A comparison of three parasite species that cause Leishmaniasis has identified a small number of genes, many new to biology, that will provide a framework to target the search for new treatments. Leishmaniasis is a devastating disease that affects about two million people each year and threatens one-fifth of the world’s population and new treatments are desperately needed.
A study conducted in a large sample of postmenopausal women by University at Buffalo epidemiologists has provided new information on the prevalence of certain gum-disease-causing oral bacteria in this population and the association of the bacteria with oral bone loss.
In a study appearing online on June 14 in advance of publication in the July print issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers at Charit?-Universit?tsmedizin Berlin report that the molecule known as TRAIL can limit excessive immune responses in bacterial meningitis, and as such may be of use to control inflammation of the spinal cord and brain, which causes brain cell death in this life-threatening disease.
If the Listeria monocytogenes bacteria behind food poisoning are starved of oxygen, they are liable to turn really nasty according to research published today in the online journal BMC Microbiology. Limiting oxygen produces bacteria up to 100 times more invasive than similar bacteria grown with ample oxygen supplies.
An innovative approach to tackling severe acute malnutrition ? affecting approximately 20 million children under the age of five globally ? is boosting survival rates, United Nations agencies announced jointly.
Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health, have discovered a survival mechanism in a common type of bacteria that can cause illness. The mechanism lets the bacteria protect itself by warding off attacks from antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which are defense molecules sent by the body to kill bacteria.
The Investigators in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease awards are made to encourage aggressive, multidisciplinary approaches to investigating pathogenesis.
GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) announced that the European Commission approved its novel topical antibacterial ALTARGO? (retapamulin ointment,1%) for the treatment of impetigo and infected small lacerations, abrasions or sutured wounds.
The $1 million, two-month project is a collaboration of 454 Life Sciences and the BCM Human Genome Sequencing Center (HGSC), said Dr. Richard Gibbs, director of the HGSC and a scientific advisor to the Connecticut-based company.
HopeLab validated the benefits of their cancer-fighting video game by conducting a randomized, controlled trial with 375 male and female cancer patients aged 13 – 29, enrolled at 34 medical centers in the U.S., Canada and Australia.