Inflammation News and Research

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Daily moderate drinking may decrease atherosclerosis

For the first time, new research shows that patterns of alcohol consumption - a drink or two every night, or several cocktails on Friday and Saturday nights only - may be more important in determining alcohol's influence on heart health than the total amount consumed.

8 Sep 2011

First-ever comprehensive study of species origins of nature-derived drugs

In a first-ever comprehensive study of the species origins of nature-derived drugs, it is shown that drug-producing species are concentrated and clustered in a limited number of families, refuting the conventional view that as every nature species produces biologically active molecules, one can find drugs from almost any major block of species groups if one looks for them hard enough.

8 Sep 2011

Loss of estrogen receptor alpha protein may lead to metabolic syndrome

UCLA researchers demonstrated that loss of a key protein that regulates estrogen and immune activity in the body could lead to aspects of metabolic syndrome, a combination of conditions that can cause Type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis and cancer. Called estrogen receptor alpha, this protein is critical in regulating immune system activity such as helping cells suppress inflammation and gobble-up debris.

7 Sep 2011

International researchers to assess role of pre-clinical animal models in drug discovery

The New York Academy of Sciences and the Global Medical Excellence Cluster (GMEC), in collaboration with Imperial College London and King's College London, will host a two-day scientific conference, "Animal Models and Their Value in Predicting Drug Efficacy and Toxicity," that will provide a forum to critically examine the role of pre-clinical animal models in drug discovery.

7 Sep 2011

Biomaterials may heal chronic diabetic wounds

Biomaterials may prove key to healing chronic wounds in Diabetic patients, delegates will hear today at the 24th European Conference on Biomaterials. Over 950 delegates are at the event in Dublin, which is jointly hosted by NUI Galway's Network of Excellence for Functional Biomaterials and the University of Ulster, Jordanstown.

7 Sep 2011

Discovery of a key protein’s role in cell clearance could impact future treatments of autoimmune diseases, obesity and atherosclerosis

The healthy human body is extremely efficient at cleaning house. Every day, we purge 100 to 200 billion dead or dying cells – a process called cell clearance, which is fundamental in our ability to maintain a healthy physiological balance and prevent a number of chronic diseases. Professional cleaning cells, called phagocytes, are responsible for ridding the body of dead, or ‘apoptotic,’ cells.

6 Sep 2011

Inflammation boosts activity of two proteins that can normalize blood sugar in diabetics

Increased low-grade inflammation in the body resulting from obesity is widely viewed as contributing to type 2 diabetes. Going against this long-held belief, researchers from Children's Hospital Boston report that two proteins activated by inflammation are actually crucial for maintaining good blood sugar levels - and that boosting the activity of these proteins can normalize blood sugar in severely obese and diabetic mice.

5 Sep 2011

Inhibiting the ability of immune cells to use fatty acids slows MS progression

In a paper published today in the journal Scientific Reports, a pair of researchers at the University of California, San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences report that inhibiting the ability of immune cells to use fatty acids as fuel measurably slows disease progression in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis.

3 Sep 2011

ATS issues guidelines on use of FENO in different clinical settings

The American Thoracic Society has issued the first-ever guidelines on the use of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) that address when to use FENO and how to interpret FENO levels in different clinical settings.

3 Sep 2011

Going bananas may help kids breathe easier

Going bananas may help kids breathe easier. Children who ate just one banana a day had a 34% less chance of developing asthmatic symptoms, according to new British research.

3 Sep 2011

Mayo Clinic and IC-MedTech enter collaborative research agreement with Summa Health System

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic and representatives from IC-MedTech signed a collaborative research agreement with Summa Health System to study the usage of Apatone, a proprietary combination of Vitamin-C and Vitamin-K3.

2 Sep 2011

Neutrophils linked to growth and spread of cancer

Scripps Research Professor James Quigley, Staff Scientist Elena Deryugina, and colleagues had previously demonstrated that white blood cells known as neutrophils—bone marrow-derived cells that function as "first responders" at sites of acute inflammation—promote the growth of new blood vessels in normal, healthy tissue.

2 Sep 2011

New Diabetes Care article helps to identify and treat Charcot foot

Robert Winkler says he limped around on his painful left foot for six months, suffering unnecessarily from a misdiagnosis by a physician who didn't know about the symptoms and treatments for Charcot foot, a form of localized osteoporosis linked to diabetes that causes the bones to soften and break, often resulting in amputation.

2 Sep 2011

UTHealth inaugurates new center for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases research

The University of Texas Health Science at Houston (UTHealth) announced the opening of a center devoted to researching and treating diseases associated with malfunctioning immune systems.

2 Sep 2011

Research shows numerous health benefits of Modified Citrus Pectin

New research published in the journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine shows Modified Citrus Pectin (MCP) packs a powerful immune punch.

31 Aug 2011

An advance toward using stem cells in 'regenerative medicine'

With stem cells so fickle and indecisive that they make Shakespeare's Hamlet pale by comparison, scientists today described an advance in encouraging stem cells to make decisions about their fate.

30 Aug 2011

Harmful effects of tobacco smoke on atherosclerosis are greater in women than in men

The harmful effects of tobacco smoke on atherosclerosis, one of the driving forces of cardiovascular disease, are greater in women than in men.

29 Aug 2011

Study shows link between laughter and vascular health

Watching a funny movie or sitcom that produces laughter has a positive effect on vascular function and is opposite to that observed after watching a movie that causes mental stress according to research conducted at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.

29 Aug 2011

Researchers use metformin to effectively starve cancer cells

CANCER RESEARCH UK scientists have discovered how blocking a key controller of energy production in cancer cells and treating them with a diabetes drug, metformin, effectively starves cancer cells.

29 Aug 2011

Sutureless method for reconnecting blood vessels

Reconnecting severed blood vessels is mostly done the same way today - with sutures - as it was 100 years ago, when the French surgeon Alexis Carrel won a Nobel Prize for advancing the technique.

29 Aug 2011