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Public Release: 20-Sep-2012

Science
New strategies needed to combat disease in developing countries
So-called lifestyle diseases are gaining ground with epidemic speed in low-income countries. The traditional health focus in these countries has been to combat communicable diseases such as malaria, HIV and tuberculosis. However, research from the University of Copenhagen suggests that dividing campaigns into combating either non-communicable or communicable diseases is ineffective and expensive. A new article by Danish scientists published in the well-reputed journal Science provides an overview.

Public Release: 20-Sep-2012
Sanofi and TB Alliance announce collaboration to accelerate new tuberculosis treatments
Sanofi and the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development announced today a new research collaboration agreement to accelerate the discovery and development of novel compounds against tuberculosis, a deadly infectious disease that resulted in almost 1.5 million deaths worldwide in 2010. Under the agreement, Sanofi and TB Alliance will collaborate to further optimize and develop several novel compounds in Sanofi's library that have demonstrated activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes TB.

Public Release: 19-Sep-2012

Science Translational Medicine
BIDMC and Diagnostics For All create first low-cost, paper-based, point of care liver function test
A new postage stamp-sized, paper-based device could provide a simple and reliable way to monitor for liver damage at a cost of only pennies per test, say researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Diagnostics For All (DFA), a Cambridge, MA nonprofit dedicated to improving the health of people living in the developing world.

Department of Defence, National Institutes of Health, Gates Foundation

Public Release: 19-Sep-2012

Neuron
Autism symptoms could arise from unreliable neural responses
Diverse symptoms associated with autism could be explained by unreliable activity of neurons in the brain in response to basic, nonsocial sensory information, according to a study published by Cell Press on September 19th in the journal Neuron. The new findings suggest that autism is a disorder of general neural processing and could potentially provide an explanation for the origins of a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Public Release: 17-Sep-2012

Diabetes Care
Risk of developing diabetes higher in neighborhoods that aren't walk-friendly: Study
Whether your neighborhood is conducive to walking could determine your risk for developing diabetes, according to a new study by researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.

Public Release: 17-Sep-2012

EMBO Molecular Medicine
Scientists reveal how natural antibiotic kills tuberculosis bacterium
A natural product secreted by a soil bacterium shows promise as a new drug to treat tuberculosis report scientists in a new study published in EMBO Molecular Medicine. A team of scientists working in Switzerland has shown how pyridomycin, a natural antibiotic produced by the bacterium Dactylosporangium fulvum, works. This promising drug candidate is active against many of the drug-resistant types of the tuberculosis bacterium that no longer respond to treatment with the front-line drug isoniazid.

Public Release: 13-Sep-2012
UCLA's Aydogan Ozcan lauded as one of world's most brilliant innovators by Popular Science
Popular Science magazine has named Aydogan Ozcan, an associate professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering at UCLA, one of the world's "Brilliant 10" scientists in its October 2012 issue.

Public Release: 13-Sep-2012

Journal of Biological Chemistry
Mutation breaks HIV's resistance to drugs
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can contain dozens of different mutations, called polymorphisms. In a recent study an international team of researchers, including MU scientists, found that one of those mutations, called 172K, made certain forms of the virus more susceptible to treatment. Soon, doctors will be able to use this knowledge to improve the drug regiment they prescribe to HIV-infected individuals.

Public Release: 13-Sep-2012

Journal of American Chemical Society
IU chemist develops new synthesis of most useful, yet expensive, antimalarial drug
In 2010 malaria caused an estimated 665,000 deaths, mostly among African children. Now, chemists at Indiana University have developed a new synthesis for the world's most useful antimalarial drug, artemisinin, giving hope that fully synthetic artemisinin might help reduce the cost of the live-saving drug in the future.

Indiana University

Public Release: 13-Sep-2012

PLOS Pathogens
Scripps Research scientists reveal how deadly virus silences immune system
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have determined the structure of a critical protein from the Marburg virus, a close cousin of Ebola virus. These viruses cause similar diseases and are some of the deadliest pathogens on the planet, each killing up to 90 percent of those infected.

Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute

Public Release: 13-Sep-2012
'Saving brains' in developing countries: $11.8 million for innovative ideas worldwide
With the goal of helping children in resource-poor countries meet their full intellectual potential, 11 projects in Asia, Africa and South America will receive in all some $11.8 million from the Government of Canada via Grand Challenges Canada to test innovations to address four impediments to cognitive development -- inadequate nurturing, nutrition deficiency, premature birth, and infection.

Grand Challenges Canada