EurekAlert! InContext Modules

Public Release: 6-Oct-2011

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention
Study finds liver cancer increasing in low risk countries, decreasing in high risk countries
A new study finds liver cancer incidence rates continue to increase in some low-risk parts of the world such as North America, and are decreasing in some of the highest risk countries of Asia.

American Cancer Society

Public Release: 6-Oct-2011

International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics
Detecting glaucoma before it blinds
Early detection and diagnosis of open angle glaucoma important so that treatment can be used in the early stages of the disease developing to prevent or avoid further vision loss. Writing in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics, researchers in the US have analyzed and ranked the various risk factors for open angle glaucoma so that patients can be screened at an earlier stage if they are more likely to develop the condition.

Public Release: 6-Oct-2011
Rutgers-affiliated company receives funding for technology to help choose breast cancer treatments
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a Rutgers-affiliated company $207,000 to develop a quick and economical analysis of tissue from breast cancer biopsies. The technology is designed to predict how aggressive a common form of breast cancer is likely to be, helping physicians and patients plan effective therapies that minimize side effects.

NIH/National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

Public Release: 5-Oct-2011

American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Scientists determine alternative insecticide dramatically reduces malaria transmission
Indoor spraying with the insecticide bendiocarb has dramatically decreased malaria transmission in many parts of Benin, new evidence that insecticides remain a potent weapon for fighting malaria in Africa despite the rapid rise of resistance to an entire class of mosquito-killing compounds, according to a study published today in the October edition of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

US President's Malaria Initiative

Public Release: 4-Oct-2011

PLOS Medicine
Oral supervised HIV self-testing in Malawi is acceptable and accurate
In this week's PLoS Medicine, Augustine Choko of the Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, Malawi, and colleagues assess the uptake and accuracy of home-based supervised oral HIV self-testing in Malawi, demonstrating the feasibility of this approach in a high-prevalence, low-income setting.

Public Release: 3-Oct-2011

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Tuberculosis bacterium's outer cell wall disarms the body's defense to remain infectious
The bacterium that causes tuberculosis has a unique molecule on its outer cell surface that blocks a key part of the body's defense. New research suggests this represents a novel mechanism in the microbe's evolving efforts to remain hidden from the human immune system. The TB bacterium has a molecule on its outer surface called lipomannan that can stop production of an important protein in the body's immune cells that helps contain TB infection and maintain it in a latent state.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 3-Oct-2011

Frontiers in Optics 2011
Researchers transform iPhone into high-quality medical imaging device
In a feat of technology tweaking that would rival MacGyver, a team of researchers from UC Davis has transformed everyday iPhones into medical-quality imaging and chemical detection devices. With materials that cost about as much as a typical app, the decked-out smartphones are able to use their heightened senses to perform detailed microscopy and spectroscopy. The team presents their findings at the Optical Society's Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics 2011 Oct. 16-20 in San Jose.

Public Release: 3-Oct-2011

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Scientists find mechanism that leads to drug resistance in bacteria causing melioidosis
Researchers in South East Asia have identified a novel mechanism whereby the organism Burkholderia pseudomallei -- the cause of melioidosis, a neglected tropical infectious disease -- develops resistance to ceftazidime, the standard antibiotic treatment. The change also makes the drug-resistant bacterium difficult to detect.

Public Release: 3-Oct-2011

Lancet Infectious Diseases
Study in Lancet finds use of hormonal contraception doubles HIV risk
University of Washington researchers found that women using hormonal contraception -- such as a birth control pill or a shot like Depo-Provera -- are at double the risk of acquiring HIV, and HIV-infected women who use hormonal contraception have twice the risk of transmitting the virus to their HIV-uninfected male partners, according to their study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases.

NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, University of Washington STD/AIDS Research Training Grant Program, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Public Release: 30-Sep-2011

Journal of Experimental Biology
Flight patterns reveal how mosquitoes find hosts to transmit deadly diseases
Experiments performed by entomologists at UC Riverside to study how female Aedes aegypti -- mosquitoes that transmit yellow fever and dengue -- respond to plumes of carbon dioxide and human odor demonstrate that the mosquitoes are first attracted to puffs of exhaled carbon dioxide, then to a broad skin odor plume before landing on a human host. Results from the study could clue scientists on how odors can be used in traps for intercepting host‑seeking mosquitoes.

University of California Systemwide Mosquito Research Program, Office of Naval Research/DARPA Plume Tracing Program, Insect Chemical Ecology/Ethology and Evolution Linnaeus, Swedish Research Council FORMAS

Public Release: 29-Sep-2011

American Journal of Public Health
Computational modeling can help plan vaccine introduction, Pitt study finds
Proper planning before the introduction of new vaccines into a developing country's active immunization program could prevent storage problems and transportation bottlenecks that decrease the availability of existing vaccines by as much as two-thirds, according to a University of Pittsburgh study. Computational models can forecast the impact of new vaccine introduction and identify potential disruptions, concluded the study, which will appear in the November issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Public Release: 29-Sep-2011

Dissertations and Features
How do you bring health care to the poor?
If you want to provide poor people in developing countries with decent health care, you need to overcome several barriers at the same time. That is the conclusion of researcher Bart Jacobs, based on years of research in Cambodia. The local community and existing social networks play an important role, but the authorities also have a role to play. His analysis has in the mean time been partly incorporated in Cambodian national policy.

Public Release: 28-Sep-2011
Major HIV prevention trial in women to drop oral tenofovir arm
VOICE, an HIV prevention trial testing two ARV-based approaches -- daily use of one of two different ARV tablets or a vaginal gel, will be dropping one of the oral tablets from the study. The decision comes after a routine review of study data concluded that the trial will not be able to show oral tenofovir is effective in preventing HIV in the women in the study. VOICE will continue testing oral Truvada and tenofovir gel.

NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health

Public Release: 27-Sep-2011

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Worm 'cell death' discovery could lead to new drugs for deadly parasite
Researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have for the first time identified a "programmed cell death" pathway in parasitic worms that could one day lead to new treatments for one of the world's most serious and prevalent diseases.

National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Cancer Research Foundation, Leukaemia and Lymphoma Society, Leukaemia Foundation of Australia, ANZ Trustees, CASS Foundation, Victorian Government

Public Release: 27-Sep-2011

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Central Asia's hidden burden of neglected tropical diseases
The open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases will publish an article emphasizing the rising burden of neglected tropical diseases in Central Asia on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

Public Release: 27-Sep-2011
Study finds aggressive glycemic control in diabetic cabg patients does not improve survival
Study finds aggressive glycemic control in diabetic cabg patients does not improve survival.

Public Release: 27-Sep-2011
Water and sanitation related diseases and the environment
Janine Selendy, founder and president of Horizon International, brings experts together from across the medical and environmental fields to present the latest analysis and successful case studies in the fight to eradicate and prevent water and sanitation-related diseases.

Public Release: 26-Sep-2011

PLOS ONE
Modified vaccine shows promise in preventing malaria
Continuing a global effort to prevent malaria infections, Michigan State University researchers have created a new malaria vaccine -- one that combines the use of a disabled cold virus with an immune system-stimulating gene -- that appears to increase the immune response against the parasite that causes the deadly disease.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 23-Sep-2011

LEAP Meeting
New treatment for kala azar, the most deadly parasitic disease after malaria
East Africa is fighting the worst kala-azar outbreak in a decade. Collaboration across the region through LEAP has resulted in the development of a new, cheaper combination therapy, nearly halving the treatment length (30 days to 17). East African endemic countries are taking the necessary regulatory measures to use it in their programs, but experts warn that without international funding or interest in supporting governments in the roll out, too few patients will benefit.

Public Release: 23-Sep-2011
TGen graduate students receive $50,000 each from Salt River Project's support program
Two Arizona university graduate students working at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) have each received $50,000 grants from the Salt River Project (SRP).

Salt River Project

Public Release: 22-Sep-2011

Molecular Pharmaceutics
Targeting HIV's sugar coating
University of Utah researchers have discovered a new class of compounds that stick to the sugary coating of the AIDS virus and inhibit it from infecting cells -- an early step toward a new treatment to prevent sexual transmission of the virus.

National Institutes of Health, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, Fund for Scientific Research, Belgium

Public Release: 21-Sep-2011
Harvard School of Public Health awarded $20 million CDC grant to study HIV prevention in Botswana
A new four-year, $20 million grant from the CDC will enable Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers to evaluate the impact and cost-effectiveness of a unique combination of HIV prevention strategies in Botswana.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Public Release: 21-Sep-2011

Neuron
Human genetics study identifies the most common cause of ALS and dementia
Scientists have made an exciting breakthrough in unraveling the genetic basis of two debilitating neurodegenerative disorders, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Two independent studies, published online this week by Cell Press in the journal Neuron, identify a new human genetic mutation as the most common cause of ALS and FTD identified to date.

Public Release: 20-Sep-2011

Annals of Epidemiology
Living in poor neighborhood a risk factor for out-of-hospital cardiac death
People living in poor neighborhoods are at higher risk of dying of heart disease outside a hospital than are people who live in wealthier neighborhoods, research suggests. The researchers analyzed the association between neighborhoods of differing socioeconomic status and out-of-hospital deaths caused by coronary heart disease in four US communities between 1992 and 2002. In each community, and among whites and African-Americans, those living in the poorer neighborhoods had a higher risk for these deaths.

Public Release: 20-Sep-2011
Massive push to improve the health of women and children
In only one year, more than 100 countries, foundations, multilateral organizations, the UN, the private sector and academic and professional associations have made unprecedented financial and political commitments to greatly improve the health of women and children.

Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health


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