A novel vaccine targeted to multiple HIV subtypes found worldwide has moved into the second phase of clinical testing, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced today. The study investigators plan to enroll a total of 480 participants at sites in Africa, North America, South America and the Caribbean to test the safety and immune response to the vaccine.

The experimental vaccine was developed by

Dietary supplements containing vanadium are used by body builders to help beef up muscles and by some diabetic people to control blood sugar. New research now suggests the naturally occurring but easily toxic element may help prepare the body to recover speedily from infections from gram-negative organisms such as E. coli.

In research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, scientists are trying to understand how recovery might be encouraged and why people with diab

A potential new treatment for stroke has taken a major step forward following promising results from the first clinical trial.

Researchers at The University of Manchester have shown in laboratory studies that a naturally occurring protein called IL-1ra protects brain cells from injury and death.

The team, led by Professor Nancy Rothwell and Dr Pippa Tyrrell, have now reported the results of the first small trial of IL-1ra in patients, which are published in the Journa

A gradual optimization of mitochondria–the cells’ powerhouses–may have occurred in the human lineage, which could be associated with the evolution of human longevity and intelligence. The study is reported in the latest issue of the Journal of Molecular Evolution and was conducted by Joao Pedro de Magalhaes, a Portuguese researcher working at Harvard Medical School.

By comparing the mitochondrial genome of multiple primates, the researcher found several mitochondrial genes in

By directly manipulating mating performance in a tropical sea slug, Chelidonura hirundinina, researchers of the University of Tübingen have now shed light on the bizarre reproductive conflicts encountered by hermaphroditic animals. In some hermaphroditic species, such as C. hirundinina, mating partners may insist on copulating as a “male,” “female,” or both, resulting in unique biological conflicts over gender.

Sexual interactions in so-called cross-fertilizing simultaneous hermaphrodit

Vision, like other biological attributes, is shaped by evolution through environmental pressures and demands, and even closely-related species that are in other ways very similar might respond to their particular environments by interpreting the visual world slightly differently, using photoreceptors that are attuned to particular wavelengths of light. By studying a special group of closely-related fish species inhabiting the Great Lakes of Africa, researchers have uncovered clues to understan

By investigating the interplay between pheromone signaling and behavior in fruit flies, researchers have begun to understand how an adult fly’s earlier experience as a young individual can influence its behavior towards other flies as an adult. In particular, the researchers found that pheromone signals in the context of experience with adult flies can influence how young flies will behave once they reach maturity. The work is reported by Jean-Francois Ferveur and colleagues at the Universite de

From snail to man, one of the hallmarks of the brain is the ease with which behavioral variants are generated–for example, humans can easily walk with different stride lengths or different speeds. By studying how a relatively simple motor network of the marine snail Aplysia produces variants of a particular feeding behavior, researchers have found that the ability to generate a large number of behavioral variants stems from the elegant hierarchical architecture of the brain’s motor network.

Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers cured PKU in mice with new gene therapy technique

Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers developed a technique for inserting genes into specific sites on the genome in liver cells. The genes are inserted into non-coding regions of the genome so there is no danger of interfering with the functioning of other genes. Once inserted, the gene remains a permanent part of the cell’s genome. In a study published in this week’s PNAS,

Findings may help elucidate mechanisms of wake-sleep transitions and epileptic seizures

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated that star-shaped glial cells in the brain called astrocytes are directly involved in regulating communication between neurons. A central finding of the study is that astrocytes modulate the level of a signaling molecule called adenosine, which is thought to be important in controlling wake-to-sleep transitions an

In a continuing increase in breast cancer, one in nine women in the UK now risk contracting the disease during their lifetime.

Some scientists argue that the cause may be an increased exposure to a number of environmental chemicals, a claim taken up by campaigners in the US and the UK who urge the government to provide better health protection. However, whereas the UK government has been keen to engage people in debate about genetics, GM crops and mobile phone masts, some say it

An international team of researchers are calling for better public health campaigns to reduce the numbers affected by river blindness.

River blindness is a disease transmitted by biting flies, affecting areas such as West Africa, Nigeria, Congo, the Central African Republic and Central and South America, and causing significant health problems for at least 18 million people. The flies carry a parasite called Onchocerca volvulus, which lays microscopic worms in the human host. The

The amount of exercise may be more important than intensity to improve cardiovascular health, according to a new analysis of the first randomized clinical trial evaluating the effects of exercise amount and intensity in sedentary overweight men and women. This finding of the value of moderate exercise should be encouraging news for those who mistakenly believe only intense exercise can improve health, said the researchers who conducted the trial.

The trial, led by researchers at Duke U

Antiretroviral drugs don’t halt damage

A new UCLA/University of Pittsburgh imaging study for the first time shows the selective pattern of destruction inflicted by AIDS on brain regions that control motor, language and sensory functions. High-resolution 3-D color scans created from magnetic resonance images (MRI) vividly illustrate the damage.

Published Oct. 10 by the online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research offers a new way to measure the

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in most developed countries. Screening for colorectal malignancies and polyps (which frequently become cancerous) has been shown to lower the number of deaths from cancer. Most cancer societies and preventive task forces recommend regular screening for cancer of the colon.

Physicians often recommend colonoscopy for screening. Unfortunately, this procedure is uncomfortable and occasionally results in perforation of the colo

“The big three” infections AIDS, TB and malaria have caught the world’s attention but other disabling and fatal infectious diseases in Africa are being ignored, say three eminent tropical disease researchers in the international health journal PLoS Medicine.

The neglected tropical diseases, which include sleeping sickness, schistosomiasis, river blindness, hookworm, elephantiasis, and blinding trachoma, affect several hundred million people, and kill at least half a mill