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Immunologists Make Progress in the Fight Against Tuberculosis

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In the fight against tuberculosis -an infectious disease that is widespread the world over, leading immunologists expect to see some clear advances. Professor Stefan Kaufmann, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, echoed these sentiments at the launch of the scientific programme for the 64th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting at Lindau, Germany. "In the past ten years, numerous attempts have been made to develop an improved vaccine. We ...

Low Hand Hygiene Compliance Rates found During Anesthesia Administration: Study

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During surgical procedures, anesthesia providers are missing opportunities to clean their hands. This is according to a study published in the July issue of the emAmerican Journal of Infection Control/em, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). In the study, researchers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center used video observation to map patterns of anesthesia provider hand contact ...

Australian Relic Predict the Hunting Behaviors of Mammals

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Paleobiologists Christine Janis and Borja Figueirido simply wanted to determine the hunting style of an extinct marsupial called Thylacine (also known as the "marsupial wolf" or the "Tasmanian tiger")at the start of their research. In the end, the Australian relic, which has a very dog-like head but with both cat- and dog-like features in the skeleton, proved to be uniquely unspecialized, but what emerged from the effort is a new classification system that can ...

Keep the 'New' Cancer Drug in Your Medicine Cabinet

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It turns out that the same types of drugs that help reduce runny noses and watery eyes during allergy season might also help ward off tumors. A new research report appearing in the July 2014 issue of emThe Journal of Leukocyte Biology/em suggests that antihistamines may have significant anti-cancer properties as they interfere with the function of a type of cell that is known to reduce the body's ability to fight tumors (called "myeloid derived suppressor cells"). ...

Weak Immune System Damages the Lungs of Heavy Drinkers

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Heavy drinking damages the body in many ways, in addition to liver failure, alcoholics are at a much greater risk of developing pneumonia and life threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). And there is no treatment for these. Researchers suspect that alcoholics are more susceptible to these lung diseases because the immune system in the lung is no longer strong enough to protect from infection and damage, but, it had been unclear why the immune system ...

Herbal Supplement can Reduce the Concentration of Numerous Drugs in the Body

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St. John's wort -the leading alternative and complementary treatment for depression in US can be dangerous when taken with many commonly prescribed drugs. This is according to a study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The researchers reported that the herbal supplement can reduce the concentration of numerous drugs in the body, including oral contraceptive, blood thinners, cancer chemotherapy and blood pressure medications, resulting in impaired ...

Stem Cells may be More Widespread and Have Greater Potential Than Previously Thought

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Many would say that the definition of stem cells is well established and commonly agreed upon with the plethora of research and published studies on stem cells over the last decade. However, a new review article appearing in the July 2014 issue of emThe FASEB Journal/em, suggests that scientists have only scratched the surface of understanding the nature, physiology and location of these cells. Specifically, the report suggests that embryonic and induced pluripotent ...

Researchers Take a Step Closer to Bio-Printing Transplantable Tissues and Organs

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A new study reports that researchers have made a giant leap towards the goal of 'bio-printing' transplantable tissues and organs for people affected by major diseases and trauma injuries. Scientists from the Universities of Sydney, Harvard, Stanford and MIT have bio-printed artificial vascular networks mimicking the body's circulatory system that are necessary for growing large complex tissues. "Thousands of people die each year due to a lack of organs ...

US Health Costs and Coverage Show Signs of Improvement

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Health costs in the United States and tally of Americans without medical insurance, both surged in the decade to 2010, but both trends then have shown improvement, a study said Monday. From 2000 to 2009, the annual bill per person, public and private spending combined, soared from (Dollar) 5,152 (3,762 euros) to (Dollar) 7,010 but from 2009 to 2011 only slightly, to (Dollar) 7,212. In 2002, the annual increase was about seven percent -- more than twice the rate in five other ...

WHO Recommend Women's Groups to Cut Newborn Deaths

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WHO has recommended an intervention developed and tested by partners in four countries and UCL researchers to improve maternal and newborn health. The intervention involves groups of women working together in a four-stage facilitated process: 1) Identifying problems during pregnancy, delivery, and post-partum; 2) Developing strategies to address these problems; 3) Implementing these strategies; and 4) Evaluating the strategies. A meta-analysis of research ...

Pain Sensation Increases After Common Childhood Surgery: Research

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Pediatric researchers identified variations in genes that affect a child's need for pain-control drugs, in the first genome-wide analysis of postsurgical pain in children. The findings suggest that at some point physicians may calibrate pain-medication dosages according to a child's individual genetic makeup. "Although this research is only a first step for our team, it provides tremendous new insight into the biological mechanisms and brings us a little ...

No Widespread Evidence of Cancer Risk from IVF Drugs: Study

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Researchers reveal that a long-term study of women who used ovary-stimulating hormones for fertility treatment found no widespread evidence of a higher cancer risk. The results appear to contradict a number of studies in recent years that suggested such treatments may increase the risk of the disease. Doctors have a choice of several hormone drugs to stimulate ovaries to produce eggs harvested for in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). The forerunner, ...

Pelvic Exam Not Required for All Women, Say US Doctors' Group

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Pelvic examination done manually by gynecologists using their hands to feel around for potentially cancerous masses is not required for most women, a leading doctors' group said Monday. The American College of Physicians said women should still see their doctors annually for regular Pap smears and cervical exams to screen for cancer and sexually transmitted infections. However, a systematic review of previously published research from 1946 to January, ...

Suspended Walkway Over Rome's Trevi Fountain Unveiled

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Restoration of Rome's famed Trevi Fountain was kicked off on Monday by Fashion house Fendi, unveiling a transparent suspended walkway which will give tourists a whole new vantage point of the historic monument. Though the fountain has been drained for the renovation, a small basin has been set up at the rim so that visitors can continue the tradition of throwing a coin into the waters with their back turned -- a custom which is said to bring good luck. "The ...

More People With Early-Stage Cancer Having HIV-Positive Go Untreated for Cancer

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Treatment for cancer is ignored about two to four times by HIV-infected people diagnosed with cancer, compared to uninfected cancer patients, reveal researchers in a new, large retrospective study from researchers in Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) published online ahead of print in the emJournal of Clinical Oncology/em. Life expectancy for HIV-infected people is now similar to uninfected people, but survival ...

Patients With Addiction to be Treated During and After Hospitalization

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Patients having opioid (heroin) addiction receive buprenorphine treatment in hospital, but seamlessly connecting them with an outpatient office based treatment program can greatly reduce relapse after they are discharged, demonstrate results of a new study. Led by researchers at Boston Medical Center (BMC), the study shows the important role that providers play in offering these patients addiction treatment both while in the hospital and after - even if their primary ...

Host's Scent Manipulated by Malaria Parasite

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Chemical odor signal of hosts is altered by malaria parasites, so as to attract mosquitoes and improve spread of their offspring, say researchers. They believe this scent change could be used as a diagnostic tool. "Malaria-infected mice are more attractive to mosquitoes than uninfected mice," said Mark Mescher, associate professor of entomology, Penn State. "They are the most attractive to these mosquito vectors when the disease is most transmissible." ...

Prostate Cancer Facts and Figures

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Prostate cancer is a cancer that forms in tissues of the prostate. It is the second most common cancer in men worldwide. Read Medindia's facts on Prostate cancer.

Harmful effects in Some Type 2 Diabetes Patients With Insulin and Other Drugs

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The negative impacts of insulin and drugs, like weight gain and burdens like frequent insulin shots, could occur for some patients with type 2 diabetes, especially those over age 50. This condition trumps the benefits of drugs, says a new study by the University of Michigan Health System, the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, and University College London. The findings, which appear in today''s iJournal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine/i, ...

Watson App from IBM Whips Up Big Data in the Kitchen

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Putting a chef's hat on its Watson supercomputer, IBM and the magazine Bon Appetit unveiled a new initiative Monday that seeks to use Big Data for gastronomy. A new app unveiled in test version called "Chef Watson with Bon Appetit" aims at helping cooks "draw on Watson's advanced cognitive capabilities to create entirely new recipes and gastronomic combinations that have previously never been conceived," IBM said. The kitchen becomes the new proving ...

Researchers Identify 'Master Switch' for Myelination in Human Brain Stem Cells

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The single transcription factor or "master switch" that initiates the critical myelination process in the brain has been identified by scientists at the University at Buffalo. The research will be published online in iProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences/i (PNAS) on June 30. The identification of this factor, SOX10, in human brain cells, brings researchers closer to the goal of treating multiple sclerosis (MS) by transplanting into patients the brain ...

Precious Therapeutic Cargo Carried by Engineered Red Blood Cells

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Genetically and enzymatically modified red blood cells used to carry a range of valuable payloads like drugs, vaccines and imaging agents for delivery to specific sites in the body, have been created by Whitehead Institute scientists. "We wanted to create high-value red cells that do more than simply carry oxygen," says Whitehead Founding Member Harvey Lodish, who collaborated with Whitehead Member Hidde Ploegh in this pursuit. "Here we've laid out the technology ...

Study Says Vaccines Have Low Risk of Serious Side Effects

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Serious adverse events like autism, food allergies or cancer that are linked to childhood cancers are really rare, says a review of scientific literature. A host of vaccines commonly given to children under age six were the focus of the systematic review of rigorously conducted studies, published in the peer-reviewed US journal Pediatrics. The report seeks to address a rising trend of vaccine hesitancy among parents in the United States and Europe, ...

Extraordinary Gains in Bioimaging and Health With 'Molecular Movies'

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Observing life processes as they actually happen at the molecular level is possible with the creation of an imaging technology more powerful and really fast, announced researchers on Monday. Chemical and biological actions can now be measured as they are occurring or, in old-fashioned movie parlance, one frame at a time. This will allow creation of improved biosensors to study everything from nerve impulses to cancer metastasis as it occurs. The measurements, ...

Fully Online Study on Pediatric Autism Conducted First Time

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The first Internet-based clinical trial for children with autism was conducted by UC San Francisco researchers, establishing it as a viable and cost effective method of conducting high-quality and rapid clinical trials in this population. In their study, published in the June 2014 issue of the iJournal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/i, the researchers looked at whether an Internet-based trial was a feasible way to evaluate whether ...