Immunology

Gene Therapy Cures Sickle Cell In Mice

As our knowledge of biology has increased exponentially, so has our potential to find new treatments and technologies to battle ailments previously incurable. However, many of these expansions of knowledge have faced stalling challenges and hurdles, haltin ...

Article - Erin Richards - Dec 15 2008 - 1:28am

When Did Nut Allergies Descend Into Sensationalism?

Measures imposed to reduce exposure to nuts are often based on irrational fears of nut allergies and are becoming increasingly sensationalist, according to Professor Nicolas Christakis from Harvard Medical School on bmj.com today. A peanut on the floor of ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 9 2008 - 9:51pm

Portable Test Will Enable Vets And Farmers To Identify Contagious Diseases Such As TB And Foot And Mouth On Site

A portable test being developed by biodetection expert Stratophase could soon enable farmers and vets to accurately detect highly contagious diseases such as bovine TB and foot and mouth in the field, reducing false alarms and containment time and enablin ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 12 2008 - 1:18am

Less Experienced Prostitutes More Likely To Get STDs

Less experienced prostitutes are more likely to have sexually transmitted infections (STIs). A study of more than a thousand female sex workers in Cambodia, reported in the open access journal BMC Infectious Diseases, has shown that girls who were new to t ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 11 2008 - 6:30pm

Adaptive Immunity Gets A Numerical Model

More than five million people die every year from infectious diseases, despite the availability of numerous antibiotics and vaccines. The discovery of penicillin to treat bacterial infections, along with the development of vaccines for previously incurable ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 11 2008 - 11:08am

Trying To Make Progress Toward Malaria Elimination

There are hurdles to clear before malaria elimination can be achieved. A supplement published in Malaria Journal features a series of articles reviewing the many aspects of the research agenda for global malaria elimination. ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 13 2008 - 10:16am

Phagocytosis- Why Immunity Is Stronger At Night Than During The Day

The immune system's battle against invading bacteria reaches its peak activity at night and is lowest during the day, according to Stanford researchers who based it on experiments with Drosophila melanogaster and reveal that the specific immune respon ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 14 2008 - 3:54pm

Solved- 42 Year Mystery Of A Failed Vaccine

Researchers have figured out why a respiratory syncytial virus vaccine used in 1966 to inoculate children against the infection instead caused severe respiratory disease and effectively stopped efforts to make a better one. The findings in Nature Medicine ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 15 2008 - 7:39pm

Cystic Fibrosis Treatment Gets A New Approach In The Evolutionary Roots Of Ancient Bacteria

The redox-active pigments responsible for the blue-green stain of the mucus that clogs the lungs of children and adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) are primarily signaling molecules that allow large clusters of the opportunistic infection agent, Pseudomonas ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 16 2008 - 2:10pm

There Is No Benefit To Unpasteurized Milk (And Some Risk)- Review

Raw milk advocates claim that unpasteurized milk cures or prevents disease, but no scientific evidence supports this notion. Testing raw milk, which has been suggested as an alternative to pasteurization, cannot ensure a product that is 100 percent safe an ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 16 2008 - 9:05pm