Health News

How tiny swimmers get around could inform studies of bacterial infection and fertility

Date: Aug-15-2013
It's counterintuitive but true: Some microorganisms that use flagella for locomotion are able to swim faster in gel-like fluids such as mucus. Research engineers at Brown University have figured out why. It's the angle of the coil that matters. Findings are reported in Physical Review Letters. A high-angle helix helps microorganisms like sperm and bacteria swim through mucus and other viscoelastic fluids, according to a new study by researchers from Brown University and the University of Wisconsin...

First steps of fungal infection prevented by new compound

Date: Aug-15-2013
Targeting serious and sometimes deadly fungal infections, a team of researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) has discovered a chemical compound that prevents fungal cells from adhering to surfaces, which, typically, is the first step of the infection process used by the human pathogen Candida albicans (C. albicans). After screening 30,000 chemical compounds in a series of tests with live C...

Red blood cell flow predicted by computer model

Date: Aug-15-2013
Adjacent to the walls of our arterioles, capillaries, and venules -- the blood vessels that make up our microcirculation -- there exists a peculiar thin layer of clear plasma, devoid of red blood cells. Although it is just a few millionths of a meter thick, that layer is vital. It controls, for example, the speed with which platelets can reach the site of a cut and start the clotting process...

University of East Anglia research could contain infectious disease outbreaks

Date: Aug-14-2013
Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have identified a rapid response which could help halt infectious diseases such as bird flu, swine flu and SARS before they take hold. Focusing on the avian flu virus strain H5N1, research published in the journal PLOS ONE identifies key stages in the poultry trade chain which lead to its transmission to other birds, animals and humans. High risk times for the disease to spread include during transportation, slaughter, preparation and consumption...

Even 'safe' levels of added sugar may be harmful

Date: Aug-14-2013
Consuming the equivalent of three cans of soda on a daily basis, or a 25% increased added-sugar intake, may decrease lifespan and reduce the rate of reproduction, according to a study of mice published in the journal Nature Communications. Researchers from the University of Utah conducted a toxicity experiment on 156 mice, of which 58 were male and 98 were female. The experiment involved placing them in room-sized pens called "mouse barns" with a number of nest boxes...

SMi's Cancer Vaccine Summit, 18-19 September 2013, London UK

Date: Aug-14-2013
According to an article published online by the Telegraph, scientists at the University of Southampton have developed a new drug that works by increasing the ability of the immune system to recognise and attack tumours. A £5 million European Union funded trial of the new treatment is due to start next year. SMi's keynote speaker at Cancer Vaccines 2013, Prof Martin Glennie, who has led the research at the University of Southampton, said: "Some cancers are able to switch the immune cells off...

Premature infants may have higher risk of heart disease

Date: Aug-14-2013
Babies who are born prematurely experience differences in how their heart forms and works as an adult, compared with babies who are born at full-term. According to a study published in the journal Circulation, this leads to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease later in life. Researchers from the University of Oxford in England studied 102 premature infants from birth, alongside 132 infants who were born at full-term with no complications...

Later-life death risks for children born to obese mothers

Date: Aug-14-2013
Approaching pregnancy with a healthy body is common sense, but a new study published in the British Medical Journal has quantified the risks of maternal obesity, finding that children born to obese mothers are more likely to die prematurely in their later adult years. The authors of the BMJ study say that in the US, about 64% of women in the child-bearing age bracket are overweight and 35% are obese, creating "a major public health concern" for high-risk groups of people who should be assessed for their cardiovascular risk...

Prisons and partner organisations must do more to provide health and social care to growing population of older prisoners, UK

Date: Aug-14-2013
More needs to be done in prisons to look after a growing population of older male prisoners, according to research by The University of Manchester. The findings, just published by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Journals Library in Health Services and Delivery Research, showed 44% of prisons do not have a policy on the care and management of older prisoners and there was a lack of integration between health and social care services...

Potential use of Excellagen to repair prenatally diagnosed birth defects using mesenchymal stem cells

Date: Aug-14-2013
Cardium Therapeutics has reported on a research collaboration with researchers at Boston Children's Hospital, to assess the medical utility of Excellagen® as a delivery scaffold to seed autologous mesenchymal fetal stem cells for ex-vivo engineering of tissue grafts for transplantation into infants to repair prenatally diagnosed birth defects. Autologous mesenchymal fetal stem cells are derived prenatally from infants with a medical defect requiring life-saving tissue repairs. These stem cells are sourced from amniotic fluid, the placenta or umbilical cord blood...