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Healthy newborns should not be over-protected against natural exposure of gut flora

Infants whose gut is colonised by E. coli bacteria early in life have a higher number of memory B cells in their blood, reveals a study of infants carried out at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

7 May 2012

Accentia, Johns Hopkins co-host meeting with prospective clinical trial investigators at AAN meeting

Accentia Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the Company and leading physicians from Johns Hopkins University co-hosted a meeting with prospective clinical trial investigators at the recent American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

7 May 2012

A test to predict breast cancer many years before the disease is diagnosed

Ultimately the findings, in the journal Cancer Research, could lead to a simple blood test to screen women, they say. The test looks for how genes are altered by environmental factors like alcohol and hormones - a process known as epigenetics. One in five women is thought to have such a genetic “switch” that doubles breast cancer risk say researchers.

3 May 2012

Weight loss reduces inflammation in postmenopausal women

Postmenopausal women who were overweight or obese and lost at least 5 percent of their body weight had a measurable reduction in markers of inflammation, according to a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

2 May 2012

Antibody that neutralizes enzyme Kallikrein 6 staves off MS

Researchers studying multiple sclerosis(MS) have long been looking for the specific molecules in the body that cause lesions in myelin, the fatty, insulating cells that sheathe the nerves.

30 Apr 2012

Vitamin D strengthens innate immunity against viral infections

Vitamin D may be known as the sunshine vitamin, but a new research report appearing in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology shows that it is more than that. According to the report, insufficient levels of vitamin D are related to a deficiency in our innate immune defenses that protect us from infections, neoplasias or autoimmune diseases.

30 Apr 2012

Helpful roles of rank, toxic substances

Usually, we think of mold, feces, nitric oxide, hydrogen sulfide and rat poison as rank, toxic or both. But scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health are learning more about the helpful roles these substances can play.

26 Apr 2012

Study sheds new light on common food poisoning bug

BBSRC-funded researchers at Cambridge University have shed new light on a common food poisoning bug. Using real-time video microscopy, coupled with mathematical modelling, they have changed our assumptions about Salmonella and how it infects human cells.

26 Apr 2012

Expression of specific GPCRs appears to play a role in prognosis of CLL

Researchers at the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine have shown that G protein-coupled receptor expression may predict the prognosis of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Their findings may identify new ways to treat such patients.

25 Apr 2012

CML and B-ALL arise from the long-term haematopoietic stem cells

Although people generally talk about "cancer", it is clear that the disease occurs in a bewildering variety of forms. Even single groups of cancers, such as those of the white blood cells, may show widely differing properties. How do the various cancers arise and what factors determine their progression? Clues to these two issues, at least for leukaemias, have now been provided by Boris Kovacic and colleagues at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna.

25 Apr 2012

BuruliVac project getting closer to a vaccine

During a meeting in Lisbon, the partners of the BuruliVac research consortium found the project to be running smoothly, and getting closer to a vaccine against Buruli ulcer, a disfiguring and mutilating disease that causes a lot of suffering and now is difficult to treat. Several vaccine candidates work well in mice and are ready for further testing on blood of patients; one is ready for testing in mice.

19 Apr 2012

New genetic signature may predict NSCLC patients at risk of relapse

A new genetic signature identified by Spanish researchers may provide doctors with robust and objective information about which patients with early stage lung cancer are at low or high risk of relapse following surgery, investigators report at the 3rd European Lung Cancer Conference in Geneva. Their work also opens new avenues for immunotherapy for lung cancer.

19 Apr 2012

New PBC tool for prioritizing laboratory-based CD-4 cell count testing

One of the major problems that has slowed progress toward universal access to life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART) to treat AIDS in developing nations has been limited availability of laboratories and trained medical staff to conduct blood tests of immune system CD-4 T-cell levels that indicate when to start ART.

18 Apr 2012

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus senses and reacts to host cell's impending death

A research team led by Children's National Medical Center has identified a trigger that causes latent Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) to rapidly replicate itself. KSHV causes Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, and other cancers that commonly affect immunocompromised patients, including those with AIDS.

18 Apr 2012

Study sheds light on why ageing makes us more susceptible to gum disease

New research from Queen Mary, University of London in collaboration with research groups in the USA sheds light on why gum disease can become more common with old age.

18 Apr 2012

Tumor microenvironment contributes critically to drug response

It should be possible to significantly improve the response of common cancers to existing "classical" chemotherapy drugs, say scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), by introducing agents that alter the interaction of cancer cells with their immediate surroundings, called the tumor microenvironment.

17 Apr 2012

Caring for wife with breast cancer can affect men's health

Caring for a wife with breast cancer can have a measurable negative effect on men's health, even years after the cancer diagnosis and completion of treatment, according to recent research.

17 Apr 2012

Coronary stents do not increase risk of heart attack, death in people with metal allergies

Cardiologists have long grappled with how to best manage patients with coronary artery disease who report skin hypersensitivity to nickel or other metal components found in stents -- small tubes placed in narrowed or weakened arteries to help improve blood flow to the heart. But new Mayo Clinic research, published in the April 16, 2012, issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions, may help allay these concerns.

17 Apr 2012

Two related enzymes play a key role in development of T-ALL

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) scientists have demonstrated that two related enzymes - phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K) gamma and delta - play a key role in the development of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), a highly aggressive childhood leukemia that is difficult to treat.

17 Apr 2012

Changes in thromboxane synthase may lead to hypertension in women with preeclampsia

Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine researchers have discovered that changes in the gene expression of a key enzyme may contribute to high blood pressure and increase susceptibility to forming blood clots in pregnant women with preeclampsia.

16 Apr 2012