Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Bird flu suspected in turkey flock in the U.S.

The discovery of what is suspected to be avian flu antibodies in a flock of turkeys on a farm in the United States has experts alarmed.

11 Jul 2007

Selenium supplements appear to increase risk of developing type 2 diabetes

A new analysis of data from a large national study found that people who took a 200 microgram selenium supplement each day for almost eight years had an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who took a placebo or dummy pill.

10 Jul 2007

Rapid evolution of defense genes in plants may produce hybrid incompatibility

One of the basic tenets of evolution is speciation in which populations of the same species become so genetically and morphologically variable that they can be classified as two different species.

10 Jul 2007

Novavax licenses virus-like particle from Wyeth

Novavax, Inc. has announced that is has signed a non-exclusive, worldwide license agreement with Wyeth, to obtain rights to a patent application covering virus-like particle (VLP) technology for use in human vaccines in certain fields of use.

10 Jul 2007

New weapon in the battle against antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Putting bacteria on birth control could stop the spread of drug-resistant microbes, and researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found a way to do just that.

10 Jul 2007

Balanced diet keeps asthma away

Teenagers who forego a healthy and balanced diet may have a harder time catching their breath.

10 Jul 2007

Unhealthy teen diet increases asthma risk

According to a new study teenagers who have an unhealthy and unbalanced diet may be more prone to respiratory problems such as asthma.

10 Jul 2007

Bird flu on a European tour

German officials have culled as many as 1,000 domestic birds following the discovery of the deadly H5N1 bird-flu virus in a dead goose in the village of Wickersdorf in eastern Germany.

8 Jul 2007

Investigating life in extreme environments

From the deepest seafloor to the highest mountain, from the hottest region to the cold Antarctic plateau, environments labelled as extreme are numerous on Earth and they present a wide variety of features and characteristics.

5 Jul 2007

Breakthrough new asthma gene found

In a large-scale study conducted with 2,643 children, international researchers with the participation of the Department of Experimental Pneumology of Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB), Germany (Prof. Dr. Albrecht Bufe), have discovered a gene variant that contributes significantly to the risk of childhood asthma.

5 Jul 2007

Cutting-edge bioinformatics software programs

Large-scale undertakings such as the Human Genome Project have produced massive amounts of data.

4 Jul 2007

High cholesterol makes people more prone to tick disease human granulocytic anaplasmosis

People who have high cholesterol levels may be much more susceptible to a particular disease transmitted by the bites of ticks, a new study in mice suggests.

4 Jul 2007

Are we looking at cancer vaccine trials the wrong way?

Ongoing therapeutic cancer vaccine trials have yet to show evidence of vaccines spurring a patient's immune system to shrink tumors -- yet patients who receive these vaccines in trials tend to live longer and respond better to subsequent treatment.

4 Jul 2007

Tamiflu for children

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States has given approval for Tamiflu to be used for children but at a lower dose than the adult version.

4 Jul 2007

Bird flu in Germany

The lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu has now been detected in two birds tested in the eastern state of Thueringen after as many as 100 birds of various types were found dead.

4 Jul 2007

Rethinking therapeutic cancer vaccine trials

3 Jul 2007

If you have an allergy the cat could be the culprit!

Domestic cats may well be the culprits when it comes to provoking allergic reactions in people.

3 Jul 2007

Prevention and control of zoonoses

Over 180 international scientific experts will meet for the next three days near Lucca, Italy, to discuss state-of-the-art advances in infectious diseases transmitted from animals to man, known as zoonoses.

29 Jun 2007

Boston Scientific and CryoCor collaborate in atrial fibrillation

CryoCor, Inc. and Boston Scientific Corporation have announced a strategic collaboration in the field of cryoablation, or the use of extreme cold, for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias.

29 Jun 2007

Scientists create sheets of protein-gold arrays

In groundbreaking research, scientists have demonstrated the ability to strategically attach gold nanoparticles -- particles on the order of billionths of a meter -- to proteins so as to form sheets of protein-gold arrays.

28 Jun 2007