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Air pollution primes children for asthma-related cockroach allergy
Feb. 6, 2013 An allergic reaction to cockroaches is a major contributor to asthma in urban children, but new research suggests that the insects are just one part of a more complex story. Very early exposure to certain components of air pollution can increase the risk of developing a cockroach allergy by age 7 and children with a common mutation in a gene called GSTM may be especially vulnerable
Genetically modified tobacco plants produce antibodies to treat rabies
Feb. 1, 2013 Smoking tobacco might be bad for your health, but a genetically altered version of the plant might provide a relatively inexpensive cure for the deadly rabies virus. In a new research report appearing in The FASEB Journal , scientists produced a monoclonal antibody in transgenic tobacco plants that was shown to neutralize the rabies virus.
Two-step immunotherapy attacks advanced ovarian cancer
Jan. 31, 2013 Most ovarian cancer patients are diagnosed with late stage disease that is unresponsive to existing therapies. In a new study, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine show that a two-step personalized immunotherapy treatment — a dendritic cell vaccine using patients’ own tumor followed by adoptive T cell therapy — triggers anti-tumor immune responses in these type of patients.
New insights into conquering influenza
Jan. 29, 2013 Researchers from the University of Melbourne and The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) have discovered a new protein that protects against viral infections such as influenza. As influenza spreads through the northern hemisphere winter, Dr Linda Wakim and her colleagues in the Laboratory of Professor Jose Villadangos from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, believe they have a new clue to why some people fight infections better than others
Altering eye cells may one day restore vision
Jan. 25, 2013 Doctors may one day treat some forms of blindness by altering the genetic program of the light-sensing cells of the eye, according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Estrogen fights urinary infection in mouse study
Jan. 23, 2013 Estrogen levels drop dramatically in menopause, a time when the risk of urinary tract infections increases significantly.
Estrogen fights urinary infection in mouse study
Jan. 23, 2013 Estrogen levels drop dramatically in menopause, a time when the risk of urinary tract infections increases significantly. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St.
Viral reactivation a likely link between stress and heart disease
Jan. 22, 2013 A new study could provide the link that scientists have been looking for to confirm that reactivation of a latent herpes virus is a cause of some heart problems. Looking at blood samples from 299 heart patients, researchers at Ohio State University found that those who had suffered a heart attack were the most likely to have inflammatory proteins circulating in their blood compared to patients with less acute symptoms
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