Randomized trial finds reduced spread of GI infections in families with children in day care

Using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel significantly reduces the spread of gastrointestinal infections in the home, according to a study in the September issue of Pediatrics. In a study of 292 Greater Boston families — half of which were given hand sanitizer — those that used the gel had a 59 percent reduction in the spread of GI illnesses.

“This is the first randomized trial

Researchers in Norway determined that stroke severity measured by the Scandinavian Stroke Scale is a statistically significant predictor for epilepsy after stroke. Data shows that more than 20,000 Americans will develop epilepsy due to stroke each year. This research is published in the August issue of the journal Epilepsia.

In one of the longest follow-up studies performed with data from almost 500 patients, researchers found that 3.1% of people who suffered a stroke developed ep

The key to preventing asthma and reducing allergies may lie in an unexpected source: parasitic worms. Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have managed to cure experimental asthma in the lab using a live worm, the first time a human parasite has been used for this purpose. Dr Padraic Fallon from the Department of Biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin will present these findings at the BA Festival of Science on Monday 5 September.

The UK and Ireland are experiencing an asth

Scientists in Cambridge are developing a potentially life-saving new way of finding and killing cancer cells.

Using the field of epigenetics – the way the body’s cells control which genes are off or on – it is possible to identify proteins in the body that determine a cancer cells fate, whether it grows or not, and destroy them.

Cambridge firm CellCentric are working with leading scientists in epigenetics to try to exploit this new technology.

Cancer spread

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and the Institute of Biomedical Research of the Parc Científic de Barcelona (IRB-PCB) have now added key evidence to claims that some types of cancer originate with defects in stem cells. The study, reported this week in the on-line edition of Nature Genetics (September 4) shows that if key molecules aren’t placed in the right locations within stem cells before they divide, the result can be deadly tumors.

An international team of researchers has discovered that human embryonic stem cell lines accumulate changes in their genetic material over time.

The findings do not limit the utility of the cells for some types of research or for some future clinical applications, the researchers say, but draw attention to the need to closely monitor stem cell lines for genetic changes and to study how these alterations affect the cells’ behavior. The researchers’ work is described in the

UCL (University College London) scientists have found that the closest living relative to the extinct Irish Elk (giant deer) lives on our shores. The team tested for DNA and skeletal features to prove that the giant deer – which roamed across Europe and Siberia with prehistoric man and is the subject of numerous cave drawings – has its DNA in common with the fallow deer, one of the most widespread deer in the UK since their introduction by the Normans in the eleventh century.

The results,

About 60,000 Americans will be diagnosed with melanoma this year, says the American Cancer Society, and 10,000 of those cases will be fatal. If not caught in the early stages, melanoma can be a particularly virulent form of cancer, spreading through the body with an efficiency that few tumors possess. Now, researchers at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research have discovered one of the reasons why this particular skin tumor is so ruthless. Unlike other cancers, melanoma is born with its meta

A group of scientists in Italy have developed a vaccine with the potential to protect against fungal pathogens that commonly infect humans, according to a study by Torosantucci and colleagues in the September 5 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine. Although these fungi pose little threat to people with healthy immune systems, they can cause fatal infections in those whose immune systems have been weakened by cancer treatments or post-transplant immunosuppressive therapies. No anti-fungal va

University of Oregon work appears on cover of Inorganic Chemistry

Not all libraries contain books. In chemistry, the word library is used to refer to a collection of molecules. University of Oregon chemist Jim Hutchison’s new way of rapidly generating libraries of tiny particles with great promise for research and development at the nanoscale is featured on the cover of the Sept. 5 issue of Inorganic Chemistry.

“We’ve discovered a method for generating a diver

Tumor cells can grow without control by weakening specific cells of the immune system, the T-cells, which normally detect and destroy tumor cells. The findings of Dr. Gerald Willimsky and Prof. Thomas Blankenstein (Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, MDC, Berlin-Buch and Charité) were generated in transgenic mice over a period of seven years and have now been published in the scientific journal Nature* (doi:10.1038/nature03954). Until now, the notion was that tumor cells escape recognition

Exercise is essential for reducing the risk of osteoporosis and heart disease in post-menopausal women. But too much exercise in pre-menopausal women may actually increase the risks. These claims will be made by Dr Karen Birch, Senior Lecturer in Exercise Physiology at the University of Leeds, during the BA Festival of Science in Dublin this week.

From puberty to the menopause, females cyclically produce the reproductive hormones oestrogen and progesterone. Research has now sho

Scientists believe that knowing exactly which type of dirt provides the best ‘education’ for the immune system, could be key to providing new treatments for diseases such as asthma.

Speaking at the launch of the BA Festival of Science today, Professor Peter Openshaw, explains that a lack of exposure to dirt and common viral infections among children could be behind the rise in the levels of asthma.

Professor Openshaw, from Imperial College London, and based at St Mary’s

Researchers from Imperial College London are looking for volunteers to test whether cannabinoids, the active ingredient of cannabis, can be used to alleviate the sensation of breathlessness caused by illnesses such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The team are looking for volunteers aged between 50 and 70, who don’t have breathing difficulties.

Dr Elspeth Pickering, clinical research fellow, from Imperial College London and Chelsea and Westminster Hospi

The fact that cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one killer of European women is still not widely known, nor is that women are disadvantaged in terms of risk assessment, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.

CVD is the biggest cause of death in European women, accounting for 40% of all deaths- twice as much as all cancers combined. Coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke together are TEN times commoner than breast cancer, yet many women -and indeed health professionals-

We know very little about the risk of sudden death associated with exercise in young competitors, so the benefits versus the hazards of sports activity pose a clinical dilemma. However, we know from a study in the Veneto region of Italy that adolescents and young adults involved in competitive sport had a two and a half times higher risk of sudden death. The young competitors who died suddenly were affected by silent cardiovascular diseases, predominantly cardiomyopathies. Sport did not directly