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New study on mice could open door to methods of regulating cell proliferation in humans

A newly-engineered strain of mice whose dividing cells express a fluorescent protein could open the door to new methods of regulating cell proliferation in humans.

1 Dec 2012

Tissue damage, disease severity in C. diff. infection associated with disruption of PPARγ pathway

Researchers in the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute have discovered how a common diarrhea-causing bacterium sends the body's natural defenses into overdrive, actually intensifying illness while fighting infection.

1 Dec 2012

Use resources efficiently to end AIDS epidemic

"[O]ne thing I've learned from working on HIV/AIDS my entire political career -- we are far better united than divided," Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) writes in a Politico opinion piece, noting examples of bipartisan legislation that "help to slow the rate of infections and reduce the number of deaths from AIDS."

1 Dec 2012

Traveling med tech indicted on new charges related to hepatitis C outbreak

The technician was indicated Wednesday in New Hampshire on 14 new charges. The outbreak involved more than 30 patients in New Hampshire while people in a number of other states were exposed.

1 Dec 2012

Study of hospital-acquired infection yields potential therapeutic target

30 Nov 2012

More widespread HIV treatment helped South Africa increase life expectancy, researchers say

With the average life expectancy for South Africans at 60 years old, the country "has achieved a 'stunning' increase in life expectancy in the last three years due to a government push to roll out antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to people with HIV/AIDS," according to a study published in the Lancet on Thursday, Reuters reports.

30 Nov 2012

Membrane-proximal external region of HIV could be used to design vaccines

Beatriz Apellaniz, PhD holder of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country, has studied in her PhD thesis HIV regions that could be used to design a vaccine. The researcher has focussed her research on a specific region of the surface protein of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which is responsible for the Autoimmune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), one of the diseases with the greatest human morbidity and mortality.

30 Nov 2012

Home Access Health urges individuals at risk for HIV infection to get tested

Home Access Health Corporation, America's leading provider of at-home HIV tests, today recognized World Aids Day Saturday by urging individuals at risk for HIV infection to get tested.

30 Nov 2012

Today's teens and young people more likely to abuse prescription painkillers

Today's teens and young people are abusing prescription painkillers more than any other age group or any other youth in history. Availability of these drugs from their parents' medicine cabinets may be to blame, according to new research in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

30 Nov 2012

Inpatients falling under the effects of hypnotic agent

Hospital patients taking the commonly prescribed hypnotic agent zolpidem are at an increased risk for falls, which in turn significantly increase morbidity and healthcare costs, say US researchers.

30 Nov 2012

Physicians beware of fruity drug interactions

An understanding of the potential for pharmacokinetic interaction between orally administered drugs and grapefruit is necessary in view of an increase in marketed medications that fit the risk criteria, suggest Canadian researchers.

30 Nov 2012

Fly model may help unravel genetic events that take place until development of a tumour

The wing of a fruit fly may hold the key to unraveling the genetic and molecular events that transform a normal cell into a cancerous one. The study, conducted on Drosophila melanogaster by scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and led by ICREA researcher Marco Mil-n, has reproduced each of the steps known to take place when a healthy cell turns cancerous.

30 Nov 2012

New insights into POT-1/TTP-1 protein complex

New insights into a protein complex that regulates the very tips of chromosomes could improve methods of screening anti-cancer drugs.

30 Nov 2012

Blog examines report on state of TB funding

Writing in the Global Health Technologies Coalition's "Breakthroughs" blog, Eleonora Jimenez-Levi, a senior researcher at the Treatment Action Group (TAG), examines the 2012 Report on Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends: 2005–2011,"the latest report on the state of funding for tuberculosis (TB) research and product development."

30 Nov 2012

Project shows simple steps reduce hospital infections

Seven health care institutions participated in a quality-improvement project advanced by the Joint Commission and the American College of Surgeons to reduce colorectal surgical-site infection rates. During a two and a half year period, those facilities saved more than $3.7 million by avoiding 135 infections.

30 Nov 2012

Primitive human stem cells resistant to human cytomegalovirus

A new study published online in PLOS ONE reveals that primitive human stem cells are resistant to human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), one of the leading prenatal causes of congenital intellectual disability, deafness and deformities worldwide.

30 Nov 2012

First Edition: November 30, 2012

Today's headlines include news about the continuing partisan back and forth regarding "fiscal cliff" negotiations as well as reports on the health law's implementation.

30 Nov 2012

Study shows how anaplasma phagocytophilum subverts natural processes

Bacteria that cause the tick-borne disease anaplasmosis in humans create their own food supply by hijacking a process in host cells that normally should help kill the pathogenic bugs, scientists have found.

30 Nov 2012

GM1 ganglioside effectively treats patients with Parkinson's disease

Treating Parkinson's disease patients with the experimental drug GM1 ganglioside improved symptoms and slowed their progression during a two and a half-year trial, Thomas Jefferson University researchers report in a new study published online November 28 in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

30 Nov 2012

Viewpoints: GOP attack on Medicare, Medicaid could hurt critical programs; Will says Obama is repeating his overreach on health care

Congressional Republicans are insisting that big cuts to Medicare and Medicaid be on the table in the negotiations over the so-called fiscal cliff and deficit reduction. That stance is largely a political move against two programs, which have been critical to the public welfare for the past half-century.

30 Nov 2012