Current treatment of cystic echinococcosis is surgery or percutaneous aspiration, injection and reaspiration (PAIR) using hypertonic saline or ethanol. It is aimed at causing permanent damage to the endocyst - the thin, delicate, and translucid inner membrane that produces the cystic fluid and generates new larval elements able to expand the infestation.
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Rice is the world's most important food crop. Understanding its valuable genetic diversity and using it to breed new rice varieties will provide the foundation for improving rice production in the future and securing global food supplies.
Recently published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) are the findings of the research team, which scrutinized the genomes of twenty different types of genetically diverse rice used in international breeding.
The evolution of multiple antibiotic resistances is a global and difficult problem to eradicate. Isabel Gordo, a group leader at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC)- Portugal, reports in the paper published in the latest issue of PLoS Genetics (*), that the deleterious effect associated with the acquisition of resistance by a bacteria can be suppressed by the acquisition of a new resistance to another antibiotic.
US researchers have created 'bacterial computers' with the potential to solve complicated mathematics problems. The findings of the research, published in BioMed Central's open access Journal of Biological Engineering, demonstrate that computing in living cells is feasible, opening the door to a number of applications. The second-generation bacterial computers illustrate the feasibility of extending the approach to other computationally challenging math problems.
Uncooked meat products enhanced with food additives may contain high levels of phosphorous and potassium that are not discernible from inspection of food labels, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). This can make it difficult for people to limit dietary phosphorous and potassium that at high levels are harmful to kidney disease patients.
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a frequent complication for patients in intensive care. A new laboratory test called urine neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin (NGAL) helps predict if patients will develop acute kidney injury, reports an upcoming study in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). "As a stand-alone marker, urine NGAL performed moderately well in predicting ongoing and subsequent AKI," comments T. Alp Ikizler, MD (Vanderbilt University).
New data collected at Columbia University Medical Center and by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine are helping researchers understand the extent to which a certain protein, NGAL, plays a role in marking chronic kidney disease resulting from HIV. They are also trying to distinguish nephropathy from more common causes such as diabetes and hypertension.
Coal dust exposure is directly linked to severity of emphysema in smokers and nonsmokers alike, according to new research from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
"In this study we have shown that coal mine dust exposure is a significant predictor of emphysema severity," said Eileen Kuempel, Ph.D., a senior scientist at NIOSH and lead author of the study.
"The National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone was recently revised to set lower limits for ozone concentrations. Our research indicates that the threshold for decrements in ozone-induced lung function in healthy young subjects is below this standard," said Edward Schelegle, Ph.D., of the University of California Davis.
Lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) can have a significantly beneficial effect in patients with severe emphysema, according to a study that randomized emphysema patients to receive either LVRS or non-surgical medical care.
New findings show that testing for blood alcohol levels (BALs) can identify high-risk patients, even if they previously denied excessive drinking, and help to predict alcohol-related health complications. The findings will be published in the October issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta recently discovered jewel beetles change color because of the light-reflecting properties of the cells that make up their external skeletons, not because of unique, light-absorbing properties in their pigment. The journal Science reports the finding in its July 24 issue. The National Science Foundation supports the research.
Expression of only a single gene programs an immune system helper T-cell that fuels rapid growth and diversification of antibodies. The antibodies are located in a cellular structure possibly related to autoimmune diseases and development of B cell lymphoma, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reported today in Science Express.
The gene is Bcl6, which the team found plays the crucial role in differentiating a naïve T-cell into a T follicular helper cell (Tfh).
Scientists from The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Sangamo Biosciences Inc., Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, Open Monoclonal Technology, Inc. (OMT) and INSERM today announced the creation of the first genetically modified mammals developed using zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technology.
Open Monoclonal Technology, Inc. (OMT), in collaboration with Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. (NASDAQ, SGMO), Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (NASDAQ: SIAL), The Medical College of Wisconsin, and INSERM, today announced the creation of the first targeted knockout rats as detailed in "Knockout Rats Produced via Embryo Microinjection of Designed Zinc Finger Nucleases," published in the July 24th issue of Science. The creation of rats with permanent, heritable genetic mutations is a critical milestone in the development of OMT's novel human monoclonal antibody platform.