Body

Vaccinations, long recognized as an excellent investment that saves lives and prevents illness, could have significant economic value that far exceeds their original cost, a new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has found.

For more than 30 years, Mississippi and West Virginia were the only states in the country that disallowed nonmedical exemptions to mandatory school vaccination laws for religious or philosophical reasons, until they were joined by California last year. These exemption laws have provoked debate over the rights of parents versus the responsibility of government to protect public health.

Chapel Hill, NC - For the first time, investigators in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have determined how antiretroviral therapy (ART) affects the way HIV disseminates and establishes infection in the female reproductive tract. These observations have significant implications for future HIV prevention, vaccine and cure studies. A recent HIV prevention clinical trial demonstrated 93 percent protection against secondary heterosexual transmission when infected partners received early ART.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2015 -- Diseases from mosquito bites kill hundreds of thousands of people every year worldwide. Now another mosquito-borne illness is making headlines: the once-rare Zika virus. The virus has spread throughout Brazil, and the World Health Organization has declared Zika a public health emergency. Reactions looks at how mosquitoes spread diseases, including Zika, and how you can help protect yourself. Check it out here: https://youtu.be/GBpheE7LrqE.

We are pleased to announce that a new biosensing platform has been fabricated for the determination of Haptoglobin in human blood.

Baltimore, Md., Feb. 8, 2015 -A multi-disciplinary group of researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) have for the first time determined the genetic makeup of various strains of E. coli, which every year kills hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

The paper, which appears in a recent issue of Nature Microbiology, analyzed the DNA of Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC), which are the strains of the bacteria that cause diarrhea.

A highly lethal cancer sometimes requires large doses of highly toxic drugs. However, a blitzkrieg approach can be unfeasible for some patients due to severe side effects. Now a powerhouse team of researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has revealed that an implantable device can deliver a particularly toxic cocktail of drugs directly to pancreatic tumors to stunt their growth or in some cases, shrink them - all while showing signs that the rest of the body would be spared toxic side effects.

New Haven, Conn.-- A novel Yale study answers age-old questions about how cancers spread by applying tools from evolutionary biology. The new insights will help scientists better understand the genetic origins of tumor metastases, and lead to more effective targets for treatment, said the researchers.

The study, led by associate professor of public health (biostatistics) Jeffrey Townsend, was published on Feb. 8 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

MAYWOOD, Il. (Feb. 8, 2016) - In a finding that could lead to new drugs to treat heart failure, researchers have uncovered the molecular mechanism that regulates how the heart pumps blood.

The key molecular player in this mechanism is a giant protein called titin, according to a study led by senior author Pieter de Tombe, PhD of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. The study was published Feb. 8, 2016 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Oxford scientists have for the first time been able to identify the origins of some severe disease-causing mutations within the testicles of healthy men. This discovery will help our understanding of how certain serious genetic disorders can occur in the offspring of healthy parents, who do not themselves have the genetic defect. The research is published in the journal PNAS.

BOSTON, MA - Shift workers frequently undergo circadian misalignment, disruption of the "body clock," caused by inverted wake and sleep cycles. Although shift work, which requires workers to be awake when the brain's circadian clock is expecting sleep, is known to be a risk factor for hypertension, inflammation and cardiovascular disease, little is known about the specific impact of circadian misalignment on cardiovascular disease risk in humans.

KNOXVILLE--Microorganisms in the gut could play a role in reducing the severity of malaria, according to a new study co-authored by researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the University of Louisville.

Simple physics may play a larger role than previously thought in helping control key bodily processes such as how the body fights infection.

Using a model blood vessel system built on a polymer microchip, researchers have shown that the relative softness of white blood cells determines whether they remain in a dormant state along vessel walls or enter blood circulation to fight infection. Changes in these cell mechanical properties - from stiff to soft - can be triggered as a side effect of drugs commonly used to fight inflammation or boost blood pressure.

A team led by engineers at the University of California, San Diego has 3D-printed a tissue that closely mimics the human liver's sophisticated structure and function. The new model could be used for patient-specific drug screening and disease modeling. The work was published the week of Feb. 8 in the online early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers said the advance could help pharmaceutical companies save time and money when developing new drugs.

ROSEMONT, Ill. (Feb. 1, 2016)--According to a new literature review in the February issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS), a team-based care approach (consisting of the patient, family members, the orthopaedic surgeon and other medical practitioners) on total knee replacement (TKR) procedures, in conjunction with newer pain management strategies, is key to maximizing patient outcomes.