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Mutations in the HFE gene directly associated with chronic joint disease

Mutations in the HFE gene, which is involved in iron regulation, seem to be directly associated with chronic joint disease (or haemophilic arthropathy) among haemophilic patients, claim a team of Portuguese scientists in the April issue of the journal Blood.

4 Apr 2005

Autistic children found to have abnormal metabolic profile

Autism, a neurodevelopment disorder which has increased tenfold over the last 15 years, now affects 30 of every 10,000 children in the United States.

4 Apr 2005

Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-alpha) blocking agents cause skin disease

Members of the second most important family of drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis can cause serious dermatological conditions in a quarter of patients under treatment, reveals a study published in the journal Arthritis Research and Therapy.

3 Apr 2005

Novel strategy to create a genetic vaccine against P. aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a bacterium that can cause respiratory tract infections, which can be life threatening in patients who have cystic fibrosis. It is therefore important to develop a vaccine against this pathogen.

3 Apr 2005

Stress may enhance the body's ability to fight the flu

Short bouts of intense social stress improved the ability in the mice to recover from the flu. The stress apparently did so by substantially boosting the production of specialized immune cells that fought the virus.

3 Apr 2005

Airway inflammation boosts infarction damage

Epidemiological studies show that the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) complications are increased in long standing cases of asthma. Historically, the complications are often attributed to the chronic drug therapy used to treat asthma.

3 Apr 2005

Moderate aerobic exercise improves cardiovascular and nervous system function in HIV+ subjects

Researchers from Teachers College, Columbia University, and Coler Goldwater Specialty Hospital and Nursing Facility report that moderate aerobic exercise for 10 weeks, three times a week for 45 minutes each session significantly improved function of the nervous system and circulation in those with HIV disease.

3 Apr 2005

Children with autism have a severely abnormal metabolic profile

Chronic biochemical imbalance is often a primary factor in the development of many complex diseases but a possible metabolic basis for autism has not been well explored. Now Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute researchers report for the first time that children with autism have a severely abnormal metabolic profile indicating increased vulnerability to oxidative stress.

3 Apr 2005

Asthma patients' immune systems respond differently with allergies

Researchers from the University of Chihuahua in Mexico report that immune systems of patients with asthma responded differently to a common laboratory challenge, depending on whether their white blood cells had been obtained during a time when they were suffering from common season allergic rhinitis or when they were free of such allergic symptoms.

3 Apr 2005

Solving sleep problems helps epileptic children

Sleeping woes may explain why children with epilepsy are often so hyperactive, say researchers with the University of Florida's Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute.

30 Mar 2005

Smack that bottom - it can cure everything !!

Russian scientists at the Novosibirsk Institute of Medicine are claiming a beating on the naked buttocks with a cane is the perfect way to cure everything from depression to alcoholism.

29 Mar 2005

Vets need to take more precautions over MRSA

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has warned that vets should take hospital-style precautions to avoid passing the MRSA "superbug" to animals, and should use sterile gloves, scrub suits and masks during operations to protect the animals.

29 Mar 2005

Vical Incorporated issued two Canadian patents

Vical Incorporated announced today the issuance of two Canadian patents on the company's core technology, which involves direct administration of polynucleotide genetic material such as DNA or RNA.

29 Mar 2005

Bioniche receives European patent

Bioniche Life Sciences Inc., a research-based, technology-driven human and animal health biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has had an additional European patent granted by the European Patent Office (EPO) on its core mycobacterial cell wall technology.

29 Mar 2005

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) can successfully identify the characteristics of coronary plaques

A catheter-based imaging technology called optical coherence tomography (OCT) can successfully identify the characteristics of coronary plaques in patients with various cardiac symptoms. The report from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) will appear in the journal Circulation.

29 Mar 2005

Cells that might be able to suppres cat allergies

In a paper in this month's premier open-access medical journal PLoS Medicine, Mark Larche and colleagues from Imperial College London describe a subset of cells that might be able to suppress cells that cause cat allergy.

29 Mar 2005

Surprising discovery about natural immunity to pneumococcus

Since 2000, U.S. infants have been routinely immunized against pneumococcal (Streptococcus pneumoniae) infection. Now, Boston researchers have made a surprising discovery about natural immunity to pneumococcus.

29 Mar 2005

Bacteria's rising threat studied

Infectious diseases researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are noticing a significant increase in the number of infections due to Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), and the number of asymptomatic individuals who harbor the organism in their bodies.

29 Mar 2005

AIDS virus initially more destructive than first thought

The AIDS virus destroys more than half of the immune cells that might recognize and help fight it, within days of infection according to US researchers, and this revelation might necessitate a re-evaluation of how the deadly infection should be tackled.

28 Mar 2005

Vaccine prevents deadly pneumonia in African children

Global health leaders today presented new research showing that vaccinating infants against Streptococcus pneumoniae -- a bacterium that causes deadly pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis -- could substantially reduce death and serious illness among children in the developing world. If used widely, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine could prevent hundreds of thousands of child deaths each year.

28 Mar 2005