Body

Researchers plan to see if a higher dose of a pneumococcal vaccine will create a stronger immune response in older adults who received an earlier generation vaccine against pneumonia and other pneumococcal diseases.

The study supported by the National Institutes of Health will compare two dosages of a pneumococcal vaccine approved for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years, and adults 50 and older. The trial will enroll up to 882 men and women ages 55 to 74.

Rapamycin, a drug used to prevent rejection in transplants, could delay the onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. This is the main conclusion of a study published in the Nature in which has collaborated the researcher Isidro Ferrer, head of the group of Neuropathology at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and the Bellvitge University Hospital and Full Professor of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Barcelona.

Researchers from the University of Seville (Spain) have used mathematical tools to assess what has been known for centuries: the temperature inside the typical Mediterranean courtyard is cooler than that of the street. Though seemingly common sense, understanding such information in detail helps to save energy and money, which is the objective of eco-efficient buildings.

Philadelphia, PA, October 15, 2012 – One of the biggest challenges in psychiatric genetics has been to replicate findings across large studies.

Scientists at King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry have now performed one of the largest ever genetic replication studies of bipolar affective disorder, with 28,000 subjects recruited from 36 different research centers. Their findings provide compelling evidence that the chromosome 3p21.1 locus contains a common genetic risk for bipolar disorder, the PBRM1 gene.

Playing soccer (football) could be the best way for people with high blood pressure, known as hypertension, to improve their fitness, normalise their blood pressure and reduce their risk of stroke. Research from Universities of Exeter and Copenhagen, and Gentofte University Hospital in Denmark, published today (Monday 15 October 2012) in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, suggests that soccer training prevents cardiovascular disease in middle-aged men with hypertension and is more effective than healthy lifestyle advice currently prescribed by GPs.

Many diseases are caused by proteins losing their natural three-dimensional structure and thus their function. In most cases, the damaged proteins are degraded by different systems in the cells, but in some cases, the proteins begin to aggregate and form very well-organised rope-like structures called fibrils. These structures have now been linked to many different diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, type 2 diabetes and corneal dystrophies (opaqueness in the cornea).

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Georgia Health Sciences University researchers have developed a mouse that errs on the side of making bone rather than fat, which could eventually lead to better drugs to treat inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

LOS ANGELES (Oct. 15, 2012) – Currently, there are approximately 25 million people in the United States who suffer from the lifelong effects of asthma – wheezing, breathlessness, tightness in the chest, coughing – and the numbers are rising each year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of people in the United States diagnosed with asthma grew by 4.3 million from 2001 to 2009.

London (October 15, 2012) – Drawing on recent findings of a significant rise in cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the UK and globally, top TB researchers at a briefing today in London called for greater focus on the quest for new vaccines—a crucial long-term, cost-effective method for addressing the growing threat.

Bochum biophysicists in collaboration with the MPI Dortmund have for the first time measured the orientation of the Ras protein bound to the cell membrane. The RUB team combined the use of three biophysical methods - infrared spectroscopy, computer simulations and fluorescence measurements - and came to the surprising conclusion that two Ras molecules form a pair to take an upright position on the membrane. It was previously assumed, based on computer simulations, that the protein is located horizontally on the membrane as single molecule.

RICHMOND, Va. (Oct. 12, 2012) – Scientists studying the Atlantic sturgeon, one of the oldest species of fish in the world, have found evidence that the James River population in Virginia spawns in the fall, according to scientists at the Virginia Commonwealth University Center for Environmental Studies and VCU Rice Center.

DURHAM, NC -- Reproducing a rare type of B cell in the laboratory and infusing it back into the body may provide an effective treatment for severe autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

The findings, which were demonstrated in mice, highlight the unique properties of a subset of B cells that normally controls immune responses and limits autoimmunity, in which an organism mistakenly attacks its own healthy tissue. The work appears Oct. 14, 2012, in the journal Nature.

ATLANTA, October 15, 2012 – The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine known as Gardasil is not associated with an increase in pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, or contraceptive counseling, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published online today in the journal Pediatrics.

In a challenge to prevailing wisdom that CEO and board chair positions should be held by two different people as "best practice," new research indicates that the roles should be split only when there is a performance problem, and then only through a "demotion strategy" that keeps the CEO but brings in an independent chair, as an overt signal to reverse course.

NAIROBI, KENYA (15 October 2012)—Inserting rows of "fertilizer trees" into maize fields, known as agroforestry, can help farmers across sub-Saharan Africa cope with the impacts of drought and degraded soils, according to a 12-year-long study by researchers at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).