Antibiotic News and Research

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Antibiotics are drugs used to treat infections caused by bacteria and other microorganisms.

Teaching ethical decision-making in medicine

When medical students at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine learn about ethical decision-making in patient care, one of the things they paradoxically learn is that an "ethical" problem often isn't one.

11 Feb 2005

Safer approach to treating children with cystic fibrosis

Treating chest infections in young cystic fibrosis patients with an antibiotic once instead of three times daily is as effective and less toxic, conclude the results of a randomised trial published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

10 Feb 2005

Prescription of antibiotics in primary care in Europe vary greatly

Resistance to antibiotics is more common in southern and eastern Europe than in northern Europe because the regions have high rates of antibiotic use, suggests a study published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

10 Feb 2005

Zimmer to distribute innovative antibiotic bone cement

Zimmer Holdings announced today it has acquired United States distribution rights for the Palacos line of bone cement products manufactured by Heraeus Kulzer of Germany, a world leader in the development and production of orthopaedic bone cement products and other health care technologies.

3 Feb 2005

Infection complicates 2 to 2·5% of breast implantations

Breast augmentation is the most frequent type of plastic surgery done in the UK and - after nose reshaping and liposuction - it is the third most common cosmetic procedure in the USA.

3 Feb 2005

Bacterial spread all down to chance: some strains 'just the luckyones'

Scientists have discovered that factors such as human immunity and drug resistance are less important to the success of bacterial spread than previously thought.

3 Feb 2005

Bioartificial kidney containing billions of donor kidney cells under study at the Medical College of Georgia

Whether a bioartificial kidney containing billions of donor kidney cells will help intensive care patients with kidney failure survive is under study at the Medical College of Georgia.

31 Jan 2005

Penicillin V and erythromycin have no benefit for most adults with acute laryngitis

Two common antibiotics, Penicillin V and erythromycin, appear to have no benefit for most adults with acute laryngitis, says a research team led by Dr. Ludovic Reveiz of Bogota, Colombia.

24 Jan 2005

Novel treatment promises to be an effective cure for tuberculosis

Researchers in Belgium have uncovered a novel treatment that promises to be an effective cure for tuberculosis (TB). The respiratory disease has been experiencing a major global comeback due to the emergence of resistant strains of the bacteria that causes it and the spread of AIDS.

9 Jan 2005

Diagnosis of tuberculosis in young children can be confirmed by a straightforward sputum test

Diagnosis of tuberculosis is difficult in infants and young children and can be complicated by HIV infection. Heather Zar (School of Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa) and colleagues studied 250 children aged 1 month to 5 years who were admitted for suspected pulmonary tuberculosis in Cape Town. Sputum induction and gastric lavage were done on three consecutive days according to a standard procedure.

7 Jan 2005

Antibiotics protect nerves in mice by turning on genes

A family of antibiotics that includes penicillin may help prevent nerve damage and death in a wide variety of neurological diseases, including Lou Gehrig's disease, dementia, stroke, and epilepsy, Johns Hopkins researchers have found.

6 Jan 2005

Patient safety measures work at children’s hospitals

In recent years, children's hospitals have joined in the national push to improve patient safety and avoid preventable problems. But it has been hard to measure progress, because of uncertainty about whether standard patient safety measurement tools apply to their patients, who are younger, smaller and on average sicker than those at other hospitals.

4 Jan 2005

Technology that could double the effectiveness of cancer drugs

To identify the best treatment for recurrent ovarian cancer, researchers at Yale School of Medicine are studying a technology called the Yale apoptosis assay in combination with another technology called the ChemoFX assay, which could double the response rate to existing drugs.

4 Jan 2005

Multi-state urinary tract infections likely caused by consumption of a contaminated food product of animal origin

A multi-state outbreak of urinary tract infections caused by drug-resistant Escherichia coli was probably due to consumption of a contaminated food product of animal origin, such as meat or milk, according to an article in the Jan. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

4 Jan 2005

£2.5 million to support further research into gene therapy for cystic fibrosis

The funding commitment was made in the Genetics White Paper, 'Our Inheritance, Our Future: Realising the potential of genetics in the NHS' and will help to ensure that those with cystic fibrosis benefit as soon as possible from the latest advances in genetic knowledge and technologies.

4 Jan 2005

For uncomplicated colds antibiotics are not necessary

If a runny nose and congested chest have you thinking of antibiotics, think again.

3 Jan 2005

Bacteria can use a sonar-like system to spot other cells

For the first time, scientists have found that bacteria can use a Sonar-like system to spot other cells (either normal body cells or other bacteria) and target them for destruction.

23 Dec 2004

Evidence suggests that changes in the bacteria and fungi in the gastrointestinal tract can intensify the immune system's reaction to common allergens

If you want to avoid allergies or asthma, scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School suggest you start paying more attention to what's in your gut.

23 Dec 2004

Somatic hypermutation (SHM) should prove to be extremely useful in directed protein evolution

Fascinated by the efficient way the human immune system generates a rapid response to create a near-infinite variety of antibodies, researchers have "hijacked" that machinery and used it to evolve a new type of fluorescent protein.

23 Dec 2004

Jumping genes help explain immune system's remarkable ability

A team led by Johns Hopkins scientists has found the first clear evidence that the process behind the human immune system's remarkable ability to recognize and respond to a million different proteins might have originated from a family of genes whose only apparent function is to jump around in genetic material.

22 Dec 2004