Health News

AIDS development faster with new aggressive HIV strain

Date: Dec-02-2013
A recently discovered HIV strain leads to significantly faster development of AIDS than currently prevalent forms, according to new research from Lund University in Sweden.The period from infection to development of AIDS was the shortest reported among HIV-1 types, at around five years.There are over 60 different epidemic strains of HIV-1 in the world, and geographic regions are often dominated by one or two of these. If a person becomes infected with two different strains, they can fuse and a recombined form can occur.

A decade of R&D into neglected tropical diseases

Date: Dec-02-2013
As part of a collaborative initiative, PLOS and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) are delighted to be launching a special Collection - PLOS & DNDi: a decade of Open Access and Neglected Tropical Diseases R&D (Research and Development) - to coincide with a joint event at the Institut Pasteur in Paris celebrating the 10-year anniversary of DNDi.In addition to being the same age, PLOS and DNDi have much in common.

Automated prediction alert helps identify patients at risk for 30-day readmission

Date: Dec-02-2013
An automated prediction tool which identifies newly admitted patients who are at risk for readmission within 30 days of discharge has been successfully incorporated into the electronic health record of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. The tool, developed by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, is the subject of a study published in the December issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine.

Depression's severity reduced by modafinil when taken with antidepressants

Date: Dec-02-2013
A new study has concluded that taking the drug modafinil, typically used to treat sleep disorders, in combination with antidepressants reduces the severity of depression more effectively than taking antidepressants alone. The study, a collaboration between the Universities of Cambridge and East London and King's College London, was published online in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.Approximately a third of depressed patients receive little or no benefit from taking antidepressants even when used in combination with psychological counseling.

In night games circadian timing may give edge to West Coast NFL teams

Date: Dec-02-2013
A new analysis of National Football League results suggests that the body's natural circadian timing gives a performance advantage to West Coast teams when they play East Coast teams at night."Over the past 40 years, even after accounting for the quality of the teams, West Coast NFL teams have had a significant athletic performance advantage over East Coast teams when playing games starting after 8 p.m. Eastern time," said lead author and board-certified sleep medicine physician Dr. Roger S. Smith.

Enzyme intervenes when cancer-fighting PTEN is bound for cell's protein-destroying machinery

Date: Dec-02-2013
A protector for PTEN, a tumor-thwarting protein often missing in cancer cells, has emerged from research led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center published online at Nature Cell Biology."We discovered that the enzyme USP13 stabilizes the PTEN protein by reversing a process that marks various proteins for destruction by the cell's proteasome," said the paper's senior author Li Ma, Ph.D., assistant professor of Experimental Radiation Oncology."USP13 also suppresses tumor formation and glycolysis though PTEN," Ma said.

Greener, cheaper and safer drug production promised by iron-based process

Date: Dec-02-2013
University of Toronto researchers have developed a series of techniques to create a variety of very active iron-based catalysts necessary to produce the alcohols and amines used in the drug and perfume industry. The new synthetic methods promise to be safer and more economical and environmentally friendly than traditional industrial processes.

Face transplantation: ethical debate has evolved over time

Date: Dec-02-2013
Once viewed as an "outlandish morally objectionable" concept with science-fiction overtones, face transplantation is now accepted as a "feasible and necessary treatment" for severely disfigured patients. The evolving ethical debate over face transplantation is analyzed in a special topic paper in the December issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

Highly effective treatment for excessive scars

Date: Dec-02-2013
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery assembles evidence on laser therapy for scar prevention and treatmentCurrent laser therapy approaches are effective for treating excessive scars resulting from abnormal wound healing, concludes a special topic paper in the December issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).The review by Dr.

By targeting enzyme in mosquito-borne parasite, researchers aim to eliminate malaria

Date: Dec-02-2013
Using advanced methodologies that pit drug compounds against specific types of malaria parasite cells, an international team of scientists, including researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, have identified a potential new weapon and approach for attacking the parasites that cause malaria.Their findings are published in the advanced online publication of Nature.Despite advances in prevention and treatment in recent years, malaria remains one of the world's great infectious scourges.