Health and Medicine

By using mouse models, the EU-funded DEPROHEALTH-project has demonstrated that some lactobacilli can have a beneficial effect on intestinal inflammation and infections. The major target disease in these mouse studies has been inflammation of the bowel. For this purpose, engineered lactobacilli were constructed. The modified strains that are most promising produce fair levels of an effective compound (an interleukine) that helps preventing the inflammation caused by bacteria. Four of the most promi

Exposing rats to low levels of carbon monoxide prevents arteriosclerosis and chronic organ rejection

Exposing rats to low levels of carbon monoxide (CO) prior to aorta transplantation prevents arteriosclerosis associated with chronic organ rejection and can also suppress stenosis after balloon-angioplasty-induced carotid artery injury, according to a study published in the Feb. 1 edition of Nature Medicine. The article is published online today.

“These findings demonstrate a

Information could help identify at-risk individuals and estimate

Researchers at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center have found evidence supporting a relationship between SIDS and the 5-HTT gene in both African-Americans and Caucasians. They found a significant positive association between SIDS and the L/L genotype, and between SIDS and the 5-HTT L allele, and a negative association between SIDS and the S/S genotype. This information might eventually lead to the identification

Encouraging findings from a study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggest that factor VII—an agent involved in blood clotting—could be effective in reducing excessive blood loss during abdominal surgery.

Factor VII has been shown to promote blood clotting in patients with haemophilia. Marcel Levi from Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues investigated whether recombinant activated factor VII (factor VIIA) could be used to reduce excessive blood loss during sur

An important step towards controlling bubonic and pneumonic plague may soon be possible with the use of a straightforward and accurate diagnostic test, according to authors of a study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.

Plague is a flea-borne rodent disease that is occasionally transmitted to man, with around 3000-4000 cases annually in more than 20 countries, mainly in Africa. A rapid diagnostic test for the disease is urgently needed as current diagnosis is not possible until severe sympto

Results appear January 17 in the journal Molecular Cell

A lab headed by a Saint Louis University researcher has made a major breakthrough that could lead to a better molecular understanding of cancer.

Results published today in the Journal Molecular Cell by Ali Shilatifard, Ph.D., and colleagues show for the first time how a protein known to be involved in the development of cancer functions in normal cells.

The research shows how the protein “Bre1” plays a pivotal