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Vaccine for urinary tract infections comes closer to reality

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 18 (ANI): A simple vaccine may soon be available to protect against urinary tract infections, thanks to researchers from University of Michigan.

The study conducted over mice showed that the vaccine prevented infection and produced key types of immunity.

It alerts the immune system to iron receptors on the surface of Escherichia coli bacteria that perform a critical function allowing infection to spread.

Administered in the nose, it induces an immune response in the body’s mucosa, a first line of defense against invading pathogens. The response, also produced in mucosal tissue in the urinary tract, should help the body fight infection where it starts.

The researchers used novel systematic approach, combining bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics, to look for key parts of the bacterium that could be used in a vaccine to elicit an effective immune response.

The team, led by Dr. Harry L.T. Mobley, screened 5,379 possible bacterial proteins and identified three strong candidates to use in a vaccine to prime the body to fight E. coli.

Mobley’s team is currently testing more strains of E. coli obtained from women treated at U-M.

If the robust immunity achieved in mice can be reproduced in humans, it could be the first ever vaccine for urinary tract infections.

Most of the strains produce the same iron-related proteins that can be vaccine targets, an encouraging sign that the vaccine could work against many urinary tract infections.

The findings are published in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens. (ANI)

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Why pandemic swine flu causes more severe symptoms than seasonal flu

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 11 (ANI): Scientists at Imperial College London have warned that pandemic swine flu can infect cells deeper in the lungs than seasonal flu can.

They write in a research paper that this may help understand why people infected with the pandemic strain of swine-origin H1N1 influenza are more likely to suffer more severe symptoms than those infected with the seasonal strain of H1N1.

The researchers have also stressed the need for monitoring the current pandemic H1N1 influenza virus for any changes in the way it infects cells, which may make infections more serious.

Generally, influenza viruses infect cells by attaching to bead-like molecules on the outside of the cell, known as receptors. If a virus cannot find its specific receptors, it cannot get into the cell.

Seasonal influenza viruses attach to receptors found on cells in the nose, throat and upper airway, enabling them to infect a person’s respiratory tract.

In the current study, the researchers have found that pandemic H1N1 swine flu can also attach to a receptor found on cells deep inside the lungs, which can result in a more severe lung infection.

They say that the pandemic influenza virus’s ability to stick to the additional receptors may explain why the virus replicates, and spreads between cells more quickly.

“Most people infected with swine-origin flu in the current pandemic have experienced relatively mild symptoms. However, some people have had more severe lung infections, which can be worse than those caused by seasonal flu. Our new research shows how the virus does this – by attaching to receptors mostly found on cells deep in the lungs. This is something seasonal flu cannot do,” Nature Biotechnology quoted Professor Ten Feizi, from the Division of Medicine at Imperial College London, as having writte in the research paper.

The researchers found that pandemic H1N1 influenza bound more weakly to the receptors in the lungs than to those in the upper respiratory tract, which is why most people infected with the virus have experienced mild symptoms.

However, the researchers are concerned that the virus could mutate to bind more strongly to these receptors.

“If the flu virus mutates in the future, it may attach to the receptors deep inside the lungs more strongly, and this could mean that more people would experience serious symptoms. We think scientists should be on the lookout for these kinds of changes in the virus so we can try to find ways of minimising the impact of such changes,” said Prof. Feizi.

“Receptor binding determines how well a virus spreads between cells and causes an infection. Our new study adds to our understanding of how swine-origin influenza H1N1 virus is behaving in the current pandemic, and shows us changes we need to look out for,” added Prof. Feizi.

The financial assistance for the study came from the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. (ANI)

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Cancer safety fears of most common heartburn treatment rejected

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sep 10 (ANI): The largest ever study on ‘Proton pump inhibitors’ (PPI)-the second most prescribed group of drugs for heartburn-has dismissed all fears about the cancer causing effects of the treatment.

PPI are the most commonly used treatment for chronic acid reflux, or ‘heartburn’, a painful burning sensation in the chest, neck and throat which is experienced by almost a third of people in developed countries.

Regular and prolonged heartburn is known to cause ‘benign oesophagitis’, a reversible inflammation of the gullet.

However if left untreated a condition called Barrett’s Oesophagus (BE) occurs in around 10 per cent of sufferers, which can in turn develop into a potentially fatal cancer called oesophageal adenocarcinoma.

While PPIs had an excellent safety record, it was unclear if long-term use of these drugs to reduce the discomfort of heartburn could increase the risk of developing either BE or the spread of the associated cancer.

But, the new research carried out at Queen Mary, University of London and Leicester Royal Infirmary, has given the most conclusive evidence yet that this is not the case.

Professor Janusz Jankowski, who co-authored the study, said: “This is one of the most detailed studies investigating both the laboratory and clinical side of proton pump inhibitor drugs. As a consequence we are now better able to inform patients of the good benefit/risk ratio of this commonly prescribed therapy.”

Tests carried out during the two-year study looked at tissue sampled from the oesophagus lining of ninety volunteers, each of whom were given PPI drugs at either a high or low dosage.

Researchers found that there was no difference in the rate at which BE developed, neither was there a change in the number of precancerous cells in either group.

Despite fears about how the treatments might affect people already suffering from BE, the study showed that there was no evidence that this led to any worsening of the condition or any extra incidences of cancer.

PPIs work by blocking the action of gastrin, a hormone that controls acid levels in the stomach, and is known to increase the normal movement of cells in the gastro-intestinal tract.

Since PPI therapy increases the levels of gastrin in the body, it had been thought this could cause expansion of BE affected tissue, but this was not found to be the case.

In fact, the scientists observed neither expansion nor contraction of the abnormal tissue.

The study has been published in the peer reviewed journal Gut. (ANI)

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Cranberry juice fails to combat urinary tract infections

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 25 (ANI): Experts have expressed doubts over the use of cranberry juice as a preventative against urinary tract infections (UTIs).

Dr. Raz, Director of Infectious Diseases at the Technion School of Medicine in Israel, said that the present clinical evidence for using cranberry juice and related products to fight the common ailment was ‘unsatisfactory and inconclusive’.

Raz, a member of F1000 Medicine, along with his associate Faculty Member, Hana Edelstein, suggested that “cranberry should no longer be considered as an effective [preventative] for recurrent UTIs.”

The boffins explained that it was difficult to point out a single compound from the hundreds in cranberry to be held responsible for any therapeutic effect, creating a shadow of doubt over its adoption.

Raz and Edelstein also warned that cranberry could also interact badly with other medicines such as Warfarin, commonly used to treat heart disease. (ANI)

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Bangladesh court tells troops to exit from Chittagong Hill Tracts

August 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Dhaka, Aug.20 (ANI): A court in Bangladesh ruled on Thursday that troops should withdraw from the insurgency-hit Chittacong Hill Tract.

The order was passed despite pleas from some residents about militant attacks.

The army has begun pulling out the Chittagong Hill Tracts, where the government signed a peace treaty with the main militant group in 1997, but halted last week due to a court petition from a Bengali settler.

Government figures show 2,500 people died during two decades of fighting before the peace deal, and deadly violence has continued between the settlers who moved to the area recently and indigenous tribal groups who seek autonomy.

The armed forces said 2,100 troops would be withdrawn and 35 security camps dismantled by September. (ANI)

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Worm study provides new model to study invasive cancer

August 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 18 (ANI): A single cell’s behaviour during the development of the reproductive tract in the C. elegans worm is providing scientists with significant insights into cancer’s deadly ability to put down roots in new tissues after spreading throughout the body, say researchers.

David Sherwood, a Duke University biologist, has spent several years studying the mechanics of a single cell in the developing body of the worm.

He points out that it is called the anchor cell, and one of its jobs is to connect the developing animal’s uterus with its vulva, a crucial step in ensuring the worm’s fertility.

To establish this slender connection, the anchor cell must work its way through two layers of basement membrane, a dense, sheet-like barrier structure lining most tissues, including the epithelial cells in humans that are the hosts of many cancers.

Writing about their study in the journal Developmental Cell, Sherwood has described how the nematode’s anchor cell uses a series of molecular signals to create a stretched opening in the membrane.

He and his colleagues believe that the process is essentially the same as the one that cancer cells use to invade new tissues.

The researchers say that, together, these molecules-called integrin and netrin-may be a valuable new target in the efforts to halt cancer’s spread via metastasis.

“Metastasis accounts for most of cancer’s lethality. It’s the most essential step in cancer progression, but it’s the least understood,” said Sherwood, who is an assistant professor of biology at Duke.

To push a hole through the basement membranes, the worm’s anchor cell forms several lancet-like points, called puncta. They look remarkably like a structure seen in cancer cells called invadopodia that are believed to have the same function, but modeling this part of metastasis in the lab has proven impossible so far because nobody has figured out how to make a basement membrane in a dish.

Sherwood says that the abundant, cheap, rapidly multiplying worms and their basement membranes enabled his team to do a variety of experiments to narrow down the genes and molecular signals in play.

He said that with the aid of newly developed imaging technologies, he and his colleagues could actually watch as the cell invasion occurs.

“In vivo, you’re dealing with individual cancer cells moving around the body. It is very hard to watch that. And then asking the cancer cell ‘what genes are you using to do that?’ is even more difficult,” Sherwood said.

He says that the latest set of findings suggest that integrin helps the anchor cell orient itself toward the basement membranes, and that it also directs netrin to build the puncta in the proper place to ease an opening through.

The researcher says that what is even more interesting about the two molecules it that they are outside the cell, which makes them easier to target with possible drug therapy.

Sherwood says that there are about 100 genes that seem to prevent cell invasion, and that his team is searching for those that might be the most effective.

He has revealed that the group is presently examining how a gene called SPARC, known to be over-active in cancer cells, helps the anchor cells invade.

He said they would like to know how the cell turns on “invasiveness” to understand the best way to interrupt this potentially lethal behaviour. (ANI)

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Why male and female lemurs are of same size

July 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 15 (ANI): Rice University biologist Amy Dunham has put forward a new theory for one of primatology’s long-standing mysteries-why are male and female lemurs the same size?

In most primate species, males have evolved to be much larger than females, but this has not been found to be true in case of lemurs.

Some theories have suggested that environment played a role or that lemur social development was altered due to the extinction of predatory birds.
“Scientifically, this is quite a big question that researchers have debated for over 20 years. I actually started doing research on lemurs as an undergraduate, working in Ranomafana (National Park in Madgascar), and the question about size monomorphism has bugged me since then,” said Dunham.
In the new study, Dunham has offered one of the first new theories on lemur monomorphism in more than a decade.
After conducting an exhaustive review of the observational work done on lemurs, Dunham concluded that male lemurs do guard their mates, just like other primates.

But unlike gorillas and other primates that fight for mating rights with females, male lemurs have evolved to passively guard their mates.
They do this by depositing a solid plug inside the female’s reproductive tract just as they finish mating. The plug is deposited as a liquid protein but quickly hardens and stays in place for a day or two.

Since many female lemurs are sexually responsive to males for only one day out of the entire year, the plug serves the purpose of preventing other males from mating with the female, while also freeing the male to mate with other females during the brief time they are available.
“If the female has a short receptivity period, as most lemurs do, then we hypothesize that this is likely to be an advantageous strategy,” said Dunham.
To test their hypothesis, the researchers examined 62 primate species and found that copulatory plugs were most likely to occur in species where female sexual receptivity was very brief and where males and females were the same size.

This was true both for lemur species and for a few other species, like South American squirrel monkeys.
The study has been published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. (ANI

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Fruit, vegetable intake cuts upper respiratory tract infection risk in pregnant women

July 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 10 (ANI): Eating nutritious foods, especially fruits and vegetables, could reduce pregnant women’s risk of developing an upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), according to a new study.

Researchers Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found that consumption of at least seven servings per day of fruits and vegetables moderately reduced the risk of developing URTI in expectant mothers.

URTIs include the common cold and sinus infections, which can lead to lower respiratory problems, such as asthma or pneumonia.

Even though the majority of URTIs are uncomplicated colds, identifying ways to prevent their occurrence is important because colds are the most common reason for school and work absences.

Eating fruits and vegetables improves immunity but hadn’t previously been associated with reducing the risk of URTIs in pregnant women.

The researchers studied more than 1,000 pregnant women and found those who ate the most fruits and vegetables were 26 percent less likely to have URTI relative to those who ate the least amount.

Neither fruit nor vegetable intake alone was found to be associated with the five-month risk of URTI.

The patterns observed for total fruit and vegetable intake and either fruit or vegetable intake alone in relation to the three-month risk of URTI were consistent with those when assessing the five-month risk of URTI.

Women in the highest quartile of fruit and vegetable intake had a stronger reduced three-month risk than the five-month risk of URTI. Moreover, there was a significant decreasing linear trend for the three-month risk of URTI with consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Pregnant women have been recommended to consume at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. This study showed that intake of higher levels, 6.71 servings per day, was associated with a moderate risk reduction for URTI.

“Pregnant women may require more fruits and vegetables than usual because of the extra demands on the body,” said senior author Martha M. Werler, M.P.H., Sc.D., professor at Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University.

The study appears online in the journal Public Health Nutrition. (ANI)

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Why H1N1 flu spreads from person to person less effectively than other flu viruses

July 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 3 (ANI): Scientists in the US have come up with an genetic explanation for why the new H1N1 “swine flu” virus has spread from person to person less effectively than other flu viruses.

A collaborative team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found that the H1N1 strain, which circled the globe this spring, has a form of surface protein that binds inefficiently to receptors found in the human respiratory tract.

“While the virus is able to bind human receptors, it clearly appears to be restricted,” says Ram Sasisekharan, the Edward Hood Taplin Professor and director of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) and the lead MIT author of the paper.

He points out that that restricted binding, along with a genetic variation in an H1N1 polymerase enzyme, which was first reported about three weeks ago in Nature Biotechnology, explains why the virus has not spread as efficiently as seasonal flu.

However, flu viruses are known to mutate rapidly, so there is cause for concern if H1N1 undergoes mutations that improve its binding affinity.

“We need to pay careful attention to the evolution of this virus,” says Sasisekharan.

For their study, the researchers compared the new H1N1 strain to several seasonal flu strains, including some milder H1N1 strains, and to the virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic.

They found that the new strain is able to bind to the predominant receptors in the human respiratory tract, known as umbrella-shaped alpha 2-6 glycan receptors.

However, binding efficiency varies between flu strains, and that variation is partly determined by the receptor-binding site (RBS) within the hemagglutinin protein.

The researchers found that the new H1N1 strain’s RBS binds human receptors much less effectively than other flu viruses that infect humans.

They also observed that the new H1N1 strain spreads inefficiently in ferrets, which accurately mimics human influenza disease including how it spreads or transmits in humans.

When the ferrets were in close contact with each other, they were exposed to enough virus particles that infection spread easily. However, when they were kept separate and the virus could spread only through airborne respiratory droplets, the illness spread much less effectively.

Sasisekharan says that this is consistent with the transmission of this virus seen in humans so far, considering that most outbreaks have occurred in limited clusters, sometimes within a family or a school but not spread much further.

“One of the big payoffs of long-term investments in carbohydrate biology and chemistry research is an understanding of the relationships between cell surface carbohydrate structure and viral infectivity. Tools developed in building such understanding help in the response to events like the recent H1N1 outbreak,” said Jeremy M. Berg, director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, which partly funded the research.

The researchers also pinpointed a second mutation that impairs H1N1′s ability to spread rapidly.

While recent studies have shown that a viral RNA polymerase known as PB2 is critical for efficient influenza transmissibility, the new H1N1 strain does not have the version of the PB2 gene necessary for efficient transmission.

A research article describing the study has been published in the online edition of the journal Science. (ANI)

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Richard Wagner’s text-music match helped both performers and listeners, say researchers

July 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 2 (ANI): Contrary to all suggestions regarding Richard Wagner’s “difficult” reputation, a new study now suggests that the German composer used to set his text to music in a way that uses the acoustics of the soprano voice in a manner that helps both performers and listeners.

“Each vowel in European languages is associated with a set of resonance frequencies of the vocal tract,” says author Dr. John Smith, of the University of New South Wales.

“Both the intelligibility to listeners and the ease of production by singers could be improved if the pitch of the musical note written for a vowel corresponded with one of its resonance frequencies,” Smith says.

UNSW co-author, Professor Joe Wolfe, adds: “If this occurred we should expect to find that vowels normally sung with an open mouth would occur more often at the high notes of the soprano range.”

Writing about their work in the Journal of the Acoustic Society of America, the researchers have revealed that they tested this idea by examining the musical scores for eight operas.

For over 20,000 notes sung by solo sopranos in these operas, the authors recorded the vowel sound associated with each note.

In the Wagnerian operas, vowels that required an open mouth were used significantly more often for the very high notes. However, this was not the case for the other operas studied.

The researchers say that the preferential use of vowels in an appropriate range of pitch might have evolved because Wagner’s idea of opera was a continuous music drama in which singers often have to communicate lengthy, subtle aspects of plot via sung text alone.

Earlier operas often linked separate arias and choruses with the plot explained by recitative and actions on stage. There was thus less need for intelligibility at high pitch in these other operas.

The researchers further point out that Wagner wrote for much larger orchestras than available to Mozart or Rossini, and wrote vocal parts that severely test the stamina and capabilities of singers.

Thus, according to them, the employment of vowel-pitch matching could have helped satisfy the concomitant requirements of intelligibility, vocal power and easier singing of difficult parts.

“We know of no written evidence that Wagner tried to make singing parts easier for sopranos, but this research indicates that suitable matching of vowels with pitch increased systematically as Wagner’s experience as a composer increased,” says Dr. Smith.

Wagner was unusual as he wrote the librettos for all his operas, and thus had a distinct advantage in matching text with music.

Furthermore Wagner had considerable time to “polish” his operas. While Rossini wrote some 26 operas in seven years, Wagner wrote only fourteen in over 50 years. (ANI)

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Energy intake reaches a limit despite abundant food supply

July 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 1 (ANI): Contradicting Charles Darwin’s theory, scientists have now shown that despite abundant food supply, energy intake reaches a limit even in animals with high nutrient demands, such as lactating females.

Darwin and his contemporaries postulated that food consumption in birds and mammals was limited by resource levels, which meant that animals would eat as much as they could while food was plentiful and produce as many offspring as this would allow them to.

Scientists at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Vienna have now suggested that energy intake reaches a limit due to active control of maternal investment in offspring in order to maintain long-term reproductive fitness.

The new research led by Dr Teresa Valenca showed that Brown hares could increase their energy turnover and rate of milk production above normal levels when their energy reserves were low, or when their offspring were kept in cooler temperatures.

That indicated that, ordinarily, the hares were operating at below their maximum capacity.

It also showed that this is not due to any kind of physiological constraint, such as length of digestive tract or maximum capacity of mammary glands.

As the hares were also provided with plentiful food, there could be no limitation of energy turnover due to food availability.

The way that females regulated their energy expenditure according to pup demand and their own fat reserves but did not exceed certain levels was in line with the group’s theory that using energy at close to the maximum rate has costs for animals which may compromise their ability to successfully reproduce in the future.

For example, if a hare puts most of its energy into a litter of pups then it will have little left over for growth and body repairs, which may shorten its life or make it less able to produce or care for young in the future.

Thus, by actively limiting the rate of energy turnover, a mother can prevent this and maintain a higher level of reproductive success over her lifetime.

The study will be presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Meeting in Glasgow. (ANI)

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Novel vaccine to prevent ear infections on the anvil

July 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 1 (ANI): Scientists are working on a novel vaccine that may one day help prevent ear infections.

Presently, ear infections are generally treated through antibiotics or surgery, in case they occur often enough.

“The emergence of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms and the invasive nature of the surgical procedure raise the need to develop different ways to treat or, preferably, prevent ear infections,” said Dr Lauren Bakaletz, director of the Centre for Microbial Pathogenesis in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

The new vaccine being developed in collaboration with Dr John Clements, at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, was recently tested by placing a droplet of formula on the outer ears of chinchillas and then rubbed into the skin.

The vaccine works by activating cells, which can be found just under the surface of the skin.

When the liquid touches the skin the cells deliver the vaccine to the lymphoid organs, where it can generate an immune response rapidly reducing or eliminating NTHI, one of the bacteria commonly responsible for ear infections, from the nose and ears.

Bakaletz said that it was extremely effective, and that her research team was excited about the ability to immunize without needles.

“These studies lay the foundation for an effective, yet simple, inexpensive and potentially transformative way to deliver vaccines,” said Bakaletz.

“It’s our hope the method of applying the vaccine to the skin will allow us to distribute it to some of the poorest children in the world,” she added.

In addition to protecting against ear infections, the research could have important implications for the prevention of other diseases of the respiratory tract caused by NTHI. (ANI)

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Patients with lower urinary tract symptoms ‘at increased metabolic syndrome risk’

June 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 20 (ANI): A new study has revealed that patients with severe to mild lower urinary tract (LUT) symptoms are at a greater risk of developing metabolic syndrome, a collection of cardiovascular risk factors.

“These findings have important diagnostic and management implications,” said the authors.

“Patients who present with components of metabolic dysfunction should be routinely queried with respect to urological function, particularly voiding symptoms such as intermittency, incomplete emptying and nocturia, as well as the degree of associated bother.

“Sexual dysfunction symptoms, particularly erectile dysfunction, are similarly reported by the majority of men with MetS and should be routinely evaluated,” they added.

During the study, the researchers interviewed 2,301 men 30 to 79 years old. They found an increased odds ratio of 1.68 for metabolic syndrome was observed in men with mild to severe LUTS symptoms compared to those with few or no symptoms.

They also found increased odds of the metabolic syndrome even with mild symptoms, primarily for incomplete emptying, intermittency and nocturia.

The study appears in The Journal of Urology. (ANI)

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Blood test, better communication helps cut over-prescription of antibiotics

May 22, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, May 22 (ANI): A new study has shown that use of simple blood test and improving communication skills would help doctors prescribe fewer antibiotics to patients.

The joint trial from Cardiff University found that GPs in primary care who underwent training in advanced communications skills and those who made use of a simple blood test prescribed fewer antibiotics for lower respiratory tract infections, which generally do not respond to antibiotics.

“As the problem of bacteria resistant to antibiotic treatment grows, researchers from around the world are seeking ways to improve the quality of antibiotic prescribing,” the British Medical Journal quoted Professor Christopher Butler, Head of Department of Primary Care and Public Health at Cardiff University as saying.

“Conditions like acute bronchitis account for some 80percent of all lower respiratory tract infections and despite evidence of little or no benefit from antibiotics, the majority of these patients are still prescribed antibiotics,” he added.

The trial evaluated an ‘illness focussed’ approach, where clinicians seek to better understand the patient’s illness experience and communicate more effectively about management, and a ‘disease focussed’ approach, where clinicians focus on diagnosis, in this case, a simple point-of-care blood test.

“The results showed that 54pct of GPs practising according to usual care prescribed antibiotics, whereas 27pct of those who had been trained in the advanced communication and 31pct of the GPs who used the blood test methods did so,” said Dr Kerry Hood, Director of the South East Wales Trials Unit.

“Only 23pct of GPs who were trained in the advanced communication skills and who used the blood test prescribed antibiotics.

“Importantly, the results showed that prescribing fewer antibiotics did not mean that patients were unwell for longer.

Patient’s recovery and satisfaction with care were not compromised by GPs not prescribing their patient antibiotics,” Hood added. (ANI)

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Now, a home kit for men to monitor reproductive status post vasectomy

May 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 14 (ANI): Men, who don’t know when to stop using contraceptive methods after vasectomy, can now resort to a medical home test kit based on a protein discovered at the University of Virginia Health System, called SpermCheck Vasectomy.

The new product line could revolutionize the way men around the world monitor their reproductive status.

“The SpermCheck family of products is intended for use by men on both sides of the fertility equation – those who don’t want to father children and those who do,” said Dr. John C. Herr, inventor of SpermCheck technology who is professor of cell biology.

SpermCheck Vasectomy is based on antibodies that bind to SP-10, a protein discovered in Herr’s laboratory, and is the only FDA approved immunodiagnostic test for monitoring sperm after vasectomy.

The device looks and functions much like a home pregnancy test.

It measures SP-10, which is present at constant levels in each sperm head, and enables men to quickly and accurately monitor their post-vasectomy sterility.

Such monitoring is important because sperm can remain in the male reproductive tract for weeks or months after a vasectomy.

Thus, to avoid unexpected pregnancies, vasectomized men must practice birth control until their sperm count falls below fertility levels.

According to Herr, at-home privacy, convenience and affordability of SpermCheck Vasectomy will boost post-operative monitoring and make it easy for couples to accurately determine when contraception methods are no longer needed. (ANI)

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How meningococcal bacteria break through body’s natural defence mechanism

May 14, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

Washington, May 14 (ANI): Scientists at The University of Nottingham claim to have discovered how the deadly meningococcal bacteria avoid the body’s natural defence mechanism and attack the brain.

Their work attains significance because it may pave the way for better treatment and vaccines for meningitis, and eventually save the lives of hundreds of children.

Bacterial meningitis in childhood is almost exclusively caused by the respiratory tract pathogens Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, and Haemophilus influenzae.

Scientists struggled to understand the mechanism used by these lethal germs to break through the blood brain barrier until the current study.

Lead researcher Dlawer Ala’Aldeen, Professor of Clinical Microbiology and Head of the Molecular Bacteriology and Immunology Group at the Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, says that the research team’s discovery shows that all three pathogens target the same receptor on human cerebrovascular endothelial cells – the specialised filtering system that protects our brain from disease – to enable the organisms to cross the blood-brain barrier.

The researcher says that these findings suggest that disruption or modulation of this interaction of bacterial adhesins with the receptor might offer unexpectedly broad protection against bacterial meningitis, and may provide a therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of disease.

Professor Ala’Aldeen, who has been studying meningitis and its causes for over 20 years, said: “This is a significant breakthrough which will help us design novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of bacterial meningitis.

Identification of the human receptor and bacterial ligands is like identifying a mysterious key and its lock, which will open new doors and pave the way for new discoveries.”

The research was carried out in collaboration with the Department of Infectious Diseases at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis Tennessee.

It involved students from the University who have been regular and willing volunteers in the research programme.

Professor Ala’Aldeen said: “The ultimate aim is to save lives by protecting the healthy and curing the sick. We are one step closer to new breakthroughs that would prevent disease or its complications. There still is a long way to go before we have the ultimate vaccine and the ultimate treatment of bacterial meningitis.”

The findings of the study have been published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. (ANI)

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Sexual activity, drinking ‘ups college-women’s urinary tract infections risk’

May 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

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Washington, Apr 27 (ANI): College-aged women, who indulge in increased sexual activity and alcohol consumption, are more likely to develop urinary tract infections (UTIs), according to a new study./pp
The researchers advised that the college-aged women experiencing urinary frequency or urgency should seek medical care to treat what may be their first urinary tract infection (UTI)./pp
For the study, the researchers analysed 181 women with their first UTI who presented to the student health care facility at the University of Florida, from July 2001 through April 2005. /pp
The control group consisted of 80 women attending the clinic without a UTI. /pp
A clinic nurse administered a survey that addressed lifestyle habits and dietary intake. /pp
The findings revealed that frequency and urgency were the most common symptom, and that UTIs were most commonly found in women who had increased sexual activity and recent alcohol consumption. /pp
The use of sanitary napkins during menstruation also increased the risk for a first-time UTI. /pp
Also, the researchers highlighted that hesitatin to urinate, direction of wiping and the use of tampons did not appear to correlate with increased UTI risk./pp
Co-existing chlamydia, gonorrhea and yeast infections did not contribute significantly to urinary symptoms. /pp
If you are experiencing urinary frequency and urgency, you should seek medical attention, said Anthony Y. Smith, MD, an AUA spokesman. /pp
He added: A woman experiencing her first UTI might not recognize these symptoms immediately. But, medical attention is necessary because UTIs can lead to kidney infection and even sepsis. So, it is important for women who notice these symptoms to seek medical attention./pp
The study was presented at the 104th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA). (ANI)/p

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Oprah makes her Twitter debut

April 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 18 (ANI): After Ashton Kutcher’s record-breaking debut on Twitter, the social networking world has now welcomed yet another celebrity entrant – Oprah Winfrey.

Around 10 a.m. on April 17, the talk-show queen posted her first Twitter message, entirely in caps.

“HI TWITTERS . THANK YOU FOR A WARM WELCOME. FEELING REALLY 21st CENTURY,” Us magazine quoted her as writing on Twitter.

With 75,000 followers so far, Winfrey has added Demi Moore and Jimmy Fallon in her friend list.

Fallon even “tweeted” to tell her that he was at a deli for a photo shoot.

And she replied: “Hi Jimmy. Order a reuben for me.”

Oprah also posted an update on her newly adopted blond cocker spaniel Sadie, who is suffering from a gastrointestinal tract disease.

“Sadie’s great. Gets her rabies vaccine today,” said Winfrey. (ANI)

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Bug in fluid around ovaries hampers IVF success rate

April 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, Apr 4 (ANI): A bacteria present in the fluid near the ovaries may reduce a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant via in vitro fertilisation (IVF), according to an Aussie researcher.

Dr. Christine Knox, a microbiologist at Queensland University of Technology, says that this finding contrasts the traditional view that fluid surrounding the ovum, known as follicular fluid, is sterile.

In her opinion, the study can help increase the success rates of assisted reproductive technologies (ART).

She also believes that the bacteria could be responsible for infertility cases that have no apparent cause.

For the study, Knox, along with researchers at the Wesley Monash IVF clinic, tested the fluid surrounding individual eggs taken from the ovaries of 31 women undergoing ART.

The researchers found that 21 of the samples had bacteria in the follicular fluid.

Knox said that the findings was startling because “traditionally it was assumed the fluid surrounding the ovum was sterile.”

The researchers even revealed that the finding was later replicated in a larger study, wherein they analysed the follicular fluid of 148 women and found bacteria in the fluid of all but one woman.

Further tests showed that, in some cases, the bacteria had been transferred from the lower genital tract to the follicular fluid during the medical procedure used to collect eggs known as transvaginal oocyte retrieval (TVOR).

But in 52 of the women, the follicular fluid contained bacteria that were not found in the lower tract.

According to Knox, the unique, colonising bacteria appear to play a role in reducing pregnancy outcomes.

She said that only 25 percent of women with follicular fluid colonised by this bacteria, had achieved a successful pregnancy.

“We also found that eggs from women with colonised follicular fluid had a lower rate of fertilisation to start with, which, of course, meant they produced fewer embryos for transfer to the womb,” the ABC quoted her as saying.

Knox said that they were working towards pinpointing the strain of bacteria that led to the reduced pregnancy outcomes, which could help them screen women for their presence. (ANI)

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China plans new stage show on Karl Marx’s Das Kapital

March 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Mar 18 (ANI): China is reportedly planning to adapt Karl Marx’s Das Kapital into a new stage show.

Though revolutionaries have disregarded the bourgeois art form, the show’s producers insist that in the confident, modern-day People’s Republic, opera is a novel way to explain the proletariat’s triumph in the class struggle.

“The particular performance style we choose is not important, but Marx’s theories cannot be distorted,” the Telegraph quoted director He Nian as saying during an interview with China’s Wen Hui Bao newspaper.

He, best known for a stage adaptation of a martial-arts spoof, plans to open the production in Shanghai next year, and will borrow elements from Broadway musicals and Las Vegas shows.

There will, however, be no trivialisation of the book’s core messages: an economist from a local university has been asked to ensure that it remains intellectually respectful of Marxist doctrine.

To that end, audiences can expect a storyline that appears to be only marginally racier than the original Das Kapital, a dense, 1,000-page tract which has traditionally tested the commitment of even the most ardent Communist reader.

The opera’s plot will involve a business where workers begin to realise their boss is exploiting them. They then embrace the Marxist theory of surplus value.

Far from uniting to overthrow the established order, though, some of the chorus line mutiny, others continue as they are, while some engage in collective bargaining. He insists it will be “fun to watch”. (ANI)

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