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U.N. Calls for increased collaboration, funding to fight malaria ahead of World Malaria Day on Wednesday

Speaking at a press conference at U.N. Headquarters ahead of World Malaria Day, observed Wednesday, a U.N. envoy on Monday called for "an increase in collaboration and partnerships among donor and recipient countries ... to boost efforts to prevent and treat malaria, ... while also calling for an increase in funding to combat the deadly disease," the U.N. News Centre reports.

25 Apr 2012

Globe and Mail profiles former President Jimmy Carter, Carter Center's efforts to eradiacate guinea worm

The Globe and Mail profiles former President Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center's decades-long efforts to eradicate guinea worm disease, also known as dracunculiasis. According to the newspaper, "In 2011, there were 1,060 cases of guinea worm disease identified in the world, in four countries," and "staff and volunteers from the Carter Center have visited every one of the 26,500 villages where guinea worm was identified" to provide education on prevention, as well as treatment.

25 Apr 2012

Non-coding RNA gives off biological signals during viral infection

Once considered unimportant "junk DNA," scientists have learned that non-coding RNA (ncRNA) - RNA molecules that do not translate into proteins - play a crucial role in cellular function. Mutations in ncRNA are associated with a number of conditions, such as cancer, autism, and Alzheimer's disease.

25 Apr 2012

USAID Administrator Shah launches social media campaign to garner support to improve child health, survival

Under the slogan "Every Child Deserves a Fifth Birthday," USAID on Monday launched a social media campaign featuring childhood photos of celebrities, global health leaders and lawmakers, with the aim of "building support to fight preventable deaths of children," CQ HealthBeat reports.

25 Apr 2012

Study linking malaria resurgence, reduction in malaria control programs highlights need for sustained funding

"Progress in eradicating malaria is jeopardized if programs to combat the disease are cut," a study published in the Malaria Journal on Tuesday concluded, according to a BMJ news article.

25 Apr 2012

Vitamin D deficiency associated with increase in lung transplant rejection, infections

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increase in lung transplant rejection and infections, according to research conducted at Loyola University Health System.

25 Apr 2012

Rep. Sensenbrenner sends second letter inquiring about U.S. government's review of controversial H5N1 studies

"A senior Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives is asking more questions about how the U.S. government reviewed two controversial H5N1 avian influenza studies, and how it wrote a new policy for reviewing taxpayer-funded studies that might be used for good and evil," ScienceInsider reports.

25 Apr 2012

Weakened malaria control programs linked to majority of global resurgences

Funding cuts for malaria control are the single most common reason for the resurgence of the deadly disease, according to a new study that has linked overall weakened malaria control programs to the majority of global resurgences since 1930.

25 Apr 2012

Severe fibrosis increases early atherosclerosis risk in patients with chronic HCV-1 infection

Italian researchers report that severe fibrosis increases the early atherosclerosis risk in patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. A second study found that fatty liver disease also increases risk of developing atherosclerosis at an earlier period. Both studies appear in the May issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

25 Apr 2012

Bats may be a common source of many viral diseases

Where do viruses dangerous to humans come from, and how have they evolved? Scientists working with Prof. Dr. Christian Drosten, Head of the In-stitute for Virology at the Universit-tsklinikum Bonn, have made significant progress in answering this question. "We already knew from prior studies that bats and rodents play a role as carriers of paramyxoviruses," said Prof. Drosten.

25 Apr 2012

Crucell, ARTES enter research collaboration to develop two vaccines

ARTES Biotechnology, specialized in recombinant protein production and process development in microbial expression systems, started a development collaboration for two vaccines together with global biopharmaceutical company Crucell. Crucell is focused on the research & development, production and marketing of vaccines and antibodies against infectious disease worldwide.

25 Apr 2012

Despite progress in reducing measles deaths, international community falls short of 90% reduction target, study says

The number of deaths from measles fell about 74 percent between 2000 and 2010, from slightly more than 535,000 in 2000 to an estimated 139,200 people worldwide in 2010, "missing an internationally agreed target for a 90 percent fall mainly because of low vaccine coverage in India and Africa where the virus kills tens of thousands a year," Reuters reports.

25 Apr 2012

Nigeria's first-ever national Vaccine Summit addresses child mortality burden

Nigeria's top government officials, civil society leaders and leaders of private industry resolved today to join forces to expand vaccine access nationwide, a major step in the fight to reduce child mortality in a country with the world's second highest number of child deaths.

24 Apr 2012

CDC Director calls for 'final push' to eradicate polio

"A 'final push' is needed toward eradication of polio worldwide, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said" in an online update on the agency's polio eradication efforts, United Press International reports. "Polio incidence dropped more than 99 percent since the launch of global polio eradication efforts in 1988 and no polio cases have been reported since January 2011 in India, one of the four remaining endemic countries, a CDC report said," UPI writes.

24 Apr 2012

USAID's Shah urges cooperation to improve child health, survival

"Seeing a child die from pneumonia, diarrhea or a mosquito bite is simply unimaginable to most parents. But that is the sad reality for many families each day," USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah writes in a Huffington Post Blog opinion piece, noting, "Last year over seven million children under five died of largely preventable causes."

24 Apr 2012

Researchers describe novel mechanism of HIV-1 spread by dendritic cells

A new understanding of the initial interactions of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and dendritic cells is described by Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) researchers in a study currently featured in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

24 Apr 2012

Text messaging increases flu vaccination coverage in low-income children

A text messaging intervention with education-related messages sent to parents increased influenza vaccination coverage compared with usual care in a traditionally hard-to-reach, low-income, urban, minority population of children and adolescents, although coverage overall remained low, according to a study in the April 25 issue of JAMA.

24 Apr 2012

U.S. gives go-ahead on publication of H5N1 research; Dutch regulators continue to debate

The U.S. government on Friday formally accepted a recommendation from the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) "to publish two controversial studies of the H5N1 avian influenza virus, moving the pair of papers another step closer to publication," ScienceInsider reports.

24 Apr 2012

Women & Infants named lead center in 14-site study of cytomegalovirus

Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, through its participation in the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network, has been named the lead center in a 14-site, $25 million study of cytomegalovirus (CMV), the most common infection during pregnancy.

24 Apr 2012

Strategic innovations will help prevent HIV transmission from mothers to children, high-level meeting attendees state

At a High-Level Meeting on Innovation for Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission (EMTCT) on Friday in Washington, D.C., "HIV experts, business leaders, aid agencies and ambassadors of 22 priority countries -- home to 90 percent of new HIV infections among children --" agreed that strategic innovations are necessary to curb the spread of the virus from women to their children, PANA/Afrique en Linge reports.

24 Apr 2012

Disease/Infection News

U.N. Calls for increased collaboration, funding to fight malaria ahead of World Malaria Day on Wednesday

Globe and Mail profiles former President Jimmy Carter, Carter Center's efforts to eradiacate guinea worm

Non-coding RNA gives off biological signals during viral infection

USAID Administrator Shah launches social media campaign to garner support to improve child health, survival

Study linking malaria resurgence, reduction in malaria control programs highlights need for sustained funding

Vitamin D deficiency associated with increase in lung transplant rejection, infections

Rep. Sensenbrenner sends second letter inquiring about U.S. government's review of controversial H5N1 studies

Weakened malaria control programs linked to majority of global resurgences

Severe fibrosis increases early atherosclerosis risk in patients with chronic HCV-1 infection

Bats may be a common source of many viral diseases

Crucell, ARTES enter research collaboration to develop two vaccines

Despite progress in reducing measles deaths, international community falls short of 90% reduction target, study says

Nigeria's first-ever national Vaccine Summit addresses child mortality burden

CDC Director calls for 'final push' to eradicate polio

USAID's Shah urges cooperation to improve child health, survival

Researchers describe novel mechanism of HIV-1 spread by dendritic cells

Text messaging increases flu vaccination coverage in low-income children

U.S. gives go-ahead on publication of H5N1 research; Dutch regulators continue to debate

Women & Infants named lead center in 14-site study of cytomegalovirus

Strategic innovations will help prevent HIV transmission from mothers to children, high-level meeting attendees state

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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