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Researchers identify novel genes that make some children cope with malaria

Researchers from Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center and University of Montreal have identified several novel genes that make some children more efficient than others in the way their immune system responds to malaria infection.

12 Sep 2012

Interventions can help prevent older people from falling

There is now strong evidence that some interventions can prevent falls in people over the age of 65 who are living in their own homes. However, the researchers who reached this conclusion say that care is needed when choosing interventions, as some have no effect. The full details are published this month in The Cochrane Library. This is an update of a previous report that contains data from 51 additional trials, enabling the authors to reach many more conclusions.

12 Sep 2012

Diet could avert toxic effects of quinine in patients with malaria

Scientists at The University of Nottingham say adverse side-effects caused by the anti-parasitic drug quinine in the treatment of malaria could be controlled by what we eat.

12 Sep 2012

Ethypharm, Ampio enter definitive agreement to manufacture Zertane

Ampio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMPE), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, with repurposed drugs and new molecular entities (NMEs) that treat inflammatory diseases, including osteoarthritis, diabetic macular edema (DME) and sexual dysfunction announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Ethypharm Ltd for the manufacturing of Zertane, Ampio's drug for the treatment of premature ejaculation.

12 Sep 2012

Comic created to help busy medical staff on the benefits of tranexamic acid

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine have created a comic influenced by the Japanese manga style to help busy medical staff who treat patients suffering from bleeding.

12 Sep 2012

Pregnancy exposures may increase risk of breast cancer in multiple generations of offspring

Chemicals or foods that raise estrogen levels during pregnancy may increase cancer risk in daughters, granddaughters, and even great-granddaughters, according to scientists from Virginia Tech and Georgetown University.

12 Sep 2012

Bioengineers design nanoparticles that can safely and predictably infiltrate deep into the brain

The brain is a notoriously difficult organ to treat, but Johns Hopkins researchers report they are one step closer to having a drug-delivery system flexible enough to overcome some key challenges posed by brain cancer and perhaps other maladies affecting that organ.

12 Sep 2012

Bruker launches BioPharmaCompass 1.1 software

At the 2012 CASSS 9th Symposium on the Practical Applications of Mass Spectrometry in the Biotechnology Industry, Bruker today launches the first software solution to encompass the complete biopharmaceutical characterization challenge, including glycoforms, impurities and modifications.

From Bruker BioSpin Group 12 Sep 2012

Electronic jewelry for health

Bracelets and amulets are in the works at Dartmouth's Institute for Security, Technology, and Society (ISTS). Rather than items of mere adornment, the scientists and engineers are constructing personal mobile health (mHealth) devices-highly functional jewelry, as it were.

12 Sep 2012

Researchers investigate whether altruism influences parental decisions to vaccinate children

As outbreaks of preventable diseases such as whooping cough and measles increase in the United States, researchers from the Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Medicine are investigating whether altruism, known to influence adults' decisions to immunize themselves, influences parental decisions to vaccinate their children.

12 Sep 2012

e-Therapeutics initiates second ETS2101 phase I trial in solid tumours

e-Therapeutics plc announces that it has started a second phase I clinical trial of its anti-cancer drug ETS2101. This trial will enrol up to 45 patients with a variety of solid tumours at two UK centres, St James's University Hospital in Leeds and the Northern Centre for Cancer Care at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.

12 Sep 2012

AIDS activists in China protest for better care for those affected by 1990s blood-selling schemes

The Economist reports on a demonstration by about 300 people living with HIV and activists outside the headquarters of China's Henan provincial government in Zhengzhou on August 27.

12 Sep 2012

Health ambiguity strongly linked to depression among male stroke survivors

Post-stroke depression is a major issue affecting approximately 33% of stroke survivors. A new study published in the current issue of Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation reports that the level to which survivors are uncertain about the outcome of their illness is strongly linked to depression. The relationship is more pronounced for men than for women.

12 Sep 2012

Study evaluates distribution and severity of pain in sexual assault victims

A majority of sexual assault victims experience severe pain in the early aftermath of the crime but less than a third of these victims receive pain medications, according to research in The Journal of Pain, the peer review publication of the American Pain Society.

12 Sep 2012

APS conference to explore potential mechanisms behind health benefits of exercise

The effects of physical inactivity are, literally, hazardous to your health. Although the detrimental effects of being inactive are generally thought to be associated with childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes, they have a significant impact on other illnesses. Physical inactivity contributed at least 25 percent to the prevalence of hip fractures, osteoporosis, coronary heart disease, and colon cancer according to recent data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

12 Sep 2012

Novel method could help advance fight against persistent 'HIV latency'

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have gotten us one step closer to understanding and overcoming one of the least-understood mechanisms of HIV infection-by devising a method to precisely track the life cycle of individual cells infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

12 Sep 2012

Viewpoints: Romney's whiplash on health law; Clinton's mistaken argument about Medicare savings

At first glance, it looked like Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney had once again altered his position on healthcare reform. "I'm not getting rid of all of healthcare reform," he said on "Meet the Press" over the weekend.

12 Sep 2012

HSS receives NFL grant for research into platelet-rich plasma and stem cells

Researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery have been awarded a $100,000 grant from the National Football League (NFL) Charities to research the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and stem cells as treatments for tendon injury and degeneration. For years, PRP has been used to improve healing in various sports injuries, but there is little evidence of its efficacy.

12 Sep 2012

New model reveals how immune system functions under conditions of neutropenia

Cancer chemotherapy can be a life-saver, but it is fraught with severe side effects, among them an increased risk of infection. Until now, the major criterion for assessing this risk has been the blood cell count: if the number of white blood cells falls below a critical threshold, the risk of infection is thought to be high.

12 Sep 2012

Scripps scientists discover new antibody-discovery technique

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found a new technique that should greatly speed the discovery of medically and scientifically useful antibodies, immune system proteins that detect and destroy invaders such as bacteria and viruses. New methods to discover antibodies are important because antibodies make up the fastest growing sector of human therapeutics; it is estimated that by 2014 the top-three selling drugs worldwide will be antibodies.

12 Sep 2012