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AFOSR-funded initiative creates more secure environment for cloud computing

Scientists at the University of Texas in Dallas, with funding from AFOSR's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, are seeking solutions for maintaining privacy in a cloud, or an Internet-based computing environment where all resources are offered on demand.

Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham has put together a team of researchers from the UTD School of Management and its School of Economics, Policy and Political Sciences to investigate information sharing with consideration to confidentiality and privacy in cloud computing.

Physical fitness may help reduce chronic disease risk in college students

BOSTON (June 17, 2010) - Staying in shape may bolster the metabolic profiles of college students, even in those with higher than desirable body fat percentages. In an epidemiological study, researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University found an association between physical fitness, body fat percentage and certain metabolic risk factors that are precursors to cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.

New link identified for bipolar disorder

Lithium has been established for more than 50 years as one of the most effective treatments for manic depression, clinically termed bipolar disorder.

However, scientists have never been entirely sure exactly why it is beneficial.

Now, new research from Cardiff University scientists suggests a possible mechanism for why Lithium works, opening the door for better understanding of the illness and potentially more effective treatments.

A nutritional supplement for treating chronic hepatitis C: Viusid

The pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is associated with severe oxidative stress and non-selective immunological disturbance that lead to necroinflammation and the progression of fibrosis. Several trials have suggested that antioxidant and immunostimulant therapies may have a beneficial effect. Two previous clinical studies have reported that the Viusid related effect on histologic features, especially fibrosis, appears to be associated with antioxidant and/or immunomodulatory properties. However, the putative mechanism of action of Viusid is unknown.

Neonatal diarrhea

Diarrhea represents a major condition responsible for pediatric mortality worldwide. The onset of neonatal diarrhea may rapidly lead to life threatening dehydration and malnutrition. Clinical and epidemiologic studies defining severity and etiology are needed in order to improve diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for the management of neonatal diarrhea.

The experience of arterial reconstruction in adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation

Hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT), which is the most common vascular complication after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT), can result in graft loss and devastating consequences. Surgical techniques are suggested to an important factor in causing HAT. Despite improvements in surgical techniques, arterial reconstruction in LDLT has a high risk of thrombosis.

Huge pelvi-abdominal malignant inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is an uncommon benign neoplasm with locally aggressive behavior but malignant change is rare. Such a rare tumor occurring in a 14-year-old patient with clinical presentations of abdominal pain and body weight loss was seldom described before.

Why do diseases like multiple sclerosis go into remission during pregnancy?

ANN ARBOR, MI -- During pregnancy, many women experience remission of autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and uveitis. Now, scientists have described a biological mechanism responsible for changes in the immune system that helps to explain the remission.

Maternal or infant antiretrovirals both effective in preventing HIV transmission through breast milk

CHAPEL HILL – The largest study to date to examine methods to prevent HIV infection among breastfeeding infants concludes that giving antiretroviral drugs to HIV-infected breastfeeding mothers in sub-Saharan Africa or giving an HIV-fighting syrup to their babies are both effective.

AIDS drugs given to pregnant women block 99 percent of HIV transmission to breastfed babies

Boston, MA — An international clinical trial led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) has found that AIDS-fighting antiretroviral drug combinations given to pregnant and breastfeeding women in Botswana, Africa, prevented 99% of the mothers from transmitting the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to their infants.

Researchers unzip symptoms of the 'male menopause'

Scientists have for the first time identified the symptoms associated with what has been termed late-onset hypogonadism or 'male menopause' caused by a reduction in testosterone production in ageing men.

But the researchers say that unlike the female menopause, which affects all women, the male menopause is relatively rare, affecting only 2% of elderly men, and is often linked to poor general health and obesity.

The first genes for susceptibility to cerebral malaria in Angolan children identified

Malaria, caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, remains one of the main causes of death worldwide. An international team of researchers lead by Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, IGC, scientist Carlos Penha-Gonçalves, has identified the first genetic risk factors for the development of cerebral malaria in Angolan children, a severe manifestation of malaria infection.

Gene mutation increases thromboembolism risk in women taking tamoxifen

Women taking tamoxifen for early-stage breast cancer who developed blood clots were more likely to carry a gene mutation for clotting than women taking tamoxifen who did not develop blood clots, according to an online study published June 16 in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Late-onset Pompe patients in US begin receiving new therapy

The first commercially available treatment in the United States for patients with late-onset Pompe disease was administered today (Wednesday, June 16) at the University of Florida.

Pompe disease is a rare form of muscular dystrophy and has been the focus of a research program at UF for more than 10 years. It is now part of expanded efforts in neuromuscular disease research.