Injection drug users are still at a very high risk of acquiring hepatitis C (HCV) and hepatitis B (HBV); however, needle-sharing is less common, and users do not become infected as quickly as they did in the past, according to a new study in the September issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).
Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infects up to 500,000 people in the UK alone, many of the infections going undiagnosed. It is the single biggest cause of people requiring a liver transplant in Britain. Now, in a collaborative effort with groups across Europe and the USA, scientists from The University of Nottingham have found monoclonal antibodies which may be a significant step towards a vaccine.
Neurons, or nerve cells, communicate with each other through contact points called synapses. When these connections are damaged, communication breaks down, causing the messages that would normally help our feet push our bike pedals or our mind locate our car keys to fall short.
This week, more than eight hundred pathologists from around Europe and the world will take part in a first of its kind, large-scale virtual microscopy slide seminar on the web. The seminar is arranged by the Biomedical Informatics Research Group from the University of Helsinki in conjunction with the 21st European Congress of Pathology, which will be held in Istanbul, Turkey.
A specific gene mutation may be useful in predicting the level of aggression of thyroid cancer and help guide treatment options and follow-up care, according to new study findings.
A McGill University study has found that a new class of drugs known as serotonin4 (5-HT4) receptor agonists may take effect four to seven times faster than traditional selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The study, led by former McGill post-doctoral fellow in psychiatry Guillaume Lucas with his supervisor, the late Dr. Guy Debonnel, was published in the September 6 issue of the journal Neuron.
A ?5 million investment in the development of personalized medicines at the University of Liverpool will see the introduction of treatments tailored for individual patients.
The Simons Foundation, through its Autism Research Initiative, has signed a $7.8 million, two-year contract with the Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (RUCDR) to establish a collection of DNA samples for autism studies. The samples will be collected from 2,000 families that have a single autistic child.
Northwestern University is using an economics theory to rehab people with lousy health habits. Researchers want participants to just change two unhealthy behaviors to see if the others will tag along. Sort of a buy two, get two free sale based on the Behavioral Economics Theory used by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman. Couch potatoes also get an arsenal of high-tech tools to help them make the changes.
Type 1 diabetes is caused when immune cells attack and destroy the insulin producing beta-cells of the pancreas. Although insulin injections have changed the life of type I diabetics, they neither cure the disease nor prevent its severe complications.