EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases

Virginia Bioinformatics Institute to develop petascale computer modeling capabilities

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Virginia Tech) The goal of the proposal is to use new computer technology to study events like disease pandemics, financial crises, as well as the spread of opinions, attitudes or social beliefs, through populations on a global scale. Current agent-based computer models can simulate the spread of a disease like influenza through a population the size of the United States. Petascale modeling would make comparable agent-based studies of disease transmission possible for global populations.

Rare sheep could be key to better diagnostic tests in developing world, says Stanford study

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Stanford University Medical Center) The newest revolution in microbiology testing walks on four legs and says "baa." It's the hair sheep, a less-hirsute version of the familiar woolly barnyard resident. A new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine, which is to be published July 3 in PLoS ONE, finds that not only are these ruminants low maintenance and parasite resistant, they're also perfect blood donors for the microbiology tests necessary to diagnose infectious disease in the developing world.

MIT and CDC discover why H1N1 flu spreads inefficiently

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) A team from MIT and the Centers for Disease Control has found a genetic explanation for why the new H1N1 "swine flu" virus has spread from person to person less effectively than other flu viruses.

Existing Parkinson's disease drug may fight drug-resistant TB

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of California - San Diego) Existing drugs used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease could be repositioned for use in the treatment of extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis, which kills about 2 million people each year, according to a study led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego. The rise of these strains of TB throughout the world, including industrialized countries, poses a great threat to human health.

News media registration open for 49th ICAAC, Sept. 12-15, 2009, San Francisco

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(American Society for Microbiology) News media registration for the annual infectious disease meeting of the American Society for Microbiology is now open. The 49th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy will be held Sept. 12-15, 2009, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Clue to normal-tension glaucoma; herpes infection and corneal transplants

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(American Academy of Ophthalmology) The July issue of Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, includes two studies that may influence clinical treatment of serious eye conditions. One study reports on silent cerebral infarcts incidence and visual field loss in patients with normal-tension glaucoma; the other correlates inflammation biomarkers with corneal transplant rejection in herpes simplex patients.

Measurements fail to identify TB patients who could benefit from shorter treatment course

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University Hospitals Case Medical Center) Testing whether two simple clinical measurements might help identify which TB patients could benefit from shorter treatment, researchers report that these measurements failed to work in a study published online by the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Harvard scientists solve mystery about why HIV patients are more susceptible to TB infection

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) Harvard scientists took an important first-step toward the development of new treatments to help people with HIV battle Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. In a report appearing in the July 2009 print issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology they describe how HIV interferes with the cellular and molecular mechanisms used by the lungs to fight TB infection. This information is crucial for researchers developing new treatments.

Scientific system accurately predicts spread of H1N1: study

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(St. Michael's Hospital) A new scientific system developed by a St. Michael's Hospital physician, designed to rapidly evaluate the world's air traffic patterns, accurately predicted how the H1N1 virus would spread around the world, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine today.

Top food scientist to target hidden fish allergens, pork, with new tests

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Florida State University) The odds of contracting mad cow disease from banned or adulterated bovine protein lurking in raw or processed food for humans or meat-bone meal for livestock have declined over the past decade. So have the risks of purchasing fishy imposters billed as red snapper, ground beef that isn't all cow, or spoiled meat that doesn't look or smell bad... yet.

Breakthrough in combating the side effects of quinine

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Nottingham) Discovered back in the 1600s, quinine was the first effective treatment in the fight against malaria -- and it continues to be a commonly used treatment against this devastating disease. But the drug is associated with a long list of side effects which can range from sickness and headaches to blindness, deafness and in rare cases death -- and until now no one knew why.

Dynasty: Influenza virus in 1918 and today

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) The influenza virus that wreaked havoc in 1918-1919 founded a viral dynasty that persists to this day, according to scientists from NIAID. In an article published by the New England Journal of Medicine, authors Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Jeffery K. Taubenberger, M.D., Ph.D., and David M. Morens, M.D., argue that we have lived in an influenza pandemic era since 1918, and describe how the 2009 H1N1 virus yet another manifestation of this enduring viral family.

Gene map aims to combat blood flukes

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(BioMed Central) The first microsatellite-based genetic linkage map has been published for Schistosoma mansoni, a blood fluke that is known to infect over 90 million people in Africa, the Middle East and the New World. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open-access journal Genome Biology hope the map will stimulate research and open doors to new advances in combating this neglected human pathogen.

UNC scientists tackle viral mysteries

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of North Carolina School of Medicine) A recent study led by Blossom Damania, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, focuses on the intersection of these two scientific puzzles, resulting in new discoveries about how one herpes virus known to cause cancer may reactivate when the infected cell senses another type of virus entering it.

New control system of the body discovered

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) Researchers have ameliorated inflammation of the brain in mice caused by immune cells. A receptor they discovered on T cells in the CNS plays the key role. They showed that this bradykinin receptor 1 controls the infiltration of immune cells into the CNS. When they activated B1 in mice with encephalitis, the inflammation markedly decreased. This may unveil a new target for the treatment of diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

Singapore nanotechnology combats fatal brain infections

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore) In Nature Nanotechnology, Singapore scientists report that they have developed novel peptide nanoparticles that effectively seek out and destroy bacteria and fungal cells that could cause fatal infections.

Ultrasensitive detector promises improved treatment of viral respiratory infections

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Vanderbilt University) A Vanderbilt chemist and a biomedical engineer have teamed up to develop a respiratory virus detector that is sensitive enough to detect an infection at an early stage, takes only a few minutes to return a result and is simple enough to be performed in a pediatrician's office.

Tryptophan deficiency may underlie quinine side effects

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) Researchers have found that the anti-malarial drug quinine can block a cell's ability to take up the essential amino acid tryptophan, a discovery that may explain many of the adverse side effects associated with quinine.

Columbia team finds that gastrin plays significant role in helicobacter-induced stomach cancer

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Columbia University Medical Center) A group led by Columbia University Medical Center's Timothy Wang, M.D., has studied the role of Helicobacter infection in the development of stomach cancer, and found that the hormone gastrin, which stimulates secretion of gastric acid, plays a key role in the development of Helicobacter-induced stomach cancer, may have distinct effects on carcinogenesis in different parts of the stomach.

Simple measures may prevent transmission of stomach ulcer bacteria

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Gothenburg) The stomach ulcer bacterium Helicobacter pylori is not transmitted through drinking water as previously thought, but rather through vomit and possibly feces. This is shown in a thesis at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. It is therefore possible to prevent the spread of the bacterium in developing countries through some fairly simple measures.

On malaria struggle, baboons and humans have similar stories to tell

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Duke University) Evolutionarily speaking, baboons may be our more distant cousins among primates. But when it comes to our experiences with malaria over the course of time, it seems the stories of our two species have followed very similar plots.

Scientists block Ebola infection in cell-culture experiments

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston) Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have discovered two biochemical pathways that the Ebola virus relies on to infect cells. Using substances that block the activation of those pathways, they've prevented Ebola infection in cell culture experiments -- potentially providing a critical early step in developing the first successful therapy for the deadly virus.

Outsmarting swine flu pandemic

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Arizona State University) Mathematicians, biostaticians and public health officials from across North American will gather at Arizona State University June 25-28 to focus on understanding, possibly mitigating the spread of the H1N1 flu virus. They plan to take up the challenge of proposing science-based strategies that can slow the spread of pandemic flu. They will zero in on lessons learned from past outbreaks; review the course of the current flu pandemic and evaluate intervention strategies under different scenarios.

UTSA wins San Antonio Area Foundation grant to further chlamydia research

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Texas at San Antonio) The San Antonio Area Foundation's Semp Russ Foundation has awarded UTSA a $32,000 grant to study the role of CD8-positive T-cells in chlamydia infections.The recipient of the grant, Ashlesh Murthy, earned UTSA's first Ph.D. degree in cellular/molecular biology in 2006.

Carb synthesis sheds light on promising tuberculosis drug target

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Wisconsin-Madison) A fundamental question about how sugar units are strung together into long carbohydrate chains has also pinpointed a promising way to target new medicines against tuberculosis.