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Research findings provide insight into severe bacterial infectious diseases

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report that a pathogen annually blamed for an estimated 90 million cases of food-borne illness defeats a host's immune response by using a fat-snipping enzyme to cut off cellular communication.

5 Apr 2013

Same factor that helps fight off severe inflammatory ailments also functions as enemy

The same factor in our immune system that is instrumental in enabling us to fight off severe and dangerous inflammatory ailments is also a player in doing the opposite at a later stage, causing the suppression of our immune response.

4 Apr 2013

LSUHSC researchers study common STI

Research led by David H. Martin, MD, Professor and Chief of Infectious Diseases at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has found that a common sexually transmitted infection-causing parasite "cultivates" bacteria beneficial to it, changing thinking about which comes first-infection or bacteria.

3 Apr 2013

Antibodies neutralize mosquito-transmitted chikungunya virus, researchers reveal

Researchers have learned the precise structure of the mosquito-transmitted chikungunya virus pathogen while it is bound to antibodies, showing how the infection is likely neutralized.

3 Apr 2013

Texas Tech Professor receives NIH grant to research on leishmaniasis

A Texas Tech University biology professor received a five-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the biochemistry of a microscopic parasite responsible for the tropical disease leishmaniasis in the hope of finding a cure.

2 Apr 2013

Scientists say DHA-rich fish oil enhances B cell activity

Fish oil rich in DHA and EPA is widely believed to help prevent disease by reducing inflammation, but until now, scientists were not entirely sure about its immune enhancing effects. A new report appearing in the April 2013 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, helps provide clarity on this by showing that DHA-rich fish oil enhances B cell activity, a white blood cell, challenging the notion that fish oil is only immunosuppressive.

2 Apr 2013

Research findings could lead to new targets for treating inflammatory disorders

Researchers at UC Davis have shown how the innate immune system distinguishes between dangerous pathogens and friendly microbes. Like burglars entering a house, hostile bacteria give themselves away by breaking into cells. However, sensing proteins instantly detect the invasion, triggering an alarm that mobilizes the innate immune response.

2 Apr 2013

New concept to fight microorganisms can promote stronger immune system

Managing bacteria and other microorganisms in the body, rather than just fighting them, may be lead to better health and a stronger immune system, according to a Penn State biologist.

29 Mar 2013

Genome sequencing reveals drug-resistant bacteria are transmitted from animals to humans

Researchers have used whole genome sequencing to reveal if drug-resistant bacteria are transmitted from animals to humans in two disease outbreaks that occurred on different farms in Denmark.

26 Mar 2013

Harvard scientists to further advance blood-cleansing technology for treating sepsis

The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University announced today that it was awarded a $9.25 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to further advance a blood-cleansing technology developed at the Institute with prior DARPA support, and help accelerate its translation to humans as a new type of sepsis therapy.

26 Mar 2013

$Immune system responds to fracture in similar way as to infection$

Immune system responds to fracture in similar way as to infection

Researchers at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin have succeeded in demonstrating an association between delayed bone fracture healing and increased concentration of specific immune cells in the blood of the patient.

25 Mar 2013

Fralin Life Science Institute researchers use TALENS to alter mosquito genome

Virginia Tech researchers successfully used a gene disruption technique to change the eye color of a mosquito - a critical step toward new genetic strategies aimed at disrupting the transmission of diseases such as dengue fever.

22 Mar 2013

Positive results from Affinium Pharmaceuticals' Phase 2a clinical trial of AFN-1252 in ABSSSI

Affinium Pharmaceuticals announced today that its Phase 2a clinical trial evaluating oral AFN-1252 in acute bacterial skin & skin structure infections demonstrated excellent efficacy and safety data, marking a significant proof-of-concept milestone for Affinium's first-in-class, novel antibiotic targeted against bacterial fatty acid biosynthesis inhibition (FabI inhibitors).

21 Mar 2013

Nanomedicines prevent tissue damage associated with atherosclerosis, other chronic diseases

Doses of medicine 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair prevent the tissue damage associated with atherosclerosis and other chronic diseases in mice.

20 Mar 2013

Research findings could lead to development of new drugs for gout treatment

Findings from a Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine study could lead to the development of new drugs to treat gout.

20 Mar 2013

Cytomegalovirus employs a novel trick to hide from immune detection

A virus that most people have probably never heard of, yet most of us carry, is the number 1 infectious cause of congenital birth defects. One in 750 children are born with, or develop, permanent disabilities such as hearing loss or brain damage as a result of CMV (cytomegalovirus) infection in the womb.

17 Mar 2013

Study: Flagellin plays a critical role in regulating host innate defences against UTIs

A new study by British scientists reveals that motile Escherichia coli isolates demonstrated significant activation of NF-κB signaling suggesting that flagellin plays a key role in up-regulating the host innate defences against urinary tract infections (UTIs).

15 Mar 2013

ST131 infection is more prevalent in LTCF residents and elderly population

Antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli) continues to proliferate, driven largely by expansion of a strain of E. coli know as sequence type ST131. A new study points to hospitals and long-term care facilities (LTCF) as settings in which this antibiotic-resistant strain is increasingly found.

14 Mar 2013

UCSF study on T-cell behavior sheds light on how vaccines work

The immune system's T cells, while coordinating responses to diseases and vaccines, act like honey bees sharing information about the best honey sources, according to a new study by scientists at UC San Francisco.

14 Mar 2013

Immune system B cells play crucial role in defence of pathogens

Immune system B cells play a crucial role in the defence of pathogens; when they detect such an intruder, they produce antibodies that help to combat the enemy.

13 Mar 2013