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. Earlier this year, researchers showed that they could cut the lives of disease-carrying mosquitoes in half by infecting them with a bacterium they took from fruit flies. Now, a new report in the December 24th issue of Cell, a Cell Press publication, suggests that their strategy might do one better: The Wolbachia bacteria also makes the mosquitoes more resistant to infection by viruses that are a growing threat to humans, including those responsible for dengue fever and Chikungunya. http://www.physorg.com/news180845514.html Medicine & Health Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:00:02 EST news180845514 Amid reports that swine flu viruses are developing the ability to shrug off existing antiviral drugs, scientists in Japan are reporting a first-of-its kind discovery that could foster a new genre of antivirals that sidestep resistance problems, according to an article scheduled for the July 23 issue of the ACS' Journal of the Medicinal Chemistry. http://www.physorg.com/news166873469.html Chemistry Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:44:55 EST news166873469 Traditional cell phones have been immune to viruses because they lack standardized operating systems. However, as smart phones rapidly increase in market share, viruses pose a serious threat to mobile communications. http://www.physorg.com/news163952190.html Technology Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:16:39 EST news163952190 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of New Mexico Cancer Center researchers have identified a genetic mutation underlying one of the most common childhood cancers, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The discovery could lead to more effective treatments for a subset of ALL patients who experience minimal benefit with current therapies by using drugs that are already in clinical trials for similar blood diseases in adults. http://www.physorg.com/news163263827.html Medicine & Health Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:04:46 EST news163263827 As climate change causes temperatures to increase in Hawaii's mountains, deadly non-native bird diseases will likely also creep up the mountains, invading most of the last disease-free refuges for honeycreepers - a group of endangered and remarkable birds. http://www.physorg.com/news162562227.html Biology Tue, 26 May 2009 13:11:09 EST news162562227 InDevR, a small biotech company in Boulder, CO, and the Influenza Division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta confirmed today that the M gene version of InDevR's FluChip can detect swine-origin H1N1 influenza A viruses and clearly distinguish them from seasonal influenza viruses (A/H1N1 and A/H3N2) as well as the deadly avian A/H5N1 virus. http://www.physorg.com/news160755100.html Chemistry Tue, 05 May 2009 15:12:21 EST news160755100 (AP) -- Southern hemisphere countries that have largely escaped swine flu infections could soon become more vulnerable, experts warn, as the approaching winter brings with it an elevated risk of the virus spreading and mutating. http://www.physorg.com/news160676818.html Medicine & Health Mon, 04 May 2009 17:28:08 EST news160676818 The ancestors of the simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) that jumped from chimpanzees and monkeys, and ignited the HIV/AIDS pandemic in humans, have been dated to just a few centuries ago. These ages are substantially younger than previous estimates, according to a new study from The University of Arizona in Tucson, published May 1st in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news160385953.html Medicine & Health Fri, 01 May 2009 08:39:49 EST news160385953 A French study of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic, which analysed mortality rates in approximately three-quarters of the European population, has concluded that it is unlikely that the virus, often described as Spanish Flu, originated in Europe. http://www.physorg.com/news160307159.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:46:33 EST news160307159 InDevR, a small biotech company in Boulder, CO, announced today that they have licensed the FluChip technology from the University of Colorado. The FluChip was invented by a joint team of scientists at the University of Colorado and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an NIH sponsored effort led by Professor Kathy Rowlen. http://www.physorg.com/news160146203.html Medicine & Health Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:03:55 EST news160146203 An influenza vaccine that protects against death and serious complications from different strains of flu is a little closer to reality, Saint Louis University vaccine researchers have found. http://www.physorg.com/news160071564.html Medicine & Health Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:19:50 EST news160071564 Scientists in South Dakota are reporting development of the first broad-spectrum antimicrobial paint, a material that can simultaneously kill not just disease-causing bacteria but mold, fungi, and viruses. http://www.physorg.com/news159437892.html Chemistry Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:18:33 EST news159437892 (PhysOrg.com) -- Northeastern researchers say that it`s only a matter of time before computer viruses attack smartphones, like the Blackberry and iPhone, on a massive scale. But their study may also hold the key to blunting the effects of these attacks. http://www.physorg.com/news158948620.html Technology Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:24:09 EST news158948620 (AP) -- Forget, for a moment, computer viruses and sophisticated cybercrimes. A hacksaw and a few other tools were probably all it took for someone to sever eight fiber-optic cables in Silicon Valley this week, knocking out cell phone, landline and Internet service. http://www.physorg.com/news158686349.html Technology Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:35:18 EST news158686349 (PhysOrg.com) -- Mass extinctions occur repeatedly, though irregularly, throughout Earth`s history, and occasionally these extinctions have been devastating to life on our planet - or have they? Extinction events have sometimes accelerated the evolution of life on earth by eliminating old dominating species and making room for new ones. A new study takes this idea a step further, showing that life may have never achieved the complexity necessary for the development of advanced multi-cellular organisms without recurring extinction events. http://www.physorg.com/news157973463.html Biology Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:31:31 EST news157973463 A new study published as the cover article for the April 2009 issue of The FASEB Journal promises to give physicians new ways to reduce deadly responses to viral infections of the brain and spinal cord. In the report, scientists from Columbia University, NY, detail for the first time the chemical processes that star-shaped nerve cells, called astrocytes, use to handle invading viruses and to summon other immune cells to cause life-threatening inflammation. http://www.physorg.com/news157713299.html Medicine & Health Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:15:23 EST news157713299 The origin of the neurotoxin azaspiracid has finally been identified after a search for more than a decade. The azaspiracid toxin group can cause severe poisoning in human consumers of mussels after being enriched in the shellfish tissues. The scientific periodical European Journal of Phycology reports in its current issue (Vol. 44/1: p. 63-79) that a tiny algal species, the dinoflagellate Azadinium spinosum, is responsible. http://www.physorg.com/news157129483.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:05:38 EST news157129483 Two highly lethal viruses that have emerged in recent outbreaks are susceptible to chloroquine, an established drug used to prevent and treat malaria, according to a new basic science study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in the Journal of Virology. Due to the study's significance, it was published yesterday, online, in advance of the first April print issue. http://www.physorg.com/news155480197.html Medicine & Health Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:57:37 EST news155480197 Researchers reporting in the March 6th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, have developed a new way to produce human embryonic-like stem cells that are free of the viruses used to insert the key ingredients. They showed they could make those embryonic-like cells by reprogramming cells taken from people with unexplained (or idiopathic) Parkinson's disease. http://www.physorg.com/news155480031.html Biology Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:54:33 EST news155480031 The discovery of the molecule, an antibody known as CR6261, is good news for researchers who hope to design a flu vaccine that would give humans lifelong protection against a majority of influenza viruses. The antibody also has the potential to treat those who are unvaccinated and become infected with the flu. http://www.physorg.com/news154880861.html Chemistry Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:28:18 EST news154880861 A more specific and faster detection of viruses has been identified in new research by Trinity College Dublin's Professor of Physics, Martin Hegner at Trinity College's Centre of Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) and an international team of researchers. These findings have been published online in Nature News and will be published in the international peer-reviewed journal Nature Nanotechnology in March. http://www.physorg.com/news154097460.html Nanotechnology Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:51:34 EST news154097460 Researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have found that dengue transmission in Puerto Rico is dependent upon local climate and short-term changes in temperature and precipitation. Details are published February 17 in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. http://www.physorg.com/news154079366.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:49:59 EST news154079366 (PhysOrg.com) -- If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Rice University's precise new image of a virus' protective coat is seriously undervalued. More than three years in the making, the image contains some 5 million atoms -- each in precisely the right place -- and it could help scientists find better ways to both fight viral infections and design new gene therapies. http://www.physorg.com/news154027398.html Chemistry Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:24:13 EST news154027398 (PhysOrg.com) -- The strange interaction of a parasitic wasp, the caterpillar in which it lays its eggs and a virus that helps it overcome the caterpillar`s immune defenses has some scientists rethinking the definition of a virus. http://www.physorg.com/news153685639.html Biology Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:27:44 EST news153685639 (PhysOrg.com) -- A recent Northeastern University study has shown, for the first time, the effect of individual genes on the fitness of a marine species at the ecosystem level. Using his innovative computer simulation model, engineering professor Ferdi Hellweger found that eliminating photosynthesis genes from viruses that attack important marine photosynthetic bacterial organisms will negatively impact the fitness of these viruses, ultimately killing them. http://www.physorg.com/news152990710.html Biology Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:25:48 EST news152990710 With cold and flu season in full swing, the fact that viruses and bacteria rapidly evolve is apparent with every sneeze, sniffle, and cough. A new report in the January 2009 issue of The FASEB Journal, explains for the first time how humans keep up with microbes by rearranging the genes that make antibodies to foreign invaders. This research fills a significant gap in our understanding of how the immune system helps us survive. http://www.physorg.com/news150373007.html Biology Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:16:47 EST news150373007 Research conducted at The University of Queensland could contribute to the development of a vaccine and cure for West Nile virus and Dengue fever. http://www.physorg.com/news148228029.html Medicine & Health Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:27:09 EST news148228029 Mosquitoes are like Typhoid Mary. They can spread viruses which cause West Nile fever, dengue fever, or yellow fever without themselves getting sick. Scientists long thought that the mosquito didn't care whether it had a virus hitchhiker, but have now discovered, "There is a war going on," said Zach Adelman, assistant professor of entomology at Virginia Tech. http://www.physorg.com/news147374555.html Biology Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:22:35 EST news147374555 A virus that causes cold-like symptoms in humans originated in birds and may have crossed the species barrier around 200 years ago, according to an article published in the December issue of the Journal of General Virology. Scientists hope their findings will help us understand how potentially deadly viruses emerge in humans. http://www.physorg.com/news146399764.html Biology Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:36:04 EST news146399764 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Queensland researchers have made a discovery that could open up a new front in the fight against insect-transmitted diseases. http://www.physorg.com/news144678523.html Biology Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:28:43 EST news144678523