Immunology

FDA Lifts Clinical Hold On PharmAthene's SparVax Anthrax Vaccine

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has lifted the clinical hold previously placed on a proposed Phase II study of SparVax, a next generation recombinant anthrax vaccine, PharmAthene, Inc. announced. The clinical hold was enacted in August 2012, pr ...

Article - News Staff - May 30 2013 - 10:01pm

Got The Gout, Ebenezer? Don't Blame Your Big Toe

Gout is a painful rheumatic condition. It occurs when uric acid, a bodily waste product, crystallizes in joints and soft tissues. Gout is often associated with the big toe, but that turns out to be unfair; patients at highest risk of further flare-ups are ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 11 2013 - 6:38pm

TCA1 Compound Kills Persistent And Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis

A team of researchers has identified a highly promising new anti-tuberculosis compound that attacks the tuberculosis (TB) bacterium in two different ways. Although isoniazid and rifampin, two front-line TB drugs, came into use in 1952 and 1967 respectivel ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 17 2013 - 4:00pm

No Danger Of Cancer Through Gene Therapy Virus AAV-LPL S447X

In the fall of 2012, the European Medicines Agency approved the modified adeno-associated virus AAV-LPL S447X as the first ever gene therapy for clinical use in the Western world. AAV-LPL S447X was developed for the treatment of a rare inherited metabolic ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 19 2013 - 11:00am

Has Inflammatory Bowel Disease Increased In The US?

The largest investigation to-date has found a dramatic increase in the number of hospitalizations for children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) during the past decade in the United States. But does that mean there are actually more cases? ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 25 2013 - 4:00pm

Common Genetic Architectures Of Down Syndrome

Trisomy 21, commonly called Down syndrome, is a genetic condition in which a person has 47 chromosomes instead of the usual 46- three of the #21 chromosomes, rather than the usual two.(1)  Down syndrome  is one of the most common genetic birth defects, af ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 26 2013 - 9:57am

Muscular Dystrophy Defect Turned On And Off In Experiment

Myotonic dystrophy is an inherited disorder, the most common form of a group of conditions called muscular dystrophies that involve progressive muscle wasting and weakness. Myotonic dystrophy type 1 is caused a type of RNA defect known as a "triplet ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 29 2013 - 1:21pm

Western Alaska Identified As Potential Hot Spot For Avian Flu Transmission

Birds in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta of western Alaska have been discovered having low-pathogenic avian influenza viruses with Eurasian genes, supporting the hypothesis that the area is a potential point of entry for foreign animal diseases such as the more ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 7 2013 - 7:45pm

Industrial Farm Workers Carry Drug-Resistant Bacteria Associated With Livestock

The noses of industrial livestock workers in North Carolina contained drug-resistant bacteria- livestock-associated Staph- while the noses of antibiotic-free livestock workers did not, according to a new paper.  Workers were not experiencing Staph infecti ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 7 2013 - 9:34pm

Toxoplasmosis: Parasites In Poop Potential Public Problem?

It was once believed that crazy ladies acquired a lot of cats. Then it was discovered that a lot of cats instead created crazy ladies; cat poop is laden with an infectious parasite known as Toxoplasma gondii, a protozoan that has recently caused toxoplasm ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 9 2013 - 4:38pm