Using genetically altered mice, Yale researchers have generated a clearer picture of the origins of B cells and their involvement in autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes.

Published in the September 20 issue of Science, the study, led by Mark Shlomchik, M.D., associate professor of laboratory medicine at Yale School of Medicine, looked at B cells’ reactions to its own toxins, known as antigens. B lymphocyte cells normally produce antibodies to viruses and

For the first time, scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered similar gene activity profiles between a herpes virus that affects rhesus macaque monkeys and a human herpes virus linked to Kaposi’s sarcoma. This cancer is endemic among Mediterranean and sub-Sahara African populations. In the last 20 years, however, the disease has occurred most frequently in people with AIDS.

The study team, led by Dr. Blossom Damania, assistant professor of microbiolo

A novel form of vitamin D has been shown to grow bone in the lab and in experimental animals, a result that holds promise for the estimated 44 million Americans, mostly post-menopausal women, who suffer from or are at risk for the bone-wasting disease osteoporosis.

The research, conducted by a team of scientists led by biochemist Hector F. DeLuca at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was reported this week (Sept. 30) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a leading

3D Molecular Sciences presented a poster providing new assay data on the Company’s multiplexing enabling platform technology for molecular medicine at the BioArray Europe conference, taking place in Cambridge, UK, on 1 October 2002. The new patented assay system consists of microfabricated encoded particles of a variety of designs, attachment chemistries and a choice of readers to interpret the results.

The poster presentation, entitled Several Assay Systems Presented Using a New Patented 3

Folic acid is not only a safeguard against spina bifida and other birth defects in babies – it may also prevent heart disease and strokes, two of Northern Ireland’s biggest killers.

Research at the University of Ulster has shown that folic acid and three other related B-vitamins can prevent the accumulation of a high blood level of homocysteine, a new risk factor for heart disease and strokes.

The risk of high homocysteine is similar to the risk of high cholesterol – but the good

Northwestern University scientists have made a key molecular discovery that has implications for a wide range of diseases characterized by the loss of nerve function, including Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s diseases, cystic fibrosis and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow disease.

The findings, which will be published in the Oct. 1 issue of Nature Cell Biology, could lead to an understanding of how to prevent these diseases and

A new study heightens concerns that Cipro and related broad-spectrum antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones are being over-prescribed, accelerating bacterial resistance to the drugs and reducing their ability to treat infections.

The UCSF-led study evaluated the records of more than 13,000 patients across the country hospitalized for “community-acquired” pneumonia – pneumonia that developed before the patient was hospitalized. The researchers found that fluoroquinolones were widely prescribe

Tool provides physicians with better understanding of survival rates to help patients make more informed treatment decisions

The following stories detail news from the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. They are intended for use as individual stories or as part of a larger story on a particular medical topic.

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed another user-friendly calculator to aid physicians in better understanding complex cancer data and helping their patients

Mayo Clinic researchers report that the risk of stroke that sometimes results from a common treatment for atrial fibrillation can be minimized when the patient takes anticoagulation medication prior to the procedure.

The researchers report on the largest single medical center experience regarding safety of elective direct current (DC) cardioversion of atrial fibrillation. DC cardioversion is the electronic restoration of the heart’s normal rhythm.

Atrial fibrillation affects mo

A study from The Feinberg School of Medicine has shown that the protease inhibitor lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra®) suppressed HIV to undetectable levels and was well tolerated through four years of treatment in patients who had not previously received antiretroviral therapy.

To date in the Kaletra® study, none of the patients has developed resistance to Kaletra® or other protease inhibitors. Kaletra® is thus far the only protease inhibitor for which resistance has not been observed in patient

Monitoring oxygen delivery to organs is vital for treatment of trauma and critical care patients

When treating trauma and critical care patients after severe hemorrhagic shock, hours and days count. That’s why University of Pittsburgh researchers, working with an Israeli physiology professor, saw the need to develop a “smart” urinary catheter – which is typically used for bladder drainage – that they modified in order to provide clinicians with immediate information about the amo

Correlations of antimicrobial resistance among s. pneumoniae in the U.S.: 2001-2002 trust surveillance

Resistance to commonly prescribed antibiotics is increasing among Streptococcus pneumoniae, a leading cause of respiratory illness. In the early 1990s, resistance to penicillin became a concern, however, in the last five years (1998-2002), S. pneumoniae has also exhibited increased resistance to other antibiotic classes, such as the macrolides (e.g. azithromycin, clarithromycin) and

Vasopressin as an agent for cardio-pulmonary resuscitation

Diseases of the cardiovascular system continue to be the most frequent causes of death in the Western world. For over 100 years, Adrenaline has been the standard drug of choice in the treatment of sudden cardiac arrest. A team of researchers headed by Karl H. Lindner and Volker Wenzel from the University Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University of Innsbruck, has, with the support of the Austrian Sc

A new species of climbing milkweed has been named by Alexander Krings, curator of the North Carolina State University Herbarium (also NCSC, its international Index Herbariorum abbreviation). The species – Gonolobus tenuisepalus Krings – was first collected in the tropical rainforests of southern Costa Rica while Krings was a graduate student in the Department of Forestry.

“The flowers are tiny (about 6-8 millimeters in diameter), purplish to dark brownish-red and borne in

A chemist at North Carolina State University has made breakthrough discoveries that advance basic understandings of the nature of liquids and glasses at the atomic and molecular levels. Featured in the Sept. 26 issue of Nature, these discoveries could lead to the development of totally new materials with useful optical and electronic properties – as well as applications not yet foreseen.

Liquids and glass have long been understood by scientists to be amorphous, meaning “without structure.”

UK researchers have developed a novel method of treating uterine fibroids that allows women to be treated under local anaesthetic as outpatients. Their technique, which uses a laser guided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is reported today (Friday 27 September) in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal, Human Reproduction.*

Around a quarter of women have fibroids – benign fibrous tumours – in their wombs. Many have no symptoms but others suffer heavy or prolonged periods and pain