http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress provides the latest news from Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore While medical technology and healthcare standards have improved significantly over the past century, tropical diseases continue to pose a major threat to human health. At present, vaccines are unavailable for many major tropical infections such as dengue fever and hand, foot and mouth disease. Increased exploration of tropical rainforests, international air travel, tourism to tropical regions and human migration have also led to a rising incidence of tropical diseases. Accordingly, the rapid and accurate detection of such diseases is more important than ever to facilitate prompt treatment and prevent potential pandemics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-fast-simple-tropical-diseases.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 05 Jun 2013 08:10:04 EST news289636213 Though it originates from the body's own cells, a tumor is as much of a hostile invader as any virus or bacterium. If the immune system is sufficiently sensitized, it can mount a counterattack just as it might fight an infection. For many patients, this response is insufficient, but researchers led by Jean-Pierre Abastado of the A*STAR Singapore Immunology Network have uncovered an immune mechanism that may help patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) keep their liver cancer at bay. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-immune-pathway-body-liver-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 05 Jun 2013 08:00:01 EST news289635899 Sustained low-grade inflammation and an above-average appetite are commonly found in obese individuals. Therefore, it seems counterintuitive that the acute inflammation associated with many illnesses normally suppresses appetite. A team led by Weiping Han of the Singapore Bioimaging Consortium at A*STAR has used mice to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that explain the different effects of chronic and acute inflammation on appetite. The study also helps to explain why obesity compromises appetite-suppression mechanisms. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-obesity-inflammation-appetite.html Inflammatory disorders Wed, 05 Jun 2013 07:50:04 EST news289635884 A Singaporean computer scientist and his American colleague have created a computer simulation of how humans perform on a widely employed test of implicit or unconscious social attitudes, particularly racial bias. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-numerical-simulation-insights-social-attitudes.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 05 Jun 2013 07:40:01 EST news289635837 Changes in the pattern of connections in the resting brain predict the extent to which stroke patients will recover following rehabilitation, according to new research led by Cuntai Guan of the A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research, Singapore and Karen Chua of the Tan Tock Sen Hospital, Singapore, in collaboration with Bálint Várkuti of the University of Tübingen, Germany. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-06-based-brain-computer-interfaces-superior-robot-assisted.html Neuroscience Wed, 05 Jun 2013 07:23:46 EST news289635816 Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Switzerland's Cytos Biotechnology AG today announced that the first healthy volunteer has been dosed in a Phase 1 clinical trial with their H1N1 influenza vaccine candidate based on Cytos' proprietary bacteriophage Qbeta virus-like particle (VLP) technology. In this first Phase 1 clinical trial, the safety and immunogenicity of this novel vaccine candidate and its potential to protect against H1N1 influenza infection will be evaluated. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-influenza-vaccine-brought-clinical.html Medications Fri, 17 May 2013 10:53:37 EST news288006797 The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Veredus Laboratories, a leading supplier of innovative molecular diagnostic tools, announced the launch of VereTrop, the first biochip in the molecular diagnostics market that can identify 13 different major tropical diseases from a single blood sample. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-lab-on-chip-multiple-tropical-infectious-diseases.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 25 Apr 2013 05:32:09 EST news286086677 A tumor is not a uniform mass of identical cells. However, teasing apart genetic heterogeneity within a biopsied tumor can be difficult. Researchers often fail to tell the difference between a rare variant in a DNA dataset or a small error because of imprecision in existing high-throughput sequencing technologies. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-rare-mutations-harbored-diverse-populations.html Cancer Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:30:03 EST news286004541 The eye is covered by a clear and protective layer called the cornea, and abnormal thickness of the cornea can result in eye disease. An international research team including Chiea Chuen Khor of the A*STAR Genome Institute of Singapore has pinned down 27 genetic variations that are strongly associated with a heritable trait known as central corneal thickness (CCT). Some of these variations are also directly linked to eye diseases, so the findings may lead to better prevention and treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-identification-specific-genetic-variants-common.html Genetics Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:20:09 EST news286004465 Amyloids, or fibrous aggregates of abnormally folded proteins, are a common feature in degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, diabetes and cancer. Amyloids occur naturally in the body, but despite decades of research, their mechanism of formation remains unknown, hampering drug development efforts. Now, a new class of ultrasmall peptides developed by the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) offers scientists a platform for understanding this phenomenon, providing them with the insights required to design more effective treatments for these diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-abnormal-proteins-degenerative-diseases.html Medical research Mon, 22 Apr 2013 07:08:32 EST news285833302 Diagnosis of the brain cancer glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is particularly bad news for patients due to limited available medical options and poor outcomes. Even treatments that can eliminate other malignancies, such as chemotherapy and surgery, buy only limited time for GBM patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-insights-abnormally-rna-molecule-yield.html Cancer Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:00:02 EST news284804576 Patients who successfully beat infection with dengue virus remain vulnerable to reinfection by other dengue variants, and these secondary infections tend to be more severe. The antibodies arising from the immune system's first encounter with the virus can play a complicated role in how these secondary infections unfold. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-insights-profiling-immune-response-viral.html Immunology Wed, 27 Mar 2013 07:07:15 EST news283586829 The liver is an important target organ for drug testing because all drugs pass through it for detoxification. This is a process whereby harmful substances are reduced or removed from the body. Drugs that cannot be detoxified may cause poisoning or other lethal side effects. IBN researchers have now made it possible for companies to predict the toxicity of new drugs earlier, potentially speeding up the drug development process and reducing the cost of manufacturing. The tool they have engineered to enable this is an artificial human liver piece, which mimics the natural tissue environment closely. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-artificial-human-livers-drug-discovery.html Medical research Fri, 15 Mar 2013 08:49:27 EST news282556154 Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) come under attack by their immune system, producing 'autoantibodies' that inflict damage throughout the body. Antibodies normally target foreign proteins, but SLE autoantibodies attack targets contained within the nuclei of host cells, and immunologists have struggled to untangle how this happens. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-protein-implicated-lupus-disease-distinct.html Immunology Wed, 13 Mar 2013 08:20:01 EST news282379253 Muscle withering can occur as part of the progression of many diseases, including cancer and muscular dystrophy, as well as during the normal aging process. Cellular organelles known as mitochondria provide energy for muscle contraction, and their fragmentation within muscle cells can lead to muscle wasting. Now, a team of researchers led by Ravi Kambadur at the A*STAR Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences has identified a key role for mitochondrial E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 1 (Mul1) in mitochondrial fragmentation. Such fragmentation occurs in response to stimuli that cause muscle loss. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-cell-metabolism-muscle-loss-mitochondrial.html Medical research Wed, 13 Mar 2013 08:00:01 EST news282379201