Experts are recommending that adolescents and some adults be vaccinated against whooping cough to help prevent infection and potential transmission to infants, according to the December 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

Worldwide, about 300,000 people–mostly infants–die each year from whooping cough, known scientifically as pertussis. The disease is caused by Bordetella pertussis, a type of bacterium that infects the human respiratory tract. Vacc

National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice today underwent embolization—a non-surgical treatment to kill uterine fibroid tumors. While embolization is a good option for some patients, a less invasive option is on the horizon, as outlined this week in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

The new procedure could someday replace both embolization and the even more invasive hysterectomy, especially for patients who would still like to have children after treatment, acco

Research that could lead to a breakthrough in the treatment of HIV has scooped a University of Manchester scientist a prestigious industry award.

Dr Curtis Dobson’s work was voted Project of the Year at the annual Northwest Biotechnology Awards ceremony hosted by the Northwest Development Agency programme, Bionow. His research concerns the interaction between human proteins and viruses and the development of novel anti-infective compounds that could become the next generation of HI

Waterloo’s battlefield is reigniting the debate about whether modern medicine is always good for you, according to University College London (UCL) scientists who are launching a study of why some critically ill patients recover and others die from multiple organ failure – the number one killer of patients in intensive care.

Speaking today at a public lecture held in London, Professor Mervyn Singer from UCL’s Institute of Intensive Care Medicine said the impressive survival stati

Each year tuberculosis kills about three million people in the world. In particular it is responsible for the death of more than one-third of HIV- infected people, who prove particularly susceptible owing to a decline in immune defences. The agent responsible is a bacterium of the species Mycobacterium tuberculosis, also termed Koch’s bacillus, after the scientist who discovered it in 1882.

Molecular epidemiology has proved valuable for understanding the transmission and control

A little bison called Murzilka lives in a spacious open-air cage in the Prioksko-Terrasny biosphere reserve, eats well and occasionally meets with its adoptive parents – they specially come over from town to visit their “son”. It has been several months already that Vitaly Chubiy and Elena Kolomenskaya adopted a baby bison.

This summer the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has launched a new project under the inviting slogan “Adopt a Bison”. To become related with the biggest animal of E

Scientists have determined the crystal structure of a protein kinase C (PKC) isozyme, in this case the novel PKC family member PKC theta (PKCÈ). This structure should prove extremely useful in the rational design of small molecule inhibitors of PKCÈ, which has been implicated in T-cell mediated disease processes including inflammation and autoimmunity.

The research appears as the “Paper of the Week” in the November 26 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, an American Soc

The bacterium that causes ulcers and contributes to stomach cancers uses a clever interaction between two genes to randomly tighten and loosen its grip on the stomach, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Umeå University in Sweden.

Helicobacter pylori often binds tightly to cells of the stomach lining to feed, but the newly identified interaction ensures that a small reservoir of bacteria are always more loosely connected.

Discovery shows stem cell-derived ‘insulation’ cells growing and functioning in a living system

For the first time, researchers have used human embryonic stem cells to create new insulating tissue for nerve fibers in a live animal model – a finding that has potentially important implications for treatment of spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis.

Researchers at the UC Irvine Reeve-Irvine Research Center used human embryonic stem cells to create cells called oligodendr

Study of development of cancer in seven Swedish counties establishes connection

A statistically determined correlation between radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident and an increase in the number of cases of cancer in the exposed areas in Sweden is reported in a study by scientists at Linköping University, Örebro University, and the County Council of Västernorrland County. It is the first study demonstrating such a correlation. It is being published in the scientific jour

Using brain imaging, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have found clear differences in brain function between healthy people who carry a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and those who lack the factor.

Because researchers believe that Alzheimer’s disease starts changing the brain years before any symptoms appear, the disease may be most amenable to treatment in these pre-clinical stages. If so, detecting the early changes will be crucial

Psychiatrists at Rush University Medical Center are testing a noninvasive technique that uses repeated short bursts of magnetic energy to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to treat major depression. The therapy is called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), and Rush is enrolling patients in a clinical trial to determine if TMS is safe and effective.

“We think that this is landmark research for a new antidepressant treatment,” said Dr. Philip Janicak, Rush psychiatrist a

Anyone who has ever had a urinary tract infection knows that they can be difficult to fight.

The bacterium E. coli is responsible for about 80 percent of human urinary tract infections. Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara have made important strides in understanding E. coli at the molecular level in an effort to discover the mechanisms by which E. coli cause urinary tract infections. The findings, the result of two years of study, are published in the Novemb

Ion channels made light sensitive, allowing remote control of firing

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have given “blind” nerve cells the ability to detect light, paving the way for an innovative therapy that could restore sight to those who have lost it through disease.

A team lead by neurobiologist Richard H. Kramer, UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology, and Dirk Trauner, assistant professor of chemistry, inserted a light-activated

It depends on what we’re thinking about!

Researchers are using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to probe brain activity in search of the answer. According to a new fMRI study using a “diary” method to collect memories, it all depends on what we’re thinking about!

Researchers have known for decades that thinking about autobiographical facts is different from thinking about autobiographical episodes that happened only once. Since both kinds of thoughts

One in three smokers or former smokers screened for lung cancer at a baseline and one year follow-up visit using a recent advance in computed tomography tested positive according to a new study. Of those, 12 percent had lung biopsies, and 7 percent were diagnosed with lung cancer. The findings, along with detailed characterizations of practiced follow-up patterns, appear in the January 1, 2005 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

Low dose spiral