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Interference with biofilm detachment mechanisms may prevent biofilm-associated infections

Patients in hospitals and healthcare facilities can develop infections as a result of contamination of indwelling medical devices such as catheters with bacteria that are normal inhabitants of the skin of the patient or health care personnel. The bacterium Staphylococcus epidermidis is a major cause of such infections.

7 Dec 2010

Knee replacement operations cause bacterial infection in the joint

Last year 12 700 knee replacement operations were carried out in Sweden. Most such operations go well, but some patients are affected by bacterial infection in the joint and have to be re-operated. This is a complicated procedure that does not always produce successful results, as shown in a thesis by Anna Stefánsdóttir from Lund University in Sweden.

7 Dec 2010

Scientists identify protein that disseminates biofilm-associated infection

What:Scientists from the National Institutes of Health have discovered how catheter-related bacterial infection develops and disseminates to become a potentially life-threatening condition. The study, which included research on Staphylococcus epidermidis in mice implanted with catheters, could have important implications for understanding many types of bacterial biofilm infections, including those caused by methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA).

7 Dec 2010

NIH scientists consider prospects for universal influenza vaccine

The costly, time-consuming process of making, distributing and administering millions of seasonal flu vaccines would become obsolete if researchers could design a vaccine that confers decades-long protection from any flu virus strain. Making such a universal influenza vaccine is feasible but licensing it may require innovation on several fronts, including finding new ways to evaluate the efficacy of vaccine candidates in clinical trials, conclude scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

7 Dec 2010

Campaign to inoculate millions across Africa against meningitis kicks off in Burkina Faso

On Monday, a campaign started in Burkina Faso to "inoculate tens of millions of West Africans with a new vaccine in what scientists hope will be the beginning of the end of ravaging meningitis epidemics" across the continent, the New York Times reports.

7 Dec 2010

Research roundup: Early retiree insurance; high deductible plans and skipped care; innovation and FDA

Health Care Use And Decision Making Among Lower-Income Families In High-Deductible Health Plans - This study examines the health care experiences of lower-income families (those with incomes that were less than 300% of the federal poverty level) with high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) compared to higher-income families.

7 Dec 2010

New endoscope aids in early detection and diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease.

An international team of researchers led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) have developed a new kind of endoscope to aid the early detection and diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease.

7 Dec 2010

Boceprevir drug may cure hepatitis C

The outlook for patients with hepatitis C continues to improve as results from a clinical trial led by a Saint Louis University researcher found that the drug boceprevir helped cure hard-to-treat patients. The findings were reported at the 61st annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease's earlier in November.

7 Dec 2010

Blocking quorum sensing would prevent bacteria from turning pathogenic

Bacteria are among the simplest organisms in nature, but many of them can still talk to each other, using a chemical "language" that is critical to the process of infection. Sending and receiving chemical signals allows bacteria to mind their own business when they are scarce and vulnerable, and then mount an attack after they become numerous enough to overwhelm the host's immune system.

7 Dec 2010

Health experts, mobile service providers discuss potential for mobile health in Africa at summit

"Some 80 health professionals and telecom operators [met last week for the mHealth Africa Summit] in the Ghanaian capital Accra to explore ways to use mobile phones for better healthcare delivery," IRIN reports in an article that details a variety of successful projects relaying health information through cell phones in Africa. The article describes how mobile phones are being used in Africa to educate populations about HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and improve maternal health, as well as to track medicines and other health supplies, including mosquito nets.

7 Dec 2010

Ancora receives two federal grants to develop vaccine for malaria, staphylococcus aureus

Ancora Pharmaceuticals announced today that it received two federal grants under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Program to continue funding its groundbreaking research and development of vaccine candidates to prevent malaria and infection by staphylococcus aureus.

7 Dec 2010

GeoVax expands Phase 2a clinical trial for MVA62B HIV/AIDS vaccine

GeoVax Labs, Inc., announced today the expansion of the Phase 2a clinical trial testing of its HIV/AIDS vaccine products. The expanded Phase 2a trial will test the administration of three doses of the recombinant poxvirus vaccine MVA62B without the use of the recombinant DNA-vectored vaccine, which was used to prime immune responses in the first part of this trial.

7 Dec 2010

Experimental flu vaccine triggers immune response, protects against flu

Vaccine production hinges on the availability of hundreds of millions of eggs - and even with the vaccine, flu still claims somewhere around 36,000 lives in the United States during a typical year.

7 Dec 2010

One shot, cheap meningitis vaccine now available in Africa

As a boon to millions of children who die of meningitis, a cheap new vaccine for bacterial meningitis debuted today with the launching of an immunization drive in the West African country of Burkina Faso, in the first stage of an effort that could rid sub-Saharan Africa of the primary cause of meningitis, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced.

6 Dec 2010

Achillion Pharmaceuticals to present clinical study data of ACH-1625 at APASL 2011

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that data from the Company's ongoing clinical studies of ACH-1625 has been accepted for presentation at the 21st Annual Conference of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver to be held February 17-21, 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand.

6 Dec 2010

Fraunhofer USA CMB receives FDA approval to initiate Phase I clinical trial of H5N1 influenza vaccine

Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology announced today it has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to proceed with the first human clinical trial of plant-produced H5N1 influenza vaccine.

6 Dec 2010

Tapping young people's usage of online social networks could help control rise in HIV: Study

Tapping into young people's use of online social networks presents health agencies with a powerful opportunity to help control the rise in HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in homeless youth in Los Angeles. According to new research by Sean Young from UCLA and Eric Rice from USC in the US, online social networking - and the topics discussed on these networks - have the potential to affect sexual risk behaviors.

6 Dec 2010

New, HIV-like retroviruses linked to CFS, prostate cancer detected in healthy blood donors

In an unprecedented move, chronic fatigue syndrome patients published a half-page ad in The Washington Post today. The ad brings attention to new, HIV-like retroviruses, including XMRV, which have been linked to CFS and aggressive prostate cancer, and have been detected in healthy blood donors.

6 Dec 2010

MenAfriVac to help health workers eliminate meningococcal A epidemics

The West African nation of Burkina Faso today became the first country to begin a nationwide campaign to introduce a new meningitis vaccine that promises to rid the entire region of the primary cause of epidemic meningitis. The first vaccine designed specifically for Africa, MenAfriVac is expected to help health workers eliminate meningococcal A epidemics in the 25 countries of the meningitis belt, stretching from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east.

6 Dec 2010

HP, mPedigree Network introduce life-saving service to fight counterfeit drugs in Africa

HP and African social enterprise mPedigree Network have introduced a potentially life-saving service that targets counterfeit pharmaceuticals by enabling people in Nigeria and Ghana to easily check the authenticity of their malaria medication.

6 Dec 2010

Disease/Infection News

Interference with biofilm detachment mechanisms may prevent biofilm-associated infections

Knee replacement operations cause bacterial infection in the joint

Scientists identify protein that disseminates biofilm-associated infection

NIH scientists consider prospects for universal influenza vaccine

Campaign to inoculate millions across Africa against meningitis kicks off in Burkina Faso

Research roundup: Early retiree insurance; high deductible plans and skipped care; innovation and FDA

New endoscope aids in early detection and diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease.

Boceprevir drug may cure hepatitis C

Blocking quorum sensing would prevent bacteria from turning pathogenic

Health experts, mobile service providers discuss potential for mobile health in Africa at summit

Ancora receives two federal grants to develop vaccine for malaria, staphylococcus aureus

GeoVax expands Phase 2a clinical trial for MVA62B HIV/AIDS vaccine

Experimental flu vaccine triggers immune response, protects against flu

One shot, cheap meningitis vaccine now available in Africa

Achillion Pharmaceuticals to present clinical study data of ACH-1625 at APASL 2011

Fraunhofer USA CMB receives FDA approval to initiate Phase I clinical trial of H5N1 influenza vaccine

Tapping young people's usage of online social networks could help control rise in HIV: Study

New, HIV-like retroviruses linked to CFS, prostate cancer detected in healthy blood donors

MenAfriVac to help health workers eliminate meningococcal A epidemics

HP, mPedigree Network introduce life-saving service to fight counterfeit drugs in Africa

Digital pathology and the PathoVerse: A conversation with Dr. Singh

Bioprocess Efficiency with Cell Density Monitoring

Exploring electron microscopy for plant and microbial imaging at the John Innes Centre

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