Virus News and Research

Latest Virus News and Research

UC Davis professor monitors world's hot spots for signs of emerging diseases

It's not a matter of if a worldwide pandemic will strike but when, say experts like veterinarian and epidemiologist Jonna Mazet, a professor in the Department of Medicine and Epidemiology in the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine. That's why Mazet, who leads an early warning pandemic system called PREDICT, monitors the world's hot spots, or "hot interfaces" for signs of emerging diseases.

21 Dec 2011

CWRU receives NIDDK grant to study role of innate immunity in IBD

Investigators at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine received a $6.75 million Program Project Grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) to study the role of innate immunity in inflammatory bowel disease.

21 Dec 2011

UCB initiates EXXELERATE study in rheumatoid arthritis

UCB today announced the start of the EXXELERATE study which will evaluate the short- and long-term efficacy of Cimzia (certolizumab pegol) plus methotrexate (MTX) compared with that of Humira(adalimumab) plus MTX in the treatment of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The start of this study confirms previously announced plans.

21 Dec 2011

Routine criminal prosecutions for HIV nondisclosure should be abolished, say experts

Routine criminal prosecutions for not disclosing HIV status should be abolished, write three HIV/AIDS experts in an article in CMAJ.

20 Dec 2011

Gardasil – cervical cancer vaccine offered to all boys as well

Soon all adolescent boys may be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted disease that causes some forms of cancer under an extension of a scheme now available to girls, the Australian government's expert panel has recommended. The committee adds that the shots would also widen immunity to the virus, which would further reduce the risk to women and stem the spread of genital warts in both sexes.

19 Dec 2011

FDA nod for pediatric Berlin heart

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Berlin Heart for pediatric patients waiting for heart transplants. The ventricular assist device is similar to the one worn by former Vice President Dick Cheney but scaled down in size for children and babies.

19 Dec 2011

Delaware Court upholds original ruling in favor of PharmAthene

PharmAthene, Inc. today announced that the Delaware Court of Chancery has denied SIGA Technologies' motion for reargument filed on October 4, 2011, upholding the Court's original September 22, 2011 decision awarding PharmAthene 50% of the net profits over ten years from all sales of SIGA's smallpox antiviral therapeutic, ST-246, and related products, after SIGA receives the first $40 million in net profits.

19 Dec 2011

Vanderbilt to develop low-cost extraction device for people in resource-poor settings

They call it "The Extractionator." The prototype looks like nothing more than a length of clear plastic tubing until you inspect it closely. But it could be the basis of an easy-to-use and low-cost sample collection and preparation system that will help bring the benefits of medical diagnostic testing to the people who live in the poorest areas of the world.

17 Dec 2011

Wistar to develop new drug against EBV-associated cancers

The Wistar Institute today announced that it has signed a funding agreement with the Wellcome Trust, a United Kingdom-based charity, to support the development of a new drug to treat cancers associated with Epstein-Barr virus.

16 Dec 2011

Six UNC faculty members named AAAC fellow

Six University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty members have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

16 Dec 2011

UV rays help prevent spread of chickenpox

Ultraviolet rays help prevent the spread of chickenpox, meaning people in milder climates are more at risk of catching the disease, according to new research. The discovery could lead to new ways of preventing chickenpox and its more severe relative, shingles.

16 Dec 2011

First mobile safety lab for South African patients with AIDS and TB

The first mobile safety laboratory to operate under Biosafety Level 3 has been in use in South Africa since May 2011. As development of the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering in St. Ingbert, this special truck is used for testing and advising patients with AIDS and tuberculosis. The mobile laboratory can save patients' lives in remote areas because it cuts the waiting time between diagnosis and the start of treatment to just one day.

15 Dec 2011

Researchers discover novel viral oncogenesis mechanism

Human tumor viruses contribute to 15-20% of human cancers worldwide. Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) is an etiological agent for Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) and two other rare lymphoproliferative malignancies. KS is the most common cancer in HIV-infected untreated individuals and remains a primary cause of cancer deaths in many subequatorial African countries as a result of the AIDS pandemic.

15 Dec 2011

Liver transplantations for NASH-Cirrhosis increase dramatically

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) occurs when fat builds up in the liver. This accumulation of fat damages the liver and leads to cirrhosis. NASH is rapidly increasing in the U.S. mainly related to the epidemics of obesity and diabetes.

15 Dec 2011

Fresh cells can pep talk immune cells exhausted by HIV or hepatitis C

Chronic infections by viruses such as HIV or hepatitis C eventually take hold because they wear the immune system out, a phenomenon immunologists describe as exhaustion.

14 Dec 2011

U.S. investments in HIV treatment internationally, domestically 'should pay off'

"We welcome the Obama administration's announcement of a farsighted effort to treat millions more people living with HIV abroad, especially in sub-Saharan Africa," a New York Times editorial writes.

14 Dec 2011

New substance can replace nucleoside thymidine in DNA biosynthesis

Interactions of biological macromolecules are the central bases of living systems. Biological macromolecules are synthesized in living cells by linking many small molecules together. Naturally occurring macromolecules include genetic materials (DNA) and proteins. A detailed understanding of the synthesis of these macromolecules in whole animals is a basic requirement for understanding biological systems, and for the development of new therapeutic strategies.

14 Dec 2011

Aethlon Hemopurifier can capture Nef protein exosomes linked with HIV

Aethlon Medical, Inc., the pioneer in developing therapeutic filtration devices to address infectious disease and cancer, announced today that researchers have discovered that the Aethlon Hemopurifier is able to capture particles known as Nef protein exosomes, which contribute to the progression of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

14 Dec 2011

Statins linked with reduced risk of death among hospitalized flu patients

The two main ways to prevent and control influenza today are annual immunization and antiviral drugs. A team of investigators has found that statins, cholesterol-lowering drugs, may offer an additional treatment to complement these approaches and reduce mortality among patients hospitalized with influenza.

14 Dec 2011

Study describes new method that synthesizes novel anti-HIV protein

The most abundant and important molecules in all living organisms are proteins; after all they manage to participate in every single one of life's essential reactions. So it is easy to see why scientists have been making such a fuss trying to learn how to synthesise them in laboratory as this would provide them with a tool of extraordinary potential. Unfortunately, this has not proved easy.

13 Dec 2011