Chagas’ disease affects over 18 million people in Latin America. The agent responsible is a protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, transmitted by haematophagous insects. For survival in the host’s organism, it uses several strategies, but especially one of inhibiting the host’s immune response. Research scientists from the IRD and INSERM (1) who are studying this trypanosome found that one of the proteins it secretes, Tc52, is a virulence factor that plays a pivotal role in the infecti
Ophthalmology researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a key risk factor for the development of cataracts. For the first time, they have demonstrated an association between loss of gel in the eye’s vitreous body — the gel that lies between the back of the lens and the retina — and the formation of nuclear cataracts, the most common type of age-related cataracts.
The researchers reported their findings in the January issue of Investigative O
Weizmann Institute scientists have succeeded in reversing the metastatic properties of colon cancer cells, in vitro. The findings, published in the Nov. 24 issue of The Journal of Cell Biology, uncover a key process involved in the metastasis of colon cancer cells and raise hopes that target-specific drugs might be devised to prevent, or reverse, the invasive behavior of metastatic colon cancer cells. Colon cancer is the second most prevalent type of cancer in men and third in women in the Western wo
Many patients who experience a traumatic injury to the brain experience major depression or other psychiatric illnesses within a year after their head injuries, according to two articles in the January issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Mood and anxiety disorders are common complications among patients who have experienced traumatic brain injury (TBI), according to the article. Studies suggest that depression is also a common psychiatric complica
An influenza virus vaccine delivered as a nasal spray, appears to be effective in protecting healthy children against certain strains of influenza, according to an article in the January issue of The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Each winter, influenza causes significant illness in all age groups, according to the article. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved an influenza virus vaccine (cold-adapted trivalent influenza vi
Path to recovery at the brain level appears different from drug therapy
An imaging study by neuroscientists in Canada has found that patients who recover from depression with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) show a pattern of brain changes that is distinct from patients who recover with drug therapy.
It’s an important finding because it shows — for the first time with definitive imaging evidence — that the depressed brain responds ’differently’ to different
Scientists at the University of Sussex are pioneering a non-invasive way to identify cancers. The team has vastly improved a system for detecting cancer in the early stages, without putting patients through painful exploratory procedures.
The detection works by beaming ultra violet light at a patient and analysing the information reflected. This information, known as luminescence, reveals a spectrum of colours that separates healthy and cancerous tissue. The results show whether the light h
A bacterium that can be dangerous to premature babies and young infants could be more widespread in the environment than previously thought, suggest authors of a research letter in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.
Enterobacter sakazakii occasionally causes illness among premature babies and infants. In some previously described outbreaks, infant formula-contaminated during factory production or bottle preparation-was recognised as a source for bacterial colonisation; however the degree of wi
Two articles and a Commentary in this week’s issue highlight how combination therapy offers the best hope for tackling drug resistance for the millions of people worldwide affected by malaria.
Drug resistance is the main barrier to effective malaria treatment. Artemisinin (extract of sweet wormwood , commonly used in Chinese herbal medicine) and its derivatives, artemether and artesunate, are of potential importance as other malarial drugs have been associated with microbial resistance.
Higher cutoffs led to more accurate identification of high-functioning
Diagnosticians would do well to raise the bar when testing high-functioning people for pre-clinical signs of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study. Higher test cutoffs, rather than the standard group average, more accurately predicted how many highly intelligent people would deteriorate over time. This finding is reported in the January issue of Neuropsychology, which is published by the American Psych
Patients with persistently abnormal liver function tests but no serologic evidence of liver disease may nevertheless have hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, according to a study published in the January 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, available online now.
Such occult (meaning hidden or concealed) infection is not supposed to occur–the conventional wisdom is that the virus leaves markers in serum or plasma, including specific antibodies and viral RNA, which have been the ser
Viruses can both cause and prevent autoimmune disease. In order to understand this dualism, Matthias von Herrath and colleagues from the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology in California exposed prediabetic mice to viral infections. In the January 2 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation the authors report that infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) during the prediabetic period completely abolished the diabetic process in two distinct mouse models.
This
Research performed by scientists at the School of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, University of Surrey and the Health Protection Agency (Porton Down, Salisbury) provides hope for developing a new meningitis vaccine that will protect children against all groups of meningococcus.
Published in the journal, Infection and Immunity, the research found that meningococcus is responsible for epidemics of meningitis worldwide that kills thousands of children each year. Vaccines are available for th
Approximately one to three percent of children are affected by obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This condition can cause growth problems and delay development. Symptoms include snoring, difficulty breathing when asleep, and sleep disturbance. Sometimes parents notice the child becomes completely obstructed despite struggling to breathe. Once diagnosed, OSA in children can usually be treated by removing the tonsils and adenoids. The diagnosis of this condition usually requires a detailed evaluation and
An international team of researchers finds that taking a single daily dose of an approved antiviral drug known as valacyclovir can reduce the transmission of genital herpes to uninfected partners by 50 percent. The results are published in the Jan. 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The team of researchers led by Dr. Larry Corey, a member of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research, conducted a study of nearly 1,500 heterosexual monogamous couples in which one partner had genital herpes
A condition linked to heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity
For over a decade, scientists have known that insulin resistance – a syndrome where the body does not respond as well as it should to insulin – is linked to the development of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and polycystic ovary syndrome. In fact, one in four adult Americans has insulin resistance, with Mexican Americans having the highest prevalence. But because people with insulin
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