Immunology

DNA Repair Gene Variants Not Associated With Increased Cancer Risk- Study

Variants of numerous DNA repair genes initially appeared to be statistically significantly associated with cancer risk in epidemiological studies. When the data from individual studies are pooled, however, few DNA repair gene variants appear truly associat ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 4 2009 - 11:30am

Kawasaki Disease Gets A Genome Wide Association Study

Kawasaki Disease, recently in the news due to the death of Hollywood film star John Travolta's son Jett, has had some genetic variations identified in a genome-wide association study published in PLoS Genetics. ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 8 2009 - 11:44pm

A Real Life Fantastic Voyage (And A Cool Nano-GPS System)

Ever since the 1966 Hollywood movie "Fantastic Voyage",  written by Harry Kleiner (with what is actually a pretty good novelization by Isaac Asimov afterward) and starring Raquel Welch as the most convincing portrayal of a scientist ever, doctors ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 15 2009 - 4:32pm

Retail Jars Of Peanut Butter On Grocery Shelves Not Affected By FDA Advisory

The American Peanut Council continues to work with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate which products may be affected by a manufacturer's recall due to salmonella contamination. It advises consumers that at this time, there is no ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 28 2009 - 5:45pm

New WineCrisp Apple Resists Scabbing (But It Isn't GMO)

A new, late-ripening apple named WineCrisp carries the Vf gene for scab resistance but was developed over the past 20 plus years through classical breeding techniques, not genetic engineering- so anti science types can rest easy.    Being resistant to appl ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 22 2009 - 10:58am

DNA 'Hotspots' Are Genetic Marker For Psoriasis, Say Researchers

Psoriasis affects some 7.5 million people in the United States, causing sore, itchy patches of red, scaly skin. In many cases psoriasis is not only disfiguring; between 10 and 30 percent of patients develop psoriatic arthritis, a painful inflammation of th ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 25 2009 - 2:27pm

Not Just Food- Other Things Cause Bacterial Infections Too, Says USDA Study

A new study finds swimming, having a private well or septic system, and other factors not involving food consumption were major risk factors for bacterial intestinal infections not occurring in outbreaks.  Outbreaks linked to food, such as the current Salm ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 26 2009 - 7:44pm

Resistant Staph Bacteria Has Met Its Match: Blue Light

Mold is icky. However, it has yielded one of the most important advances in medicine: antibiotics. There was a time when penicillin was the cure-all antibiotic, capable of quelling almost any one-celled invader. However, today this is not the case. Today’s ...

Article - Erin Richards - Jan 30 2009 - 6:56pm

Cationic Peptide- Coat Surgical Instruments With 'Nature's Antibiotics'

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have discovered a mimic of one of "nature's antibiotics" that can be used to coat medical devices to prevent infection and rejection.   The study, released today in the journal Chemistry and ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 29 2009 - 5:22pm

Stem Cell Transplant Trial Results In The Lancet- The UK Multiple Sclerosis Society Response

MS is the result of damage to myelin- the protective sheath surrounding nerve fibres of the central nervous system- which interferes with messages between the brain and the body. For some people, MS is characterised by periods of relapse and remission whi ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 29 2009 - 11:44pm