http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Predicting the infection patterns of influenzas requires tracking both the ecology and the evolution of the fast-morphing viruses that cause them, said a Duke University researcher who enlists computers to model such changes. http://www.physorg.com/news168700823.html Biology Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:21:49 EST news168700823 A new class of antibody drugs may provide a powerful new tool for the treatment of eye diseases in children, but specialists need to be alert for the possibility of serious side effects, according to an editorial in the August Journal of AAPOS (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus), published by Elsevier. http://www.physorg.com/news168510394.html Medicine & Health Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:27:02 EST news168510394 Cancer researchers at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center have successfully tested a small, engineered antibody they say shuts down growth of human glioblastoma tumors in cell and animal studies. Glioblastoma is the deadliest of brain cancers; there is no effective treatment. http://www.physorg.com/news168253487.html Medicine & Health Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:05:36 EST news168253487 Expression of a single gene programs an immune system helper T cell that fuels rapid growth and diversification of antibodies in a cellular structure implicated in autoimmune diseases and development of B cell lymphoma, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reported today in Science Express, the advance online publication of the journal Science. http://www.physorg.com/news167578949.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:30:01 EST news167578949 Following the disbandment of the STEP trial to test the efficacy of the Merck HIV-1 vaccine candidate in 2007, the leading explanation for why the vaccine was ineffective - and may have even increased susceptibility to acquiring the virus - centered on the hypothesis that high levels of baseline Ad5-specific neutralizing antibodies may have increased HIV-1 acquisition among the study subjects who received the vaccine by increasing Ad5-specific CD4+ T-cells that were susceptible to HIV-1 infection. http://www.physorg.com/news167328837.html Medicine & Health Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:20:03 EST news167328837 IVIg treatments, the addition of good antibodies into the blood stream, may hold promise for lowering the risk of Alzheimer's disease and other similar brain disorders, according to research published in the July 21, 2009, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. http://www.physorg.com/news167326969.html Medicine & Health Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:50:03 EST news167326969 A team of researchers from The Wistar Institute and the University of Pennsylvania reports new evidence refuting a popular hypothesis about the highly publicized failure in 2007 of the Merck STEP HIV vaccine study that cast doubt on the feasibility of HIV-1 vaccines. The findings were published on-line July 20 in Nature Medicine. http://www.physorg.com/news167316214.html Medicine & Health Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:30:01 EST news167316214 Chemists at the California Institute of Technology and the Scripps Research Institute have developed an innovative technique to create cheap but highly stable chemicals that have the potential to take the place of the antibodies used in many standard medical diagnostic tests. http://www.physorg.com/news166361266.html Chemistry Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:28:41 EST news166361266 The virus that causes AIDS is classified as a lentivirus, a word derived from the Latin prefix, "lenti-," meaning "slow." But new research from the NIAID-funded Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology suggests that HIV-1 is anything but - moving at breathtaking speed in destroying and dysregulating the body's gut-based B-cell antibody-producing system. http://www.physorg.com/news166161662.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:01:24 EST news166161662 Antibodies to a wide range of substances that can aggregate to form plaques, such as those found in Alzheimer's patients, have been identified in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of healthy people. Levels of these antibodies decline with age and, in Alzheimer's patients, with increasing progression of the disease. http://www.physorg.com/news166119948.html Medicine & Health Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:27:03 EST news166119948 Where biology, chemistry and physics intersect, a Kansas State University professor expects to find applications to improve human health. http://www.physorg.com/news166105190.html Nanotechnology Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:32:17 EST news166105190 Viruses can cost winegrowers an entire harvest. If they infest the grapevines, even pesticides are often no use. What's more, these chemicals are harmful to the environment. Researchers are growing plants that produce antibodies against the viruses and are thus immune. http://www.physorg.com/news165751593.html Biology Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:07:08 EST news165751593 The more than 1.5 million Americans with systemic lupus erythematosus (or lupus) suffer from a variety of symptoms that flare and subside, often including painful or swollen joints, extreme fatigue, skin rashes, fever, and kidney problems. Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have now identified the main trigger for the development of this disease. http://www.physorg.com/news165516329.html Medicine & Health Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:20:05 EST news165516329 A new computer model developed at MIT can help solve a problem that has plagued drug companies trying to develop promising new treatments made of antibodies: Such drugs have a relatively short shelf life because they tend to clump together, rendering them ineffective. http://www.physorg.com/news165514408.html Medicine & Health Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:13:57 EST news165514408 Iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA) is commonly seen in women aged http://www.physorg.com/news164974749.html Medicine & Health Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:19:30 EST news164974749 Recent genetic studies have revealed several new sites of genes that are risk factors for developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The strongest association with anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA)-positive RA (ACPAs are autoantibodies detected in RA that are used as a major diagnostic tool) has been found for the HLA-DRB1 gene, and this site seems to play a central role in susceptibility to the disease in Caucasian populations. Previous studies have shown a high increase in the risk of ACPA-positive RA associated with smoking in those who have certain variations of the HLA-DRB1 gene. There are several types of such alleles related to a particular amino acid sequence known as shared epitope (SE). ACPAs occur in about 60 percent of RA patients and are closely linked to the presence of SE alleles. In fact, SE alleles are the strongest genetic risk factor for ACPA-positive RA. http://www.physorg.com/news163095549.html Medicine & Health Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:19:36 EST news163095549 Testing people for heart disease might be just a finger prick away thanks to a new credit card-sized device created by a team of researchers from Harvard and Northeastern universities in Boston. In a research report published online in The FASEB Journal, they describe how this device can measure and collect a type of cells needed to build vascular tissue, called endothelial progenitor cells, using only 200 microliters of blood. The development is also significant because it allows scientists to collect these cells much more easily than current techniques allow, bringing laboratory-created tissue for vascular bypass surgeries another step closer to reality. http://www.physorg.com/news163070402.html Medicine & Health Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:20:32 EST news163070402 Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC (May 29, 2009) The FDA is ignoring critical information in deciding whether to approve an over-the-counter, rapid HIV test for home use, according to a recent article in the journal Medical Decision Making (MDM) which is published by SAGE. http://www.physorg.com/news162813850.html Medicine & Health Fri, 29 May 2009 11:05:03 EST news162813850 In what could be a major pharmaceutical breakthrough, research published online in The FASEB Journal describes how scientists from St George's, University of London have devised a one-two punch to stop HIV. First the report describes a new protein that can kill the virus when used as a microbicide. Then the report shows how it might be possible to manufacture this protein in quantities large enough to make it affordable for people in developing countries. http://www.physorg.com/news162729674.html Medicine & Health Thu, 28 May 2009 11:41:43 EST news162729674 A multicenter research team has announced encouraging results for an experimental therapy using elements of the body's immune system to improve cure rates for children with neuroblastoma, a challenging cancer of the nervous system. http://www.physorg.com/news162665086.html Medicine & Health Wed, 27 May 2009 17:45:02 EST news162665086 (AP) -- New test results show what scientists have suspected - people in their 60's and older have greater immunity to the new swine flu virus. http://www.physorg.com/news162129179.html Medicine & Health Thu, 21 May 2009 12:53:17 EST news162129179 When combined with a cocktail of chemotherapy drugs, two monoclonal antibodies, instead of one, appear to offer superior results in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, according to Mayo Clinic researchers working with the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG). http://www.physorg.com/news161606164.html Medicine & Health Fri, 15 May 2009 11:36:26 EST news161606164 A team of Princeton University scientists may have found a better way to make a vaccine against the flu virus. http://www.physorg.com/news161365680.html Medicine & Health Tue, 12 May 2009 16:48:33 EST news161365680 Taking aim at a leading cause of liver failure in the United States, a team of scientists at the Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories (MBL) of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) has developed a human monoclonal antibody that neutralizes the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). The new antibody effectively neutralized the virus in culture, and then prevented infection by the virus in a pre-clinical animal model of the disease. http://www.physorg.com/news160751183.html Medicine & Health Tue, 05 May 2009 14:06:44 EST news160751183 Some 25 years after the AIDS epidemic spawned a worldwide search for an effective vaccine against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), progress in the field seems to have effectively become stalled. The reason? According to new findings from a team of researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), it's at least partly due to the fact that our body's natural HIV antibodies simply don't have a long enough reach to effectively neutralize the viruses they are meant to target. http://www.physorg.com/news159630488.html Medicine & Health Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:49:15 EST news159630488 South Korean scientists said they have cloned a piglet whose organs were genetically modified to make them more suitable for human transplants. http://www.physorg.com/news159599436.html Biology Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:11:05 EST news159599436 New studies in pregnant mice using antibodies against fetal brains made by the mothers of autistic children show that immune cells can cross the placenta and trigger neurobehavioral changes similar to autism in the mouse pups. http://www.physorg.com/news159207023.html Medicine & Health Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:10:49 EST news159207023 Patients with a rare, blinding eye disease saw their vision improve after treatment with drugs to suppress their immune systems, according to researchers at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center. Because autoimmune retinopathy (AIR) is difficult to diagnose, the biggest challenge now is to find biologic markers that identify patients who can benefit from treatment. http://www.physorg.com/news158862397.html Medicine & Health Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:27:05 EST news158862397 Australian scientists have made a discovery that may one day remove the need for a lifetime of toxic immunosuppressive drugs after organ transplants. http://www.physorg.com/news158329558.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:26:25 EST news158329558 A quicker, cheaper and more accurate test for deadly Aspergillus fumigatus fungal infections in patients with damaged or suppressed immune systems was described today, (Thursday 2 April) at the Society for General Microbiology meeting in Harrogate, by Dr Christopher Thornton from the University of Exeter, UK. http://www.physorg.com/news157869734.html Biology Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:42:46 EST news157869734