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ParoChip can allow dentists to quickly detect and analyze periodontitis pathogens

Bleeding gums during tooth brushing or when biting into an apple could be an indication of periodontitis, an inflammatory disease of the tissues that surround and support the teeth. Bacterial plaque attacks the bone, meaning teeth can loosen over time and in the worst case even fall out, as they are left without a solid foundation to hold them in place.

4 Jan 2013

Brazil to require reporting of HIV cases to improve treatment coverage

In "an effort to advance highly lauded efforts to combat AIDS," Brazil will require physicians to report cases of HIV, not just AIDS, to state and federal authorities, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

4 Jan 2013

Researchers uncover new way that some bacteria survive when under siege by antibiotics

Researchers have uncovered a new way that some bacteria survive when under siege by antibiotics.

4 Jan 2013

New York Times examines grassroots HIV efforts aimed at gay men in China

The New York Times examines grassroots HIV/AIDS outreach and testing efforts aimed at gay men in China. The newspaper highlights "Lingnan Health Center, an organization run largely by gay volunteers," and recounts the story of Le, "a gay man who would give only his first name."

4 Jan 2013

Killing of polio workers in Pakistan is major setback for global elimination drive

"The brutal assassination of nine grassroots level health workers in Pakistan, who were involved in a door-to-door immunization campaign in an attempt to secure children from crippling polio, adds an unprecedentedly grave dimension to the ongoing carnage in Pakistan," Sania Nishtar, founder of Heartfile, Heartfile Health Financing, and the recently launched Sania Nishtar Health Fund, writes in an opinion piece in the Huffington Post U.K.'s "Impact" blog.

4 Jan 2013

Pakistan records 306 measles cases in 2012, compared with 64 in 2011, WHO reports

"Measles cases surged in Pakistan in 2012, and hundreds of children died from the disease, an international health body said Tuesday," the Associated Press/CBS News reports. "A spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, Maryam Yunus, said that 306 children died in Pakistan of measles in 2012, compared to 64 the year before," the news agency writes.

4 Jan 2013

Optofluidics allow for new understanding of resistance to antibiotics

It's often difficult to completely eliminate a bacterial infection with antibiotics; part of the population usually manages to survive. We've known about this phenomenon for quite some time, dating back nearly to the discovery of penicillin. For more than 50 years, scientists have believed that the resistant bacteria were individuals that had stopped growing and dividing.

4 Jan 2013

New technique can precisely add or delete genes in living cells

Researchers at MIT, the Broad Institute and Rockefeller University have developed a new technique for precisely altering the genomes of living cells by adding or deleting genes.

4 Jan 2013

Paratek receives FDA QIDP designation for omadacycline to treat ABSSSI, CABP

Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated the Company's lead antibiotic candidate, omadacycline (formerly known as PTK 0796), as a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) for both intravenous (IV) and oral formulations in the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI) and community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP).

3 Jan 2013

Alcohol-impregnated disinfection caps would prevent 21 CLABSIs and four deaths each year

Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) dropped by 52 percent when an alcohol-impregnated disinfection cap was used instead of standard scrubbing protocol, according to a new study published in the January issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

3 Jan 2013

CXCR5 molecule effectively polices lung tuberculosis and prevents deadly infection

The presence of a certain molecule allows the immune system to effectively police tuberculosis (TB) of the lungs and prevent it from turning into an active and deadly infection, according to a new study led by researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

3 Jan 2013

Wall Street Journal looks at European efforts to fight TB

The Wall Street Journal examines efforts to fight tuberculosis (TB) in Europe, writing, "All along the edges of Western Europe, new and hard-to-defeat strains of tuberculosis are gaining a foothold, often moving beyond traditional victims -- alcoholics, drug users, HIV patients -- and into the wider population."

3 Jan 2013

No significant difference in patient outcomes with RBC transfusions using lower threshold levels

The level at which red blood cells are transfused, a common treatment in clinical practice, is often deliberated among physicians. Guidelines for blood transfusion levels were only recently issued in March 2012 diminishing some of the debate. Today, in a new section called JAMA Clinical Evidence Synopsis, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), published a summary of the systematic review of the 19 clinical trials that compare higher versus lower hemoglobin thresholds in red blood cell transfusion.

3 Jan 2013

FDA grants accelerated approval to drug to treat MDR-TB

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved Johnson & Johnson's drug to treat a form of resistant tuberculosis that is uncommon in the U.S. but growing globally," the Wall Street Journal reports.

3 Jan 2013

More work ahead in TB drug development, treatment delivery

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of the tuberculosis (TB) drug Sirturo, also known as bedaquiline, "appears to be just the first step in an exciting renaissance for TB drug development," Mark Harrington, executive director of Treatment Action Group (TAG), writes in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog.

3 Jan 2013

3 years after devastating earthquake, Haiti remains in fragile state

"On the eve of the third anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Haiti in January 2010, the country remains in a fragile state," a New York Times editorial states.

3 Jan 2013

Johns Hopkins scientists uncover itch-specific nerve cells in skin

Johns Hopkins researchers have uncovered strong evidence that mice have a specific set of nerve cells that signal itch but not pain, a finding that may settle a decades-long debate about these sensations, and, if confirmed in humans, help in developing treatments for chronic itch, including itch caused by life-saving medications.

3 Jan 2013

Disease/Infection News

ParoChip can allow dentists to quickly detect and analyze periodontitis pathogens

Brazil to require reporting of HIV cases to improve treatment coverage

Researchers uncover new way that some bacteria survive when under siege by antibiotics

New York Times examines grassroots HIV efforts aimed at gay men in China

Killing of polio workers in Pakistan is major setback for global elimination drive

Pakistan records 306 measles cases in 2012, compared with 64 in 2011, WHO reports

Optofluidics allow for new understanding of resistance to antibiotics

New technique can precisely add or delete genes in living cells

Paratek receives FDA QIDP designation for omadacycline to treat ABSSSI, CABP

Alcohol-impregnated disinfection caps would prevent 21 CLABSIs and four deaths each year

CXCR5 molecule effectively polices lung tuberculosis and prevents deadly infection

Wall Street Journal looks at European efforts to fight TB

No significant difference in patient outcomes with RBC transfusions using lower threshold levels

FDA grants accelerated approval to drug to treat MDR-TB

More work ahead in TB drug development, treatment delivery

3 years after devastating earthquake, Haiti remains in fragile state

Johns Hopkins scientists uncover itch-specific nerve cells in skin

Opinion pieces, editorial address murders of polio workers in Pakistan

Paul Farmer appointed as U.N. Special Adviser for Haiti cholera efforts

GlobalPost blog interviews U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby

Redefining control and consistency in anaerobic microbiome workflows

AI in Healthcare: How generative tools are transforming clinical practice

The future of automation: Machine learning–driven hepatocyte and organoid counting

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