A human antibody has been shown to protect lab monkeys from the deadly bat-borne Hendra virus, US scientists say.
The Hendra virus has killed more than 20 horses in NSW and Queensland, but no humans, this year.
But four of the seven people known to have contracted the disease in the past have died — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Preliminary results from the trial of a malaria vaccine show that it protected nearly half of the children who received it from bouts of serious malaria, scientists said Tuesday.
The vaccine, known as RTS,S and made by GlaxoSmithKline, has been in development for more than 25 years, initially for the American military and now with most of its support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The clinical trial is scheduled to continue through 2014 and will include tests on more than 15,000 children, from infancy on up. Early results released at a Seattle malaria conference on Tuesday showed that three doses protected 47 percent of the 6,000 children ages 5 months to 17 months from severe malaria. (The age group was chosen because newborns have some protection from their mothers’ antibodies) — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Switching off a single gene can help treat sickle cell disease by keeping the blood forever young. The illness is caused by a mutant form of adult haemoglobin, but not by foetal haemoglobin. Targeting BCL11A, the gene responsible for the body’s switch-over from foetal to adult haemoglobin, effectively eliminates the condition in mice.
The mutant form of adult haemoglobin forms long sticky chains inside red blood cells. The cells containing these chains can clog small blood vessels, depriving organs of oxygen and causing pain. In severe cases, sickle cell disease can be fatal. Tricking the body into make foetal haemoglobin again can alleviate symptoms, though.
That’s because foetal haemoglobin does not form sticky chains. However, it is produced in the body only during development in the womb and in the six months following birth. It has a higher affinity for oxygen than adult haemoglobin, vital in allowing the developing foetus to steal
oxygen from its mother’s blood — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Many people think heavy drinking causes promiscuity, violence and anti-social behaviour. That’s not necessarily true, argues Kate Fox.
I am a social anthropologist, but what I do is not the traditional intrepid sort of anthropology where you go and study strange tribes in places with mud huts and monsoons and malaria.
I really don’t see why anthropologists feel they have to travel to unpronounceable corners of the world in order to study strange tribal cultures with bizarre beliefs and mysterious customs, when in fact the weirdest and most puzzling tribe of all is right here on our doorstep. I am of course talking about my own native culture – the British.
And if you want examples of bizarre beliefs and weird customs, you need look no further than our attitude to drinking and our drinking habits. Pick up any newspaper and you will read that we are a nation of loutish binge-drinkers – that we drink too much, too young, too fast – and that it makes us violent, promiscuous, anti-social and generally obnoxious.
Clearly, we Brits do have a bit of a problem with alcohol, but why? — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Life expectancy for people with HIV in the UK has increased by 15 years in the past decade, thanks to modern drugs and earlier treatment, a study suggests.
Health authorities should consider more widespread testing for HIV, given the benefits of early treatment, UK researchers report in the BMJ.
The Terrence Higgins Trust says people at risk should get tested now.
Figures suggest more than 80,000 UK are living with HIV, and about 25% are unaware they have the infection — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A child that is born neither male or female is a rare occurrence but babies born with some form of Disorder of Sex Development (DSD) happens in one in every 1,500 births, according to the support group Accord Alliance.
For some born with a DSD it can mean growing up in a world of shame and secrecy, but many people are working to foster openness about it — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Australian vets say they are having great success treating arthritic dogs with stem cells and researchers developing arthritis treatments for humans are taking a keen interest in the technique.
The trouble is that some dog owners feel their four-legged friends are getting better treatment than they are — via redwolf.newsvine.com
US scientists for the first time have used a cloning technique to get tailor-made embryonic stem cells to grow in unfertilised human egg cells, a landmark finding and a potential new flashpoint for opponents of stem cell research.
The researchers were trying to prove it is possible to use a cloning technology called somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT, to make embryonic stem cells that match a patient’s DNA.
The achievement, published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, is significant because such patient-specific cells potentially can be transplanted to replace damaged cells in people with diabetes and other diseases without rejection by the immune system — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Four doctors in Wales rose to fame because of a man who pricked his finger and smelled putrid for five years.
The doctors were hit nose-on with one of the most baffling medical mysteries on record. It all started with a chicken. The case ended happily — yet mysteriously — half a decade later, the stink having vanished. The Lancet published an account of this called, accurately, A Man Who Pricked His Finger and Smelled Putrid for 5 Years.
The report, written by the relieved but puzzled physicians, ends with a plea: We ask assistance from colleagues who may have encountered a similar case or for suggestions to relieve this patient’s odour
— via redwolf.newsvine.com
A new smartphone app developed by scientists in Tel Aviv could delay the need for reading glasses in older people by training the mind to process blurred images, researchers said.
The app, called GlassesOff, can help people read without glasses even when their eyesight begins to deteriorate, according to its developers.
As people age, their eyes lose their focusing power and images sent to the brain’s visual cortex are unfocused. The processing is also slow and difficult — resulting in a blurred image — the apps’ developers Ucansi explained on its website.
To train the brain to process blurred images, the app displays groups of blurry lines at several points across the screen and the user must identify when one appears in the centre — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A parliamentary inquiry into forced adoptions has heard how unmarried mothers were tied to beds and sedated as they gave birth.
Christine Cole gave birth to a baby girl at Crown Street Women’s Hospital in Sydney in 1969.
She has studied forced adoptions for a PhD and believes many Australians are not aware of the practices the authorities used to carry out.
Mothers were being tied to beds or drugged or had pillows or sheets held in front of their face so they couldn’t see the baby at the birth — that was kept from the public,
she said — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Every year, more than 250,000 women die of cervical cancer, nearly 85 percent of them in poor and middle-income countries. Decades ago, it killed more American women than any other cancer; now it lags far behind cancers of the lung, breast, colon and skin.
Nurses using the new procedure, developed by experts at the Johns Hopkins medical school in the 1990s and endorsed last year by the World Health Organisation, brush vinegar on a woman’s cervix. It makes precancerous spots turn white. They can then be immediately frozen off with a metal probe cooled by a tank of carbon dioxide, available from any Coca-Cola bottling plant.
The procedure is one of a wide array of inexpensive but effective medical advances being tested in developing countries. New cheap diagnostic and surgical techniques, insecticides, drug regimens and prostheses are already beginning to save lives — via redwolf.newsvine.com
The body responsible for policing dentists has not recorded reprimands against a dentist who badly burnt a patient’s face during surgery, despite upholding a complaint against the dentist.
The case has led the Minister for Health to demand a written explanation from the Dental Council of NSW, after the Herald detailed a string of concerns about the appropriateness of the council’s rulings.
Arthur Mills, a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons, is accused of causing serious burns to the faces of two patients and superficial burns to another after a drill he was using overheated.
At least one of the incidents was referred to the Dental Council, which upheld the complaint about the burning.
It makes these findings in only 2 per cent of cases but still recorded no reprimands on his registration. He practises with no warning to the public — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Researchers have found a way to prevent HIV from damaging the immune system, in a new lab-based study published in the journal Blood. The research, led by scientists at Imperial College London and Johns Hopkins University, could have important implications for the development of HIV vaccines — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Pharmacists have been accused of putting money ahead of patients’ interests after striking a controversial deal to market dietary supplements with prescription medicines.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, which represents 94 per cent of Australia’s 5200 pharmacies, has agreed to start recommending a range of Blackmores products to patients when they pick up prescriptions for anti-biotics, blood pressure drugs, cholesterol medicine and proton pump inhibitors.
Last week, Blackmores chief executive Christine Holgate told Pharmacy News the deal meant they could provide the Coke and fries
with prescription drugs while providing pharmacies with a new and important revenue stream
— via redwolf.newsvine.com
An Irish pensioner found burnt to death at his home died from spontaneous human combustion, an inquest has concluded.
The West Galway coroner, Kieran McLoughlin, said there was no other adequate explanation for the death of 76-year-old Michael Faherty, also known as Micheal O O Fatharta. He said it was the first time in his 25 years as a coroner that he had returned such a verdict.
An Irish police crime scene investigator and a senior fire officer told the inquest in Galway that they could not explain how Faherty burned to death. Both said they had not come across such a set of circumstances before.
The assistant chief fire officer, Gerry O’Malley, said fire officers were satisfied that an open fire in Faherty’s fireplace had not been the cause of the blaze.
No trace of an accelerant was found at the scene, and there was no sign that anyone else had entered or left the house in Ballybane, Galway city — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Scientists have gained new knowledge into how viruses such as flu and HIV jump between species.
The research, by Edinburgh and Cambridge universities, should help predict the appearance of new diseases.
The scientists wanted to understand how viruses such as bird flu infect distant species like humans.
They found they were better able to infect species closely related to their typical target species than species that were distantly related.
However, the research also suggested that when diseases make a big leap they may then spread easily in species closely related to the new victim, regardless of how closely related these are to the original target species — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A diabetic dog has found a new home — with eight-year-old twin girls who have the same condition.
The Scottish SPCA was struggling to place Staffordshire bull terrier Roxy due to her daily insulin needs.
Catherine and Graham Hendry, from Ballater, Aberdeenshire, said the fact their daughters Louise and Katie also have type one diabetes made them want Roxy more.
The dog and girls now all have their injections together — via redwolf.newsvine.com
This past year, a Berlin man, Timothy Brown, became world famous as the first — and thus far only — person to apparently have been cured of his HIV infection. Brown’s HIV disappeared after he developed leukemia and doctors gave him repeated blood transfusions from a donor who harbored a mutated version of a receptor the virus uses to enter cells. Now, researchers report promising results from two small gene-therapy studies that mimic this strategy, hinting that the field may be moving closer to a cure that works for the masses — via redwolf.newsvine.com
At last, there is hard evidence that video gamers can help save the real world. A group of scientists, after failing to solve the crystal structure of a protein involved in AIDS, challenged players of the protein-folding game Foldit to try.
The players were able to create what the scientists described as models of sufficient quality
for the scientists to complete the structure.
The scientists hail from the University of Washington, A. Mickiewicz University in Poland, the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The crowdsourcing effort is described in a research paper, Crystal Structure of a Monomeric Retroviral Protease Solved By Protein Folding Game Players
, published in the current issue of Nature — via redwolf.newsvine.com
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