University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

BPA substitute could spell trouble: Experiments show bisphenol S also disrupts hormone activity

A few years ago, manufacturers of water bottles, food containers, and baby products had a big problem. A key ingredient of the plastics they used to make their merchandise, an organic compound called bisphenol A, had been ...

Health created Jan 22, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Ebola's secret weapon revealed

Researchers have discovered the mechanism behind one of the Ebola virus' most dangerous attributes: its ability to disarm the adaptive immune system.

Medical research created May 02, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Untangling the mysteries of Alzheimer's

One of the most distinctive signs of the development of Alzheimer's disease is a change in the behavior of a protein that neuroscientists call tau. In normal brains, tau is present in individual units essential to neuron ...

Neuroscience created Feb 02, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Mosquito virus could lead to new vaccines and drugs

A mosquito sample collected three decades ago in Israel's Negev Desert has yielded an unexpected discovery: a previously unknown virus that's closely related to some of the world's most dangerous mosquito-borne pathogens ...

Medical research created Sep 21, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Universal flu vaccine clinical trials show promise

A universal influenza vaccine targeting a protein common to all strains of influenza A has safely produced an immune response in humans. If proven effective, the vaccine could eliminate the practice of creating a new flu ...

Medications created Jun 07, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study shows antidepressant could do double duty as diabetes drug

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have discovered that the commonly used antidepressant drug paroxetine could also become a therapy for the vascular complications of diabetes.

Diabetes created Dec 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Combinations of estrogen-mimicking chemicals found to strongly distort hormone action

For years, scientists have been concerned about chemicals in the environment that mimic the estrogens found in the body. In study after study, researchers have found links between these "xenoestrogens" and such problems as ...

Health created Mar 28, 2013 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Researchers create new experimental vaccine against chikungunya virus

Researchers have developed a new candidate vaccine to protect against chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne pathogen that produces an intensely painful and often chronic arthritic disease that has stricken millions of people ...

Medications created Aug 12, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Potential Chagas vaccine candidate shows unprecedented efficacy

Scientists are getting closer to a Chagas disease vaccine, something many believed impossible only 10 years ago. Research from the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston ...

Medications created Mar 26, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers identify and block protein that interferes with appetite-suppressing hormone

Ever since the appetite-regulation hormone called leptin was discovered in 1994, scientists have sought to understand the mechanisms that control its action. It was known that leptin was made by fat cells, reduced appetite ...

Medical research created Apr 17, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Research shows diabetes drug improves memory

An FDA-approved drug initially used to treat insulin resistance in diabetics has shown promise as a way to improve cognitive performance in some people with Alzheimer's disease.

Neuroscience created Nov 20, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

High iron, copper levels block brain-cell DNA repair

No one knows the cause of most cases of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative disorders. But researchers have found that certain factors are consistently associated with these debilitating conditions. One is ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created May 20, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers warn of 'fever from the forest'

More than a thousand years ago, somewhere in Southeast Asia, a fateful meeting occurred between a mosquito-borne virus that infected mainly monkeys and a large, susceptible group of humans. The result: the world's first outbreak ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Jun 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists show 'swamp gas' protects blood vessels from complications of diabetes

Hydrogen sulfide is a foul-smelling gas with an odor resembling that of rotten eggs. Sometimes called "swamp gas," this toxic substance is generally associated with decaying vegetation, sewers and noxious industrial emissions. ...

Medical research created Aug 02, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Alzheimer's brains found to have lower levels of key protein

Researchers have found that a protein variation linked by some genetic studies to Alzheimer's disease is consistently present in the brains of people with Alzheimer's. In further biochemical and cell culture investigations, ...

Medical research created Sep 01, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast