Physicians found that signs, symptoms and identifiable risk factors are absent in more than half of the mothers of infants with congenital toxoplasmosis in a national study of children with this disease.

More than half of the pregnant women who were at risk for acute infection with Toxoplasma gondii could not be identified by history or routine examination. Therefore, the physicians recommend that systematic screening for acute acquired toxoplasmosis for all pregnant women in the U

The severity of possible infection and the effectiveness of a vaccine weighed heavily in the decision-making process for parents reporting their views on childhood vaccination for sexually transmitted diseases.

The analysis of 278 parental views on STD vaccination for children was reported in the Feb.7 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine by researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine.

In an ongoing series of studies, lead author Greg

Speedy speciation curbs courtship options, says Nature article

Biologists at Lehigh University and the University of Maryland have identified a cricket living in Hawaii’s forests as the world’s fastest-evolving invertebrate. Finicky mating behavior appears to be the driving force behind the speedy speciation of the Laupala cricket, the scientists wrote in the Jan. 27 issue of Nature magazine.

Females in the Laupala genus detect tiny differences in the pulse rates of male

Prions, infectious proteins associated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad Cow Disease, were previously thought to accumulate mainly in the brain, but Yale and University of Zurich researchers report in Science that other organs can also become infected.

Past research had shown that the brain and spinal cord bear the highest infection risk for BSE, followed by organs such as the spleen, lymph nodes and tonsils. All other organs were thought to be devoid of prions.

The varicella vaccine is almost 90 percent effective against chickenpox, but its impact on herpes zoster (shingles) is unknown and needs wider surveillance, Yale School of Medicine researchers write in today’s New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) perspective section.

The varicella virus causes both chickenpox and herpes zoster, which occurs when a latent virus in the brain becomes reactivated and causes a painful rash on the skin, leading to severe pain and burning alo

A combination of four proteins that result from inflammation and infection and lead to premature birth can be rapidly and accurately detected in the amniotic fluid of pregnant women using proteomics technology, Yale researchers report in two studies in the February issue of British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Using proteomics science, the Yale team, in collaboration with two other academic institutions, developed a novel method called MR scoring to discriminate healthy

Sunscreen for microbes to be introduced

Two Virginia Tech scientists contributed by invitation to an international scientific meeting called by Abdoulaye Wade, president of Senegal, to identify strategies for the control of the ongoing locust outbreak in West Africa. Last year, locusts stripped fields of crops and trees of foliage across several countries, causing severe income and food supply loss.

Larry Vaughan, associate program director of the USAID-funded Integrate

Research confirms how early-life events shape later physiology

Underscoring the value of good prenatal care, new research suggests that early infection may create a cognitive vulnerability that appears later during stress on the immune system. Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder have reported that rats who experienced a one-time infection as newborns didn’t learn as well as adult rats who were not infected as pups, after their immunity was challenged. The r

Genetic diversity, age, and cultural experience all contribute to the sensory worlds of children and their parents

Variation in a taste receptor gene influences taste sensitivity of children and adults, accounting for individual differences in taste preferences and food selection, report a team of researchers from the Monell Chemical Senses Center. In addition to genes, age and culture also contribute to taste preferences, at times overriding the influence of genetics.

A research team at the Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University in Sweden has developed a point system for calculating risk that will help physicians determine prognoses, survival rates, and the best methods of treatment for patients suffering from GIST tumors. The findings are being published in the prestigious medical journal Cancer.

GIST is a soft tissue tumor that occurs in the abdomen but differs from gastro-intestinal cancer. Nearly two hundred Swedes are affected ever

Scientists have demonstrated a new way to assess the potentially damaging effects of prenatal drug exposure–a technique that could also be used to monitor a fetus’s response to therapeutic drugs–using sophisticated, noninvasive medical imaging tools. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, whose findings are reported in the February issue of the Society of Nuclear Medicine’s Journal of Nuclear Medicine, used positron emission tomography (PET

There may be more reason than ever to drink your milk and eat your fruits and vegetables. A Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center researcher and colleagues reported today that high consumption of dairy products and fruits and vegetables may lower the risk of disability, especially among black women.

The research, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that black women who consumed the highest amounts of dairy products and fruits and vegetables – close to the

Therapy is quicker, less invasive than IV therapy

Oral rehydration therapy, or giving fluids by mouth, is equally effective as giving intravenous fluids to young children dehydrated by common stomach and intestinal inflammations, according to a new study by emergency medicine physicians. Because oral therapy can be started more quickly and is less painful for the child than IV treatment, the researchers say it should be the preferred treatment for children with moderate dehydrat

New technology can screen for multiple agents simultaneously; has potential applications for clinical medicine, biodefense, vaccine development, blood product industry

Researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and the Columbia Genome Center have designed and developed a sensitive new diagnostic technology platform, called “Mass Tag PCR,” that can simultaneously screen for multiple infectious agents. The new technology is addressed in a paper publis

Scientists have discovered that factors such as human immunity and drug resistance are less important to the success of bacterial spread than previously thought.

According to research published online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences most of the variation in the spread of bacterial pathogens occurs simply by chance.

The team from Imperial College London studied three famously deadly species: Neisseria meningitidis, which causes outbreaks of me

Scientists have moved a step closer to understanding what happens when cells receive a faulty signal that is known to be a cause of cancer.

Many different types of signal control normal cell development but when some of these signals are ‘mis-activated’ they can result in the formation of tumours. Now, a team of researchers at The University of Manchester has discovered that the way cells communicate with each other is often more complicated than previously thought.

Th