Important first step towards designing new therapies for shingles
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A team of scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has identified a human protein that helps varicella-zoster virus, the cause of chickenpox and shingles, spread from cell to cell within the body.
NIAID virologist Jeffrey I. Cohen, M.D., and NIAID research fellow Qingxue Li, M.D., Ph.D., discovered that a surface protein of varicella-zoster virus attaches to a cellular protein called insulin-degrading enzyme, using it as a receptor to enter and infect cells. In the October 20, 2006 issue of the journal Cell, they also describe how interfering with this interaction inhibits the spread of virus among cells in the test tube. The discovery of this receptor is important in understanding varicella-zoster virus, say Drs. Cohen and Li.
Inadequate sleep may be a factor in child obesity
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Not getting enough shut-eye each night may play a role in youngsters becoming overweight, partly by disrupting normal metabolism, a doctor from the University of Bristol, UK, contends in a report released today.
Although there is a “strong genetic contribution to obesity,” the current epidemic of obesity has been driven largely by environmental factors—an unhealthy diet and a lack of physical activity—Dr. Shahrad Taheri points out in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Moreover, there is an emerging body of research that suggests that sleep may impact energy balance and that short sleep duration may lead to metabolic changes that could help fuel the development of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Temperament Linked to Cancer and Early Death in Female Rats
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Female rats that are apprehensive of new experiences as infants maintain that temperament and die earlier from mammary and pituitary tumors than do their more adventuresome sisters. The apprehensive rats were more likely to have irregular reproductive cycles than adventuresome rats, and that disruption could account for hormonal differences linked to the development of cancer earlier, the scholars found. There was no difference in the length of time between onset of cancer and death in the two set of rats, however, the scholars found.
Because the findings have identified a difference in temperament that is associated with the onset of cancer, the findings may have implications for research on the development of cancer in humans, said Martha McClintock, the David Lee Shillinglaw Distinguished Service Professor in Psychology at the University of Chicago, and a member of the team that reports its findings in the paper “Infant Temperament Predicts Life Span in Female Rats that Develop Spontaneous Tumors” in the current issue of Hormones and Behavior.
Current human studies on the relationship between cancer and personality primarily focus on survival once a tumor has been identified.
African Union adopts reproductive health rights policy
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African Union health ministers meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, last week adopted a policy framework to address sexual and reproductive health and rights but did not agree on how to address the issue of unsafe abortions, resolving to allow each member state to handle the issue separately, Lilongwe’s Chronicle/AllAfrica.com reports.
Thomas Bisika—head of the A.U.‘s Division of Health, HIV/AIDS, Nutrition, Other Related Infection Diseases and Population in the Department of Social Affairs—said all member countries agreed that the majority of the maternal deaths in Africa result from unsafe abortions.
He added that member countries during the meeting emphasized their intent to address the issue based on the social conditions in their countries.
Girl given massive overdose of radiation dies
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A schoolgirl cancer patient who was given a massive overdose of radiation has died. Lisa Norris, 16, died at her home in Ayrshire, Scotland, on Wednesday, surrounded by her family.
In January, she was given 17 overdoses of radiation therapy during treatment for a brain tumour, which left her with severe burns to the back of her neck and head. She had recently undergone treatment to remove fluid from her brain.
Her father Ken, 51, told the Daily Record newspaper: “She was determined not to give up her fight and she stayed fighting until the end. That’s my Lisa. She was our inspiration. She kept us going in many ways.”
Vaccination levels for kids enter school high
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More than half of the states in the US already meet the “Healthy People 2010” goal of vaccinating at least 95 percent of children entering school for the first time, based on the 2005-2006 school year, according to investigators at the Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC).
This excellent level of coverage is due, at least in part, to state laws requiring proof of vaccination at school entry, Dr. C Stanwyck and associates at the CDC note in their report, published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Portugal parliament approves abortion referendum
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Portugal’s parliament on Thursday approved a motion for a referendum to legalise abortion, starting what could be a bitter campaign in this deeply Catholic country.
In a foretaste of the campaign to come, the head of the ruling Socialists in parliament called the present law making it a criminal offence to have an abortion an abhorrent.
“Our current laws leave us isolated in Europe and give the idea of the Portuguese state as retrograde and inhuman,” lawmaker Alberto Martins said in a speech to the packed chamber.
US doctors accuse company of influencing drug policy
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Eli Lilly and Co. may have improperly influenced guidelines on the treatment of a dangerous infection called sepsis in order to sell more of an expensive new drug, three federal researchers said on Thursday.
Lilly did not deny trying to influence the guidelines by hiring a marketing firm and by paying doctors and ethicists to launch a campaign about choosing which patients to treat in the emergency room.
But the company said its efforts were educational, and had the goal of making sure only the appropriate patients were treated with the drug, called Xigris.
Apnea risk low in most infants with bronchiolitis
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In infants presenting with bronchiolitis (inflammation of the lungs), the risk of apnea (brief pauses in breathing) is less than 3 percent, study findings suggest. However, the risk is higher in very young and preterm infants.
Dr. Marvin B. Harper and colleagues at Boston’s Children’s Hospital evaluated the cases of 691 infants admitted to their institution with bronchiolitis. Nineteen of the infants (2.7 percent) developed apnea, the researchers report in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
The team developed, a priori, a list of risk criteria for identifying infants at high risk for apnea: those born full term but less than one month of age; those born preterm (less than 37 weeks gestation) and younger than 48 weeks post-conception; or those who have had a previous witnessed episode of apnea.
Study warns of dangers of stents to prevent strokes
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Propping open clogged arteries with little mesh tubes called stents is more likely to cause strokes than the old-fashioned method of simply cleaning out the arteries surgically, a French study showed on Wednesday.
Stents were found to be so dangerous that just over a year ago, the team led by Jean-Louis Mas of Sainte-Anne Hospitals in Paris stopped enrolling volunteers in the study, begun in November 2000, because of risks from the stent technique.
The work, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, reflects international efforts to determine the best treatment for clearing clogged carotid arteries—the most common cause of the strokes suffered by over 700,000 Americans each year.
HIV exploits competition among T cells - points to new strategy for AIDS vaccination
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A new HIV study shows how competition among the human immune system’s T cells allows the virus to escape destruction and eventually develop into full-blown AIDS.
The study, which employs a computer model of simultaneous virus and immune system evolution, also suggests a new strategy for vaccinating against the virus - a strategy that the computer simulations suggest may prevent the final onset of AIDS.
The research, which is slated for publication in Physical Review Letters.
Heart disease a threat to older diabetics-study
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Elderly people with diabetes are twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease than non-diabetics, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
Dr. Joshua Barzilay of Kaiser Permanente in Tucker, Georgia, and colleagues studied a group of about 6,000 people older than 65 for 11 years. During that period, more than 40 percent of the people died, and about 50 percent to 60 percent of the deaths were attributed to heart-related problems, they wrote in a report in the online journal Public Library of Science.
Researchers step toward therapy for respiratory syncytial virus
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When a child under the age of 2 contracts a respiratory tract infection requiring hospitalization, odds are that the cause is respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
One of the world’s most common and dangerous early-childhood infections, RSV puts more than 100,000 children a year in the hospital in the U.S. alone; the infection may also increase the chances that a child will develop asthma.
Currently, neither a safe vaccine nor an effective therapy for RSV exists. Now, however, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) researchers have taken an important step toward developing a therapy for RSV.
U.S. Medical School Enrollment Continues to Climb
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The number of U. S. medical students rose for the second year in a row, according to new data released today by the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges). First-time enrollees in the 2006 entering class totaled almost 17,400, a 2.2 percent increase over last year.
The number of applications also increased for the fourth consecutive year. More than 39,000 individuals applied to attend medical school this fall, a 4.6 percent increase over last year’s total of 37,373. The grade point averages and MCAT scores of this year’s applicant pool were the highest in more than a decade.
Hair helps diagnose eating disorders
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Scientists have come up with a new way to determine whether someone is suffering from an eating disorder—examining their hair.
A study released on Monday by researchers from Utah’s Brigham Young University found that examining carbon and nitrogen in the proteins of hair could reveal information about a person’s day-to-day nutrition.
Lead author Kent Hatch, from the university’s department of integrative biology, said clinicians could use this as a tool to help diagnose anorexia or bulimia because many sufferers lie or do not recognize their problem.
