|
|
Posted yesterdays... The future of medical diagnostics is gold nanostars: Rods,
cones, cubes and spheres - move aside. Tiny gold stars, smaller than a
billionth of a meter, may hold the promise for new approaches to
medical diagnoses or testing for environmental contaminants. While
nanoparticles have been the rage across a wide spectrum of sciences, a
new study by Duke University bioengineers indicates that of all the
shapes studied to date, stars may shine above all the rest for certain
applications....more Imaging techniques reveal asthma-causing immune cells at work:
Immune cells known as eosinophils have a central role in causing
asthma. Now, a team of researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital,
Boston, has developed approaches to noninvasively visualize in
real-time eosinophil responses in the lungs and airways of mice with a
disease that mimics asthma (experimental allergic airway inflammation);
they hope that these approaches might be developed to help assess the
efficacy of treatments (both old and new) for the disease...more A Virus-Infecting Virus: Using
the Genome Sequencer System from 454 Life Sciences, a Roche company,
French scientists have identified a small virus that can actually be
parasitic to a larger one. The 50 nm virus, named Sputnik, is
associated with a new strain of the giant Acanthamoeba polyphaga
mimivirus (APMV) and is believed to represent a currently unknown
family of viruses. The study, entitled "The virophage as a unique
parasite of the giant mimivirus," appeared in the September 4th issue
of Nature....more Pimped up T-cells seek out and destroy HIV: Researchers
have harnessed evolution to create souped-up immune cells able to
recognise HIV far better than the regular "killer" T-cells our body
produces. The pimped up T-cell boasts a molecular receptor evolved in
the lab to give the body the edge against a virus that has so far
flummoxed our immune systems....more New role for critical DNA repair molecule in immune system: The
human immune system is a brilliantly adaptable weapon against foreign
invaders. But it all depends on the work of specialized cells called
lymphocytes that have made a risky evolutionary gambit to mutate their
own DNA. New research published in Nature shows for the first time that
a molecule devoted to DNA repair plays a broader role in this genetic
reshuffling — called recombination — than scientists had thought....more Seemingly suicidal stunt is normal rite of passage for immune cells: Scientists
have known for two decades or more that lymphocytes can break their own
DNA in this fashion, creating splits in both of the two strands.
However, the new finding is the first to link such serious damage to
activation of genes not directly involved in the cells' attempts to
either fix the harm or self-destruct to stop themselves from becoming
cancerous... more How Hepatitis C virus replicates: The hepatitis C virus is a prolific replicator, able to produce up to a trillion particles per day in an infected person by hijacking liver cells in which to build up its viral replication machinery....more Protein targets identified for malaria vaccine: Africa loses 2000 children every day from malaria, a disease that humans contract from mosquitoes. Mosquitoes spread the disease from human to human each time they take a blood meal from an infected person and follow it with a blood meal from an uninfected person (who then becomes infected). A vaccine is has not yet been developed, although there is a large research effort supporting it..........more Illegal Vaccine triggers Bluetongue outbreak: European farmers battling bluetongue, a viral disease infecting cattle, sheep, and goats, have something new to worry about. Four cows in the Netherlands have contracted a strain of the virus never before seen in Europe that was most likely introduced via the illegal use of a live vaccine, the Dutch ministry of agriculture announced on Tuesday. Experts worry that the virus might spread, which would complicate the fight against bluetongue...more Primate researchers ask the big questions: Four decades ago, scientists Jane Goodall and Toshisada Nishida began the groundbreaking research that made the world realize how similar humans are to their closest living relative, the chimpanzee...more
Safer, more effective vaccine for HIV-positive people developed: A more effective TB vaccine may help curtail the global spread of the disease, especially in HIV-positive people, for whom tuberculosis is the leading cause of death worldwide....more Leukemia drug improves multiple sclerosis symptoms in some people: A disease thought to be incurable is now a step closer to losing that dispiriting reputation. Multiple sclerosis, the disabling neuromuscular disease that has resisted effective drug therapy, eases off in some people given a drug normally prescribed for leukemia...more Altering a protein in the brain of mice can wipe out specific memories as they are recalled: As much as you might want to wipe Uncle Frank’s tasteless joke out of your mind but still remember the flavor of Aunt Fran’s pie, memory researchers have always said “fuhgedabboudit!” Now, a genetically engineered mouse suggests it may be possible to erase certain unwanted memories....more Secrets of death protein's activation unlocked: Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a previously undetected trigger point on a naturally occurring "death protein" that helps the body get rid of unwanted or diseased cells....more Tissue sample suggests HIV has been infecting humans for a century: 48-year-old lymph node biopsy reveals the history of the deadly virus...more
The disease legacy of our distant ancestors: Genetic diseases such as diabetes and Huntington's disease may be an evolutionary hangover from our primitive ancestors. This surprising discovery might make it possible to study human diseases in fish and insects- unlikely as that seems - as well in the more usual mice....moreInfectious find at ancient site:TB or not TB? That was the question created by a pair of human skeletons excavated more than a decade ago at a 9,000-year-old village submerged off Israel’s coast. A uniquely human strain of tuberculosis appears in the 9,000-year-old skeletons of a woman and a child.....more New mechanisms of resistence to Dengu virus: It is becoming increasingly common to see individuals infected by the dengue virus who develop an ultimately fatal hemorrhagic syndrome, particularly in children during epidemics. However, in most cases, dengue.more Microbiologists Discover Reason Why The Flu Virus Thrives In Winter: Virologists investigating transmission of the flu virus found that it is more likely to spread at colder temperatures. The dry, cold conditions pull moisture out of droplets.....more Nanotechnology boost war on superbugs: Scientists from the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) at UCL are using a novel nanomechanical approach to investigate the workings of vancomycin, one of the.....more |
|
|