Laboratory News and Research

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Effectiveness of Hib vaccine introduction into routine childhood immunization in Kenya

Three years after introduction, routine vaccination of infants in Kenya against H. influenzae Type b (Hib) significantly reduced invasive Hib disease rates by 88%.

8 Aug 2006

Researchers discover how genes and diet interact to cause birth defects

Expectant mothers may someday get a personalized menu of foods to eat during pregnancy to complement their genetic makeup as a result of new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

8 Aug 2006

Enrichment of regulatory CD4+CD25+ T cells by inhibition of phospholipase D signaling

A signaling molecule with an affinity for alcohol has yielded a rapid, inexpensive way to make large numbers of immune cells that work like beat cops keeping misguided cells from attacking the body.

8 Aug 2006

Rett syndrome can also strike males

The common thinking in the past had been that Rett syndrome only affects girls.

8 Aug 2006

Chronic cigarette smoking is associated with diminished folate status

Every year, nearly 300,000 people worldwide are diagnosed with oral cancer.

8 Aug 2006

China confirms human case of H5N1 infection dating back to November 2003

The Ministry of Health in China has today retrospectively confirmed a human case of H5N1 infection dating back to November 2003. The case occurred in a 24-year-old member of the military service based in Beijing.

8 Aug 2006

DNA overwinds when stretched

Most of us are familiar with the winding staircase image of DNA, the repository of a biological cell's genetic information. But few of us realize just how tightly that famous double helix is wound.

8 Aug 2006

Nicotine shows promise as treatment against Parkinson's disease

New research suggests that nicotine treatment protects against the same type of brain damage that occurs in Parkinson's disease.

7 Aug 2006

Latex in food wrappers, packaging and rubber gloves must be declared

A new study has revealed that latex contained in packaging and rubber gloves can trigger fatal allergic reactions.

7 Aug 2006

New method of delivering a dose of radioactive iodine

A new method of delivering a dose of radioactive iodine - using a man-made version of scorpion venom as a carrier - targets deadly brain tumors called gliomas without affecting neighboring tissue or body organs.

7 Aug 2006

Experimental drug trial victim has cancer

One of the men who suffered severe reactions to an experimental drug during a drug trial in London, UK, says he now has cancer.

6 Aug 2006

Researchers discover a cellular signal that aggravates the symptoms of multiple sclerosis

Depression, coordination and speech problems, muscle weakness and disability are just a few of the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

6 Aug 2006

For the first time, scientists watch neurons change in response to experience

Thanks to a new imaging system, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have gotten an unprecedented look into how genes shape the brain in response to the environment.

6 Aug 2006

New research may solve problem of vessels re-closing after angioplasty

Through studying pigeons with genetic heart disease, researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have discovered a clue about why some patients' heart vessels are prone to close back up after angioplasty.

6 Aug 2006

Txr1 gene that affects human cancer cells' sensitivity to chemotherapy

Gene that affects human cancer cells' sensitivity to chemotherapy - an important finding in the effort to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy.

6 Aug 2006

Interleukin 21 may enhance the effectiveness of Herceptin

Preliminary research suggests that a drug that targets a particular type of breast cancer might be more effective if patients are also given a substance made by the body that stimulates certain immune cells.

6 Aug 2006

Researchers discover one of the malaria parasite's sneakiest tricks

Researchers have discovered one of the malaria parasite's sneakiest tricks--using dead liver cells to cloak and transport itself back into the bloodstream after leaving the liver.

4 Aug 2006

Turning the immune system against cancer

Medicine can now prevent a host of diseases with a mere shot of vaccine. Polio and smallpox are almost non-existent, and mumps and chicken pox are rarely seen nowadays.

4 Aug 2006

High blood pressure induces low fat metabolism in heart muscle

Hearts of non-diabetics with muscle thickening due to high blood pressure have an energy metabolism skewed in the opposite direction -- away from the use of fat for energy.

4 Aug 2006

Genomic expansion and diversification in a African sleeping sickness parasite allow it to evade host detection

A team of scientists headed by Dr. Sara Melville at the University of Cambridge has shown that the parasite known to cause African sleeping sickness has evolved an unusual chromosomal structure as a result of environmental adaptation.

3 Aug 2006