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Genetic cause of Kawasaki disease

Researchers from Japan's RIKEN SNP Research Center, collaborating with a team at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), have discovered a new genetic variation that affects a child's risk of getting Kawasaki disease (KD), an illness characterized by acute inflammation of the arteries throughout the body.

17 Dec 2007

Sperm's immune-protection properties could provide link to how cancers spread

Sugar-based markers on human sperm cells which may prevent them from being attacked by the female immune system could provide a vital clue to how some cancers spread in the human body, according to new research published on 14 December 2007.

14 Dec 2007

Lethal human H5N1 influenza virus Replikin gene still upregulated

Replikins Ltd. has announced its latest findings regarding the virus replikin count in human H5N1 influenza virus. The company's software-driven analysis has found that the prevalence of these sequences has remained high in Indonesia; in addition, higher counts now have been found in China.

12 Dec 2007

Addition of antibiotics to MS therapy could slow down progression of the disease

Researchers from Louisiana State University in the U.S. are suggesting that the addition of antibiotics to standard drug therapy for multiple sclerosis, may slow down the progress of the disease.

11 Dec 2007

Waterborne carbon increases threat of environmental mercury

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin and a worrisome environmental contaminant, but the severity of its threat appears to depend on what else is in the water.

10 Dec 2007

Study results from Zolinza (vorinostat) in combination with bortezomib for multiple myeloma trial

Results from two investigational Phase I trials of ZOLINZA (vorinostat) in combination with bortezomib provide preliminary anti-tumor activity in patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma.

10 Dec 2007

Pathogens use previously undescribed mechanism to sabotage host immune system

New research identifies a previously unknown enzymatic mechanism that subverts the early host immune response and promotes pathogenicity by manipulating a common signaling pathway in host cells.

10 Dec 2007

Boost for tick disease research

Roman Ganta, a professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology at Kansas State University, has been awarded a grant of $1,825,000 by the National Institutes of Health to figure out how to stop the tick-borne bacteria, Ehrlichia chaffeensis, from making animals and people sick.

10 Dec 2007

Purified bacterial extract sprayed into lungs ramps up innate immune system

A purified extract prepared from a common microbe and delivered to the lungs of laboratory mice in a spray set off a healthy immune response and provided powerful protection against all four major classes of pathogens including those responsible for anthrax and bubonic plague, according to a presentation at the American Society for Cell Biology's 47th Annual Meeting.

4 Dec 2007

Humans not the major target of Shiga toxin

If you've survived Shiga toxin and the after-effects of food poisoning, you may have been the innocent victim of a battle for survival between predator and prey.

4 Dec 2007

Molecular technology used to identify unexpected bacteria in cystic fibrosis patients

Molecular technology developed by a University of Colorado at Boulder professor to probe extreme life forms in undersea hydrothermal vents has been used to identify unexpected bacteria strains in the lung fluid of Denver children suffering from cystic fibrosis, findings that may lead to more effective therapies.

4 Dec 2007

Inhaled immune system stimulant launches immune response in lungs to wipe out lethal infections

An inhaled immune system stimulant protects mice against lethal pneumococcal pneumonia and other deadly bacterial, viral and fungal infections of the lungs, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports at a major scientific meeting.

4 Dec 2007

Tainted spinach reveals treatment possibilities

A discovery by University at Buffalo biologists that may explain the evolution of a lethal toxin is providing new information that could lead to more effective treatments for humans who fall victim to it.

3 Dec 2007

Benefits of ibuprofen shown to outweigh risks of gastrointestinal bleeding in children with cystic fibrosis

Treatment with ibuprofen is associated with a significantly slower rate of decline in lung function in children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis, according to a new study.

3 Dec 2007

Transporters may help delay diabetes-related retinal damage

Two transporters that deliver alternative energy sources to the eye may help delay retinal damage that can occur in diabetes, researchers say.

29 Nov 2007

Bacteria cheat on their mates for own good

Pursuing our own short term interests by cheating on the rest of the population is not the preserve of the human race.

29 Nov 2007

Uptake of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine among children in the 1998-2002 United States birth cohorts

Since its addition to the list of routine immunizations in 2000, one childhood vaccine has helped prevent some pneumococcal-related illness, including pneumonia and otitis media.

27 Nov 2007

New challenges for diagnosis of bacterial STIs

This year cases of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have risen by 2% in the UK, in spite of a small drop in the incidence of syphilis and gonorrhoea, according to scientists speaking today (Wednesday 28 November 2007) at the Federation of Infection Societies Conference 2007 at the University of Cardiff, UK, which runs from 28-30 November 2007.

27 Nov 2007

Cholera can be controlled with oral vaccines

Endemic cholera, a potentially fatal diarrheal disease found in the world's most impoverished countries, could be effectively controlled by orally vaccinating half of the affected populations once every two years for only pennies per dose, according to new findings by an international team of researchers led by Ira M. Longini Jr., Ph.D., a biostatistician in the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Longini and colleagues will report their findings online Nov. 27 in PLoS Medicine.

27 Nov 2007

Flip-flopping gene expression can be advantageous

One gene for pea pod color generates green pods while a variant of that gene gives rise to the yellow-pod phenotype, a feature that helped Gregor Mendel, the 19th century Austrian priest and scientist, first describe genetic inheritance.

27 Nov 2007