EurekAlert! - National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 15-Oct-2012

Nature Medicine
Bacterial protein in house dust spurs asthma according to NIH study
A bacterial protein in common house dust may worsen allergic responses to indoor allergens, according to research conducted by the National Institutes of Health and Duke University. The finding is the first to document the presence of the protein flagellin in house dust, bolstering the link between allergic asthma and the environment.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Public Release: 15-Oct-2012
NIH-funded study to test pneumococcal vaccine in older adults
Researchers plan to see if a higher dose of a pneumococcal vaccine will create a stronger immune response in older adults who received an earlier generation vaccine against pneumonia and other pneumococcal diseases. The study, supported by the NIAID, part of NIH, will compare two dosages of a pneumococcal vaccine approved for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years, and adults 50 and older. The trial will enroll up to 882 men and women ages 55 to 74.

NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Public Release: 12-Oct-2012
NIH launches free database of drugs associated with liver injury
A free source of evidence-based information for health care professionals and for researchers studying liver injury associated with prescription and over-the-counter drugs, herbals, and dietary supplements is now available from the National Institutes of Health. Researchers and health care professionals can use the LiverTox database to identify basic and clinical research questions to be answered and to chart optimal ways to diagnose and control drug-induced liver injury.

Public Release: 10-Oct-2012

Nature
NIH�sponsored workshop calls for more detailed reporting in animal studies
A workshop sponsored by NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has produced a set of consensus recommendations to improve the design and reporting of animal studies. By making animal studies easier to replicate and interpret, the workshop recommendations are expected to help funnel promising therapies to patients.

NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Public Release: 10-Oct-2012

Nature
NIH researchers provide detailed view of brain protein structure
Researchers have published the first highly detailed description of how neurotensin, a neuropeptide hormone which modulates nerve cell activity in the brain, interacts with its receptor. Their results suggest that neuropeptide hormones use a novel binding mechanism to activate a class of receptors called G-protein coupled receptors.

NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke

Public Release: 4-Oct-2012

New England Journal of Medicine
Study shows benefits, drawbacks, for women's incontinence treatments
Oral medication for treating a type of incontinence in women is roughly as effective as Botox injections to the bladder, reported researchers who conducted a National Institutes of Health clinical trials network study, with each form of treatment having benefits and limitations.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 27-Sep-2012

Cell
Major cancer protein amplifies global gene expression, NIH study finds
Scientists may have discovered why a protein called MYC can provoke a variety of cancers. Like many proteins associated with cancer, MYC helps regulate cell growth. A study carried out by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and colleagues found that, unlike many other cell growth regulators, MYC does not turn genes on or off, but instead boosts the expression of genes that are already turned on.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 24-Sep-2012
NIH launches trial for rare degenerative muscle disease treatment
Researchers have launched a clinical trial to evaluate the drug candidate DEX-M74 as a treatment for patients suffering from Hereditary Inclusion Body Myopathy, a rare degenerative muscle disease. National Institutes of Health scientists from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and the National Human Genome Research Institute will conduct the clinical trial at the NIH Clinical Center.

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences

Public Release: 23-Sep-2012

Nature
Study reveals genomic similarities between breast cancer and ovarian cancers
One subtype of breast cancer shares many genetic features with high-grade serous ovarian cancer, a cancer that is very difficult to treat, according to researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health. The findings suggest that the two cancers are of similar molecular origin, which may facilitate the comparison of therapeutic data for subtypes of breast and ovarian cancers.

NIH/National Cancer Institute, NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute

Public Release: 20-Sep-2012

Journal of Infectious Diseases
In heterosexuals, transmitted HIV strains often resemble original infecting virus
A new study has found that even though HIV diversifies widely within infected individuals over time, the virus strains that ultimately are passed on through heterosexual transmission often resemble the strain of virus that originally infected the transmitting partner. Learning the characteristics of these preferentially transmitted HIV strains may help advance HIV prevention efforts, particularly with regard to an HIV vaccine, according to the scientists who conducted the study.

NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Public Release: 14-Sep-2012
New NIH/NHGRI grants to harness nanoscale technologies to cut DNA sequencing costs
Grants of almost $19 million will help to develop technologies to dramatically reduce the cost of DNA sequencing, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced today.

NIH

Public Release: 13-Sep-2012

Science Translational Medicine
NIH-funded analysis estimates effective PrEP dosing
Several large clinical trials have demonstrated that a daily oral dose of one or two antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV infection can prevent infection in an approach known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. The level of protection, however, depends on taking the drugs regularly.

NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Public Release: 12-Sep-2012
NIBIB and HHMI announce graduate biomedical training awards
Three projects aimed at enhancing interdisciplinary training for graduate students have won awards from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.The awards are part of a joint Interfaces Initiative partnership program that recognizes the importance of interdisciplinary research for the advancement of biomedical science. These Training Innovation Program supplements are part of the HHMI-NIBIB Interfaces Initiative partnership program.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Public Release: 11-Sep-2012

mBio
Reconstructed 1918 influenza virus has yielded key insights, scientists say
The genetic sequencing and reconstruction of the 1918 influenza virus that killed 50 million people worldwide have advanced scientists' understanding of influenza biology and yielded important information on how to prevent and control future pandemics, according to a new commentary by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, and several other institutions.

NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Public Release: 11-Sep-2012

Blood
NIH researchers restore children's immune systems with refinements in gene therapy
Researchers have demonstrated that a refined gene therapy approach safely restores the immune systems of some children with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). The rare condition blocks the normal development of a newborn's immune system, leaving the child susceptible to every passing microbe. The findings from facilities including the National Institutes of Health, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, are reported in the Sept. 11, 2012, advanced online issue of the journal Blood.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 7-Sep-2012

New England Journal of Medicine
Blood sugar control does not help infants and children undergoing heart surgery
Tight blood sugar control in infants and children undergoing heart surgery does not lower the risk of infection or improve recovery, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Public Release: 7-Sep-2012

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Strategy developed to improve delivery of medicines to the brain
New research offers a possible strategy for treating central nervous system diseases, such as brain and spinal cord injury, brain cancer, epilepsy, and neurological complications of HIV. The experimental treatment method allows small therapeutic agents to safely cross the blood-brain barrier in laboratory rats by turning off P-glycoprotein, one of the main gatekeepers preventing medicinal drugs from reaching their intended targets in the brain.

NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Public Release: 2-Sep-2012

Nature Medicine
NIH-funded researchers restore sense of smell in mice using genetic technique
Scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health have restored the ability to smell in a mouse model of a human genetic disorder that causes congenital anosmia -- the inability to smell from birth. The approach uses gene therapy to regrow cilia, cell structures that are essential for olfactory function.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 29-Aug-2012

Nature
NIH scientists map first steps in flu antibody development
National Institutes of Health scientists have identified how a kind of immature immune cell responds to a part of influenza virus and have traced the path those cells take to generate antibodies that can neutralize a wide range of influenza virus strains. Study researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of NIH, were led by Gary Nabel, M.D., Ph.D., director of NIAID's Vaccine Research Center. Their findings appear online in advance of print in Nature.

NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Public Release: 29-Aug-2012

Journal of American College of Cardiology
NIH media availability: Protein linked to increased risk of heart failure and death in older adults
A protein known as galectin-3 can identify people at higher risk of heart failure, according to new research supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Public Release: 29-Aug-2012

New England Journal of Medicine
Aspirin-clopidogrel no better than aspirin alone for patients with lacunar stroke
Aspirin combined with the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel is no better than aspirin alone for stroke prevention in people with a history of lacunar strokes, and the combination carries a greater risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, according to results of a trial funded by the National Institutes of Health. Lacunar strokes occur due to chronic high blood pressure and typically produce small lesions deep within the brain.

NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Public Release: 26-Aug-2012

Nature Chemical Biology
Compounds activate key cancer enzyme to interfere with tumor formation
Scientists have known for decades that cancer cells use more glucose than healthy cells, feeding the growth of some types of tumors. Now, a team that includes researchers from the National Institutes of Health's new National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences has identified compounds that delay the formation of tumors in mice, by targeting a key enzyme that governs how cancer cells use glucose and its metabolites.

National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 22-Aug-2012
NIH launches trial to evaluate anti-inflammatory treatment for preventing heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths
An international multi-site trial has launched to determine whether a common anti-inflammatory drug can reduce heart attacks, strokes, and deaths due to cardiovascular disease in people at high risk for them. This study is being supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a part of the National Institutes of Health.

NIH/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Public Release: 22-Aug-2012

Science Translational Medicine
NIH uses genome sequencing to help quell bacterial outbreak in Clinical Center
A New York City patient carrying a multi-drug-resistant strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae, a microbe frequently associated with hospital-borne infections, introduced the dangerous bacteria into the 243-bed research hospital while participating in a clinical study in the summer of 2011. To get the outbreak under control, Clinical Center staff collaborated with investigators at the National Human Genome Research Institute, also part of NIH, to use genome sequencing in the middle of this active hospital epidemic to learn how the microbe spread.

NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute, Clinical Center

Public Release: 22-Aug-2012

New England Journal of Medicine
NIH researchers find possible cause of immune deficiency cases in Asia
A clinical study led by NIH investigators has identified an antibody that compromises the immune systems of HIV-negative people, making them susceptible to infections with opportunistic microbes such as nontuberculous mycobacteria. In this study conducted at hospitals in Thailand and Taiwan, the researchers found that the majority of study participants with opportunistic infections made an antibody against interferon-gamma, a cell-signaling molecule thought to play a major role in clearing harmful infections.

NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases