Inflammation News and Research

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Scientists uncover new role for TLR4 in development of tissue fibrosis or scarring

An international multi-disciplinary research team led by Northwestern Medicine scientists has uncovered a new role for the protein toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) in the development of tissue fibrosis, or scarring.

21 Nov 2012

UBC microbiologist receives Prix Galien 2012 Research Award

UBC microbiologist Robert E.W. Hancock has received the Prix Galien 2012 Research Award, widely considered the most prestigious honour in Canadian pharmaceutical research and innovation. Hancock is being recognized for pioneering work unravelling the complex interactions between antibiotics and bacteria.

20 Nov 2012

IL-13 receptor system could play a major role in Parkinson's

Deciphering what causes the brain cell degeneration of Parkinson's disease has remained a perplexing challenge for scientists. But a team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has pinpointed a key factor controlling damage to brain cells in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease.

20 Nov 2012

KLF4 genetic factor prevents blood vessels from blockages

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have identified a genetic factor that prevents blockages from forming in blood vessels, a discovery that could lead to new therapies for cardiovascular diseases.

20 Nov 2012

Treatment-related heart failure risk for rheumatoid arthritis patients revealed

Rheumatoid arthritis patients have no greater risk for heart failure with tumor necrosis factor-alpha therapy than with nonbiologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, research suggests.

19 Nov 2012

Geriatric health, lungs adversely affected by air pollution

Elderly individuals living in highly polluted areas of the USA have higher levels of inflammatory markers in their blood compared with their counterparts who live in less-polluted regions, indicate the results of a study.

19 Nov 2012

Strep detection tests may miss sore throat-causing bacterial strains

Rapid streptococcal antigen detection tests, which are widely used to detect non-group A Lancefield beta-hemolytic streptococci in many developed countries, may be missing clinically important streptococci, say researchers.

19 Nov 2012

Study illuminates how Aldo and galectin-3 protein contribute to vascular remodeling, CHF

Cardiovascular disease will kill nearly 2.5 million people in the United States this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Over time, inflammation, collagen deposition and scar tissue formation can cause blood vessels to stiffen, a process called vascular fibrosis. Though researchers have known that the hormone aldosterone (Aldo) plays a role in this process, the precise mechanisms have been poorly understood.

17 Nov 2012

General guidelines to understand allergic skin conditions

Winter months can bring on the itch as cold weather and indoor heat dry out the skin. It's possible, suggests Chicago allergist, Brian Rotskoff, MD of Clarity Allergy Center, that your winter itch could be caused by more than just the weather. For some people itchy, dry skin is just that, but for others it can be a symptom of atopic dermatitis (eczema), contact dermatitis, or hives (urticaria).

16 Nov 2012

Hydrocortisone protects bilateral knee replacement patients

Repeat doses of corticosteroids may protect patients undergoing bilateral total knee arthroplasty from postoperative side effects such as fever, pain, and acute respiratory distress, research suggests.

16 Nov 2012

Imaging technique could give early aneurysm rupture warning

The speed of ferumoxytol uptake on magnetic resonance imaging may indicate if a cerebral aneurysm is unstable and likely to rupture soon, say US researchers.

16 Nov 2012

HUCPVC cell therapy more effective in restoring heart function after myocardial infarction

A study published this month by researchers at the University of Toronto and Toronto's Princess Margaret Hospital has shown that cells derived from the umbilical cord, "Human Umbilical Cord PeriVascular Cells" (HUCPVCs), are more effective in restoring heart function after an acute myocardial infarction (in common parlance, a heart attack) in a pre-clinical model than a similar cell population derived from bone marrow.

16 Nov 2012

Tug of war between Hsp70 and 90 determines how much the body makes of superoxide

Two proteins are in a tug of war that determines how much the body makes of superoxide, a highly reactive and potentially destructive product of oxygen that's dramatically elevated in cardiovascular disease, researchers report.

16 Nov 2012

Arginine and proline supplementation favor wound healing in diabetic rats

Chronic wounds such as foot ulcers are a common problem for diabetics and are the cause of more than 80 percent of the lower leg amputations in these patients. There is currently no effective way to improve healing of these types of wounds, but new research offers hope.

16 Nov 2012

CLR01 effectively inhibits synaptotoxicity in mice with Alzheimer's

Last March, researchers at UCLA reported the development of a molecular compound called CLR01 that prevented toxic proteins associated with Parkinson's disease from binding together and killing the brain's neurons.

16 Nov 2012

New insights into how MSCs ‘traffic’ from the circulation into tissues

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), are a newly emerging cellular therapy being tested in approximately 250 clinical trials worldwide to help repair damaged tissues, such as injured heart muscle following a heart attack. The problem is that when culture-expanded MSCs are injected into the circulation, they have trouble gaining access to the inflamed tissues-exactly where their help is needed.

16 Nov 2012

Tanshinones protect against sepsis: Study

Researchers at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have discovered that tanshinones, which come from the plant Danshen and are highly valued in Chinese traditional medicine, protect against the life-threatening condition sepsis. The findings are published in the December issue of Biochemical Pharmacology.

16 Nov 2012