Body

Scientists are collaborating on a new international research project to identify antibiotics that can kill tuberculosis and fight resistant strains.

"We want to accelerate the discovery of new compounds that can be turned into effective drugs," said Professor Tony Maxwell from the John Innes Centre, a key player in "More Medicines for Tuberculosis", a new European research project.

Four novel biomarkers have been identified which may aid in the diagnosis and management of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a study conducted by researchers in Australia, who determined the biomarkers may be used in different combinations to successfully identify patients with either of the airway diseases. In conducting the study, the researchers relied on proteomics, an emerging field of science that focuses on the structure and functions of an organism's proteins.

Monitoring blood for tiny particles released by cells lining the lungs may help clinicians diagnose emphysema in its earliest stages, according to researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College. The particles, called endothelial microparticles (EMPs), are shed during the disease process as tiny blood vessels in the lungs, called pulmonary capillaries, are injured and die.

The findings were published online ahead of the print edition of the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

An Australian study to determine the likelihood of school-aged children waking up to their home smoke alarm found that 78% of children slept through a smoke alarm sounding for 30 seconds. The outcomes of the study are published today in the journal Fire and Materials.

Although universal prenatal supplementation with iron is recommended, an extra intake of iron does not noticeably benefit pregnant women, except when they are anemic. This was observed by researchers of the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp and colleagues who followed more than a thousand pregnant women in Burkina Faso.

New research from Mount Sinai School of Medicine has discovered that rhodopsin, a pigment of the retina that is responsible for the first events in the perception of light, may also be involved in temperature sensation. This detection had not been revealed in previous studies.

Dependent on the host plant

The DNA studies carried out by a team of Spanish and Greek researchers, and published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, show that more than 30% of the hake products sold in Spain and Greece are wrongly labelled.

"We have found that hake caught in Africa are being labelled as American or European, meaning consumers pay a higher price for them", Eva García Vázquez, a professor at the University of Oviedo (Spain) and co-author of the study, tells SINC.

The relative rate of alcohol-related chronic pancreatitis (CP) is lower when compared to other causes, according to a new study in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute. Patients with no identifiable cause for their disease as well as those with non-alcohol-related causes represent an unexpectedly large subgroup, particularly among women.

Seventy per cent of men who received androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) after surgery to remove their prostate gland gained significant weight in the first year, putting on an average of 4.2kg, according to a paper in the March issue of the urology journal BJUI.

Researchers studied the recorded weights of 132 men who underwent radical prostatectomy between 1988 and 2009 at four US Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in California, Georgia and North Carolina, before and after they received ADT.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) – which causes AIDS – invades human immune cells and causes them to produce new copies of the virus, which can then infect new cells. A research team led by Professor Don C. Lamb (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich) and Priv.-Doz. Dr. Barbara Müller of Heidelberg University Hospital have now analyzed the involvement of particular components of the infected cell in virion release, and discovered that the enzyme VPS4A plays a more active role in the process than was previously thought. VPS4A was already known to act after virus budding was complete.

LA JOLLA, CA – March 10, 2011 – Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute and University of Pennsylvania have found a way to uncover potential drug targets that have so far remained hidden from researchers' view.

By applying the new method to a type of nerve cell critical to regulating body temperature, the authors found more than 400 "receptors" (structures that bind other molecules, triggering some effect on the cell) responding to neurotransmitters, hormones, and other chemical signals. This represents 20 to 30 times more receptors than previous studies had identified.

[EMBARGOED FOR MARCH 11, 2011] Low bone mineral density in HIV-infected patients is common and raises concerns about increased risks of fracture. Although there have been several studies regarding bone mineral density, there have been few data on rates of fracture in this population.

NEW YORK (March 11, 2011) -- During a regular annual physical exam, blood is usually drawn to check the health of a person's heart, kidneys and liver. Now, researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center say a blood test that detects the early development of emphysema -- well before symptoms occur -- may someday also be offered.

NAFLD is a condition where fat accumulates in the liver (steatosis) and can lead to liver inflammation (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH) and permanent liver damage (fibrosis/cirrhosis). NAFLD affects anywhere from 11% to 45% of some populations and is associated with obesity, hypertension, and problems regulating serum lipids or glucose.