses heart-rate data collected from six-month-old babies to examine the effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
Even as early as infancy, slower processing speeds and arousal-regulation problems are apparent. Most of the research on arousal and attention deficits ca
A new set of guidelines for lowering blood pressure has been published by the British Hypertension Society (BHS) today. Their main recommendation is that most people with hypertension should be on two blood pressure lowering drugs rather than one.
The guidelines which are aimed at UK doctors, are published in summary form in the BMJ today (12 March), and represent best practice in treating UK patients for hypertension.
People with a blood pressure higher than 140/90 (mm Hg) are cl
Dental caries, the disease that causes tooth decay, is infectious, and the mutans streptococci bacteria have long been identified as the primary disease-causing agents. Thanks to numerous scientific advances, tooth decay is not as rampant as it once was, but it is still five times more common in children than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever. And about 25% of the population (in the United States) carries about 80% of the disease burden. So dental caries is still a serious problem, es
Results of research from Hong Kong in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggests that severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) without pneumonia could be common among populations affected by SARS outbreaks.
SARS has now affected 30 countries in five continents, with more than 8400 cases and more than 910 deaths. A novel virus, the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), is known to be the causative agent. Despite this knowledge, seroprevalence studies and mass screening for detection of possible subcl
The process of educating young people on the prevention of eating disorders needs to start as early as middle-school, emphasizes Danny J. Ballard, a Texas A&M University health education professor.
Ballard, who specializes in women’s health and school health education, said that 5 to 10 million women and a million men in the United States suffer from some type of eating disorder or borderline condition that could lead to an eating disorder. She says the two most common eating disorders
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Howard Hughes Medical Institute have found mutations in a gene linked to the progression of colon and other cancers. The research findings, published online in the March 11 issue of Science, may lead to new therapies and diagnostic tests that target this gene.
The gene in which the mutations have been found, called PIK3CA, is part of a family of genes encoding lipid kinases, enzymes that modify fatty molecules and direct cells to grow
There are genetic differences between epilepsy patients that decide on whether medical treatment is successful or not. This is the result of a major study at the Vienna General Hospital. These new insights form the basis for an epilepsy therapy tailor-made for the needs of each individual patient. This study will be presented to the scientific community at the end of May at the largest European congress on epilepsy that will be taking place in Vienna this year.
As much as three percent of th
People with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are more than three times as likely to develop blood clots in their veins (venous thromboembolism), finds new research in Gut.
Thromboembolism is a serious and potentially life threatening event. For many years, patients with IBD were thought to be at increased risk, but the evidence has been inconsistent.
Furthermore, it is not known if this risk is specific for IBD or if it is shared by other chronic inflammatory diseases or bowel disor
Findings published in this month’s issue of the Journal of Urology indicate that prostate cancer could be detected as many as five years earlier than it is currently being diagnosed by testing for a protein in tissue that indicates the presence of early disease. The researchers suggest that testing for the protein, EPCA, could serve as an adjunct to the current diagnostic approach to patients with elevated levels of prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, who undergo repeat needle biopsies. PSA, a su
A mild, experimental smallpox vaccine known as modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) is nearly as effective as the standard smallpox vaccine in protecting monkeys against monkeypox, a study by researchers of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health, has found. Monkeypox is used to test the effectiveness of a smallpox vaccine because of its similarity to the smallpox virus. The study appears in the March 11 issue of Nature.
“These f
Dieters’ fatigue similar to chemotherapy side effects
In its current issue, the Mayo Clinic Proceedings has published a letter explaining that the reason low-carb dieters often lose weight and sometimes show improvements in their cholesterol, blood sugars, and blood pressures is because they are, in essence, sickened by the diet. John McDougall, M.D., an advisory board member of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), explains in his letter that low-carb diets can throw
Researchers have found an association between drinking coffee and a reduced risk for type 2 diabetes in Finnish adults, according to a study in the March 10 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Only a few studies of coffee consumption and diabetes mellitus (DM) have been reported, even though coffee is the most consumed beverage in the world, according to background information in the article.
Jaakko Tuomilehto, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Public Health
Duke University Medical Center researchers have uncovered a strong relationship between the severity of heart disease and the level of endothelial progenitor cells circulating in the bloodstream. This relationship, if confirmed by ongoing studies, could represent an important new diagnostic and therapeutic target for the treatment of coronary artery disease, they said.
These endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) are produced in the bone marrow, and one of their roles is to repair damage to the
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