Blood News and Research

RSS

Only 11% of children's food products provide good nutritional quality

Nine out of ten regular food items aimed specifically at children have a poor nutritional content - because of high levels of sugar, fat or sodium - according to a detailed study of 367 products published in the July issue of the UK-based journal Obesity Reviews.

14 Jul 2008

FDA approves Energex Systems non-drug therapy for HIV research

Energex Systems, Inc. announced today that it has been granted approval from the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to utilize its experimental HemoModulation therapy in a clinical trial of HIV infected patients. The purpose of the study will be to demonstrate safety and monitor viral load changes in patients who are not yet eligible for antiviral drug therapy.

14 Jul 2008

Discover of key patterns in gene packaging

Although every cell of our bodies contains the same genetic instructions, specific genes typically act only in specific cells at particular times. Other genes are "silenced" in a variety of ways. One mode of gene silencing depends upon the way DNA, the genetic material, is packed in the nucleus of cells.

13 Jul 2008

Common genetic variations increase risk of life-long nicotine addiction for young smokers

Common genetic variations affecting nicotine receptors in the nervous system can significantly increase the chance that European Americans who begin smoking by age 17 will struggle with life-long nicotine addiction. Published July 11 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, this research - led by scientists at the University of Utah together with colleagues from the University of Wisconsin - highlights the importance of preventing early exposure to tobacco through public health policies.

13 Jul 2008

Scientists reveal key elements in Malaria parasite's "sticky sack" adhesion strategy

Malaria is one of the most devastating diseases afflicting humanity. It infects and debilitates about 600 million people and kills up to three million people every year, mainly in the wet tropical regions of the world. Children and pregnant women are at particularly high risk.

13 Jul 2008

Insulin suppresses receptors that cause cascade of inflammation

Researchers at the University at Buffalo -- the first to identify the anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective properties of insulin -- now have discovered one pathway through which the hormone produces this effect.

13 Jul 2008

New York school agrees to admit diabetic students

The Department of Justice announced today that Raynor Country Day School, in Long Island, N.Y., has entered into a settlement agreement with the United States to resolve two complaints filed by parents of children with diabetes who were turned down for enrollment in the school's day camp last summer.

10 Jul 2008

An automated wearable artificial kidney

Two researchers from UCLA and the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System have developed a design for an automated, wearable artificial kidney, or AWAK, that avoids the complications patients often suffer with traditional dialysis.

10 Jul 2008

Potential new way to prevent graft-versus-host disease

A new University of Michigan study in mice suggests that a drug recently approved to fight cancer tumors is also able to reduce the effects of graft-versus-host disease, a common and sometimes fatal complication for people who have had bone marrow transplants.

10 Jul 2008

How alcohol impacts heart and stroke risk may differ for men and women

The volume of alcohol consumption may have a significantly different effect on heart and stroke risk in men and women, according to a study of Japanese people published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

10 Jul 2008

Novel approach shows potential to become an emergency treatment for heart attack patients

Researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have manipulated cell activity that occurs during the interruption of blood flow to strongly protect heart tissue in animal studies. The finding has the potential to become an emergency treatment for heart attack patients, particularly since already existing drugs might be pressed into service to produce the protective effects.

10 Jul 2008

More research needed into effects of flavonoids and flavonoid-rich food sources on heart disease

More research is needed into food compounds which could reduce the risk of heart disease, according to a systematic review of trials carried out so far.

10 Jul 2008

Heat waves when in hospital

Deaths due to high temperatures occur so quickly that patients do not have time to be admitted to hospital. This is why prevention campaigns are necessary to try and reduce the negative effects of the heat on health. This is pointed out in new research undertaken at the Hospital Universitario Gregorio Maranon, Madrid.

10 Jul 2008

Novel drug ionophore shows potential for Alzheimer's

Scientists report a remarkable improvement in Alzheimer's transgenic mice following treatment with a new drug. The study, published by Cell Press in the July 10th issue of the journal Neuron, provides the first demonstration that an ionophore, a compound that transports metal ions across cell membranes, can elicit rapid and pronounced improvement in neuropathology and cognitive function in mouse models of Alzheimer's Disease (AD).

10 Jul 2008

New system pinpoints potential "biomarkers" of early forms of the disease

In order to provide the most effective treatments for cancer patients, it is essential to develop methods of sensitive and specific early detection of the disease. A team of scientists from the NIBRT Dublin-Oxford Glycobiology Laboratory at UCD has developed a system which aims to pinpoint potential "biomarkers" of early forms of the disease.

10 Jul 2008

Scientists reveal potential new target for anti-malarial drugs

Scientists funded by the Wellcome Trust have identified a key mechanism that enables malaria-infected red blood cells to stick to the walls of blood vessels and avoid being destroyed by the body's immune system. The research, published today in the journal Cell, highlights an important potential new target for anti-malarial drugs.

10 Jul 2008

Researchers to compare common ARV as a pill and vaginal gel in unique HIV prevention study

In battle with an epidemic that has outpaced nearly all efforts to contain it, researchers are turning to strategies centered on the same antiretroviral (ARV) drugs that have been used successfully to treat HIV in hopes they will be as effective a stronghold for preventing the virus.

9 Jul 2008

Combining medical knowledge to save lives

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the biggest killer among chronic diseases, claiming 17 million lives globally every year. Yet doctors can only attribute 50% of cardiovascular diseases to known risk factors.

9 Jul 2008

Nanomaterials key to new strategies for blocking metastasis

A new treatment strategy using targeted nanoparticles to block metastasis with anti-cancer drugs leads to good results using significantly lower doses of toxic chemotherapy, with less collateral damage to surrounding tissue, according to a collaborative team of researchers at the Center of Nanotechnology for Treatment, Understanding, and Monitoring of Cancer at the University of California, San Diego. In designing this system, the investigators, led by David Cheresh, Ph.D., have identified what may become a generic method for using nanotechnology to target metastasis.

9 Jul 2008

Circulating tumor cells can reveal genetic signature of dangerous lung cancers

Using a miniature laboratory-on-a-chip device, a team of investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital, led by Daniel Haber, M.D., Ph.D., and Mehmet Toner, Ph.D., both members of the MIT-Harvard Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (CCNE), has developed a method that detects and analyzes the genetic signature of rare tumor cells in the bloodstream.

9 Jul 2008