A research collaboration of biologists and neuroscientists has found a molecular pathway in the brain that is the cause of cognitive impairment due to sleep deprivation. Just as important, the team believes that the cognitive deficits caused by sleep deprivation, such as an inability to focus, learn or memorize, may be reversible by reducing the concentration of a specific enzyme that builds up in the hippocampus of the brain.
High temperatures, humidity and low wind speed are associated with high occurrence of dengue fever according to a new study.
Drawing on years of experience in cancer research and patient care, the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center released today the most comprehensive, risk-based screening guidelines publicly available to date for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers.
An epidemiological study finds that patients over age 65 with dementia have an increased risk of dying from complications of the flu. The obstacles to early diagnosis and treatment of flu among older patients with dementia include limited access to health care and inadequate testing practices, as well as patients’ difficulty communicating symptoms.
A discovery could help save lives threatened by traumatic injuries, severe infectious diseases and diabetes. Researchers have gained new knowledge about how proteins called histones can enter the bloodstream and kill the lining of blood vessels, resulting in uncontrolled internal bleeding and edema. Building on this work, the researchers have discovered an antibody that could counter this deadly process.
Sperm, and not just the fluid it bathes in, can transmit HIV to macrophages, T cells, and dendritic cells (DCs), researchers report. By infecting DCs, which carry the virus and potently pass it to T cells, sperm may play a leading role in spreading HIV.
A new study found genetic variations in mice affect their susceptibility to and severity of H5N1 avian influenza A virus infection suggesting that humans who contract the virus may be genetically predisposed.
A study using gene therapy safely improved vision in five children and seven adults with Leber’s congenital amaurosis. The greatest improvements occurred in the children, all of whom are now able to navigate a low-light obstacle course.
Exposure to cigarette smoke may impair the ability of immune cells to clear bacterial infections from the lungs, specifically nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHI), a pathogen often associated with respiratory infections and the progression of respiratory diseases.
A new study reports that a vaccine-induced cellular immune response reduced simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) levels in the semen of rhesus monkeys during the period of primary infection, a discovery that may ultimately aid in the fight against HIV-1 transmission in humans.
In a clinical trial investigating mother-to-child HIV transmission in South Africa researchers find that adding two other antiretroviral drugs to single dose nevirapine — an antiretroviral drug given to women and newborn children during labor and delivery to prevent transmission — is effective in reducing the drug resistance that nevirapine causes when used by itself.
New research challenges the dogma of the antibody-dependent enhancement model for the development of dengue hemorrhagic fever.
It is possible to simultaneously survey a number of neglected tropical diseases in the challenging environment of Southern Sudan, according a new study. The research rapidly identified areas requiring mass treatment for schistosomiasis and intestinal worm infections, and showed that two diseases, lymphatic filariasis and loiasis, were not endemic in Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal State, an area the size of Belgium.
In hopes of preventing the next global pandemic and a possible death toll into the millions, researchers have launched an unprecedented international effort to find and control diseases that move between wildlife and people.
Scientists have identified the dominant odor naturally produced in humans and birds that attracts the blood-feeding Culex mosquitoes, which transmits West Nile virus and other life-threatening diseases. The groundbreaking research explains why mosquitoes shifted hosts from birds to humans and paves the way for key developments in mosquito and disease control.
Researchers have found that 50,000 International Units of vitamin D2, given weekly for eight weeks, effectively treats vitamin D deficiency.
Globalization and industrialization are causing diseases to spread from humans to animals, a study has shown. Researchers have shown that a strain of bacteria has jumped from humans to chickens.
Researchers have found that a sometimes deadly stomach bug, Clostridium difficile, is on the rise in outpatient settings. Clostridium difficile is a serious bacteria that can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon.
The probiotic, Bacillus polyfermenticus, can help mice recover from colitis. Mice treated with B.P. during the non-inflammatory period of the disease had reduced rectal bleeding, their tissues were less inflamed and they gained more weight than mice that did not receive the treatment.
Immunologists have found a unique quirk in the way the immune system fends off bacteria called Francisella tularensis, which could lead to vaccines that are better able to prevent tularemia infection of the lungs.
Patients with chronic hepatitis C and advanced liver disease who drink three or more cups of coffee per day have a 53 percent lower risk of liver disease progression than non-coffee drinkers according to a new study.
Could a woman’s food choices during pregnancy affect not only the size and health of her children, but of her grandchildren? Yes, suggests a new study.
New research has found that survival rates of patients with Barrett’s esophagus, which can be a precursor for esophageal cancer, are no different than the survival rates for the general population.
In a six year study of World Trade Center workers, researchers probed the connection between the high frequencies of GERD and mental health disorders reported among exposed workers during the post 9/11 cleanup. And researchers from the United States Navy examining functional gastrointestinal disorders within the active military population and their connection to of infectious gastroenteritis found not only a significant association between IGE and FGD, but also that almost 30 percent of those effected received care for two years after their initial diagnosis.
A clinical research team from Japan examined the effects of long-term proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy on body weight (BW) and body mass index in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). They concluded long-term PPI treatment was associated with BW gain in patients with GERD. Reflux patients receiving PPI should be encouraged to manage BW through lifestyle modifications.
