Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

GSA honors researchers, educators for distinguished service in the field of genetics

The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to announce the 2012 recipients of its five awards for distinguished service in the field of genetics. The recipients of these awards were nominated and selected by their colleagues.

19 Jan 2012

Gilead Sciences receives FDA approval for Viread to treat pediatric HIV infection

Gilead Sciences, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Viread in combination with other antiretroviral agents for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in pediatric patients ages 2-12.

19 Jan 2012

Alpha-hemolysin may play an unexpected role in UTIs

Researchers from the University of Utah have identified a process by which the most common types of urinary tract infection-causing bacteria are able to trigger bladder cell shedding and disable immune responses. According to this new study, published in the Jan. 19, 2012, issue of Cell Host & Microbe, α-hemolysin, a toxin secreted by many strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli), may play an important, unexpected role during both the establishment and persistence of urinary tract infections.

19 Jan 2012

WHO to take lead role in addressing controversial bird flu research, official says

"The World Health Organization says it will take a role in helping sort through an international scientific controversy over two bird flu studies that the U.S. government deemed too dangerous to publish in full," the Canadian Press/Winnipeg Free Press reports.

18 Jan 2012

Study shows how to stop brain cancer cell proliferation and migration

Brain cancer is hard to treat: it's not only strong enough to resist most chemotherapies, but also nimble enough to migrate away from radiation or surgery to regrow elsewhere. New research at the University of Colorado Cancer Center shows how to stop both.

18 Jan 2012

New Yorker mistakenly billed for $44.8 million from hospital

Unemployed doorman Alexis Rodriguez says he almost became ill when he received a $44.8 million bill from the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center. Rodriguez was hospitalized last spring with pneumonia and was afraid the bill was legitimate. His actual bill stood at $300.

17 Jan 2012

Vitamin D provides no relief from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Earlier studies have suggested that up to three quarters of people with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, are deficient in the vitamin. So it was thought that giving them extra vitamin D might help prevent exacerbations in symptoms or trips to the hospital because of shortness of breath or mucus in the airways. Belgian researchers have refuted this claim.

17 Jan 2012

Pevion announces further data from clinical study of PEV7 therapeutic Candida vaccine

Pevion Biotech AG today announced further data from the ongoing clinical study of its therapeutic Candida vaccine PEV7, demonstrating the generation of specific and functional B cell memory in 100% of vaccinees. Furthermore, the results again confirm the capability of Pevion's second generation virosomal vaccine platform to induce strong and long-lasting immunity in humans against otherwise weak antigens .

17 Jan 2012

Study examines weather patterns around the time of flu pandemics

Worldwide pandemics of influenza caused widespread death and illness in 1918, 1957, 1968 and 2009. A new study examining weather patterns around the time of these pandemics finds that each of them was preceded by La Ni-a conditions in the equatorial Pacific.

17 Jan 2012

Man gets new windpipe with stem cell therapy

Christopher Lyles, 30, of Abingdon, Md, became the first American to undergo an experimental procedure, involving stem cells to treat his trachea cancer. A trachea or windpipe connects the nose and mouth to the lungs, serving a crucial function for life.

16 Jan 2012

Hormone that burns energy discovered

Boston scientists have found a hormone that is secreted by muscles during exercise and boosts the amount of energy the body burns. This hormone – irisin – could be the first step in development of new drugs for obesity, diabetes, and other diseases feel researchers. A Boston startup company, Ember Therapeutics, has already licensed the technology and is working to develop a form of the hormone that could be used as a drug that would mimic some of the benefits of exercise.

16 Jan 2012

Non-toxin vaccine shows promise against lethal anthrax infection

Vaccination with the anthrax capsule-a naturally occurring component of the bacterium that causes the disease-protected monkeys from lethal anthrax infection, according to U.S. Army scientists. The study, which appears in the Jan. 20th print edition of the journal VACCINE, represents the first successful use of a non-toxin vaccine to protect monkeys from the disease.

13 Jan 2012

NIH official discusses reaction to bird flu studies, development of publishing mechanism in Nature interview

Nature interviews Amy Patterson, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Science Policy, which administers the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB), about the board's decision in December to advise against full publication of "two papers on avian flu (H5N1) that could pose a biosecurity risk if published in their entirety."

13 Jan 2012

Tips to optimize your health care budget this year

You can help lower your out-of-pocket health care costs by understanding what your health plan covers, what it does not cover and how to make the most of every dollar spent on health care and health insurance.

13 Jan 2012

National Biosecurity Board to review state of bird flu research

Federal officials have asked the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) "to review the state of the science looking at human transmission of deadly bird flu, says panel chief Paul Keim of Northern Arizona University," USA Today reports.

12 Jan 2012

New NIST clinical SRM can help in accurate CMV detection and treatment

A new clinical Standard Reference Material (SRM) from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will help health care professionals more accurately diagnose and treat cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common pathogen that is particularly dangerous for infants and persons with weakened immune systems.

12 Jan 2012

Office-based medical practice can promote vaccination in adults

Promoting immunizations as a part of routine office-based medical practice is needed to improve adult vaccination rates, a highly effective way to curb the spread of diseases across communities, prevent needless illness and deaths, and lower health care costs, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

12 Jan 2012

$Patients with hip fractures should be operated on within 48 hours of admission$

Patients with hip fractures should be operated on within 48 hours of admission

All patients with hip fractures should be fast-tracked through hospital emergency departments and operated on within 48 hours of admission, according to new consensus guidelines developed by UK experts in anaesthesia, orthopaedics, geriatrics and emergency medicine and published in the January issue of Anaesthesia.

12 Jan 2012

Investing in Frontline Health Workers effective in saving lives of mothers, children

In the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog, Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of Save the Children, writes about the Frontline Health Workers Coalition's call on the U.S. government to train 250,000 new frontline health workers in developing countries, stating, "At a time when every dollar counts more than ever, the new Frontline Health Workers Coalition believes this focus is the most cost-effective way to save mothers' and children's lives around the world, address global health threats, and help advance strategic U.S. interests in a secure and prosperous world."

12 Jan 2012

Occasional marijuana use does not affect lung function: Study

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has shown that an occasional drag on marijuana does not appear to have long-term adverse effects on lung function.

11 Jan 2012