Disease/Infection News

RSS

Bird flu hits British farms

According to British environment officials a strain of bird flu has now been detected at three poultry farms at North Tuddenham, near Norwich, Norfolk. Norfolk has some of Europe's biggest poultry farms.

1 May 2006

Tumour specific drugs may render therapies based on a tumor's anatomical location obsolete

The results of a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis could eventually have oncologists removing their specialties from their shingles by making therapy based on a tumor's anatomical location obsolete.

28 Apr 2006

Amyloid protein content in the brain linked to Alzheimer's disease risk

Researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) connected to the University of Antwerp are the first to show that the quantity of amyloid protein in brain cells is a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Amyloid protein has already been known to be the primary component of the senile plaques in the brains of patients. The new discovery demonstrates that the greater the quantity of the protein that is produced, the younger the dementia patient is.

28 Apr 2006

HCM detection rates doubled when genetic testing and imaging information are combined

Currently that genetic test correctly detects HCM only 40 percent of the time. But coupled with imaging information, the detection power of the test nearly doubles, to 79 percent, says Steve Ommen, M.D., director of Mayo's HCM Clinic and co-lead investigator of the Mayo Clinic research team.

28 Apr 2006

Combinatorial approach found to reverse the onset of type 1 diabetes

A major finding, which represents an important step toward a potential cure for type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes, has been made by a research team at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology (LIAI). The team, led by Matthias von Herrath, M.D., an internationally recognized expert on the molecular basis of type 1 diabetes, used a combinatorial treatment approach in laboratory mice and found it reversed recent onset type 1 diabetes in the majority of animals tested.

28 Apr 2006

Enzyme discovery could reduce Kaposi sarcoma tumour growth and lead to drugs suitable for treating other viral cancers

A report in the Journal of Biological Chemistry shows that inhibition of heme oxygenase-1, an enzyme involved in iron metabolism, reduces Kaposi sarcoma tumor growth. This discovery could result in the production of new drugs to treat this and other viral cancers.

28 Apr 2006

Finding indicate why some kinds of Leukemia are more aggressive than others

New clues to why some kinds of leukemia are more aggressive and deadly than others are coming from research examining the types of genetic damage that allow some blood cells to grow out of control, scientists report.

28 Apr 2006

Protein made by cancer virus explains how the virus spreads

New research shows that a protein made by a cancer virus causes infected immune cells to cling to other immune cells, enabling the virus to spread.

26 Apr 2006

Potential vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis developed

Development of a fundamentally new "candidate," or potential, vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis (LEASH-ma-NIGH-a-sis), a parasitic disease that kills about 60,000 people annually, is reported in the current issue of ACS Chemical Biology. Spread by the bite of infected female sand flies, visceral leishmaniasis infects about 500,000 people annually, with the majority of cases occurring in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan and Brazil.

26 Apr 2006

New Hybrid virus may aid treatment of cancer

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have created a new class of hybrid virus and demonstrated its ability to find, highlight, and deliver genes to tumors in mice.

26 Apr 2006

Friends and family can protect against Alzheimer's disease

Having close friends and staying in contact with family members offers a protective effect against the damaging effects of Alzheimer's disease according to research by physicians at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. The study, which is currently posted online in The Lancet Neurology, will be published in the May print edition of the journal.

26 Apr 2006

Forsenol reduces tablet burden on end stage renal disease patients with hyperphospatemia

According to data presented at the National Kidney Foundation's (NKF) 2006 clinical meeting in Chicago, IL, a conversion to the non-calcium phosphate binder FOSRENOL (lanthanum carbonate) from other phosphate binder therapies provides continued mean serum phosphorus control for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients with hyperphosphatemia, while significantly reducing their daily tablet burden and the total daily dose of phosphate binder medication.

26 Apr 2006

Researchers identify characteristics that may lead to alcoholism

Those who are male and have behavioral disinhibition have the highest risk of developing alcoholism. Also, individuals with a family history of alcoholism (FH+) have a greater risk of developing alcoholism themselves than do persons with no family history, while FH+ individuals who are male and have behavioral disinhibition may have the greatest risk of developing alcoholism. Researchers caution that these combined characteristics indicate a greater probability, not certainty, of developing alcoholism.

26 Apr 2006