Brain :: New research may lead to treatments for memory-related disorders
“Have I been here before”? In today’s fast-moving world of look-alike hotel rooms and comparable corridors, it can take a bit of thinking to answer this simple question.
Plague
Immunity :: Newly found sensing system enables certain bacteria to resist human immune defenses
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.
HIV :: HIV Vaccine Awareness Day
May 18, 2007 marks the 10th annual HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, an opportunity to reflect upon the more than two decades of progress worldwide in the search for a safe and effective HIV vaccine.
Summer :: Experts on Sundry Summer Woes
Tulane general internist Jeffrey Wiese reminds us that summer heat can strike with little warning. Children, the elderly, overweight persons and people on certain medications need to take extra precautions because they are especially vulnerable to the effects of heat.
Drugs :: New chemistry approach promises less expensive drugs
With a newly discovered method of assembling organic molecules, a team of Princeton University chemists may have found a way to sidestep many of the expensive and hazardous barriers that stand in the way of drug development.
Health Insurance :: Health insurance fails to protect Americans from financial risk
Sickness or injury can leave people in serious financial jeopardy even when they have health insurance, according to a report released today by the Access Project and Brandeis University. The Illusion of Coverage: How Health Insurance Fails People When They Get Sick, reports findings based on in-depth interviews with dozens of insured Americans in seven states.
Plague :: Will the plague pathogen become resistant to antibiotics?
A small piece of DNA that helps bacteria commonly found in US meat and poultry resist several antibiotics has also been found in the plague bacillus Yersinia pestis, gene sequence researchers report.
Heart Failure :: Life-saving technology may address unique needs of women in heart failure
Contrary to popular wisdom, heart disease is not primarily a male disease, and is in fact statistically far more deadly when it occurs in women. Most women are not aware that heart disease is the number one killer of women, far greater than any other disease.
Stem Cell :: New hope for regenerative medicine
In the February 15th issue of Genes & Development, Dr. K. John McLaughlin and colleagues report on their success in using uniparental embryonic stem cells to replace blood stem cells in mice. Uniparental embryonic stem cells are an appealing alternative source of patient-derived embryonic stem cells, as they have several advantages over embryonic stem cell lines generated by somatic cell nuclear transfer (also known as therapeutic cloning).
Urinary Tract Infection :: Treatments for urinary infections leave bacteria bald, happy and vulnerable
A different approach to treating urinary tract infections (UTIs) could defeat the bacteria that cause the infections without directly killing them, a strategy that could help slow the growth of antibiotic-resistant infections. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been working to create pharmaceuticals that essentially “defang” the bacteria by preventing them from assembling pili, microscopic hairs that enable the bacteria to invade host cells.