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Native Delaware: Parenting’s toll

By Guest PostNovember 20, 2012Scienceandrew hydrusko, bluebirds, breeding season, chris williams, coverdale farm preserve, delaware nature society, ian stewart, immune system, migratory birds, mike moore, tree swallows

Stewart studies birds to understand trade-offs between reproduction, immunity

Does parenting take a toll on the immune system?

If you’ve ever been the parent of a newborn who demanded to be fed every three to four hours, your gut instinct tells you the answer is an absolute, unequivocal yes.

University of Delaware post-doctoral researcher Ian Stewart is conducting research to answer this question a bit more scientifically. His subjects – tree swallows – make human parents look like slouches. Both the mother and father tree swallow feed their hatchlings every five minutes, 12 hours a day. (It should be noted, though, that their parenting gig is much shorter than ours — after 17 or 18 days the young leave the nest.) (more…)

Studies: Pigs Look Healthy But Test Positive for Flu at Fairs; Flu Transmission Seen Between Pigs and Humans

By Guest PostNovember 6, 2012Scienceandrew bowman, cdc, flu positive, genbank, h1n2, h3n2 virus, h3n2v, human illness, illness, immune system, influenza a, influenza strain, jacqueline nolting, ohio, ohio county, pig virus, pigs, respiratory tract, richard slemons, sarah nelson, sign, state university, swine origin, viral infection, virus

COLUMBUS, Ohio – More than 80 percent of pigs that tested positive for influenza A virus at Ohio county fairs between 2009 and 2011 showed no signs of illness, according to a new study.

Ohio State University researchers tested 20 pigs each at 53 fair events over those three summers and found at least one flu-positive pig at 12 fairs – almost a quarter of fairs tested. (more…)

Germs in Space: Preventing Infection on Long Flights

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2012Health, Scienceair filtration, antimicrobial resistance, astronaut, brown university, charles hobaugh, deep space, duane pierson, earth, energy budget, Environment, environmental cleaning, germs, harmful pathogen, hazardous vapors, hepa, hospital disinfectants, hygiene product, immune system, infection, infectious disease, janet kavandi, Johnson Space Center, leonard mermel, long spaceflight, mars, meningococcus, microbiologist, microgravity, microorganisms, NASA, outbreak, pneumoccocus, pneumococcus, purell, rhode island hospital, salmonella, Science, space life, spacecraft, steven lindsey, vaccinating astronauts, vitamin

On a long spaceflight unique conditions including microgravity could give microbes the upper hand, but not if astronauts and their spacecrafts are properly prepared. In a new paper, infectious disease expert Dr. Leonard Mermel brings together a broad base of research to come up with specific recommendations for keeping astronauts safe in deep space.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The cabin of a spacecraft halfway to Mars would be the least convenient place — one cannot say “on earth” — for a Salmonella or Pneumococcus outbreak, but a wide-ranging new paper suggests that microgravity and prolonged space flight could give unique advantages to germs. What’s a space agency to do? Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital infectious disease expert Dr. Leonard Mermel offers several ideas.

And no, they are not to add more Vitamin C to the Tang, or to give each crew member a bottle of Purell. It’s a lot more complicated than that. (more…)

Omega-3 Supplements May Slow a Biological Effect of Aging

By Guest PostOctober 5, 2012Healthaging, alzheimer's disease, american, arthritis, balance, beom seuk hwang, biological process, blood, blood cell, cardiovascular system, cell, coronary, daily intake, dha, diabetes, diet, DNA, docosahexaenoic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, elissa epel, elizabeth blackburn, epa, f2 isoprostanes, fatty acid, fish oil, free radical, good fat, heart, heart disease, il 6, immune system, inflammation, inflammatory marker, interleukin 6, jan kiecolt glaser, jue lin, martha belury, ohio state, oil, omega 6, omega-3, oxidative stress, placebo group, polyunsaturated fatty acid, ratio, rebecca andridge, reduce, ron glaser, segment, supplement, telomeres, type 2, white, william malarkey

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Taking enough omega-3 fatty acid supplements to change the balance of oils in the diet could slow a key biological process linked to aging, new research suggests.

The study showed that most overweight but healthy middle-aged and older adults who took omega-3 supplements for four months altered a ratio of their fatty acid consumption in a way that helped preserve tiny segments of DNA in their white blood cells. (more…)

Sticky Paper Offers Cheap, Easy Solution for Paper-Based Diagnostics

By Guest PostOctober 4, 2012Scienceacidity, antibodies, arthur yu, biological molecule, chemical trick, daniel ratner, diabetes, diagnostic, disease, divinyl sulfone, DNA, fluorescent ricin, galactose, george whitesides, global, harvard university, health research, immune system, industrial solvent, jing shang, malaria, medical test, nitrocellulose, oldest technology, paper, paper stick, paul yager, plain paper, poison, pregnancy test, protein, rodrigo andrade, sticky membrane, university, Washington, ziploc bag

A current focus in global health research is to make medical tests that are not just cheap, but virtually free. One such strategy is to start with paper – one of humanity’s oldest technologies – and build a device like a home-based pregnancy test that might work for malaria, diabetes or other diseases.

A University of Washington bioengineer recently developed a way to make regular paper stick to medically interesting molecules. The work produced a chemical trick to make paper-based diagnostics using plain paper, the kind found at office supply stores around the world. (more…)

Analysis of Bacterial Genes May Help ID Cause of Dog Brain Disease, Say UF Researchers

By Guest PostOctober 2, 2012Health, Nature, Scienceanalysis, autoimmune, bacteria, balance, brain damage, brain disorder, brain inflammation, brain syndrome, brain tissue, cell, central, chihuahuas, christopher mariani, daniel brown, decreased alertness, dina michaels, disease, dog, florida, gene, genetic makeup, genital tract, gme, granulomatous meningoencephalomyelitis, immune system, karen vernau, macrophages, malteses, mycoplasma canis, necrotizing meningoencephalitis, nervous system, nme, pomeranians, pugs, renee barber, response, scott schatzberg, seizures, small breed, symptom, throat, university, viral agent, virus, yorkshire terriers

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — By analyzing the genes of bacteria, University of Florida researchers have moved a step closer to pinpointing how two brain disorders common in small-breed dogs occur.

The researchers found that the bacteria, known as Mycoplasma canis, invade dog’s cells and suppress their immune system responses. (more…)

Immune Systems of ‘Bubble Babies’ Restored by Gene Therapy, UCLA Researchers Find

By Guest PostSeptember 14, 2012Healthada deficient, adenosine deaminase, bone marrow, bubble boy, chemotherapy, chronic diarrhea, denise carbonaro sarracino, disease, donald kohn, ear infections, enzyme, gene therapy, immune system, immunology, microbiology, molecular genetics, oral candidiasis, recurrent pneumonia, researcher, scid, stem cell, sterile environment, treatment, ucla, virus

UCLA stem cell researchers have found that a gene therapy regimen can safely restore immune systems to children with so-called “bubble boy” disease, a life-threatening condition that if left untreated can be fatal within one to two years.

In the 11-year study, researchers were able to test two therapy regimens for 10 children with ADA-deficient severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), which has come to be known as “bubble boy” disease because some of its victims have been forced to live in sterile environments. (more…)

UCLA Scientists Discover ‘Missing Link’ Between Blood Stem Cells, Immune System

By Guest PostSeptember 5, 2012Health, Scienceblood, blood lineage, bone marrow, cell, diseases, gay crooks, gene, haystack, human, immune deficiency, immune function, immune system, infection, leukemia, lisa kohn, lymphocytes, missing link, needle, platelets, post natal life, progenitors, red blood cell, researcher, set, stem cell, type, ucla

UCLA researchers have discovered a type of cell that is the “missing link” between bone marrow stem cells and all the cells of the human immune system, a finding that will lead to a greater understanding of how a healthy immune system is produced and how disease can lead to poor immune function.

The research was done using human bone marrow, which contains all the stem cells that produce blood during post-natal life. (more…)

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