Immunology

Gut Bacteria Implicated In Whether Or Not Your Clothes Fit

If you read the marketing claims for probiotics and supplements, and an alarming number of papers that have made spurious claims to feed the fad, you might think gut bacteria were the magic bullet for a lot of diseases. A new paper says they even determine ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 7 2014 - 10:05am

Strain 115: The Killer Bacteria Inside Your Thanksgiving Turkey

While an alarming number of wealthy people think organic food contains no chemicals, the opposite is true. Not only is everything chemical, the most organic of organic Thanksgiving meals is stuffed full of mutagens and carcinogens, at least in environment ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 25 2014 - 3:05pm

Borrelidin Bacteria Analogs Are Drug Candidates Against Malaria

Malaria is one of the most serious health problems worldwide, registering 200 million clinical cases and more than 600,000 attributable deaths per year, according to information from the World Health Organization in 2013. Given the emerging resistance to ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 10 2014 - 11:33am

Why Chinese Biotech Cotton Doesn't Lead To Pest Resistance, Even Without Non-Bt Refuges

In the United States in the 1930s, climate change and droughts and excessive agricultural practices combined to give the country a 'Dust Bowl'- as farmers became more stressed during the Depression they farmed harder, so ancient agricultural pra ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 15 2014 - 12:38pm

Mad Goat? Scrapie Pathogens Could Breach The Human Species Barrier

Scrapie is a neurodegenerative disease that has been known for centuries and which affects sheep and goats. Similar to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease, scrapie is caused by a transmissible pathogen protein called prion. A new stud ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 24 2014 - 12:31pm

Broccoli Compound Can Moderate Defects In Childhood 'Old Age' Syndrome Progeria

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome is a genetic condition in children that is characterized by dramatic, rapid appearance of aging. Affected children typically look normal at birth and in early infancy but grow more slowly than other children and develo ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 30 2014 - 10:53pm

Binge Drinking Disrupts Immune System In Small Study

Binge drinking in young, healthy adults significantly disrupts the immune system, according to a new epidemiology paper. ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 31 2014 - 9:34pm

Why Do Women Have More Allergic Reactions? Study Shows It May Be Estrogen

Women frequently experience more severe allergic reactions than men but it has been unclear why. Yet that disparity is more reason why gender balance in studies and trials makes sense. Anaphylaxis is an allergic reaction triggered by food, medication or i ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 29 2014 - 1:48pm

SPPL3: This Enzyme Has A Secret Way To Boost The Immune System

The enzyme signal peptide peptidase-like 3 (SPPL3) is known to 'cut' proteins- they cleave the peptide bonds in the polypeptides that make up proteins- but it turns out that it works to activate T-cells, the immune system's foot soldiers- w ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 3 2015 - 3:37pm

The Ebola Epidemic In West Africa- Maybe It Was Bats

The most recent outbreak of the Ebola virus disease occurring in West Africa may have originated from contact between humans and virus-infected bats, according to a new study in EMBO Molecular Medicine, which identifies insectivorous free-tailed bats as p ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 1 2015 - 2:30pm