EurekAlert! InContext Modules

Public Release: 1-Mar-2012

Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Millennium Development Goals progress reports overestimate access to safe water
New research suggests that official reports overestimate progress towards the United Nations Millennium Development Goal target for access to safe drinking water.

Public Release: 1-Mar-2012

Immunity
Antibodies are not required for immunity against some viruses
A new study turns the well established theory that antibodies are required for antiviral immunity upside down and reveals that an unexpected partnership between the specific and non-specific divisions of the immune system is critical for fighting some types of viral infections. The research, published online on March 1 in the journal Immunity by Cell Press, may lead to a new understanding of the best way to help protect those exposed to potentially lethal viruses, such as the rabies virus.

Public Release: 28-Feb-2012

Lab on a Chip
UBC researcher invents 'lab on a chip' device to study malaria
University of British Columbia researcher Hongshen Ma has developed a simple and accurate device to study malaria, a disease that currently affects 500 million people per year worldwide and claims a million lives.

Public Release: 28-Feb-2012

PLOS Medicine
Clean delivery kits linked to substantial reduction in neonatal deaths in South Asia, study shows
Providing clean delivery kits and improving birthing practices could halve the number of neonatal deaths following home births in South Asia, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Wellcome Trust

Public Release: 28-Feb-2012
First international guidelines for echocardiographic diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease
The inaugural international guidelines for the diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease, a disease that affects tens of millions of people worldwide, have today been published by the World Heart Federation in Nature Reviews Cardiology. The guidelines define the minimum requirements needed to diagnose RHD in individuals without a clear history of acute rheumatic fever, and will have important global and national implications.

Public Release: 28-Feb-2012

PLOS Medicine
Mortality of older people in Latin America, India and China: Causes and prevention
Stroke is the leading cause of death in people over 65 in low- and middle-income countries, according to new research published this week. Deaths of people over 65 represent more than a third of all deaths in developing countries yet, until now, little research has focused on this group.

Wellcome Trust Health Consequences of Population Change Program, World Health Organisation, Alzheimer's Association, Rockefeller Foundation, Alzheimer's Disease International

Public Release: 28-Feb-2012
New report warns of setbacks in global health progress due to current budget climate
The prospect of deep cuts in the federal budget threatens to reverse the dramatic progress of a bipartisan US commitment to defeat neglected diseases in developing countries, according to a new report released today by the Global Health Technologies Coalition.

Public Release: 27-Feb-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Modified bone drug kills malaria parasite in mice
A chemically altered osteoporosis drug may be useful in fighting malaria, researchers report in a new study. Unlike similar compounds tested against many other parasitic protozoa, the drug readily crosses into the red blood cells of malaria-infected mice and kills the malaria parasite. The drug works at very low concentrations with no observed toxicity to the mouse.

National Institutes of Health, US Department of Energy, National Research Foundation of Korea

Public Release: 27-Feb-2012

PLOS Pathogens
Frontal attack or stealth?
New research shows that bacteria that are able to invade cells of the host's immune system have higher infectivity, whereas those that are more motile, multiply faster and communicate with each other need more bacterial cells to trigger an infection. These findings help understand the patterns that shape infectivity of bacteria, and contribute to more accurate predictions of how emerging pathogens may evolve, with implications for public health.

Fundação para a Ciencia e Tecnologia, CNRS

Public Release: 23-Feb-2012

Science
New strategies for treatment of infectious diseases
In the latest issue of the journal Science, Miguel Soares from the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (Portugal) together with Ruslan Medzhitov from Yale University School of Medicine and David Schneider from Stanford University propose that a third strategy to fighting infection needs to be considered: tolerance to infection. The authors argue that identifying the mechanisms underlying this largely overlooked phenomenon may pave the way to new strategies to treat many human infectious diseases.

Public Release: 23-Feb-2012

2012 AAAS Annual Meeting
Engineers improve allocation of limited health care resources in resource-poor nations
Georgia Tech systems engineers are using computer models to help resource-poor nations improve distribution of breast milk and non-pharmaceutical interventions for malaria. They are also forecasting what health care services would be available in the event of natural disasters in Caribbean nations.

Public Release: 23-Feb-2012

PLOS Pathogens
Slamming the brakes on the malaria life cycle
Scientists have discovered a new target in their fight against the devastating global disease malaria thanks to the discovery of a new protein involved in the parasite's life cycle.

Public Release: 23-Feb-2012

PLOS Genetics
Genetic risk for elevated arsenic toxicity discovered
One of the first large-scale genomic studies conducted in a developing country has discovered genetic variants that elevate the risk for skin lesions in people chronically exposed to arsenic. Genetic changes found near the enzyme for metabolizing the chemical into a less toxic form can significantly increase an individual's risk for developing arsenic-related disease.

NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH/National Cancer Institute

Public Release: 23-Feb-2012

PLOS Genetics
Genetic variants affect arsenic metabolism and toxicity in Bangladesh
A large-scale genomic study conducted in Bangladesh has discovered genetic variants that control arsenic metabolism and elevate the risk of skin lesions in people chronically exposed to arsenic. Since the installation of hand-pumped wells to tap groundwater sources in the 1970s, as many as 77 million people – about half the population of Bangladesh – have been accidentally exposed to dangerous levels of arsenic. The World Health Organization calls the exposure "the largest mass poisoning of a population in history."

National Insitutes of Health, US Department of Defense

Public Release: 22-Feb-2012
First vaccine against fatal visceral leishmaniasis enters clinical trial
Seattle's Infectious Disease Research Institute is launching dual Phase 1 clinical trials in Washington State and India in test of the first ever vaccine to prevent visceral leishmaniasis (VL). The trials are a milestone toward halting a disease with a 90 percent fatality rate within two years if left untreated, killing much more quickly than AIDS. VL affects vital organs and bone marrow, and, like AIDs, destroys cells of the immune system.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 22-Feb-2012
Reports identify, prioritize environmental health risks in fast-growing United Arab Emirates
By global standards, health risks caused by environmental factors are low in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), new studies by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers show.

Public Release: 22-Feb-2012
Delivery of child-friendly antimalarial hits the 100 million mark
One hundred million treatments of Coartem Dispersible (artemether-lumefantrine), an antimalarial developed especially for children with Plasmodium falciparum malaria, have been delivered by Novartis to 39 malaria-endemic countries, Medicines for Malaria Venture announced today.

Public Release: 22-Feb-2012

PLOS Medicine
1 step closer to blocking the transmission of malaria
MMV and partners have completed the first-ever comparative analysis of all currently available and in-development antimalarials in terms of the steps they target in the parasite's life cycle. This information provides the missing pieces of the puzzle needed to develop future medicines able to block transmission of the parasite from person to person.

Public Release: 22-Feb-2012

Sexual Health
Researchers: Prevalence of improper condom use a public health issue worldwide
Problems with the correct use of the male condom, such as not wearing a condom throughout sex or putting it on upside down, are common in the US, and have become a major concern of public health officials. New research shows that countries around the world are facing similar challenges. Researchers from around the world discuss issues such as safe-sex behaviors by Americans, counterfeit condoms in China and use of female condoms in South Africa.