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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

Discovery of key lupus gene

Wellcome Trust researchers have identified a key gene involved in the disease Lupus, which affects around 50,000 people in the UK, mostly women.

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

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines can improve the lives of HIV-infected children

An international team of experts has published the first comprehensive review of evidence on pneumococcal conjugate vaccination (PCV) for children with HIV infection.

29 Nov 2007

New anti-infective drug aims to fight drug-resistant bacteria at source

Deadly methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - MRSA - a bacterium that responds poorly to conventional antibiotic treatment, infects 90,000 Americans per year and causes 19,000 deaths, most in hospital settings.

29 Nov 2007

Deadly variations of superbug now spreading beyond the hospital

Experts in Britain say virulent bugs such as MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) are now spreading beyond hospitals and into the wider community and may put lives at risk.

27 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

MRSA in the community: A new threat to children's health?

Although hospital superbugs like MRSA - methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus - are now a widespread and recognised problem, new MRSA strains that have emerged and are spreading amongst the wider public in the USA may pose a bigger threat, according to Exeter researchers speaking (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

Superbug strains have spread to nursing homes and into the community

Hospital superbugs that can break down antibiotics are so widespread throughout Europe that doctors increasingly have to use the few remaining drugs that they reserve for emergencies.

27 Nov 2007

Fast way of spotting multidrug resistant bacteria could help stop outbreaks in hospitals

A type of bacterium widely found on our skin and in the environment has now become a major threat in hospitals where it can cause serious infections, such as pneumonia in severely ill patients.

27 Nov 2007

Health officials should consider mass vaccination in their efforts to control endemic cholera

A vaccine used to protect travelers from cholera, an infection characterized by diarrhea and severe dehydration, could also be used effectively among those living in cholera-prone (endemic) areas, according to a research study by Ira Longini and colleagues published in PLoS Medicine.

27 Nov 2007

Dirty ambulances may be a culprit in spread of superbugs

The debate in the UK over the spread of so-called superbugs such as MRSA has taken a nasty turn with the national union for ambulance staff saying dirty ambulances are the culprits.

27 Nov 2007

Scientists examine eons-old water for microorganisms

Researchers from the University of Delaware and the University of California at Riverside have thawed ice estimated to be at least a million years old from above Lake Vostok, an ancient lake that lies hidden more than two miles beneath the frozen surface of Antarctica.

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

New drug called nitrosyl-cobinamide could potentially be used to treat hypertension and heart disease

Investigators at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have developed a new drug called nitrosyl-cobinamide.

27 Nov 2007

TB appears again in the U.S.

Officials from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment in the U.S. say a Nepalese student at Colorado State University-Pueblo who died of tuberculosis in June, probably infected 17 other people.

26 Nov 2007

Lung transplants do more harm than good to children with cystic fibrosis

Lung transplantation, the therapy almost every cystic fibrosis patient (CF) considers at some point to prolong survival, rarely helps children with the disease live longer and, in fact, often increases their risk of dying, University of Utah researchers conclude in the most extensive study of the issue to date.

21 Nov 2007