Toxins News and Research

RSS

Mental illness linked to diet

According to new research released this week, mental health is linked to diet and changes to diets over the last 50 years may hold the key to the rise of mental illness.

17 Jan 2006

Genome discovery may prevent leukaemia

An international consortium has cracked the gene code behind a key family of fungi, which includes both the leading cause of death in leukaemia and bone marrow transplant patients and an essential ingredient of soy sauce.

From The University of Manchester 22 Dec 2005

2 million people carry drug-resistant bacteria in their noses

New research estimates that about 2 million people carry a strain of drug-resistant bacteria in their noses.

21 Dec 2005

Cocaine abuse may increase risk of Parkinson's disease

Adults who abuse cocaine might increase their risk of developing Parkinson's disease (PD), and pregnant women who abuse cocaine could increase the risk of their children developing PD later in life, according to results of laboratory studies performed by investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

13 Dec 2005

Genetic testing for Parkinson disease, is there a point?

Should we start being genetically tested for Parkinson’s disease (PD)? According to research just published in the December issue of the "journal Movement Disorders" this might be a possibility in the future if you belong to a family affected by G2019S, a genetic mutation responsible for some PD cases.

7 Dec 2005

New anthrax antibody

A new anthrax antibody engineered by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin protects and defends against inhalation anthrax without the use of antibiotics and other more expensive antibodies.

2 Dec 2005

Smoking a hookah can damage teeth

Smoking a hookah also known as a water pipe is becoming an increasingly trendy menu item in Mediterranean restaurants, cafes and bars. People should be warned to "skip this course" according to a study that appeared in the November issue of the Journal of Periodontology.

7 Nov 2005

Hurricane Katrina leaves behind a cough as well as destruction

In the wake of hurricane Katrina some survivors have developed a cough now dubbed 'Katrina Cough'.

7 Nov 2005

No evidence of a "safe" threshold with environmental toxins

Four of the most widespread environmental toxins - lead, trihalomethanes (found in drinking water), ionizing radiation from indoor radon gas, and tobacco smoke - can cause serious damage to health even at very low levels, say researchers in the open access journal PLoS Medicine.

18 Oct 2005

Researchers find new type of antibiotic against the cholera bacteria

Just as hurricanes in the Gulf states and Guatemala have raised the risks of cholera outbreaks, researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified a new type of antibiotic against the cholera bacteria.

16 Oct 2005

New discoveries help explore the function of regulatory T cells in autoimmune disease and in cancer

More than 150 years after the discovery of Hassall's corpuscles in 1849, the function of these round blobs of cells in the human thymus gland has now been explained. The answer, in turn, ends an intense hunt for the origin of regulatory T cells that has been under way for years.

11 Oct 2005

Real dangers from environmental toxins most likely occur early in life

Exposure of developing fetuses and newborns to low levels of environmental toxins such as lead, mercury and dioxin, as well as nicotine and ethanol, could be behind the recent sharp rises in asthma, allergies and autoimmune disorders like lupus, says a Cornell University researcher.

10 Oct 2005

RPL26 and nucleolin play critical roles in controlling the production of p53

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered a previously unrecognized mechanism that controls a key protein linked to the cell's response to stress - a finding that holds promise for new ways to enhance cancer therapies or protect cells from dying after exposure to damaging chemicals or radiation.

9 Oct 2005

Bacteria of different species can talk to each other using a common language

The interspecies crosstalk and misdirection could have important consequences for human health, said Bonnie L. Bassler, an HHMI investigator at Princeton University whose study was published in the September 29, 2005, issue of Nature.

4 Oct 2005

Combination HRT appears to double the breast cancer risk in women who smoke

Older women who have smoked for 11 or more "pack years" - the lifetime equivalent of a pack a day for at least 11 years - face a 30 percent to 40 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer as compared to women who've never smoked, according to new findings from researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

28 Sep 2005

Deep-sea sponges harbor toxins that potentially can act as powerful anti-cancer drugs

Vibrantly colored creatures from the depths of the South Pacific Ocean harbor toxins that potentially can act as powerful anti-cancer drugs, according to research findings from University of Wisconsin-Madison biochemists and their Italian colleagues.

26 Sep 2005

Increasingly virulent Staph infections

In a "Brief Report" in the 22 September 2005 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the University of Chicago describe three cases of rapidly progressive and ultimately fatal Staphylococcus aureus infections in small children.

26 Sep 2005

Botox helps explain possible causes of nerve diseases

Botox, used by Hollywood stars to smooth out facial wrinkles, is playing an important role in UQ research to understand how nerve cells communicate with each other.

22 Sep 2005

Animal model of Parkinson's disease reveals striking sensitivity to common environmental toxins

In findings that support a relationship between agricultural chemicals and Parkinson's disease, two groups of researchers have found new evidence that loss of DJ-1, a gene known to be linked to inherited Parkinson's disease, leads to striking sensitivity to the herbicide paraquat and the insecticide rotenone.

7 Sep 2005

Researchers uncover how the inhaled form of anthrax disarms bacteria-fighting white blood cells before they can fend off the disease

The lethal toxin in anthrax paralyzes neutrophils, the white blood cells that act as the body's first defense against infection, by impairing how they build tiny filaments that allow them to crawl throughout the body and eat invading bacteria.

6 Sep 2005