Speaking at a Ferring-sponsored symposium on the occasion of the 14th United European Gastroenterology Week (UEGW) congress, Christoph Gasche, Associate Professor of Medicine, Medical University of Vienna, Austria presented the findings of an in-vitro study which for the first time demonstrates a mode of action by which mesalazine may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) patients.
Researchers have successfully sequenced the DNA of 15 mouse strains most commonly used in biomedical research. More than 8.3 million genetic variations, or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), were discovered among the genomes of the 15 mouse strains. These new data on laboratory mice will help researchers better understand what makes some individuals more susceptible than others to certain diseases, and will serve as a valuable resource as researchers determine the role that various environmental substances may play in the development of disease.
Preventing cavities could one day involve the dental equivalent of a military surgical strike. A team of researchers supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research report they have created a new smart anti-microbial treatment that can be chemically programmed in the laboratory to seek out and kill a specific cavity-causing species of bacteria, leaving the good bacteria untouched.
A new NIH-funded study shows that a specific gene variant in humans affects both sensitivity to short-term (acute) pain in healthy volunteers and the risk of developing chronic pain after one kind of back surgery. Blocking increased activity of this gene after nerve injury or inflammation in animals prevented development of chronic pain.
Leptospirosis has been diagnosed clinically in two men recently returned from a fishing holiday at a resort in the Picardie region of north-east France. One case has since been serologically confirmed. Both patients were at the same resort at the same time (mid-September), and became unwell about one week after their return to the United Kingdom.
Viruses linked to the common cold could be causing memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease in millions of people, new research suggests. Experts suspect that common viruses which infect around one billion people worldwide each year may be invading the central nervous system and damaging the brain. In later life this could lead to symptoms of memory loss and declining mental ability.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has taken a significant step forward in the global effort to prepare for an influenza pandemic by publishing the Global Pandemic Influenza Action Plan to Increase Vaccine Supply. In developing this plan through a consensus of the world?s experts in influenza, immunization, vaccine research, and manufacturing, the WHO has set the world?s sights on the decisive path forward to increase the global capacity to produce pandemic influenza vaccine.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday pledged US$23 million to help Indian health authorities in their efforts to combat HIV. The funds, to be disbursed over the next three years, will be used to “enhance the capacity of the government of India’s HIV prevention response,” Tadataka Yamada of the Foundation’s Global Health Program, said in New Delhi.
Ottawa will invest $8.4-million over the next two years to develop a new heart health strategy, the Health Minister says. The money will initially be used to determine the extent of cardiovascular disease in Canada, and hypertension in particular, and then to shape a plan of attack, Tony Clement said.
Vegetables – particularly green, leafy ones – will preserve the brain power if you eat three servings a day, new research shows. People who consumed two or more vegetables a day had a 35 to 40 percent decrease in the decline in thinking ability over six years. That’s the equivalent of being five years younger in age. The study results are published in the Oct. 24 issue of the journal Neurology.