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Low-temperature plasmas can kill bacteria for a week after treatment

University of California, Berkeley, scientists have shown that ionized plasmas like those in neon lights and plasma TVs not only can sterilize water, but make it antimicrobial - able to kill bacteria - for as long as a week after treatment.

16 Nov 2011

Scientists discover definitive role for brain in regulating loss of muscle mass

Patients with cancer, heart disease and other chronic illness struggle not only with complications inherent to their disease, they also experience an involuntary loss of weight and muscle mass triggered by the body's natural response to infection and inflammation. Increasing nutrition intake does not mitigate the process and there is no treatment.

16 Nov 2011

Clinton's speech prioritizing creation of 'Aids-free generation' may shape future of U.S. global health strategy, analysts say

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's November 8 speech at the NIH, in which she called for the creation of an "AIDS-free generation" through the use of combination prevention strategies, "could be more than just political lip-service: it may also shape the next several years of U.S. global health programming and funding, analysts say," PlusNews reports.

15 Nov 2011

Scientists determine atomic structure of Lassa fever viral protein

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have determined the atomic structure of a protein that the Lassa fever virus uses to make copies of itself within infected cells.

15 Nov 2011

Alcohol-based hand sanitizer helps reduce influenza A in children

A hand and respiratory hygiene program including frequent use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer helps reduce illness caused by influenza A and missed school days in elementary school children, reports a study in the November issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

15 Nov 2011

HIV and syphilis on the rise among MSM

Rates of HIV and syphilis are very high and rising among men who have sex with men (MSM) in New York City, reports a study in the November issue of JAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

15 Nov 2011

World citizen number 7 billion more likely to contract diabetes or other NCDs

World citizen number 7 billion is less likely to die from infectious diseases like measles or even AIDS, and more likely to contract diabetes or other non-communicable diseases (NCDs), as they are now the leading causes of deaths globally.

15 Nov 2011

VOA News examines Foundation's efforts to treat MDR-TB patients in North Korea

VOA News examines the Eugene Bell Foundation's work in North Korea to detect and treat patients with multiple-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The foundation is treating about 600 patients in North Korea, where "conditions ... are ideal for the spread of TB. The climate is cold. Most citizens live and work in small spaces, and lack proper nutrition to maintain a strong immune system," VOA writes.

15 Nov 2011

Mtb produces specific protein that allows it to defuse and bypass body's security system

Tuberculosis, which kills over 2 million people each year, is caused primarily by infectious bacteria known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis - or Mtb. Mtb targets human immune cells as part of its strategy to avoid detection, effectively neutralizing the body's immune response.

15 Nov 2011

Researchers in Philippines develop machine to quickly detect drug-resistant TB

In this post in the Global Post's "Global Pulse" blog, journalist John Donnelly reports on how a machine developed by researchers at the TB Laboratory at the Lung Center of the Philippines "that can detect multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in record time may revolutionize TB treatment."

15 Nov 2011

CDC launches new antibiotic tracking system

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is launching a new antibiotic tracking system allowing hospitals to monitor antibiotic use electronically, make better decisions about how to improve use, and compare themselves to other hospitals. Before now, CDC was only able to track antibiotic use in doctors' offices.

15 Nov 2011

Experts discuss treatment as prevention at USAID-, World Bank-sponsored debate

In this post in the Center for Global Development's "Global Health Policy" blog, Amanda Glassman, director of Global Health Policy and a research fellow at the center, reports on last week's USAID- and World Bank-sponsored debate on treatment as prevention, "where debaters were asked to support or oppose the proposition that countries should spend the majority of flat or declining HIV prevention budgets on 'treatment as prevention,' building off the results of the HPTN 052 study which found a relative reduction of 89 percent in the total number of HIV-1 transmissions resulting from the early initiation of antiretroviral therapy.

15 Nov 2011

New technology speeds up 'near real-time' vaccination data collection

New technology now makes it possible to collect 'near real-time' data about whether people are having any side effects from vaccination. By studying people who received the 2009-10 swine flu vaccination in Scotland, researchers showed that this rapid reporting can add another layer of safety to future vaccination campaigns. In addition, the data collected revealed no significant safety issues in patients exposed to the vaccine.

15 Nov 2011

Study examines abortion services for women living with HIV in Brazil, Namibia, S. Africa

In this paper published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society, researchers from South Africa, Namibia, Brazil, and the U.S. "explore the existing evidence related to global and country-specific barriers to safe abortion for all women, with an emphasis on research gaps around the right of women living with HIV to choose safe abortion services as an option for dealing with unwanted pregnancies."

15 Nov 2011

Possible link between norovirus and food allergies

Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin have found a possible link between norovirus, a virus that causes "stomach flu" in humans, and food allergies.

15 Nov 2011

Increased access to PMTCT needed to end pediatric AIDS, build an 'AIDS-free generation'

In this post in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog, Charles Lyons, president and CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, responds to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's speech at the NIH last week in which she called for an "AIDS-free generation," writing, "As Secretary Clinton pointed out, we've never before had as many tools to get ahead of the disease as we do now," such as male circumcision and treatment as prevention, "but one of the cornerstones of her strategy to create an AIDS-free generation is a tool we've actually had in our arsenal for a long time: the ability to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV."

14 Nov 2011

Cambodia set to distribute more than 2.5M mosquito nets by end of year

"Millions of Cambodians are set to receive insecticide-treated mosquito nets as part of a government-led effort to mitigate the risk of malaria and dengue fever," IRIN reports.

14 Nov 2011

Great Basin seeks FDA 510(k) approval for C. difficile molecular diagnostic test

Great Basin Corporation, a privately held life sciences company developing sample-to-result molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced it has submitted a 510(k) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its first molecular diagnostic test for Clostridium difficile (C. diff).

14 Nov 2011

Senior UK Parliamentarians visit Bangladesh to see full impact of pneumonia on children

To mark World Pneumonia Day, a senior UK parliamentary delegation travelled to Dhaka this week to see firsthand the full impact of pneumonia on Bangladeshi children.

14 Nov 2011

Researchers retrace evolution of unusual bacterial infection

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston have retraced the evolution of an unusual bacterial infection as it spread among cystic fibrosis patients by sequencing scores of samples collected during the outbreak, since contained.

14 Nov 2011