Chemotherapy for a disorder of the immune system may – at least in theory – be effective against severe human avian influenza infection, this suggest scientists at the Karolinska Institutet.

The Hypothesis is published on online by The Lancet. The authors suggest that although chemotherapy for avian influenza is a substantial jump in thinking, such therapy could still be reasonable, particularly since it has been shown to be very effective in decreasing mortality in an immune diso

Scientists at the University of the West of England and the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at the Bristol Children’s Hospital have just won funding for a two-year project aimed at improving the outcome of bone marrow stem-cell transplants in young leukaemia patients.

After a stem cell transplant there is a significant risk that grafted donor white blood cells, known as T-cells, will attack the recipient and may cause a fatal complication called graft versus host disease (GvHD). In Bris

Two researchers from the University of Navarra, Javier Novo and José Luis Vizmanos, have performed a bioinformatic study on the genes which have been implicated in the development of cancer. The research project has been described in an article which will be published shortly in Trends in Genetics, one of the five best journals in the area of “Genetics and Inheritance”.

This bioinformatic study has permitted the researchers to identify certain common properties in those genes which ar

From 1st to 24th of March, 2006, the application forms to participate in the second INFOBIOMED Training Challenge will be opened. This is an innovative training experience organized by the Network of Excellence INFOBIOMED.

This training meeting, that will take place in Viladrau (Barcelona, Spain) from the 29th May to the 2nd of June 2006, will gather 2 groups of 5 students with different backgrounds (bioinformatics, medical informatics, biology, medicine, chemistry, etc.) who will be w

… Management of Dementia

Alzheimer’s disease–specific biomarkers clearly are needed for the differential diagnosis of cognitive impairment in the elderly. What sets age-related disorders like hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and diabetes mellitus apart from Alzheimer’s disease is that each has biomarkers that can be followed easily and repeatedly, not simply to diagnose, but also to monitor response and optimize treatment. In contrast, the current role of clinical labor

Researchers have found that a simple test for an enzyme called LDH may have significant importance for determining major risk factors in adults with sickle cell disease. The study results will be published in the March 15, 2006, issue of Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology.

“This study suggests that LDH testing may be a worthwhile addition to ’well adult’ visits for individuals with sickle cell anemia, though the significance in children and ado

Fluorescence that illuminates a specific protein within a cell’s nucleus may be a key to identifying cancer virulence and to developing individualized treatment, according to researchers at Purdue University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The scientists created a technique that automatically locates and maps proteins involved in regulating cell behavior, said Sophie Lelièvre, Purdue assistant professor of basic medical sciences. The research results have for th

A study by researchers at New York University and the University of London offers additional evidence that mammals and fruit flies share a common genetic makeup that determines the function of their internal biological clocks. The study appears in the latest issue of Current Biology. The research team consisted of post-doctoral researcher Ben Collins, Esteban Mazzoni, a graduate student, and Assistant Professor Justin Blau of NYU’s Department of Biology and Professor Ralf Stanewsky of the Unive

With its big, hockey puck-sized eyes, shortened face and nubby horns, it was probably as cute as a button – at least to its mother, a three-horned dinosaur called Triceratops that could weigh as much as 10 tons and had one of the largest skulls of any land animal on the planet.

Visitors to the University of California, Berkeley’s Valley Life Sciences Building now can judge for themselves. A cast of the foot-long skull from the youngest Triceratops fossil ever found is on

It has been well documented that, across human cultures and in most mammals, males are usually more aggressive and less nurturing than females. It’s simple to blame male hormones, like testosterone, for male behavior such as aggression. But maybe it’s in our genes, too.

Indeed such social behavior also has a genetic basis, according to new research on mice by neuroscientists at the University of Virginia Health System. “The differences in sex chromosomes, XX versus XY, are also re

Chemists at UCLA and the University of Michigan report an advance toward the goal of cars that run on hydrogen rather than gasoline. While the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that practical hydrogen fuel will require concentrations of at least 6.5 percent, the chemists have achieved concentrations of 7.5 percent — nearly three times as much as has been reported previously — but at a very low temperature (77 degrees Kelvin).

The research, scheduled to be published in late March in t

Questions around the movement and population size changes of Kiwis, Tuatara and other New Zealand wildlife over the past hundred years have been continually studied by conservationists and scientists. It now seems the answers might all be found in the viruses that infect them.

Dr Alexei Drummond, from The University of Auckland’s Faculty of Science, has been part of a global research team analysing the genetic sequences of viruses in animals.

This pioneering tech

MUMS-to-be are risking their health and that of their babies by not eating enough of the right foods.

Pregnant women are eating fewer calories and taking less iron and fibre than the recommended amounts for non-pregnant women, says a study by nutritionists at Manchester Metropolitan University.

The study is the first to track women’s daily diets throughout pregnancy from conception to birth.

To be published in the Journal of Maternal and Child Nutrition, it found

Millions of smokers will receive an extra push to stub out their cigarettes, thanks to a new initiative launched on this year’s No Smoking Day (Wednesday 8 March, 2006)

A team at Sheffield Hallam University has joined up with local primary care trusts to produce a unique toolkit, which aims to give health workers such as pharmacists, nurses and GPs’ receptionists across the UK the knowledge to help smokers break the deadly cycle.

Just weeks after MPs voted to ban sm

The dissociation in the visual system between two separate functions – one that enables us to identify objects and the other to interact with them – has been clearly demonstrated for the first time in healthy humans by researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

These separate vision-related actions have been documented from the beginning of the 20th century in patients who suffered damage to the visual system as a result of illness or injuries in which one or the othe

Anxiety restricts blood flow in some patients

The fear of public speaking might cause some people to do more than just break out in a cold sweat and battle stomach-churning butterflies – it could prove to have consequences for their heart health.

University of Florida cardiologists have identified a group of heart disease patients who appear especially vulnerable to the physical effects of mental stress.

Chronic anxiety, depression or anger are widely recognize