Gene-base therapy may be effective against HIV, U.S. researchers report. An investigational gene-based immunotherapy called VRX496 suggests it can fight the virus, according to a phase I, open-label, non-randomized clinical trial conducted at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Exposure to industrial chemicals in the womb or early in life can impair brain development but only a handful are controlled to protect children, researchers said on Wednesday.
Northwestern University researchers have found an enzyme, called “ACE2,” may hold the potential to treat diabetic kidney disease, the most common form of kidney disease.The researchers have found low levels of the ACE2 enzyme in kidneys of diabetic mice. When ACE2 was further decreased with an inhibitor drug, kidney disease worsened. Studies are now needed using compounds that increase the level of ACE2 in the kidneys of diabetic mice to see if it reverses or prevents kidney disease.
Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have developed a unique anti-sickling agent that may one day be effective in treating sickle cell disease, a painful and debilitating genetic blood disorder that affects approximately 80,000 Americans.
For the first time, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology in Martinsried near Munich have been able to show how two nerve cells communicate with each other from different hemispheres in the visual center. This astoundingly simple circuit diagram could at a later date provide a model for algorithms to be deployed in technical systems (Nature Neuroscience, Oct. 10, 2006).
Many medical school graduates in Canada have not received adequate training in basic surgical skills, such as suturing and tube placements, says a new study published recently in the Canadian Journal of Surgery.
Rutgers researchers have discovered that the Chlamydia bacterium, which causes a sexually transmitted disease (STD), shares an evolutionary heritage with plants. That shared evolutionary heritage, which is not found in most other bacteria, points to a prime target for development of an effective cure for Chlamydia infections.
Growing up in the Bronx, Howell Wechsler, EdD, MPH always dreamed of becoming a writer. Not just any writer, but an investigative reporter like his heroes Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two Washington Post journalists who broke the Watergate scandal. Wechsler’s journalistic dream took a detour when service in the Peace Corps landed him in Zaire, Africa?a place that would eventually serve as the catalyst for his career in public health.
Baroness Llora Finlay of Llandaff, professor of palliative medicine and chronic pain at the Velindre NHS trust, Cardiff, is presenting this year?s Marsden Lecture at the Royal Free. Baroness Finlay will speak on ?Quality at the end of Life? in a lecture on Thursday 16 November.
UT Southwestern Medical Center, UT Dallas’ Center for BrainHealth and Shelton School of Dallas will join forces to conduct an innovative three-year research study aimed at helping children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and their families.