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Scrumpox - deadly rugby virus spreads in sumo wrestlers

Rugby players may get more than just the ball out of a scrum - herpes virus can cause a skin disease called "scrumpox" and it spreads through physical contact. Researchers have studied the spread of the disease among sumo wrestlers in Japan and have discovered that a new strain of the virus could be even more pathogenic, according to an article published in the October issue of the Journal of General Virology.

28 Sep 2008

Infants who focus on mouths rather eyes could be autistic

Researchers in the United States say young children who focus on mouths rather than on eyes could be autistic and they believe the extent of such behaviour indicates the severity of the Autism Spectrum Disorder.

28 Sep 2008

New way to control protein activity could lead to cancer therapies

Investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found a way to quickly and reversibly fine-tune the activity of individual proteins in cells and living mammals, providing a powerful new laboratory tool for identifying - more precisely than ever before - the functions of different proteins.

28 Sep 2008

Hybrid nanoparticles image and treat tumors

By combining a magnetic nanoparticle, a fluorescent quantum dot, and an anticancer drug within a lipid-based nanoparticle, a multi-institutional research team headed by members of the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer has created a single agent that can image and treat tumors. In addition, this new nanoparticle is able to avoid detection by the immune system, enabling the particle to remain in the body for extended periods of time.

28 Sep 2008

Targeted nanoparticles map tumor blood supply in 3-D, assess therapy

One of the defining characteristics of solid tumors is the development of a network of new blood vessels to nourish the rapidly reproducing malignant cells. Now, using a nanoparticle targeted to those new blood vessels, a joint academic-industrial research team, led by investigators from the Siteman Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence, has developed a way to construct a three-dimensional (3-D) map of tumor-induced angiogenesis and monitor the effects of drug therapies on those new blood vessels.

28 Sep 2008

Nanotubes detect tumors and deliver high-potency punch

Researchers at the Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence Focused on Therapy Response (CCNE-TR), based at Stanford University, have found a new way to target cancer cells while leaving healthy cells untouched.

28 Sep 2008

Multifunctional polymer nanoparticles pass critical in vivo test

In an effort to overcome the drug resistance that often occurs in cancer, a team of investigators has developed a nanoparticle made of a blend of polymers that first releases a powerful anticancer drug and then delivers an agent that tricks a drug-resistant cell into committing suicide. Now, tests in mice with human breast cancer have shown that these blended nanoparticles are effective in maintaining high levels of both drugs in the vicinity of tumors.

28 Sep 2008

Nanobubbles deliver targeted cancer drugs using ultrasound

Using a combination of polymers that respond to temperature, a research team at the University of Utah has developed a multifunctional nanoparticle that can image tumors using ultrasound and simultaneously deliver cell-damaging energy and anticancer drugs to those tumors. In addition, these nanoparticles appear to act specifically on tumors and not on healthy tissue.

28 Sep 2008

Discovery may help complications of diabetes - delayed gastric emptying or gastroparesis

Mayo Clinic researchers have found what may provide a solution to one of the more troubling complications of diabetes -- delayed gastric emptying or gastroparesis.

25 Sep 2008

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide $168.7 million for malaria vaccine research

Bill Gates announced today that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide $168.7 million to PATH for its Malaria Vaccine Initiative to develop vaccines for malaria -- a disease that kills thousands of African children every day.

25 Sep 2008

Protecting patient privacy the new fashioned way

Protecting patient privacy has been recognized as the duty of health-care providers for aHealth Insurance Portability and Accountability Actbout as long as doctors have seen patients. Since 1996, that duty became a legal obligation when Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

25 Sep 2008

Biotechnology Industry Organization says Kyl legislation advances patent reform debate

Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) President and CEO Jim Greenwood released the following statement regarding the patent reform legislation introduced yesterday by Senator Jon Kyl (R, AZ):

25 Sep 2008

Patent for making oxygen from light and water - early stage invention is advancement toward artificial lungs

Astronauts, submariners, miners, and those suffering from lung ailments take note: Innovation is coming to the rescue. A group of scientists from Battelle has earned a patent for generating oxygen in a process that mimics photosynthesis.

25 Sep 2008

Discovery offers new understanding of diabetes drug target

Scientists at the University of Leicester have published findings about a new advance in the study of major diabetes drug target.

25 Sep 2008

Social class dictates cancer risk

Cervical and lung cancer are more common in poor people while rates of breast cancer and melanoma are higher in the wealthy. A detailed analysis of the incidence of these four different kinds of cancer, carried out on more than 300,000 English cancer patients and published today in the open access journal BMC Cancer, describes the effects of socioeconomic group, region and age.

25 Sep 2008

New pig model of cystic fibrosis provides better understanding of human disease

For the first time, researchers have developed a genetically altered animal model for cystic fibrosis (CF) that closely matches the characteristics of the disease in humans. By studying the complex and multi-organ disease process in the pig model, researchers can now better understand how the complications of CF develop, an advancement that may lead to new avenues for research in prevention and treatment.

25 Sep 2008

Researchers investigate impact of stress on police officers' physical and mental health

Policing is dangerous work, and the danger lurks not on the streets alone. The pressures of law enforcement put officers at risk for high blood pressure, insomnia, increased levels of destructive stress hormones, heart problems, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide, University at Buffalo researchers have found through a decade of studies of police officers.

25 Sep 2008