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Experts question value of current obesity treatments

Many people with obesity can lose weight for a few months, but 80%–95% regain their lost weight eventually. One explanation for this limited long-term success is that reducing caloric intake triggers several biological systems that drive us to eat high-calorie foods and gain weight.

16 Feb 2015

FOI Request by Bowel Cancer UK highlights big variation in tests for lynch syndrome

Bowel Cancer UK submitted the FOI request in November 2014 to every NHS trust in England, health board in Scotland and health and social care trust in Northern Ireland to establish the number of trusts/health boards which were implementing the testing for all bowel cancer patients under 50, as mandated by the Royal College of Pathologists. Lynch syndrome is responsible for around one in 12 cases of bowel cancer in people aged under 50.

16 Feb 2015

World class drug discovery team launches new company to tackle chronic respiratory disease

Respiratory diseases including cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and severe asthma represent a major unmet medical need and a significant health burden in both the developed and developing world.

16 Feb 2015

Discovery offers much needed information about how virulent insect-borne diseases cause infection

For decades, scientists have thought the bacteria that cause the bubonic plague hijack host cells at the site of a fleabite and are then taken to the lymph nodes, where the bacteria multiply and trigger severe disease. But UNC School of Medicine researchers discovered that this accepted theory is off base. The bacteria do not use host cells; they traffic to lymph nodes on their own and not in great numbers.

16 Feb 2015

KU Leuven researchers find aggressive form of HIV in Cuba

Engaging in unprotected sex with multiple partners increases the risk of contracting multiple strains of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Once inside a host, these strains can recombine into a new variant of the virus. One such recombinant variant observed in patients in Cuba appears to be much more aggressive than other known forms of HIV.

16 Feb 2015

Researchers report first evidence of Seoul hantavirus in wild rats in the Netherlands

In a paper just published in the peer reviewed journal Infection, Ecology & Epidemiology, researchers report discovering the first evidence of Seoul hantavirus (SEOV) in the wild rat population in the Netherlands. The discovery comes on the heels of similar ones in France, Belgium and the United Kingdom in recent years, and has some researchers concerned about the potential spread of the virus to humans.

16 Feb 2015

Changes in moles and skin cancer: an interview with Dr Anjali Mahto, Consultant Dermatologist & British Skin Foundation Spokesperson

Melanoma is the 5th most common cancer in the UK and its incidence is continuing to increase since the mid-1970s. Cancer Research UK reports that its rates have increased more rapidly than any of the current ten most common cancers in males and females. Whilst some of this may be attributed to better surveillance and earlier detection, the real problem lies with sun-seeking behaviour and exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

16 Feb 2015

Climate change causes emergence of more infectious diseases

The appearance of infectious diseases in new places and new hosts, such as West Nile virus and Ebola, is a predictable result of climate change, says a noted zoologist affiliated with the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

16 Feb 2015

Experience with Ebola outbreak highlights local responses to global health threats

Experience with the Ebola outbreak highlights local health departments' essential role in responding to global health threats posed by infectious diseases, according to a special article in the March/April issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

16 Feb 2015

Consortium formed to develop program to improve health outcomes for Ebola patients

Scripps Translational Science Institute will lead a consortium of four partners to develop a program through which wearable, wireless health sensors, a wireless vital signs monitoring platform and advanced analytics technology will be tested in a new "precision medicine" approach designed to improve health outcomes for Ebola patients, increase the safety of health care workers and reduce risk of spreading the virus to others.

16 Feb 2015

Door-to-door campaing encourages people to get tested for hepatitis C and to get linked to care

In Philadelphia, as in many cities, neighborhoods with high rates of hepatitis C virus (HCV) often also have limited access to screening and treatment. A new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine shows that when expert advocates made a focused effort in a medically underserved area, they were able to help vulnerable patients leap each of the many hurdles that often keep people out of care.

15 Feb 2015

Study: Ebola transmission from deceased patients may be possible

To determine how long Ebola virus could remain infectious in a body after death, National Institutes of Health scientists sampled deceased Ebola-infected monkeys and discovered the virus remained viable for at least seven days. They also detected non-infectious viral RNA for up to 70 days post-mortem. The study, published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, suggests that Ebola transmission from deceased individuals may be possible for an extended period of time following death, underscoring the importance of using safe practices for handling corpses.

15 Feb 2015

New antibody shows promise in increasing survival for patients suffering from influenza, pneumonia

Scientists from NTU Singapore, the world's No. 1 young university, have developed an antibody which boosts the survival chances for patients suffering from influenza and pneumonia.

14 Feb 2015

Risk of ovarian cancer increased with even short-term HRT use

There has been much uncertainty regarding the risk of cancer associated with taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for the menopause. An analysis of all available evidence published in The Lancet today shows that HRT, even when taken for only a few years, significantly increases the risk of developing the two most common types of ovarian cancer.

13 Feb 2015

Immune system exploits flu virus' dependence on host's machinery

Viruses are masters of outsourcing, entrusting their fundamental function - reproduction - to the host cells they infect. But it turns out this highly economical approach also creates vulnerability.

13 Feb 2015

Lenvatinib trial offers hope for thyroid cancer patients

A new targeted therapy called lenvatinib has been shown to improve progression-free survival among patients with advanced thyroid cancer that is not responsive to iodine-131.

13 Feb 2015

'Mad Cow' discovery points to possible neuron killing mechanism behind alzheimer’s and parkinson’s diseases

The new study, published recently in the journal Brain, revealed the mechanism of toxicity of a misfolded form of the protein that underlies prion diseases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (“mad cow disease”) and its human equivalent, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

13 Feb 2015

Elusys presents positive results of obiltoxaximab for treating inhalational anthrax, post-exposure prophylaxis

Elusys Therapeutics, Inc. (Elusys), a biopharmaceutical company developing antibody therapies to treat infectious disease, presented data demonstrating that obiltoxaximab (ETI-204) demonstrated a statistically significant survival benefit across a range of disease severity in animal model studies assessing treatment of inhalational anthrax, as well as effectiveness in post-exposure prophylaxis.

13 Feb 2015

New study indicates that malaria-causing parasite is unlikely to cross from animals to humans

In recent years, public health experts have increasingly explored the idea of eliminating the most dangerous malaria-causing parasite. But they have questioned whether getting rid of this species, called Plasmodium falciparum, would allow other species of the parasite to simply jump into the gap and start infecting humans with malaria.

13 Feb 2015

Research provides new insights into rapid defence responses in human immune system

Researchers have uncovered a sieve-like structure in lymph nodes that regulates the transport of proteins and migration of white blood cells into lymph nodes.

12 Feb 2015

Disease/Infection News

Experts question value of current obesity treatments

FOI Request by Bowel Cancer UK highlights big variation in tests for lynch syndrome

World class drug discovery team launches new company to tackle chronic respiratory disease

Discovery offers much needed information about how virulent insect-borne diseases cause infection

KU Leuven researchers find aggressive form of HIV in Cuba

Researchers report first evidence of Seoul hantavirus in wild rats in the Netherlands

Changes in moles and skin cancer: an interview with Dr Anjali Mahto, Consultant Dermatologist & British Skin Foundation Spokesperson

Climate change causes emergence of more infectious diseases

Experience with Ebola outbreak highlights local responses to global health threats

Consortium formed to develop program to improve health outcomes for Ebola patients

Door-to-door campaing encourages people to get tested for hepatitis C and to get linked to care

Study: Ebola transmission from deceased patients may be possible

New antibody shows promise in increasing survival for patients suffering from influenza, pneumonia

Risk of ovarian cancer increased with even short-term HRT use

Immune system exploits flu virus' dependence on host's machinery

Lenvatinib trial offers hope for thyroid cancer patients

'Mad Cow' discovery points to possible neuron killing mechanism behind alzheimer’s and parkinson’s diseases

Elusys presents positive results of obiltoxaximab for treating inhalational anthrax, post-exposure prophylaxis

New study indicates that malaria-causing parasite is unlikely to cross from animals to humans

Research provides new insights into rapid defence responses in human immune system

Real-time Raman monitoring for pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion

Synthetic Psychedelics: A Growing Public Health Concern

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging

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