Science News – Page 3

Chicken Pox Virus May Be Linked to Serious Condition of Elderly

Written on February 20, 2015. Posted in Featured, Health News, Science News.

A new study links the virus that causes chicken pox and shingles to a condition that inflames blood vessels on the temples and scalp in the elderly, called giant cell arteritis. The study is published in the February 18, 2015, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The condition can cause sudden blindness or stroke and can be life-threatening. The varicella zoster virus, of the herpes virus family,...

Real-Time Tracking to Monitor Dangerous Bacteria Inside the Body

Written on February 19, 2015. Posted in Featured, Health News, Science News, World News.

Combining a PET scanner with a new chemical tracer that selectively tags specific types of bacteria, Johns Hopkins researchers working with mice report they have devised a way to detect and monitor in real time infections with dangerous Gram-negative bacteria. These increasingly drug-resistant bacteria are responsible for a range of diseases, including fatal pneumonias and various bloodstream or solid-organ infections acquired in and outside the...

Anti-HIV Vaccine is Possible Report Scripps Florida Scientists

Written on February 18, 2015. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, Health News, Science News, World News.

In a remarkable new advance against the virus that causes AIDS, scientists from the Jupiter, Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have announced the creation of a novel drug candidate that is so potent and universally effective, it might work as part of an unconventional vaccine. The research, which involved scientists from more than a dozen research institutions, was published February 18 online ahead of print by the prestigious...

Where Did The Ebola Virus Come From?

Written on February 16, 2015. Posted in Blogs & Links, Featured, Personal Safety, Science News.

Ebola is one of about 177 pathogens that are considered to be newly emerging diseases. These diseases are generally zoonotic diseases. Animal diseases that have jumped species. A familiar example of a zoonotic disease is measles, which is derived from dog distemper. For the past thirty years, forty-one previously unrecognized human infectious diseases have jumped from their normal animal hosts to human beings. This has frequently occurred in Africa,...

Are You Upset About Measles? Next Controversy HPV Vaccines

Written on February 13, 2015. Posted in Featured, Health News, Science News, USA News.

While measles and the human papillomavirus (HPV) are vastly different diseases, failing to get vaccinated against them can have equally serious consequences, suggests Bradley Stoner, PhD, a medical anthropologist who studies infectious disease transmission at Washington University in St. Louis. “HPV vaccine is highly safe and highly effective, yet vaccination rates in the US are embarrassingly low. Other countries have done a much better...

CBD May Reduce Seizures & Treatment-Resistant Epilepsy

Written on February 11, 2015. Posted in Featured, Health News, Science News, Treatments.

A team of Stony Brook University researchers have identified fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) as intracellular transporters for two ingredients in marijuana, THC and CBD (cannabidiol). The finding, published early online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, is significant because it helps explain how CBD works within the cells. Recent clinical findings have shown that CBD may help reduce seizures and could be a potential new medicine to treat...

3D Vaccine Could Help Prevent Cancer & Infectious Disease

Written on February 11, 2015. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, Health News, Science News.

NIBIB-funded researchers have developed a novel 3D vaccine that could provide a more effective way to harness the immune system to fight cancer as well as infectious diseases. The vaccine spontaneously assembles into a scaffold once injected under the skin and is capable of recruiting, housing, and manipulating immune cells to generate a powerful immune response. The vaccine was recently found to be effective in delaying tumor growth in mice. “This...

Medical Marijuana for Depression? Study Shows Likely Benefit

Written on February 10, 2015. Posted in Breaking News, Featured, Health News, Science News, USA News.

Scientists at the University at Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) are studying chronic stress and depression, with a focus on endocannabinoids, which are brain chemicals similar to substances in marijuana. The findings raise the possibility that components of marijuana may be useful in reducing depression that results from chronic stress. “In the animal models we studied, we saw that chronic stress reduced the production of...

Measles Outbreak: What You Need to Know

Written on February 6, 2015. Posted in Featured, Health News, Science News, World News.

Measles, a highly contagious respiratory infection that causes serious complications in about 3 of 10 people, has been grabbing headlines since last December’s outbreak at Disneyland. In January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 102 cases of measles in 14 states. One unconfirmed case was just reported in New Jersey. Measured against the approximately 600 cases reported in 2014, this year is on track to set a record for a...

Got Bees? Got Vitamin A? Got Malaria? Risk of Malnutrition

Written on January 30, 2015. Posted in Featured, Science News, World News.

A new study shows that more than half the people in some developing countries could become newly at risk for malnutrition if crop-pollinating animals — like bees — continue to decline. Despite popular reports that pollinators are crucial for human nutritional health, no scientific studies have actually tested this claim — until now. The new research by scientists at the University of Vermont and Harvard University has, for the first time, connected...