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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) overview

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is an atypical form of pneumonia that first appeared in November 2002 in Guangdong Province, China.

24 Apr 2004

Taiwan raises SARS level to CODE RED

In response to two suspected SARS cases reported in China, Taiwan Department of Health has announced today that starting from April 24, the SARS responsive level will be escalated to level A or Code Red, the highest state of alert.

24 Apr 2004

FDA approves Advair Diskus® for children with asthma

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of Advair 100/50 in children four years to eleven years of age with asthma who are symptomatic on inhaled corticosteroid therapy alone.

22 Apr 2004

Second-hand smoke scars and affects healing

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have found that breathing “second-hand” smoke reduces the speed at which wounds heal, leading to greater levels of scarring.

17 Apr 2004

Tibetan yoga helps cancer and insomnia

The first study to look at the use of Tibetan yoga by cancer patients found the combination of movement and meditation led to a significant sleep benefit, say researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

16 Apr 2004

Houston blows poor air not just hot air

A study by a Texas A&M University researcher shows that Houston has wild fluctuations of air pollution – far above acceptable national standards – and these could pose a serious health risk to the city's inhabitants unless controls are quickly started.

14 Apr 2004

Mercy Hospital opens new cardiovascular catheterization laboratory

The $40 million expansion of The Cardiac Centers of Mercy & Unity Hospitals reaches a significant milestone this week with the opening of the most technologically advanced cardiovascular catheterization laboratories in Minnesota.

13 Apr 2004

Breast-feeding may protect against SIDS

Breast-fed babies arouse more readily from deep sleep, Monash researchers have found, in a discovery that could help reduce deaths due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

7 Apr 2004

University of Florida researchers have used a common gel to successfully deliver gene therapy to the diaphragm

The technique, described in the current issue of Molecular Therapy, could eventually lead to a method to correct genetic conditions in humans that cause diaphragm weakness and respiratory failure -- a leading cause of death in tens of thousands of patients with forms of muscular dystrophy, including Pompe’s disease. Thousands of Americans with muscle-weakening diseases are placed on ventilators each year, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

7 Apr 2004

New research findings in study of Rett Syndrome

Rudolf Jaenisch of the Whitehead Institute of Biomedical Research in Cambridge, MA reports in the April 6, 2004 online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that introduction of the MeCP2 protein into post-mitotic nerve cells of MeCP2 mutant mice rescues the symptoms of Rett Syndrome. This raises the possibility that neurons are functionally normal in a newborn child and that neural dysfunction manifests itself only later due to prolonged MeCP2 deficiency. If correct, therapeutic strategies aimed at preventing the onset of Rett symptoms could be initiated at birth.

7 Apr 2004

Cardiac sympathetic denervation the heart’s control from the sympathetic nervous system

Surgery to cut part of the nerves to the heart can reduce the risk of fainting or sudden death in young people with a heart rhythm disorder called long QT syndrome (LQTS), researchers reported in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

29 Mar 2004

EU gives 32 million Euro for vaccines to stop tuberculosis

The European Commission today launched the largest-ever collaborative tuberculosis (TB) initiative for World TB-day, March 24. Fifty-two research teams from academia and industry from 15 European and African countries are joining forces with the European Commission to help eradicate TB. Globally, TB kills 2 million people a year, with one-third of the world's population currently infected with the bacillus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). While most cases and deaths occur in developing countries, resistant Mtb strains are mainly found among the poorest people in developed countries, as incomplete treatment increases drug resistance. The European Union is confronting the re-emerging threat of TB by investing €32 million in two overlapping research projects. This cash will be used in an accelerated effort to develop new, effective vaccines to fight TB.

23 Mar 2004

Research suggests protein released from lungs could initiate labour

A protein released from the lungs of a developing mouse fetus initiates a cascade of chemical events leading to the mother's initiation of labor, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have found.

22 Mar 2004

Researchers discover new form of the Rett syndrome protein

Adrian Bird and Skirmantas Kriaucionis of the University of Edinburgh have discovered a novel form of the protein MeCP2. This alternate form, coined MeCP2 alpha, differs from the original only in the first 19 amino acids. Interestingly, Adrian Bird, Director of the Welcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology at Edinburgh University, found that MeCP2 alpha, is ten times more prevalent not only in the brain but also in other tissues. These findings are currently reported online in Nucleic Acids Research. Similar findings were reported yesterday in Nature Genetics online by Berge Minassian, a neurologist and scientist at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

22 Mar 2004