The following articles are featured in the upcoming issue of the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology: Novel H3N1 swine influenza virus identified in pigs in Korea; New treatment using human antibodies to target harmful toxins may protect against C. cifficile; and Guinea pig aerosol challenge presents new model for Q fever research in humans.
More than 20 million Americans suffer from diabetes, a serious, chronic illness. Now, during American Diabetes Month, everyone has an opportunity to make an impact in the fight against the disease, at no cost, with just a click of the mouse. For each visitor who clicks at www.Click4Diabetes.com, a donation will be made to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the nation’s leading nonprofit health organization providing diabetes research, information and advocacy.
Although children born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy are known to be at increased risk of developing asthma, ?few studies have investigated the role of active cigarette smoking on asthma onset during adolescence?, the researchers explain in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Men around Australia are being asked to “grow a mo” as part of Movember, a charity event held during November each year. The theme for Movember is “changing the face of men’s health”.
The latest medical and clinical research on treatment and diagnosis of asthma will be made available free of charge to doctors, pharmacists and other professionals who deal with asthma patients, via a new handbook.
A visiting biologist at the University of California, San Diego and her colleagues in Africa and Britain have shown that there are close linkages between outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in human and wildlife populations, and that climate may influence the spread of the disease.
Elementary school-aged children report that they have sleep difficulties more often than their parents report think they do. A sample of 300 pairs of eight-year-old twins was studied to examine the genetic and environmental influences on sleep. The research suggests several explanations for the discrepancy between child and parent reported sleep difficulties in children. Overall, the findings reflect that both genetic and environmental influences are factors in a range of sleep problems.
Scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed an inexpensive “gene chip” test based on a single influenza virus gene that could allow scientists to quickly identify flu viruses, including avian influenza H5N1.
Stroke survivors less than 65 years old report having more difficulty accessing physicians and affording medications than stroke survivors older than 65, according to an article posted online today that will appear in the January 2007 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
The rate of colorectal cancer screening appears to be increasing among Veterans Affairs patients, although use of colonoscopy is less common than other screening procedures, according to a report in the Nov. 13 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. A second report in the same journal shows that younger veterans with other illnesses and reduced life expectancies may not necessarily benefit from such screening and may even be harmed, but continue to be screened at high rates.