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191,281 articles from EurekAlert

Enzyme and vitamin define the yin and yang of asthma

The allergen breathed in by a person with asthma triggers a proteinase or enzyme called MMP7 that activates a cascade of events to prompt an allergic reaction. In particular, MMP7 activates interleukin 25, a key mediator of the allergic response in the lung. Researchers have identified a form of vitamin A made in the lung that is critical for dampening the inflammatory effect.

Exercise intensity and duration linked to improved outcomes for heart failure patients

The level of exercise is linked with the reduction of hospitalization and death in patients with chronic heart failure, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study.Researchers measured the duration and intensity of exercise and found that increasing these parameters improved patients' quality of life and exercise capacity, and lessened their risk for hospitalization and death.

Extra STICH not necessary in surgical treatment of heart failure

Results from the first comparative effectiveness study of two surgical treatments for heart failure will likely change practice for surgeons and cardiologists evaluating treatment options for some of their sickest patients, according to investigators in the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

Fish oils reduce greenhouse gas emissions from flatulent cows

Omega 3 fatty acids in fish oils can improve meat quality and reducing methane emissions in cows. Methane given off by farm animals is a major contribution to greenhouse gas levels. Researchers from University College Dublin reported that by including 2 percent fish oil in the diet of cattle they achieved a reduction in the amount of methane released by the animals

Genes that make bacteria make up their minds

How do single celled bacteria living as part of a complex community called a biofilm "decide" between different physiological processes, such as movement or producing the "glue" that forms the biofilm? Giving the Society for General Microbiology's 2009 Fleming lecture, Dr. Nicola Stanley-Wall (University of Dundee) explained that it is important to understand how biofilms form as they are often...

Getting down to cancer basics

Researchers have identified a new cancer gene -- one that is common to many cancers and affects the most basic regulation of our genes. The new example -- a gene on the X chromosome called UTX -- is found in 10 percent of cases of multiple myeloma and eight percent of esophageal cancers. When "tumor suppressor genes" such as this are inactivated, other genes can run riot.

Improved predictive value of biomarkers in HF makes earlier diagnosis and better management possible

The use of biomarkers for identifying those at risk of cardiovascular mortality is now central to the management of patients with heart failure. Research now aims to find new, more sensitive markers and more efficient use of existing markers. The ultimate aim, as this issue of the European Journal of Heart Failure suggests, is to make earlier and more accurate diagnosis possible, and thereby...

Microbes in mud flats clean up oil spill chemicals

Micro-organisms occurring naturally in coastal mudflats have an essential role to play in cleaning up pollution by breaking down petrochemical residues. Research by Dr. Efe Aganbi and colleagues from the University of Essex, presented at the Society for General Microbiology's meeting at Harrogate today, Monday, March 30, reveals essential differences in the speed of degradation of the chemicals...

New high-throughput screening technique makes probing puzzling proteins possible

Understanding the tens of thousands of proteins that compose the human proteome has emerged as a key challenge of this century, and research efforts to date have already enabled major advances in drug discovery and understanding basic biology. But many potential avenues have been blocked by lack of information about how the majority of these proteins function.

Physicians mending broken hearts

Pediatric surgeons are able to repair complex heart defects with a survival rate of greater than 90 percent, but that doesn't necessarily mean a happy ending for these children and teens. Some may have a great quality of life and others, with the same condition, may not. A study conducted at seven pediatric medical centers throughout the United States shows that several categories of patients...

Poultry and diabetics at risk from gas gangrene bug

Gas gangrene, the notorious infectious disease of two world wars can still be a problem today. Professor Richard Titball of the University of Exeter, told the Society of General Microbiology Meeting at the International Center, Harrogate today, Monday, March 30, that Clostridium perfringens, the bacterium responsible for gas gangrene in people, can also cause necrotic enteritis in intensively...

Skin cancer study uncovers new tumor suppressor gene

National Institutes of Health researchers have identified a gene that suppresses tumor growth in melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. The finding is reported today in the journal Nature Genetics as part of a systematic genetic analysis of a group of enzymes implicated in skin cancer and many other types of cancer.

Spreading antibiotics in the soil affects microbial ecosystems

Antibiotics used extensively in intensive livestock production may be having an adverse effect on agricultural soil ecosystems. At the Society for General Microbiology meeting today, Dr. Heike Schmitt, University of Utrecht, described how antibiotics passed from the animals in manure that was then spread on farmland. Although higher organisms, such as earthworms, would only be affected at...

Superbug risk to war wounded

Soldiers who survive severe injuries on battlefields such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan can be at risk from developing infections of their wounds with multidrug resistant bacteria. The potentially lethal microbes include superbugs such as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella species and Escherichia coli.

Surgery to reshape ventricle in heart failure patients offers no added benefit over bypass

A type of surgery which reshapes the scarred left ventricle, the main pumping chamber of the heart, and is often done in conjunction with heart bypass, not only failed to reduce deaths and hospitalizations in heart failure patients but also did not improve patients' quality of life compared to bypass alone after four years of follow-up, according to the results of the Surgical Treatment for...

Tea tree oil and silver together make more effective antiseptics

Mixing tea tree oil and silver or putting them in liposomes, greatly increases their antimicrobial activity and may minimise any side effects. Wan Li Low, University of Wolverhampton, presented research at the Society for General Microbiology meeting which showed that although both tea tree oil and silver -- as silver nitrate -- were effective against a range of micro-organisms, when low...

Transmission of drug resistant HIV-1

Drug-resistant forms of HIV can be spread between individuals who have not received anti-retroviral treatment, according to Professor Deenan Pillay from University College, London and the Health Protection Agency, speaking at the Society for General Microbiology meeting at Harrogate Monday, March 30.


SATURDAY 28. MARCH 2009


Extra 'STICH' in bypass adds no benefit to quality of life

A surgical procedure to resize an enlarged, weakened heart muscle during coronary bypass surgery for heart failure adds cost and risk but doesn't offer patients any additional benefit when compared with those who received bypass procedure alone, according to researchers from the Duke Clinical Research Institute.


FRIDAY 27. MARCH 2009


A splice of life

In a new study this week in Nature, researchers at Brandeis University and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology for the first time shed light on a crucial step in the complex process by which human genetic information is transmitted to action in the human cell and frequently at which point genetic disease develops in humans.