Living longer and better medical treatments such as organ transplants and cancer therapy are all paradoxically increasing our risk of blood poisoning, according to experts in bacterial infections speaking at the Society for General Microbiology’s Spring Meeting in Edinburgh today, Monday 7 April 2003.

“The two commonest causes of blood poisoning are bacteria called Escherichia coli from the urinary tract, and Staphylococcus aureus carried on the skin or from a hospital drip,” says Professor

Using cold temperatures could help make quicker, cheaper and safer influenza vaccines, according to Dr Alison Whiteley at the Society for General Microbiology’s Spring Meeting in Edinburgh today, Monday 7 April 2003.

Influenza epidemics sweep the world every year killing the very young and the very old, but every thirty years or so a new virulent strain appears which kills people from every age group. These super-dangerous strains develop from viruses which normally infect birds, and the vac

For the first time, researchers are characterizing the molecular processes that turn brain cancer deadly, and their work may result in a diagnostic test that can predict patient survival.

The research, by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center demonstrates that degree of loss of a crucial tumor suppressor gene, the AP-2( transcription factor, correlates with progression of different human gliomas.

For example, researchers found that normal brain tissue,

Researchers report that in laboratory animals, the combination of radiation and the anti-angiogenic drug, endostatin, appears to work synergistically together to stop development of new blood vessels that seek to grow and nourish damaged tumors.
Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center found that the regrowth of new blood vessels was reduced five-fold in mice with implanted squamous cell cancer treated with radiation and endostatin compared to diseased mice that had ra

Is there life on Mars? It’s possible, but it may not be Martian, say scientists. New research, published in the open access journal BMC Microbiology, suggests that conditions on Mars are capable of supporting dormant bacteria, known as endospores. This raises concern about future attempts to detect Martian life forms because endospores originating on Earth could potentially hitch a ride to Mars and survive on its surface.
Soil on Mars is thought to be rich in oxidising chemicals that are known

Research to be presented at American Academy of Neurology meeting on April 3

Results of a clinical trial conducted by Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) reveal yoga or exercise assists multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with fatigue. The study was conducted and funded within the Oregon Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Neurological Disorders (ORCCAMIND) at OHSU. The research results will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology meeting on April 3 in Ho

Scientists have been studying mutant plants that take an unusually long time to flower. At the SEB conference on Thursday 3 April, researchers from Horticulture Research International will present the results of their investigation into a RING finger protein (RING stands for Really Interesting New Gene) involved in regulating when a plant will flower.

Dr Stephen Jackson and colleagues have been working with mutants that have altered flowering times. One particular mutant that takes a long ti

Many shark species, including the great white and mako, swim at speeds greater than their morphology should allow. Dr. Adam Summers (University of California) has discovered they achieve this speed by changing the stiffness of their body by pressurising their thick, inflexible skin. “This study could help answer questions about the evolution of the shark, especially why sharks abandoned a bony skeleton in favour of a cartilage structure,” said Dr. Summers who will be presenting his findings on Frida

The broad barred goby is a coward. A sweeping statement you may say, but even though the goby is poisonous to its predators, the cowardly fish still spends almost all its time cowering in an inaccessible coral home 20-30 cm in diameter. A new study, to be presented to the Society for Experimental biology on Wednesday 3rd April, reveals how the fish has adapted to extremely low oxygen concentrations (hypoxia) in order to avoid venturing out from its coral den.

Dr. Göran Nilsson, from the Univ

Scientists Identify a Protein Channel that Mediates the Body’s Ability to Feel Frigid

A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have identified and isolated a novel protein that mediates the body’s ability to sense cold through the skin.

In an article that will appear in this week’s issue of the journal Cell, the group describes the “ion channel” protein, called ANKTM1, which is the

Study shows surprisingly sophisticated nesting behavior in common marsh birds

Coots, the Rodney Dangerfields of the bird world, just might start to get some respect as a result of a new study showing that these common marsh birds are able to recognize and count their own eggs, even in the presence of eggs laid by other birds.

The counting ability of female coots is part of a sophisticated set of defense mechanisms used to thwart other coots who lay eggs in their neighbors&#1

Results from the ASCOT (Anglo Scandinavian Cardiac Outcome Trial) study have shown that patients receiving the cholesterol controlling drug, atorvastatin, are more than a third less likely to have heart attacks, and more than a quarter less likely to suffer from strokes.

The results of the study, announced today at the American College of Cardiology annual scientific session in Chicago, USA, and simultaneously published online in the Lancet, show that in a study of more than 10,305 people w

Special modification of reverse genetics created at St. Jude allowed vaccine to be custom-made within weeks of emergence of virus

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital announced today the development of a vaccine against H5N1, a new lethal influenza virus that triggered the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a pandemic alert in February 2003.

The virus appeared in birds in Hong Kong late last year and subsequently killed one of two infected people

Results of a study by researchers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and Dartmouth Thayer School of Engineering could have implications for choosing which patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms should have surgery and which ones should simply have follow-up with noninvasive studies.

In an article published in the April issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery, Dr. Mark Fillinger and colleagues describe a new noninvasive method for evaluating abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). Th

Ammonia is a problem. All animal cells produce it, but how do they get rid of it? New research by Dr Dirk Weihrauch (University of Illinois at Chicago) to be presented on Wednesday 2 April (session A2.2) suggests that the crab may have evolved a rather novel solution.

For us mammals, the key to getting rid of waste ammonia is to detoxify it into urea in the liver. Marine organisms can employ the rather simpler solution of allowing the toxic ammonia to diffuse into their environment. However,

Acetaminophen, the medicine in Tylenol®, clears rapidly and completely from the bloodstream even in doses as high as twice the daily recommended dose, according to new research presented at the 42nd annual meeting of the Society of Toxicology recently in Salt Lake City.

“Our objective was to take what we already knew about the pharmacokinetics of acetaminophen and go a step further,” explained lead investigator Cathy K. Gelotte, PhD, Executive Director, Medical and Regulatory Product Develo