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New studies suggest airborne SARS transmission is possible

Two new studies present evidence that the virus causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) may spread through the air, not just through direct contact with contaminated water droplets as previous research had shown. SARS coronavirus was detected in the air in a patient's room during the 2003 outbreak in Toronto, according to a new study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases...

New Insights Into HIV Immunity Suggest Alternative Approach to Vaccines

New insights by Duke University Medical Center researchers as to how HIV evades the human immune system may offer a new approach for developing HIV vaccines. The findings suggest some HIV vaccines may have failed because they induce a class of antibodies that a patient's own immune system is programmed to destroy. The Duke team discovered that certain broadly protective antibodies, which...

Insight into natural cholesterol control suggests novel cholesterol-lowering therapy

New work reported in the March issue of Cell Metabolism has provided insight into a key mechanism by which cells limit cholesterol synthesis. The finding suggests a novel approach to the development of cholesterol-lowering drugs that may boost the effect of statins, one of the most prescribed cholesterol inhibitors, according to researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.<...

Light therapy may combat fungal infections, new evidence suggests

A newly discovered mechanism by which an infectious fungus perceives light also plays an important role in its virulence, according to Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators at Duke University Medical Center. The findings suggest that changes in light following fungal invasion of the human body may be an important and previously overlooked cue that sparks infection, the researchers said.</...

Tamoxifen-like drug suggests new ways to selectively block estrogen

The ability of an experimental drug known as GW5638 to change the shape of the estrogen receptor is helping researchers understand why drugs like tamoxifen and raloxifene behave the way they do, simulating the effects of estrogen in some tissues and blocking it in others. The finding indicates that this little-known drug may play an important role in preventing, as well as treating, breast cancer...

Major new UNC-based drinking water study suggests pregnancy fears may be overstated

Fears that chemical byproducts resulting from purifying drinking water with chlorine boost the chances that pregnant women will miscarry were not supported by the results of a major new study. If such threats exist at all, which is uncertain, they likely are modest, it concludes. The national study, directed by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientists, contrasts with earlier,...

Community MRSA is re-emergence of 1950s pandemic, study suggests

An early type of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that caused a global epidemic of infections in the 1950s has re-emerged as one of the community-acquired MRSA 'superbugs', according to a study published in The Lancet tomorrow (Saturday 2 April 2005). This "re-equipping and re-emergence" of a clone that caused a pandemic 40-50 years ago could mean that community acquired MRSA will spread fast...

Neandertal femur suggests competition with hyenas and a shift in landscape use

Analysis of approximately 41,000-year-old human remains found in France suggests that Neandertals may have become regionally mobile earlier than scientists once thought. Cédric Beauval and colleagues from Université Bordeaux 1 in France, Max Planck Institute in Germany, and Washington University in St. Louis, conclude that the human femur fragment found in 2002 in the cave of the Rochers-...

Storing carbon to combat global warming may cause other environmental problems, study suggests

Growing tree plantations to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to mitigate global warming -- so called "carbon sequestration" -- could trigger environmental changes that outweigh some of the benefits, a multi-institutional team led by Duke University suggested in a new report. Those effects include water and nutrient depletion and increased soil salinity and acidity, said the researchers.<...

Ethical guidelines suggested for research that would put human stem cells in primates

Covering ship hulls with artificial shark skin could help ships sailing smoothly. The growth of marine organisms such as barnacles on ship hulls is a major cause of increased energy costs in the naval industry. Shark skin offers a structural design that prevents this so called 'bio-fouling'. Ralph Liedert from the University of Applied Sciences, Bremen, Germany, is presenting his work on t...

Discovery suggests why stem cells run through stop signs

Everyone knows that stem cells are controversial. Many people know that stem cells can grow into virtually any cell type found in the body, from a red blood cell to a muscle cell to a brain cell. But no one really knows why stem cells continue to divide and renew themselves long after the point where other cells stop dividing. Now scientists at Northwestern University and the University of...

Why do aneurysms form? New studies suggest leading role for white blood cells

Each year, 200,000 Americans find out that the largest blood vessel in their body, the aorta, may burst open at any time. About 20,000 die suddenly from such a rupture. And another 36,000 have surgery to repair or replace the swelling section of aorta before time runs out. But despite the deadly toll of this condition, called abdominal aortic aneurysm or AAA ("triple A"), experts know very...

Research suggests fitness of Florida panthers improved by limited breeding with Texas animals

The number of living Florida panthers has grown from a previously estimated 30 to a recently counted 87 as a result of a controversial breeding effort to improve the genetic health of the endangered and inbred animals, according to a new assessment. Hybrid kittens born to panthers brought into the area from Texas have "about a three times higher chance of becoming adults as do purebred one...

Preventing a pandemic: Study suggests strategies for containing a flu outbreak

Though quick to caution about the many things that could go wrong, researchers say that it may be possible to contain a Southeast Asian outbreak of avian influenza in humans, buying precious time for the production of a vaccine. Using a computer model to simulate an outbreak in a rural Southeast Asian population, the scientists have shown how a combination of strategies, including targeted...

Logging doubles threat to the Amazon, rivaling clear-cutting, study suggests

Human activities are degrading the Amazonian forest at twice the rate previously estimated, suggests a new study that adds the effects of logging to those of clear-cutting. The research appears in the 21 October issue of the journal Until now, satellite-based methods for measuring deforestation across large areas have only b...

Same-sex mating by fungi spawned infection outbreak, evidence suggests

Same-sex mating between two less harmful yeast strains might have spawned an outbreak of disease among otherwise healthy people and animals on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Howard Hughes Medical Institute geneticists at Duke University Medical Center have reported. The fungus, Cryptococcus gattii, is normally restricted to the tropics and subtropics. The researchers said their findin...

Molecular research suggest shift needed in how some drugs are created

The first close-up look at a pro-inflammatory signaling molecule involved in immune response in mammals suggests that researchers "should rethink what they are doing" in creating drugs based on a fruit-fly model, scientists say. Reporting in the Oct. 1 issue of the Journal of Immunology, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign unveiled the crystal structure of mouse i...

Underdogs in the understory: Study suggests nature favors rarer trees

A study of seven tropical forests around the world has revealed that nature encourages biodiversity by favoring the growth of less common trees. The landmark study, conducted by 33 ecologists from 12 countries and published in the Jan. 27 issue of the journal Science, conclusively demonstrates that diversity matters and has ecological importance to tropical forests. Helene Muller-Landau, a...

Study suggests that publicly available genome data may contain small but significant errors

Since the genome sequence of the bacterial pathogen Haemophilus influenzae was published in 1995, the genetic code of many other large, complex, medically, and commercially significant organisms including humans has also been elucidated. However, the techniques used to derive these genetic sequences are imperfect, and many researchers may be unaware of potential errors lurking within the p...

Weizmann Institute suggests that immune cells help to maintain cognition and brain cell renewal

A team of scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science, led by Prof. Michal Schwartz of the Neurobiology Department, has come up with new findings that may have implications in delaying and slowing down cognitive deterioration in old age. The basis for these developments is Schwartz's team's observations, published today in the February issue of Nature Neuroscience, that immune cells contribut...

Animal brains 'hard-wired' to recognize predator's foot movements, Queen's study suggests

The reason people can approach animals in the wild more easily from a car than by foot may be due to an innate "life detector" tuned to the visual movements of an approaching predator's feet, says Queen's University psychologist Niko Troje. "We believe this visual filter is used to signal the presence of animals that are propelled by the motion of their feet and the force of gravity," sug...

Insects and mammals share common fat-building pathway, study suggests

When it comes to gaining fat, insects and mammals may have something in common, researchers report in the Jan. 11, 2006, Cell Metabolism. The study finds that the so-called hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway--an ancient suite of genes involved in determining the fates of many cell types--might also play an important role in fat formation in both flies and mice. The findings are the first to show a c...

Hopkins study suggests commercially available antibiotic may help fight dementia in HIV patients

An antibiotic commonly used to treat a variety of serious infections may also help prevent dementia in HIV patients, according to a test-tube study of human brain cells by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine neurologist Jeffrey Rumbaugh, M.D., Ph.D. Results of the lab study with ceftriaxone are expected to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 58th annual meeting on A...

Obese people are more sensitive to pain, suggests study

Obese people may be more sensitive to pain than people who aren't obese, a new study suggests. Participants were given a mild electrical stimulation on their left ankle to measure their pain reflex. The stimulus was given before and after...

Studies suggest new brain protein may help in treating schizophrenia, insomnia and anxiety

A small protein in the brain that has only recently been discovered and, paradoxically, induces both profound wakefulness and a less anxious state, may represent a novel target for the treatment of psychotic behavior and schizophrenia, according to new research presented at the 6th International Congress of Neuroendocrinology (ICN 2006). ICN 2006 is being held at the David L. Lawrence Convention...

Study suggests evolutionary link between diet, brain size in orangutans

In a study of orangutans living on the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Sumatra, scientists from Duke University and the University of Zurich have found what they say is the first demonstration in primates of an evolutionary connection between available food supplies and brain size. Based on their comparative study, the scientists say orangutans confined to part of Borneo where food suppli...

Mayo Clinic study suggests that a central nervous system viral infection can lead to memory deficits

In one of the first known laboratory studies that explores memory deficits associated with a viral infection of the central nervous system, Mayo Clinic researchers have evidence that this infection can lead to memory loss late in life. The study, which was conducted in animal models, suggests that over the lifetime of an individual, a picornavirus-related infection could possibly have a permanent...

Research suggests beta agonists may alter the immune system

New research at Wake Forest University School of Medicine suggests that certain inhaled asthma medications ?as well as similar chemicals our bodies produce during times of high stress ?may worsen diseases such as asthma, heart failure and lupus that involve inflammation. The scientific team led by Raymond Penn, Ph.D., and Matthew Loza, Ph.D, found that beta-agonists, such as those used in...

New study suggests promising drug combinations for sleeping sickness

Results from a clinical trial evaluating new drug combinations for sleeping sickness, carried out by the international humanitarian medical aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), and its research arm, Epicentre, have now been published in the journal PLoS Clinical Trials. African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness affects many tens of thousands of people each year in sub-Sahara...

Penn study on lung-infecting bacterial enzyme suggests new approach to cystic fibrosis treatment

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that an enzyme produced by lung-infecting bacteria further shuts down a protein that is defective in cystic fibrosis patients. The disruption to this protein that conveys ions from lung cells to airways causes thick mucus to buildup inside the lung. The finding suggests a new therapeutic target for treating lung infe...

Lost dogs found more often than lost cats, study suggests

A lost dog is more likely to be reunited with its owner than a lost cat, according to two new studies. More than a third of the recovered dogs were found by a call or visit to an animal shelter. More than one in four dogs were found because the an...

Are one-third of costly implanted heart devices unnecessary? New study suggests yes

This year, Medicare will pay for tens of thousands of heart patients to have high-tech devices implanted in their chests. Called ICDs or implantable cardioverter defibrillators, the expensive devices are designed to shock damaged hearts back into rhythm and save patients from sudden cardiac death, which kills 300,000 Americans each year. But a new study finds that while many of these patie...

Study suggests some drug resistance to influenza B medications

Use of certain common antiviral drugs during a recent influenza B epidemic in Japan showed the development of viruses with partial resistance to the drugs, according to a study in the April 4 issue of JAMA. Two antiviral drugs, zanamivir and oseltamivir, which are a type of drugs known as neuraminidase inhibitors, have been effective against influenza and are used extensively. There has be...

DNA analysis suggests under-reported kills of threatened whales

A new study analyzing whale meat sold in Korean markets suggests the number of whales being sold for human consumption in the Asian country is much higher than that being reported to the International Whaling Commission ?putting threatened populations of coastal minke whales further at risk. The study, involving numerous researchers led by Scott Baker of Oregon State University, was just p...

New study suggests potential for a broadly-protective HIV vaccine

New research conducted at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) suggests that it may be possible to develop a vaccine that protects against the myriad strains of the HIV virus. HIV is extremely variable, so an effective vaccine may need to stimulate the body to produce cross-reactive antibodies that will neutralize multiple viral strains. These results demonstrate that...