The World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA) is recommending that people of all ages add chiropractic to their strategy for warding off and fighting the flu and its effects this season.

Spinal adjustments can have a positive effect on immune function, the WCA asserts, citing a growing number of researchers who are exploring the common denominators in disease processes, and the role of the nervous, immune, and hormonal systems in development of immune related illnesses,

Chirop

Decreasing testosterone boosts immunity because testosterone helps control T-lymphocytes, the attack cells of the immune system, according to Mayo Clinic-led research in laboratory animals. The findings appear in the Nov. 15 edition of the Journal of Immunology.

Collaborators include scientists from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, N.Y.; the Tumor Immunity and Tolerance Section of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunoregulation, National Cancer Institute; and Howard Hughes Me

Prevalence is higher than standard tests for hepatitis B would suggest

Some kidney dialysis patients contract hepatitis B virus (HBV) during the course of their treatment, possibly from other members of the dialysis population with occult HBV. People with occult HBV test negative for HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) but positive for HBV-DNA, which is detected through sensitive tests not typically performed on dialysis patients. A recent study found that the prevalence of occult HBV in

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientists have reported – for the first time – a burst in new brain cell development during abstinence from chronic alcohol consumption.

The UNC findings, from research at UNC’s Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies, were based on an animal model of chronic alcohol dependence, in which adult rats were given alcohol over four days in amounts that produced alcohol dependency. The study is in the Nov. 3 issue of the Journal of Neuroscien

Finding by Emory University scientists has implications for vaccines, antiviral therapies and cancer treatment

Immune T cells that respond to chronic viral infections do not acquire the same “memory” capabilities of T cells that respond to acute viral infections, according to research by scientists at Emory University. The finding may explain why people lose their immunity to some viruses after chronic infections are controlled. It could guide scientists in developing better ther

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have shown that genetic testing can be effectively used to distinguish between heart failure patients who suffer from ischemic or nonischemic forms of the disease. Using groupings or clusters of a patient’s gene expression to compare to a diseased “test” set that identifies the cause of heart failure, the Hopkins team assembled a 90-gene profile to determine which type of heart failure had most likely developed. Results showed the test profile to be highly accu

In what could be termed a truly seminal discovery, researchers have shown that when females are more promiscuous, males have to work harder — at the genetic level, that is. More specifically, they determined that a protein controlling semen viscosity evolves more rapidly in primate species with promiscuous females than in monogamous species. The finding demonstrates that sexual competition among males is evident at the molecular level, as well as at behavioral and physiological levels.

Chemists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a method that uses dust-sized chips of silicon to surround and precisely direct the motion of molecules, cells, bacteria and other miniscule objects within a tiny drop of liquid.

Their development of these tiny silicon “chaperones,” detailed today in an advance online publication in a forthcoming issue of the journal Nature Materials, represents an important new achievement in the emerging field of “microfluidic

The numbers of people suffering from stroke and dementia continue to rise as the population of the UK ages, but at present our ability to repair a damaged brain is limited. Now a new centre at King’s College London brings leading clinical researchers and basic scientists under one roof, with the aim of developing treatments for age-related diseases.

The Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, opened by HRH The Princess Royal on 9 November 2004, houses world experts in brain develo

Genetically modified (GM) corn won’t threaten native corn species in Mexico, according to a new report issued by the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA).

In a country whose culture and identity revolve heavily around corn, or maize – the crop was first developed here thousands of years ago – the thought of imported GM varieties contaminating indigenous plants frightens many citizens, said Allison Snow, a co-author of the report and a professor of evolution, ecology

In experiments with pigs, scientists at Johns Hopkins have successfully used a technique called “gene painting” to target gene therapy to a specific region of the heart and change the heart’s rhythm.

“Getting the genes where we want them has been a key limiting factor in the successful development of gene therapies for heart conditions,” said cardiac electrophysiologist Kevin Donahue, M.D., an associate professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its H

Caspase levels are associated with liver injury

Caspase activity in the sera of patients with chronic hepatitis C infection (HCV) may be a more sensitive measure of liver injury than conventional surrogate markers like aminotransferases, according to a new study published in the November 2004 issue of Hepatology. Hepatology, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is available online via Wiley

One-year mortality rates are comparable to those from liver transplantation alone

Improvements in surgical techniques have made orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) a viable option for older patients who may also have cardiovascular disease, but poor cardiovascular health may keep transplant candidates from receiving a new organ.
Some such patients can safely undergo angioplasty to correct their heart conditions first, however, those requiring coronary artery bypass graft

A tuberculosis drug called D-cycloserine (DCS), used in concert with psychotherapy, is an effective treatment for some anxiety-related disorders, according to research by scientists at Emory University School of Medicine and the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience (CBN). The study was led by Michael Davis, PhD, Kerry Ressler, MD, PhD, and Barbara Rothbaum, PhD, of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and is reported in the November issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

As middle-aged men’s weight goes up, so do their monthly costs for prescription drugs to treat heart disease risk factors and weight-related conditions, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2004. In a study of 328 men who participated in a health screening, normal-weight men spent an average of $22.84 per month at the pharmacy. Overweight men averaged $39.27 per month, and obese men spent $80.31 per month – about 3.5 times what their n

While the placement of stents in newly reopened coronary arteries has been shown to reduce the need for repeat angioplasty procedures, researchers from the Duke Clinical Research Institute have found that stents have no impact on mortality over the long term.

In the largest such analysis of its kind, the Duke researchers said their findings have important economic and clinical implications for physicians who are deciding whether their heart patients should receive coronary arte