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Antibiotic choices critical for elderly with bloodstream infections

Failure to treat patients with bacteremia with an appropriate antibiotic is particularly harmful in elderly patients, report researchers.

8 Nov 2012

Gene silencing technology used to fight RSV and influenza

New hope has arrived for the fight against two deadly viral infections, RSV and influenza, as Griffith researchers prepare to develop a cutting-edge approach to treatment delivery.

6 Nov 2012

Study: Superbug MRSA prevalent at wastewater treatment plants in the U.S.

A team led by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Public Health has found that the "superbug" methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is prevalent at several U.S. wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).

6 Nov 2012

Affymetrix reports net loss of $17.9 million for third quarter 2012

Affymetrix, Inc., today reported its operating results for the third quarter of 2012. Total revenue for the quarter was $79.6 million, including approximately $17.6 million in revenue from eBioscience during the third quarter of 2012. This compares to total revenue of $64.0 million for the same period of 2011.

5 Nov 2012

Weill Cornell researchers awarded Grand Challenges Explorations grants

Weill Cornell Medical College announced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

3 Nov 2012

Luminex third quarter revenue increases 10% to $50.0 million

Luminex Corporation today announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2012.

From Luminex 30 Oct 2012

Scientists hope to unravel mystery of how Borrelia burgdorferi causes Lyme disease

Investigators at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have accelerated the search for the bacterial genes that make the Lyme disease bacterium so invasive and persistent. The discovery could advance the diagnosis and treatment of this disease, which affects an estimated 30,000 Americans each year.

29 Oct 2012

New method of testing for West Nile virus

While the United States has largely been spared the scourge of mosquito-borne diseases endemic to the developing world-including yellow fever, malaria and dengue fever-mosquito-related illnesses in the US are on the rise. One pathogen of increasing concern in the U.S. is an arbovirus known as West Nile.

24 Oct 2012

Researchers identify how mosquito's immune system attacks specific infections

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have determined a new mechanism by which the mosquitoes' immune system can respond with specificity to infections with various pathogens, including the parasite that causes malaria in humans, using one single gene.

20 Oct 2012

Sortilin receptor plays an important role in function of the immune system

To transport substances from the site of their production to their destination, the body needs a sophisticated transport and sorting system. Various receptors in and on the cells recognize certain molecules, pack them and ensure that they are transported to the right place. One of these receptors is Sortilin.

20 Oct 2012

New discovery could help revolutionize antibiotic treatment of bacteria

Three Simon Fraser University scientists are among six researchers who've made a discovery that could help revolutionize antibiotic treatment of deadly bacteria.

20 Oct 2012

Rheumatoid arthritis treatment foiled by gum disease

Periodontal disease may reduce the efficacy of tumor necrosis factor inhibitor treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, preliminary research suggests.

15 Oct 2012

People living near livestock may be at increased risk of LA-MRSA

People who live near livestock or in livestock farming communities may be at greater risk of acquiring, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), according to a new study led by an international team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Dutch Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam.

11 Oct 2012

Bacterial pathogen ‘acutely’ involved in otitis media

Alloiococcus otitidis can be a dominant bacterial pathogen among indigenous Australian children with acute otitis media with perforation, although its main role appears to be that of a secondary pathogen, preliminary study findings suggest.

10 Oct 2012

LpxC-1 can effectively treat antibiotic-resistant infections

A new type of antibiotic can effectively treat an antibiotic-resistant infection by disarming instead of killing the bacteria that cause it. Researchers report their findings in the October 2 issue of mBio-, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

3 Oct 2012

Respiratory infections provide urban asthma clue

Urban infants have a different pattern of viral respiratory illness from suburban infants, which could help explain why they are more likely to develop asthma, say US researchers.

2 Oct 2012

Research report helps explain how macrophages accumulate triglycerides

A research report appearing in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology helps explain how specific immune cells, called macrophages, accumulate triglycerides to support their function.

2 Oct 2012

Inhibiting DUSP6 protein can restore immune cells’ responsiveness to a more youthful state

The older we get, the weaker our immune systems tend to become, leaving us vulnerable to infectious diseases and cancer and eroding our ability to benefit from vaccination. Now Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have found that blocking the action of a single protein whose levels in our immune cells creep steadily upward with age can restore those cells' response to a vaccine.

1 Oct 2012

Researchers track spread of human invasive non-Typhoidal Salmonella in sub-Saharan Africa

A new study out today (Sunday 30 September) reveals that the emergence and spread of a rapidly evolving invasive intestinal disease, that has a significant mortality rate (up to 45%) in infected people in sub-Saharan Africa, seems to have been potentiated by the HIV epidemic in Africa.

1 Oct 2012

Researchers identify IL-27 molecule involved in counterbalancing the immune system attack

We couldn't live without our immune systems, always tuned to detect and eradicate invading pathogens and particles. But sometimes the immune response goes overboard, triggering autoimmune diseases like lupus, asthma or inflammatory bowel disease.

29 Sep 2012