Polio News and Research

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Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause severe paralysis. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralyzed, 5-10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized. Polio mainly affects children under five years of age. Naturally occurring polio was eliminated in the U.S. in 1979 and in the Western Hemisphere by 1991; however, worldwide efforts are continuing towards eradication of this contagious and devastating disease.

Gates Foundation awards 88 new grand challenges grants

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Thursday announced 88 new $100,000 grants for "unusual" global health research projects, the Associated Press reports (Blankinship, 4/28).

30 Apr 2011

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation honors University Of Colorado researcher for preeclampsia study

A University of Colorado School of Medicine researcher, hoping to find the cause of preeclampsia in pregnant women, won a $100,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Thursday which funds innovative global health and development projects.

29 Apr 2011

Ahead of Immunization Week, WHO calls for countries to come together to control measles outbreak in Europe

WHO is urging countries in Europe to join together to help control the measles outbreak that has grown to more than 6,500 cases in 33 countries and the potential for worsening outbreaks "in the days ahead as people travel during the Easter holidays," U.N. News Centre reports.

25 Apr 2011

Unanticipated structure at chromosome ends could be key ingredient in biological 'elixir of life'

In stark contrast to normal cells, which only divide a finite number of times before they enter into a permanent state of growth arrest or simply die, cancer cells never cease to proliferate. Now, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have uncovered an important clue to one of the mechanisms underlying cancer cell immortality.

22 Apr 2011

March of Dimes honors Whitehead Institute Director for Developmental Biology work

Whitehead Institute Director David Page has been named a recipient of the 2011 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology. The prize honors Page's groundbreaking body of research on the human Y chromosome.

22 Apr 2011

Merck and Sanofi Pasteur commence Phase III trial of pediatric hexavalent combination vaccine

Merck and Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, announced today the initiation of a Phase III clinical program to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of an investigational pediatric hexavalent combination vaccine.

21 Apr 2011

Adamis acquires cancer vaccine technology from UCSD

Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (OTCBB: ADMP) today announced the completion of the acquisition of a unique patented cancer vaccine technology from the Regents of the University of California.

20 Apr 2011

German government, Gates Foundation sign agreement to provide funding for GAVI Alliance

The German government on Wednesday said it would provide an extra 14 million euros or about $19.9 million "for child immunization in the developing world as part of an agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation," the Associated Press reports (4/6).

8 Apr 2011

Bill Gates travels to Europe to promote global health investments

Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is in Europe this week "in an effort to persuade Europeans not to cut aid budgets in the face of austerity - and in particular not to reduce spending on vaccinations and agriculture," the Wall Street Journal reports.

6 Apr 2011

NIAID awards Aragen Bioscience with three subcontracts to advance preclinical studies

Aragen Bioscience, Inc., today announced it is a subcontractor on a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases contract for the preclinical development of monoclonal antibodies for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.

6 Apr 2011

All Children's Hospital joins Johns Hopkins Medicine

All Children's Hospital, in St. Petersburg, Fla., is now a part of the Johns Hopkins Health System (JHHS) and a fully integrated member of Johns Hopkins Medicine (JHM). All Children's is the first U.S. hospital outside of the Baltimore/Washington, D.C., region to become integrated with JHM, which includes the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System.

4 Apr 2011

Rsearchers define new step that controls programmed cell death in cancer cells

When cells find themselves in a tight spot, the cell cycle regulator p21 halts the cell cycle, buying cells time to repair the damage, or if all else fails, to initiate programmed cell death.

2 Apr 2011

Loss of SKIP sensitizes cancer cells to apoptotic effects of DNA damage-inducing anticancer drugs

When cells find themselves in a tight spot, the cell cycle regulator p21 halts the cell cycle, buying cells time to repair the damage, or if all else fails, to initiate programmed cell death. In contrast to other stress-induced genes, which dispense with the regular transcriptional entourage, p21Cip1 still requires SKIP, a transcription elongation factor that also helps with the editing of transcripts, to be expressed, found researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

2 Apr 2011

Closer to deciphering the 'language of the brain'

The moment we open our eyes, we perceive the world with apparent ease. But the question of how neurons in the retina encode what we "see" has been a tricky one. A key obstacle to understanding how our brain functions is that its components-neurons-respond in highly nonlinear ways to complex stimuli, making stimulus-response relationships extremely difficult to discern.

1 Apr 2011

International experts meet to focus on impact of vaccines on global health at a time of public scepticism and complacency

International experts gather in Prague today for a three day meeting focused on the impact of vaccines on public health, at a time of increasing concern that public scepticism and complacency could undermine the positive impact of current and future vaccine campaigns.

31 Mar 2011

Gates discusses foundation's global health priorities in India during visit to country

During a visit to the Indian state of Bihar, Bill Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Thursday discussed his foundation's work in India and global health priorities, ANI/Sify News reports.

28 Mar 2011

Biologists decipher molecular code regulating availability of brain channel linked to neuronal excitability

A key question in protein biochemistry is how proteins recognize "correct" interaction partners in a sea of cellular factors. Nowhere is that more critical to know than in the brain, where interactions governing channel protein activity can alter an organism's behavior.

23 Mar 2011

Global chronic disease burdens are increasing rapidly: Research

Those working for healthier humans around the globe are making headway in fighting communicable diseases such as AIDS, malaria and diarrheal illness, according to research from the Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures in the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School of International Studies.

15 Mar 2011

UNICEF requests $1.4b to assist women, children in humanitarian crises worldwide

UNICEF on Sunday released the Humanitarian Action for Children Report, 2011 (.pdf) "requesting $1.4 billion in its appeal to donors to assist children and women caught in the throes of crises.

8 Mar 2011

Also in global health news: EU-India talks; China's health system funding; water in Ethiopia; nonprofit offering health services abroad to sell off assets; polio in India

BMJ News Examines Ongoing EU-India Trade Talks' Impact On Access To Affordable Medicines