EurekAlert! InContext Modules

Public Release: 10-May-2012

Science
'Gut'-throat competition: Research on digestive tract bacteria yields surprising findings
From tiny villages in developing nations to suburban kitchens in the United States, dangerous strains of E. coli bacteria sicken millions of people each year – and kill untold numbers of children. Now, new research gives scientists a better understanding of what is going on in the diarrhea-wracked guts of its victims, and what might be done to prevent or treat it.

National Institutes of Health, and others

Public Release: 10-May-2012

31st ESTRO Congress and the World Congress of Brachytherapy
3-D image guided brachytherapy helps avoid hysterectomies for cervical cancer patients
Delivering radiotherapy directly to cancer of the cervix using 3-D imaging techniques is effective at controlling the return and spread of the disease and, in most cases, avoids the need for hysterectomies. Results of this technique are for superior to those from previous eras using different treatments, and it has fewer side effects, researchers will tell the World Congress of Brachytherapy on Thursday.

Public Release: 9-May-2012
Biosensor illuminates compounds to aid fight against TB
For his work on developing new treatments for tuberculosis, a Michigan State University researcher has been named a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Robert Abramovitch of MSU's Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics is using a synthetic biosensor that glows green in response to conditions that mimic human tuberculosis infection.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Public Release: 9-May-2012

Proteome Science
Advanced genetic screening method may speed vaccine development
Vaccines remain the best line of defense against deadly pathogens and now Kathryn Sykes and Stephen Johnston, researchers at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, along with co-author Michael McGuire from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center are using clever functional screening methods to attempt to speed new vaccines into production that are both safer and more potent.

Public Release: 9-May-2012
Georgia Tech receives grant to design energy-efficient vaccine warehousing system
The Georgia Institute of Technology has received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Jonathan Colton, a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Industrial Design at Georgia Tech, will pursue an innovative global health and development research project focused on designing a net-zero energy warehousing and distribution system for vaccines and drugs in developing countries.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Public Release: 9-May-2012

Advanced Materials
Portable diagnostics designed to be shaken, not stirred
A textured surface mimics a lotus leaf to move drops of liquid in particular directions. The low-cost system could be used in portable medical or environmental tests.

National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Intel Corp., University of Washington

Public Release: 9-May-2012
Aeras and IDRI sign agreement to jointly develop novel tuberculosis vaccine
Aeras and the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) announce today a new agreement to conduct joint development activities with respect to IDRI's novel tuberculosis vaccine candidate. This collaboration reflects the missions of the two non-profit product development partnerships to use cutting-edge science to develop products that address critical diseases of under-served populations around the world, including tuberculosis.

Public Release: 9-May-2012

Nature
BIDMC researchers uncover important clues to a dangerous complication of pregnancy
Research team provides first clear evidence that a dangerous form of heart failure that occurs in pregnancy is a vascular disease, brought about by an imbalance of angiogenic proteins.

NIH/National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute, Smith Family Foundation, Ellison Medical Foundation, March of Dimes Foundation, Harvard Stem Cell Institute

Public Release: 8-May-2012

28th Annual Cornell Fashion Collective Runway Show
African scientist, designer partner to fashion anti-malaria garment that wards off bugs
A Cornell University scientist and designer from Africa have together created a fashionable hooded bodysuit embedded at the molecular level with insecticides for warding off mosquitoes infected with malaria. The outfit debuted on the runway at the Cornell Fashion Collective spring fashion show, April 28.

Public Release: 8-May-2012

Diabetes Care
Unique physiology key to diagnosing and treating diabetes in Asian populations
Many of the standard ways to detect diabetes fail in people of Asian descent. This research identified alternate methods of diagnosis and treatment.

Public Release: 8-May-2012

PLOS Medicine
Improving African justice systems essential to prevent spread of HIV and TB in prisons
In order to reduce HIV and TB in African prisons, African governments and international health donors should fund criminal justice reforms, experts from Human Rights Watch say in this week's PLoS Medicine.

Public Release: 7-May-2012

Applied Geography
MSU plan would control deadly tsetse fly
For the first time, scientists have created a satellite-guided plan to effectively control the tsetse fly – an African killer that spreads "sleeping sickness" disease among humans and animals and wipes out $4.5 billion in livestock every year.

National Institutes of Justice

Public Release: 7-May-2012
Dr. F. Marc LaForce receives 2012 Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal Award
Today, the Sabin Vaccine Institute presented its annual Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal Award to Dr. F. Marc LaForce for his integral role in developing a new meningitis vaccine, MenAfriVac, which has the potential to prevent one million cases of disease and save 150,000 lives and up to $300 million in medical costs over the next decade.

Public Release: 4-May-2012
Sunlight and air powers access to sterile water
Researchers at the University of Hull are developing a way to produce constant supplies of sterile water, powered simply by sunlight and air. The device is aimed at remote communities where conventional systems using chemicals or electricity are not a viable option.

Sir Halley Stewart Trust

Public Release: 2-May-2012

PLOS ONE
Game on! UCLA researchers use online crowd-sourcing to diagnose malaria
UCLA researchers have created a smart crowd-sourced gaming system to help diagnose malaria infected red blood cells. Crowd-sourcing is often used as a strategy for solving computationally expensive and difficult problems. One of the underlying assumptions of this approach is that humans are better than machines at certain computational and pattern recognition tasks. The game, which can be accessed on cell phones and personal computers, can be played by anyone, including children.

Public Release: 2-May-2012
Mason Center for Social Complexity receives grant to model social consequences of climate change
A new grant to awarded George Mason University's Center for Social Complexity will allow researchers to examine how climate change may affect humans and societies over the next 100 years.

National Science Foundation

Public Release: 2-May-2012

American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
New study finds dengue fever costing nearly $40 million in US territory of Puerto Rico
As public health experts warn that the spread of dengue fever could prove more costly globally and cause more sickness than even malaria, a new report published today in the May issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene finds each year dengue is inflicting a US $37.8 million burden on Puerto Rico and that every $1 invested in traditional surveillance and prevention could save $5 in costs of illness.

Public Release: 2-May-2012

American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Study finds HIV/AIDS funding does not undermine health care services for other diseases
While the battle against HIV/AIDS attracts more donor funding globally than all other diseases combined, it has not diverted attention from fighting unrelated afflictions -- such as malaria, measles and malnutrition -- and may be improving health services overall in targeted countries, according to a study on Rwanda published today in the May 2012 edition of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Public Release: 1-May-2012
Drug could reverse scourge of cerebral malaria for survivors
Michigan State University researchers, with the help of a groundbreaking medical device, are starting a clinical trial in Africa they hope will provide relief for the hundreds of thousands of children who survive cerebral malaria but are left stricken with epilepsy or other neurologic disorders. The impact of those disorders via loss of human potential and lack of societal contribution is immeasurable, said MSU's Gretchen Birbeck.

NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Public Release: 1-May-2012

Journal of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene for Development
Clean drinking water for everyone
It's easy to purify clear water: just put it in transparent bottles for a few hours in the sun. Muddy water -- like that found in the developing world -- is another issue. Now a Michigan Tech researcher has devised a simple way to get the mud out.

Public Release: 1-May-2012

Bulletin of the World Health Organization
New study identifies how information technology is used to solve global health challenges
Today, Results for Development Institute published a study in the May 1 issue of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization demonstrating that information technology is being increasingly employed to solve some of the world's biggest health systems challenges. This is the most comprehensive survey to date in peer reviewed literature of programs using e-health to improve the quality, accessibility, and affordability of privately delivered health care for the poor in developing countries.

Rockefeller Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Public Release: 28-Apr-2012

Pediatric Academic Societies 2012 Annual Meeting
Children neglected in clinical drug trials
Although children are more likely than adults to suffer from many diseases, few clinical trials are being conducted to test drugs in pediatric patients, according to a study to be presented Saturday, April 28, at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Boston.

Public Release: 27-Apr-2012
New report finds that the US government is the largest funder of global health R&D worldwide
A new report that the United States government is the largest funder of global health research and development in the world, investing $12.7 billion over the past 10 years in the creation of new vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, and other products for neglected diseases of the developing world. That funding, according to the report, helped lead to the development of more than half of the 45 new health products in the last decade that have been used to save lives around the world.

Public Release: 26-Apr-2012

Lab on a Chip
UCLA researchers combat global disease with a cell phone, Google Maps and a lot of ingenuity
UCLA researchers have developed a compact and cost-effective RDT reader platform to combine digital reading of all existing rapid-diagnostic-tests. The team's new reader is installed on a cell phone that can work with various lateral flow immuno-chromatographic assays and similar tests to sense the presence of a target analyte in samples.

Public Release: 26-Apr-2012

Environment International
Water treatments alone not enough to combat fluorosis in Ethiopia
Increased intake of dietary calcium may be key to addressing widespread dental health problems faced by millions of rural residents in Ethiopia's remote, poverty-stricken Main Rift Valley, according to a new Duke University-led study.

Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University/Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions


			HOME DISCLAIMER PRIVACY POLICY TERMS & CONDITIONS CONTACT US TOP Copyright ©2013 by AAAS, the science society.