Could the ability to expel worms lead to a future asthma treatment?

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Based on experiments with worms similar to those that infest millions of children in the tropics, researchers see potential for a new way to treat asthma. Parasitic infections and asthma may cause the human immune system to react in some of the same ways, and may one day be cured by manipulating some of the same proteins, according to research published today in the journal Science.


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All News summaries for December 14, 2006

Booming business helps patients navigate medicine

41 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
(AP) -- After three surgeries, Judy Sherer still had chronic pain in her left shoulder. She'd lost faith in her doctors, and in despair tried a new health benefit offered by her employer.

Researchers identify gene responsible for rare childhood disease

49 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
The chromosomal abnormality that causes a rare, but often fatal, disorder that affects infants has been identified by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, who happened to treat two young ...

Genetic mutation identified for eye complaint

2 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
An international research collaboration including research teams from the Children's Hospital in Boston (USA), King's College London and the Peninsula Medical School, has identified a gene that, when mutated, causes Duane ...

US fentanyl deaths topped 1,000 over 2 years

2 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(AP) -- More than 1,000 people died over two years from an illegal version of the painkiller fentanyl, the government reported Thursday in its first national tally of those deaths.

Officials: Search for HIV vaccine needs overhaul

2 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(AP) -- Scientists will have to take "enormous intellectual leaps" to develop an AIDS vaccine in the coming years, say researchers clearly frustrated by the failure of a once-promising shot.