Body

In a new study reported in PLoS Medicine, Mammen P. Mammen Jr. of the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS) in Bangkok and colleagues investigated the spread of dengue virus infection in rural Thai villages. Identifying cases by screening schoolchildren with fever, the researchers then found that infection spread from the homes of infected children to nearby houses, resulting in localized clustering of cases.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Nov. 3, 2008) — When Albrecht Durer and other Renaissance artists painstakingly etched images onto plates, swabbed ink into the fine grooves and transferred the images to paper with a press, they never could have guessed that centuries later the same technique would uncover the secrets of human cells.

Whitehead Institute and Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have borrowed a technique from such "intaglio" printing to create snapshots describing the behavior of immune cell populations at a moment in time.

A new University of Colorado at Boulder study indicates that not only do human hands harbor far higher numbers of bacteria species than previously believed, women have a significantly greater diversity of microbes on their palms than men.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - As concerns such as avian flu, animal welfare and consumer preferences impact the poultry industry, the reduced genetic diversity of commercial bird breeds increases their vulnerability and the industry's ability to adapt, according to a genetics expert.

MIT engineers have painted the most detailed portrait yet of how single cells from the immune system respond to vaccination.

The work, reported in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of Nov. 3, could help researchers develop and test new vaccines for diseases including HIV, fungal infections and antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.

As the saying goes- blondes have more fun, but in the world of insects it may actually be the rare 'redheads' that have the last laugh….at least in terms of evolution.

A new study at the University of Melbourne has discovered that genetic variation in an asexual insect – insects that reproduce by cloning themselves – is maintained by rare clones being chosen for the next generation, a phenomenon known as frequency-dependent selection.

A discovery from the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has put scientists are one step closer to finding a defense against dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria, sometimes called "superbugs."

In a study that will be published in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, OMRF researchers Philip Silverman, Ph.D., and Margaret Clarke, Ph.D., have obtained the first visual evidence of a key piece in the puzzle of how deadly superbugs spread antibiotic resistance in hospitals and throughout the general population.

Research published today (Monday 3 November 2008) reveals for the first time that the different roles of mothers and fathers are influenced by genetics. The study, by the Universities of Exeter and Edinburgh, shows how variation in where males and females put their parenting effort reflects different genetic influences for each sex.

A call to explore a broader use of HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines and the validation of a simple oral screening test for HPV-caused oral cancers are reported in two studies by a Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center investigator.

UVALDE – By themselves or as an ingredient in a variety of foods, including salsa, America's top-selling condiment, peppers have found a warm spot in the hearts and stomachs of U.S. consumers.

But while U.S. Department of Agriculture figures show consumption of fresh peppers at an all-time high, only a fraction of these are grown domestically.

Currently more than 70 percent of all fresh peppers consumed in the U.S. are imported from Mexico, and another 18 percent are imported from Canada, according to USDA data.

Longer wait times for surgical repair of inguinal hernias in infants and young children under the age of 2 were associated with more emergency department visits and a greater risk of incarcerated hernia, found a study published in CMAJ http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg1001.pdf. There are few studies on wait times for surgery in children as most focus on adults.

Wrongful birth claims may increase in Canada if physicians do not adhere to new 2007 practice guidelines that recommend prenatal screening for chromosomal abnormalities be offered to all pregnant women, write Dr. Jeff Nisker and Roxanne Mykitiuk in CMAJhttp://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg1027.pdf.

Screening was previously offered only to women aged 35 and over.

Status Aboriginal people with severe kidney disease were 43% less likely than non-Aboriginal people to visit a nephrologist, found a study of 107,693 people in Alberta, Canadahttp://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg1007.pdf. Aboriginal people with chronic kidney disease were also almost twice as likely to be admitted to hospital for a condition that may have been preventable with appropriate outpatient care.

Information from a previous visit with another physician was available only 22% of the time when patients saw another doctor, according to a multicentre prospective cohort study by researchers from Ottawa, Toronto and Calgaryhttp://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg1013.pdf. Dr. Carl van Walraven and colleagues state that information exchange is crucial for continuity of patient care and may be associated with better outcomes. The study looked at availability of information for 3250 patients after discharge from hospital.

Canada is not keeping pace with countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom in revalidating the competence of its physicians, writes Dr. Wendy Levinson, chair of the University of Toronto's department of medicinehttp://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg979.pdf.