Every autumn, as predictably as falling leaves, flu season descends upon us. Every spring, just as predictably, the season comes to a close. This cyclical pattern, common in temperate regions, is well known, but the driving forces behind it have been in question.
The bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which lives in the human stomach and is associated with ulcers and gastric cancer, is shaped like a corkscrew, or helix. For years researchers have hypothesized that the bacterium’s twisty shape is what enables it to survive – and thrive – within the stomach’s acid-drenched environment, but until now they have had no proof.
Northeastern biology professor Kim Lewis has received a three-year $1.16 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to lead the development of new treatments against tuberculosis, a disease that is increasingly resistant to antibiotics, killing nearly two million people worldwide each year.
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have developed a new influenza vaccine that brings science one step closer to a universal influenza vaccine that would eliminate the need for seasonal flu shots. The new findings can be found in the inaugural issue of mBio®, the first online, open-access journal published by the American Society for Microbiology.
As part of a multicenter study, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have identified a series of chemical compounds that might serve as starting points for the identification of new classes of anti-malarial drugs.
Pregnant women who contract the H1N1 flu strain are at risk for obstetrical complications including fetal distress, premature delivery, emergency cesarean delivery and fetal death, according to a report in the May 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
In a tropical environment, influenza A(H1N1) appeared milder than seasonal flu, was less likely to cause fever and upset stomach and more likely to infect younger individuals, according to a report in the May 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine for the first time have determined that bone marrow cells play a critical role in fighting respiratory viruses, making the bone marrow a potential therapeutic target, especially in people with compromised immune systems. They have found that during infections of the respiratory tract, cells produced by the bone marrow are instructed by proteins to migrate to the lungs to help fight infection.
A suppressive immune response to live malaria parasites in the skin is the unavoidable result of a malaria-infected mosquito bite. People who have already had live parasites in the skin have a ready-made suppressive response to a vaccine antigen.
An international team led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital investigators today released data detailing the effectiveness of nearly 310,000 chemicals against a malaria parasite that remains one of the world’s leading killers of young children.
Researchers have identified a parasite protein that has all the makings of a microbial glass jaw: it's essential, it's vulnerable and humans have nothing like it, meaning scientists can take pharmacological swings at it with minimal fear of collateral damage.
The NIH is sponsoring research of an investigational vaccine for a potentially deadly virus.
Researchers report a major step forward in the development of a new animal model which accurately reflects the human disease caused by the deadly Nipah virus and the related Hendra virus.
ICU-acquired infection rates are not an indication of patients’ mortality risk, according to researchers the University of Pennsylvania, undermining a central tenet of many pay-for-performance initiatives.
Direct Immunofluorescence Assay (DFA) testing for H1N1 influenza (“swine flu”) is unreliable in ICU patients, according to a new study from Stanford University. Multiple methods exist for diagnosing influenza, but data on the utility and accuracy of these tests for H1N1 are still emerging, given the relatively recent onset of the epidemic.
Google Flu Trends is not as accurate at estimating rates of laboratory-confirmed influenza as CDC national surveillance programs, according to a new study from the University of Washington.
Patients who encounter serious lung diseases in middle age, despite an absence of family history or other predisposing factors, may still have their genes to blame, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.
A new possible treatment to treat P. aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients appears to be promising, according to research to be presented at the ATS 2010 International Conference in New Orleans.
HIV-infected patients who are falsely diagnosed as having tuberculosis (TB) have higher rates of mortality than those who are correctly diagnosed with the disease, according to a study conducted by researchers at University of California-San Francisco and Makerere University-Kampala.
An emerging technique designed to quickly distinguish between people with active and dormant tuberculosis may help health professionals diagnose the disease sooner, thereby potentially limiting early exposure to the disease, according to a study conducted by researchers at Duke University Medical Center.
Potential therapies for deadly diseases to be presented during San Francisco meeting.
Biological differences between the sexes could be a significant predictor of responses to vaccines.
Microbiologists at UT Southwestern Medical Center, working with the Department of Agriculture, have identified a potential target in cattle that could be exploited to help prevent outbreaks of food-borne illnesses caused by a nasty strain of Escherichia coli.
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health announced today that it has received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support an innovative global health research project conducted by Jason Rasgon, PhD, an assistant professor with the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, and his research to develop an evolution-proof pesticide for eliminating mosquitoes that transmit malaria to humans.
Tuberculosis (TB) has been present in humans since ancient times. The origins of the disease date back to the first domestication of cattle, and skeletal remains show prehistoric humans (4,000 B.C.) had TB. Although relatively rare in the United States, it is the single leading bacterial cause of death worldwide. Approximately 8 million people are infected each year and 2 million people die from TB.
Despite the virtual elimination of syphilis in China in the 1950s, the sexually transmitted infection is currently at epidemic proportions in the country, and rates of infection will continue to grow unless a more comprehensive, coordinated effort of control is implemented, according to a perspective published in the May 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Nausea in pregnant women tends to fade after the first three months, but during the second and third trimesters it can be a sign of flu, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a study of expectant women who sought medical care.
Of all the things that might control the onset of disease epidemics in Michigan lakes, the shape of the lakes' bottoms might seem unlikely. But that is precisely the case, and a new BioScience report by scientists from Indiana University Bloomington and four other institutions explains why.
Byron Brehm-Stecher, an Iowa State University assistant professor of food science and human nutrition, wants to replace the current system of salmonella detection with a new approach that can provide DNA sequencing-like results in hours rather than days. He is using technology available through an Ames, Iowa, company, Advanced Analytical Technologies, Inc., that is providing advanced biomedical instruments and reagents for the research.
Researchers in British Columbia, Canada, have used a technique known as ecological niche modeling to identify likely areas where a potentially lethal fungus could spread next. Cryptococcus gattii, which can cause life-threatening infections of the lungs and central nervous system when inhaled, infects humans as well as a broad range of wild and domestic animals.
Men infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) are at greater risk of becoming infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) than men who are not HPV positive, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
A binational team of researchers led by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that active syphilis infections are significantly greater in female sex workers who inject drugs and share needles than those who don’t.
A clinical trial of 406 elderly subjects hospitalized with pneumonia showed reductions in length of stay, duration of IV antibiotics and respiratory failure or death in patients who received osteopathic manipulative treatment and conventional medical care when compared to patients who received only conventional medical care.
A study published April 19, 2010 ahead of print in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) demonstrates that conditions that can support the establishment of Lyme disease have come together in southern Quebec, an area that until now has not sustained the disease.
Scientists have combined chemistry and biology research techniques to explain how certain bacteria grow structures on their surfaces that allow them to simultaneously cause illness and protect themselves from the body’s defenses.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital staff helps investigators gauge the lingering impact of the 1976 vaccine.
The H1N1 flu epidemic has lessons to offer health care providers. The limited amount of vaccine available initially left pregnant women, small children with medical conditions, and other high-risk populations waiting in long lines. The problems encountered in reaching certain segments of the population apply to the provision of dental care as well as other disciplines.
UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have determined how a protein that normally latches onto molecules inside cells and marks them for destruction also gives life to the body’s immune response against viruses.
A renowned researcher calls for a global commitment to develop 10 new antibiotics by 2020 in a new government health-care blog. Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) President Richard Whitley, M.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, blogs on the dangers of antibiotic resistance and what has become one of the greatest threats to human health.
Pregnant women had a disproportionately higher risk of death due to 2009 influenza A(H1N1) in the U.S., and early antiviral treatment appeared to be associated with fewer admissions to an ICU and fewer deaths, according to a study in the April 21 issue of JAMA.
Approximately 7 percent of elementary school children across the bi-state, Kansas City metropolitan area are infected with the fungus Trichophyton tonsurans (T. tonsurans), the leading cause of ringworm in the U.S., according to a new study published today in Pediatrics.
Biology research shows general health spending offers far better return in most affected areas.
An analysis of hospitalization records for adults age 65 and over found that seasonal flu tends to move in traveling waves, peaking earliest in western states and moving east. New England states tend to have the latest peak in seasonal flu. The public health research team detected patterns between peak timing and intensity of seasonal flu. The findings may help healthcare providers prepare for flu outbreaks in this vulnerable population.
Despite national guidelines aimed at improving sexual health services for teenagers, most sexually active boys — even those who report high-risk sexual behaviors — still get too little counseling about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) during their visits to the doctor, according to a study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
An analysis of blood samples taken before, during and after an epidemic wave of influenza A(H1N1) in Singapore in 2009 finds variation in infection risks and antibody levels, with younger age groups and military personnel having higher infection rates than other groups, according to a study in the April 14 issue of JAMA.
In the decade since the introduction of pneumococcal vaccination, significant shifts have occurred in the bacterial strains causing serious pneumococcal infections in children, according to a pair of studies in the April issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.
Whitehead researchers have created novel mouse models of the immune system starting with T cells primed for the infectious disease toxoplasmosis by generating cloned mice from these T cells. This model could be used to reliably study immune cell biology and the role of immune cells in infectious disease.
The millions of dollars invested by the province of Ontario in its universal flu vaccine campaign saves lives and is a sensible investment, according to an economic analysis by a researcher at the University of Toronto and the University Health Network.
An approach designed to reduce HIV/STDs previously used exclusively by academic researchers has successfully been implemented by community-based organizations (CBOs), an important component in national strategies to curtail the spread of HIV, meaning far more “at risk” youths can be reached.
A Saint Louis University researcher tackles the problem that occurs when the influenza vaccine doesn’t match the strain of the virus circulating in the community. He finds adding a second influenza B virus strain likely would improve the vaccine’s ability to prevent the flu.
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