Newly described proteins in drug-resistant strains of the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium attract and then destroy protective human white blood cells—a key process ensuring that S. aureus survives and causes severe disease, according to scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.
An immune system messenger molecule that normally helps quiet inflammation could be an effective tool against multiple sclerosis (MS). Neurology researchers led by Abdolmohamad Rostami, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Neurology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and the Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience in Philadelphia, have found that the protein interkeukin-27 (IL-27) helped block the onset or reverse symptoms in animals with an MS-like disease.
New research provides clues about the causes of lupus symptoms and suggests specific new targeted treatment strategies, according to Nilamadham Mishra, M.D., from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, in presentations this week at the American College of Rheumatology in Boston.
Around one in five young Britons has sex with a new partner while overseas, finds research published ahead of print in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. And they are apparently opting for British or European sexual partners in the belief that this minimises the chances of HIV infection, but seemingly unawares of their risks of contracting other sexually transmitted infections.
A study published this week in the prestigious British journal The Lancet, questions the need for expensive and potentially risky treatments commonly used to combat acute low back pain. The Sydney University researchers, led by Mark Hancock from the University of Sydney Back Pain Research Group, followed 240 patients suffering from acute low back pain from their first visit to their GP through to recovery.
It’s a research that is likely to leave men speechless — males, not females, are chatterboxes. International researchers have carried out a study and found that men out-talk women, dispelling the long-held myth that females cannot stop chattering.
As levels of binge drinking in the UK rise, doctors in this week’s BMJ report three cases of bladder rupture in women who attended hospital with lower abdominal pain. Although rare, this condition has previously only been seen in men after excessive alcohol intake.
Telemedicine and e-Health, a publication available in print and on-line by Mary Ann Liebert Inc., publishers (www.liebertpub.com) will greatly expand its content and frequency beginning in 2008; a new section, MEDICAL CONNECTIVITY will make its debut in the March issue.
Studies in mice suggest that two drugs already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration show promise for treating the complications of lupus, according to Nilamadham Mishra, M.D., in presentations this week at the American College of Rheumatology in Boston.
Statins are a popular class of drugs used to successfully combat high cholesterol. However, the rare, but serious, and poorly understood side effect of skeletal muscle breakdown (a process known as atrophy) prevents more prevalent use of these drugs.