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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

BRIT1 gene plays a pivotal role in DNA damage detection and repair

A single gene plays a pivotal role launching two DNA damage detection and repair pathways in the human genome, suggesting that it functions as a previously unidentified tumor suppressor gene.

3 Aug 2006

Better understanding of intravenous immunoglobulin

For years, researchers have struggled to understand how IVIG worked. It's ability to treat autoimmune diseases seemed to bean apparent contradiction.

3 Aug 2006

Specialized skin cells use GPS like mapping system to identify where they belong in the body

Until now it's been a mystery as to how adult skin, which consists of basically the same components all over the body, knows to grow hair in some areas like the scalp, while manufacturing sweat glands, calluses and fingerprint whorls in others

2 Aug 2006

Protein CD86 raises antibody output

Cancer immunologists here have discovered how a protein on the surface of antibody-making immune cells boosts the amount of antibody the cells make.

2 Aug 2006

Global sharing of avian influenza virus samples

OFFLU, the OIE/FAO joint network of expertise on avian influenza, will systematically make avian influenza virus sequences accessible to the entire scientific community.

2 Aug 2006

fMRI shows "gambling" structures in the brain

From gamblers playing blackjack to investors picking stocks, humans make a wide range of decisions that require gauging risk versus reward.

2 Aug 2006

Oral cancers - smoke and drink and up goes the risk!

Scientists in the UK have discovered that mouth cancer develops in two distinct ways which decides just how the serious the disease will be.

2 Aug 2006

Innovative approach for creating a cytomegalovirus vaccine

Each year, about 40,000 children are born infected with human cytomegalovirus, or CMV, and about 8,000 of these children suffer permanent disabilities due to the virus - almost one an hour.

2 Aug 2006

New way to assess pandemic potential of influenza viruses

Study provides first assessment of the risk of an H5N1 pandemic strain emerging from the combining of avian and human influenza viruses.

1 Aug 2006

Chemicals in curry and onions may help prevent colon cancer

A small but informative clinical trial by Johns Hopkins investigators shows that a pill combining chemicals found in turmeric, a spice used in curries, and onions reduces both the size and number of precancerous lesions in the human intestinal tract.

1 Aug 2006

Creating your own pandemic virus is not so easy

A team of scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed a new research method that may help identify the types of genetic changes that would be necessary for the avian influenza virus (H5N1) to be more easily transmitted among people.

1 Aug 2006

Bird flu doing the rounds again in Thailand

The discovery of the H5N1 bird flu virus in northeast Thailand's Nakhon Phanom province near the border with Laos has prompted the culling of 310,000 hens; the lethal virus killed a teenager in the northern province of Phichit last week, the country's first victim this year.

31 Jul 2006