Microbiology News and Research

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Chips may cause cancer

Acrylamide, a contaminant shown to cause cancer in animals forms in the high-temperature frying, roasting or baking of foods like potato chips and crisps, coffee, and pastries, sweet biscuits, breads, rolls and toast, and may be a public health concern, according to two UN agencies.

5 Mar 2005

Government is treating the symptoms and not fighting the causes of infectious diseases

The Microbiology Awareness Campaign gathered momentum this week at the House of Lords when scientists informed Peers and MPs that new and re-emerging infectious diseases could spell trouble if not tackled soon.

3 Mar 2005

OPAL, major discovery in the fight against AIDS

Australian researchers have made a major discovery in the fight against AIDS, with the development of a novel, simple and safe technique for boosting the body’s immune response to deadly viruses like HIV, which is even effective against drug resistant forms of the disease.

1 Mar 2005

Microsoft combs through millions of strains of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

Microsoft Research has pioneered promising new ways to combat one of humankind's most deadly viruses with advanced software typically used to analyze large computer databases and complex digital images, or to separate spam from legitimate e-mail.

23 Feb 2005

Antibody that neutralizes most HIV strains

A group of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and several other institutions has solved the structure of a rare human antibody that broadly neutralizes human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

22 Feb 2005

Three-day antibiotic treatment for treating bladder infections in women

A three-day regimen of the antibiotic amoxicillin-clavulanate is not as effective as ciprofloxacin at treating an uncomplicated bladder infection in women, according to a study conducted by Thomas M. Hooton, M.D., of the University of Washington and Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, and colleagues.

21 Feb 2005

Studies reveal methods viruses use to sidestep immune system

A series of studies by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center sheds light on the mechanisms used by viruses to thwart a host's immune defenses and may aid in the development of more effective drugs to fight hepatitis C and West Nile viruses, as well as the flu and the common cold.

17 Feb 2005

Discovery may have implications for the treatment of hemophilia A and B

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have made a discovery that may have implications for the treatment of liver-based genetic defects such as hemophilia A and B in humans.

15 Feb 2005

Two-step approach to transform HIV into a cancer-seeking machine

Camouflaging an impotent AIDS virus in new clothes enables it to hunt down metastasized melanoma cells in living mice, reports a UCLA AIDS Institute study in the Feb. 13 online edition of Nature Medicine.

13 Feb 2005

Inserting corrective genes into the brain to fight Parkinson's disease

An international team of scientists has used gene therapy in two separate studies to renew brain cells and restore normal movements in monkeys and rats with a drug-induced form of Parkinson's disease.

8 Feb 2005

Link between heart disease and periodontal bacteria

Researchers report this week that older adults who have higher proportions of four periodontal-disease-causing bacteria inhabiting their mouths also tend to have thicker carotid arteries, a strong predictor of stroke and heart attack.

7 Feb 2005

People with gum disease are more likely to suffer from atherosclerosis

A new study by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center provides the most direct evidence to date that preventing gum disease could significantly improve your chances of avoiding vascular problems.

7 Feb 2005

Potential treatments for neurofibromatosis

Scientists at the Indiana University School of Medicine are closing in on potential treatments for neurofibromatosis, a genetic disease that afflicts 100,000 Americans with nerve tissue tumors, some of which become cancerous.

3 Feb 2005

Compound, derived from a rare South American plant, stops the growth of human breast cancer cells

They started with a bare room and an idea. Now, after five years of painstaking, sophisticated tests, scientists at the University of Virginia Health System have discovered that a compound, derived from a rare South American plant, stops the growth of human breast cancer cells in laboratory cultures.

1 Feb 2005

Clinical trials to test the safety of a first-of-its-kind human hookworm vaccine

Clinical trials to test the safety of a first-of-its-kind human hookworm vaccine will begin in the Washington, DC area in a couple of months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration conferred investigational new drug status on the vaccine.

27 Jan 2005

Researchers discover way to overcome major hurdle in gene therapy for cancer

In a new study published in the Jan. 25 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the researchers demonstrated that the technique works by incorporating it into a specially designed virus. The virus eradicated prostate cancer cells in the lab and in animals while leaving normal cells unscathed.

26 Jan 2005

Scientists are a step closer to developing drug targets to treat fungal meningitis

Scientists are a step closer to developing drug targets to treat fungal meningitis -- the infection linked to at least three deaths on Vancouver Island -- thanks to the sequencing of two Cryptococcus genomes by an international team that included researchers at the University of British Columbia and the BC Cancer Agency's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre in Vancouver.

17 Jan 2005

FDA licenses Sanofi pasteur vaccine for protection against meningococcal disease

Sanofi pasteur, the vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has licensed Menactra (Meningococcal [Groups A, C, Y and W-135] Polysaccharide Diphtheria Toxoid Conjugate Vaccine) for protection against meningococcal disease in adolescents and adults aged 11-55 years.

17 Jan 2005

Zinc treatment may help prevent esophageal and oral cancers

Cancer researchers at Jefferson Medical College and the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia have found that zinc treatment may help prevent esophageal and oral cancers in those individuals at high risk.

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