A new study shows that being overweight or obese increases the risk for developing obstructive sleep apnea in adolescents but not in younger children.
A widely used test for measuring nighttime blood pressure may interfere with patients’ sleep, thus affecting the results of the test, a new study reports.
Researchers have discovered the enzyme behind effects of sleep deprivation. There is hope for those who miss one night too many or whose children keep them up at night. The unwelcome effects of a bad night’s sleep – forgetfulness, impaired mental performance – can be dealt with by reducing the concentration of an enzyme in the brain.
Significant associations exist between parent-reported insomnia symptoms and medical complaints of gastrointestinal regurgitation and headaches in young school-aged children, a new study shows.
Researchers have discovered a technique that is able to determine whether a child has obstructive sleep apnea or habitual snoring by screening their urine.
One of the pioneers in research on sleep-wake circadian genes has discovered that fruit flies’ appetite and consumption are controlled by two rival sets of clocks, one in neurons and the other in the fly fat body, which is analogous to the liver.
A new study reports a surge in drug-resistant strains of Acinetobacter, a dangerous type of bacteria that is becoming increasingly common in US hospitals.
New analysis suggests that physicians need to re-think their diagnosis and treatment of sore throat, or pharyngitis, in adolescents and young adults to consider a more newly identified and potentially dangerous culprit as the source of that infection.
For pulmonary ailments, certain medieval physicians had a useful medical textbook on hand offering detailed information remarkably similar to those a modern doctor might use today.
Researchers are one step closer to developing a vaccine against the AIDS disease. They have found that a rabies virus-based vaccine administered to monkeys protected against the simian equivalent of the HIV virus (SIV).
Half of urban teenage girls may acquire at least one of three common sexually transmitted infections within two years of becoming sexually active, according to a new study.
Researchers have uncovered the complete genetic make-up of the cavity-causing bacterium Bifidobacterium dentium Bd1, revealing the genetic adaptations that allow this microorganism to live and cause decay in the human oral cavity.
Researchers have clarified the structure of an enzyme that disturbs the communication processes between bacteria. By doing so they have laid the foundations for a new method of tackling bacterial infections such as cystic fibrosis.
An unexpected rise in environmental levels of antibiotic resistance poses a potential threat to people’s health.
Investigators have identified 295 human cell factors that influenza A strains must harness to infect a cell, including the currently circulating swine-origin H1N1.
Brazilian researchers have performed the first-ever autopsy study to examine the precise causes of death in victims of the H1N1 swine flu. While previous data has shown that most patients with a non-fatal infection have fever, cough and achiness (myalgia), the study reveals that most patients with a fatal form of the disease presented with difficulty breathing (dyspnea), with fever and myalgia being less frequently present.
Much like a tightly wound drum, red blood cells are in perpetual vibration. Those vibrations help the cells maintain their characteristic flattened oval or disc shape, which is critical to their ability to deform as they traverse blood vessels in the body to deliver oxygen to tissues.
How do one-celled parasites move from the salivary gland of a mosquito through a person’s skin into red blood cells? What molecular mechanisms form the basis for this very important movement of the protozoa? Researchers observed the initial stage of the malaria parasite that is transmitted by mosquitoes with new microscope techniques.
Interferon gamma is a protein secreted by lymphocytes that is used to fight the bacteria in white blood cells that cause tuberculosis. Scientists have now discovered that in addition to white blood cells, other cells such as epithelial and endothelial cells, also respond to interferon gamma and also protect mice from uncontrolled tuberculosis infection.
A study found that among older individuals, long-term exposure to traffic pollution independently increased their risk of hospitalization for pneumonia.
Scientists have identified a strain of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis that thrives in the presence of rifampin, a front-line drug in the treatment of tuberculosis. The researchers determined that the bacteria grew poorly in the absence of the antibiotic rifampin and better with it. The patient’s condition also worsened with treatment regimens containing rifampin, before being cured with rifampin-free regimens. The study is among the first to document the treatment of a patient with rifampin-dependent infection.
Staphylococcus aureus causes far more serious infections than previously realized.
The often feared and sometimes deadly infections caused by MRSA — methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — are now moving out of hospitals and emerging as an even more virulent strain in community settings and on athletic teams, and raising new concerns about antibiotic resistance.
Researchers have solved a fundamental mystery about smallpox that has puzzled scientists long after the natural disease was eradicated by vaccination: they know how it kills us. Scientists can now describe how the virus cripples immune systems by attacking molecules made by our bodies to block viral replication.
An estimated 25,000 Americans develop severe fungal infections each year, leading to 10,000 deaths despite the use of anti-fungal drugs. The associated cost to the US health care system has been estimated at $1 billion a year. Now two scientists have developed new brominated furanones that exhibit powerful anti-fungal properties.
