Press monitoring
Harmless soil-dwelling bacteria successfully kill cancer
6.9.2011 | Press monitoring
A bacterial strain that specifically targets tumours could soon be used as a vehicle to deliver drugs in frontline cancer therapy. The strain is expected to be tested in cancer patients in 2013. The therapy uses Clostridium sporogenes – a bacterium that is widespread in the soil. Spores of the bacterium are injected into patients and only grow in...
Chickens eject sperm from males they don't fancy
5.9.2011 | Press monitoring
Female domestic chickens generally mate with multiple males and are known to sometimes eject sperm following mating encounters. A team led by Oxford researcher Rebecca Dean investigated the phenomenon in a group of feral chickens kept at Stockholm University in Sweden. "These results show that promiscuous females can actively bias sperm...
Researchers develop new way to predict heart transplant survival
2.9.2011 | Press monitoring
Johns Hopkins researchers say they have developed a formula to predict which heart transplant patients are at greatest risk of death in the year following their surgeries, information that could help medical teams figure out who would benefit most from the small number of available organs. Conte and his colleagues, writing in the September issue...
Research indicates certain probiotics may influence brain functioning
1.9.2011 | Press monitoring
Now, new evidence by Javier Bravo and colleagues at University College Cork, suggests the company may have been on to something. In their paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the team describes how mice given the prbiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus, showed signs of being less anxious and depressed and even had...
Rotavirus vaccination of infants also protects unvaccinated older children and adults
31.8.2011 | Press monitoring
Vaccinating infants against rotavirus also prevents serious disease in unvaccinated older children and adults, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This helps reduce rotavirus-related hospital costs in these older groups. The results of the study are published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. "We...
Free radicals crucial to suppressing appetite, study finds
30.8.2011 | Press monitoring
A study of brain circuits that control hunger and satiety, Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that molecular mechanisms controlling free radicals—molecules tied to aging and tissue damage—are at the heart of increased appetite in diet-induced obesity. The study found that elevating free radical levels in the hypothalamus directly or...
Could Mutant Gene in Chickens Lead to Hypertension Cure?
26.8.2011 | Press monitoring
Scientists from the University of Abertay Dundee have discovered that a gene which, when severely mutated, causes blindness and kidney abnormalities in chickens, is the same as one that predisposes humans to hypertension. Doctor Doug Lester from Abertay's School of Contemporary Sciences said: "This discovery could lead to the development of new...
Filling without drilling
25.8.2011 | Press monitoring
Researchers at the University of Leeds have developed a revolutionary new way to treat the first signs of tooth decay. Their solution is to arm dentists with a peptide-based fluid that is literally painted onto the tooth's surface. The peptide technology is based on knowledge of how the tooth forms in the first place and stimulates regeneration...
Microbiologist discovers new super-preservative
24.8.2011 | Press monitoring
In one of those freak accidents that sometimes occur in science, where someone is looking at something for one purpose and finds another for it, Dan O'Sullivan has found a use for a byproduct of harmless bacteria commonly found in the human gut; called bisin, it appears to work as a sort of super-preservative for meat, dairy and eggs, allowing...
Researchers modify harmless bacteria to kill harmful bacteria
19.8.2011 | Press monitoring
P.aeruginosa is a common microbe that is responsible for difficult to treat infections in people, particularly those with comprised immune systems. Poh and Chang modified the DNA of E. coli in such a way as to allow it to be able to detect LasR, a molecule used by P.aeruginosa bacteria to communicate with one another. When the LasR is detected,...
