Toxin News and Research

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Sleep and anesthesia hinder brain toxin clearance, study reveals

Researchers found that brain clearance is reduced during both sleep and anesthesia, contradicting the belief that these states enhance toxin removal.

14 May 2024

St. Jude researchers unveil mechanisms to block PXR and enhance drug potency

Deaths from cancer or infections can occur when available treatments are ineffective. Once turned on, pregnane X receptor (PXR) activates the expression of genes encoding enzymes that metabolize external chemicals, including drugs.

14 May 2024

The impact of delirium on cardiac surgery patients

Announcing a new article publication for Cardiovascular Innovations and Applications journal. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) defines delirium as a disturbance in attention and awareness that develops over a short period and involves fluctuation in severity.

10 May 2024

Drug repurposing breakthrough: varespladib curbs snakebite-induced necrosis

Researchers discovered that venom toxins from African spitting cobras cause severe dermonecrosis, highlighting the need for targeted treatments like the repurposed drug varespladib.

9 May 2024

Tire toxicity faces fresh scrutiny after salmon die-offs

For decades, concerns about automobile pollution have focused on what comes out of the tailpipe. Now, researchers and regulators say, we need to pay more attention to toxic emissions from tires as vehicles roll down the road.

24 Apr 2024

Novel antibacterial discovery: Umbrella toxin particles secreted by Streptomyces

Researchers have discovered toxic protein particles, shaped like umbrellas, that soil bacteria known as Streptomyces secrete to squelch competitors, especially others of their own species.

17 Apr 2024

Innovative tool could safeguard cancer patients from chemotherapy-induced kidney damage

Using patient data from six major U.S. cancer centers, Brigham researchers and collaborators developed a risk prediction model for moderate-to-severe kidney injury after receiving the chemotherapy drug cisplatin in the largest, first generalizable study of its kind.

30 Mar 2024

Dartmouth research unlocks extended cell death pathway in aging brain cells

For oligodendrocytes-;the central nervous system cells critical for brain function-;age may not bring wisdom, but it does come with the power to cling to life for much, much longer than scientists knew.

28 Mar 2024

Researchers develop a risk prediction model for cisplatin-induced kidney damage

27 Mar 2024

Research provides first evidence for a possible cause of familial ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a degenerative disease. The neurons responsible for movement begin to die and muscle control is progressively lost, leading to a fatal outcome.

22 Mar 2024

Using whole genome sequencing to identify non-culturable Legionella

Legionnaires' disease (LD), a rare and severe type of pneumonia, is a respiratory infection caused by species of Legionella bacteria.

21 Mar 2024

Antibiotics can effectively target gut bacteria that harbor COVID-19 virus, study shows

New research indicates that antibiotics can effectively target bacteria in the gut that harbor the virus that causes COVID-19 and produce toxin-like peptides that contribute to COVID-19-related symptoms.

20 Mar 2024

UArizona study identifies link between poor sleep and migraine attacks

A new study by researchers at the University of Arizona Health Sciences identified a link between poor sleep and migraine attacks that suggests improving sleep health may diminish migraine attacks in people with migraine.

13 Mar 2024

New insights into the evolution of genomic imprinting

Some of our genes can be expressed or silenced depending on whether we inherited them from our mother or our father.

6 Mar 2024

Global health boost as new vaccine SKYTyphoid gains WHO prequalification

SK bioscience and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) announced today that the typhoid conjugate vaccine developed by SK bioscience with technology transfer from IVI has achieved the World Health Organization prequalification (PQ), which paves the way for public procurement of the vaccine by UN organizations and gives a boost to the global TCV supply.

23 Feb 2024

Scripps Research scientists develop an antibody that blocks lethal snake toxins

Scripps Research scientists have developed an antibody that can block the effects of lethal toxins in the venoms of a wide variety of snakes found throughout Africa, Asia and Australia.

21 Feb 2024

Study links Agent Orange exposure to neurodegenerative diseases

Agent Orange, an herbicide used during the Vietnam War, is a known toxin with wide-ranging health effects.

14 Feb 2024

DDT exposure found to alter sperm epigenome in humans

In a study that signals potential reproductive and health complications in humans, now and for future generations, researchers from McGill University, the University of Pretoria, Université Laval, Aarhus University, and the University of Copenhagen, have concluded that fathers exposed to environmental toxins, notably DDT, may produce sperm with health consequences for their children.

9 Feb 2024

Research uncovers why antibodies can boost snake venom

What makes a soldier switch sides? That is a really good question. Especially when the soldier is an antibody that is supposed to defend the body against one of the world's most dangerous snake venoms but instead ends up helping the venom kill the body.

16 Jan 2024

Disease-causing bacteria use molecular "barcode" to distinguish between beneficial and toxic molecules

Researchers at McMaster University have discovered a molecular "barcode" system used by disease-causing bacteria to distinguish between beneficial and toxic molecules.

8 Jan 2024