Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Sphere Medical to discuss potential application of Proxima at Symposium Intensivmedizin + Intensivpflege 2016

Sphere Medical, an innovator company in critical care monitoring and diagnostics equipment, announces that at the Symposium Intensivmedizin + Intensivpflege 2016, it will be discussing the potential application of its newly introduced Proxima patient-dedicated blood gas analyser with isolation beds during outbreaks of infections, such as winter influenza, MRSA and VRE.

15 Feb 2016

Most stage III melanoma patients do not benefit from interferon treatment

Final results for the Sunbelt Melanoma Trial, published online this month in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, show that thanks to current diagnostic techniques, most stage III melanoma patients do not benefit from treatment with interferon.

15 Feb 2016

Discovery opens door to preventing diet-induced heart disease

Four years ago, Stanley Hazen, MD, PhD, Chair of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, and colleagues made a landmark discovery linking intestinal bacteria to heart disease. His team found that when our digestive systems digest the nutrients carnitine and choline (abundant in red meat and eggs, respectively), a bacterial waste product called TMAO is formed. They showed that high levels of TMAO are associated with higher rates of heart attack, stroke and cardiac death.

14 Feb 2016

Protein Sciences, UNIGEN agree to supply Flublok influenza vaccine for the U.S. market from Japan

Protein Sciences Corporation (Meriden, CT and Pearl River, NY) and UMN Pharma Inc. (Akita, Akita prefecture, Japan) announced today that Protein Sciences and UNIGEN Inc., a joint venture of UMN and IHI Corporation (Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan), entered into an agreement to source bulk Flublok influenza vaccine from Japan for the U.S. market.

12 Feb 2016

Distinctive gene 'signature' may lead to new way to diagnose Lyme disease

Researchers at UC San Francisco and Johns Hopkins may have found a new way to diagnose Lyme disease, based on a distinctive gene "signature" they discovered in white blood cells of patients infected with the tick-borne bacteria.

12 Feb 2016

Mechanistic understanding of sneezing can help map spread of infections

Here's some incentive to cover your mouth the next time you sneeze: New high-speed videos captured by MIT researchers show that as a person sneezes, they launch a sheet of fluid that balloons, then breaks apart in long filaments that destabilize, and finally disperses as a spray of droplets, similar to paint that is flung through the air.

12 Feb 2016

Leeds scientists to start computer drug research to find cure for Ebola virus

Scientists at the University of Leeds will run the equivalent of password cracking software to find the chemical keys to defeating the Ebola virus.

11 Feb 2016

UW-Madison research team starts work on Zika virus infection

In October, when David O'Connor last visited Brazil as part of a decade-long research program studying drug-resistant strains of HIV, one of his Brazilian collaborators had a request.

11 Feb 2016

First case of Zika virus found in Ohio

"This is not unexpected," says Frank Esper, MD, infectious disease specialist at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland, after learning of the first case of Zika virus in Ohio, found in a Cleveland woman who traveled to Haiti. "We know people are going to come back and they're going to have the Zika virus."

11 Feb 2016

Behavioral interventions motivate doctors to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions

Behavioral interventions that appealed to doctors' competitive spirits and desire to strengthen their reputations motivated them to significantly reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions, a new study shows.

10 Feb 2016

Cold viruses at school largely to blame for asthma hospitalizations

The most dangerous times of year for children with asthma are soon after their schools reopen after a break, and a new study finds that cold viruses are largely to blame.

9 Feb 2016

New evidence highlights benefits and harms of using artificial mesh for surgical repair of vaginal prolapse

New evidence published today highlights benefits and harms of using artificial mesh when compared with tissue repair in the surgical treatment of vaginal prolapse. Slightly better repair with mesh needs to be weighed carefully against increased risk of harms.

9 Feb 2016

Gut microbes influence severity of malaria

Microorganisms in the gut could play a role in reducing the severity of malaria, according to a new study co-authored by researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the University of Louisville.

9 Feb 2016

Dnurse Glucose Meter and Dnurse app gain CE approval

Dnurse Technology has announced today that the Dnurse Glucose Meter and Dnurse app for Android and iOS have gained CE approval. It is the first CE approved smart glucose meter in China. CE (European Conformity) marking has been a mandatory conformity marking for certain products sold within the European Economic Area (EEA) since 1985.

8 Feb 2016

Aggression influences new nerve cell production in the brain

A group of neurobiologists from Russia and the USA, including Dmitry Smagin, Tatyana Michurina, and Grigori Enikolopov from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, have proven experimentally that aggression has an influence on the production of new nerve cells in the brain.

8 Feb 2016

Early use of influenza drug in pregnant women with flu may reduce length of stay in hospital

Pregnant women are at higher risk for serious illness and complications, including death, from influenza. For expectant mothers hospitalized with flu, early treatment with the influenza antiviral drug oseltamivir may shorten their time in the hospital, especially in severe cases, suggests a new study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases and available online.

5 Feb 2016

Rockefeller University study shows how herpes virus causes traffic jam in immune system pathway

With over half the U.S. population infected, most people are familiar with the pesky cold sore outbreaks caused by the herpes virus. The virus outsmarts the immune system by interfering with the process that normally allows immune cells to recognize and destroy foreign invaders. How exactly the herpes simplex 1 virus pulls off its nifty scheme has long been elusive to scientists.

4 Feb 2016

High school wrestlers have highest number of skin infections

The first national survey of skin infections among high school athletes has found that wrestlers have the highest number of infections, with football players coming in a distant second, according to researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

4 Feb 2016

CMU joins $12 million research project to reverse-engineer the brain's secret algorithms

Carnegie Mellon University is embarking on a five-year, $12 million research effort to reverse-engineer the brain, seeking to unlock the secrets of neural circuitry and the brain's learning methods. Researchers will use these insights to make computers think more like humans.

4 Feb 2016

Cistus extracts attack HIV and Ebola viruses

Scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München discover that extracts of the medicinal plant Cistus incanus (Ci) prevent human immunodeficiency viruses from infecting cells. Active antiviral ingredients in the extracts inhibit docking of viral proteins to cells. Antiviral activity of Cistus extracts also targets Ebola- and Marburg viruses.

3 Feb 2016