http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A new study published in BioMed Central's open access journal Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control reports of a phenomenon that could help control the spread of hospital-acquired infections: a surface-coating of metalloacids kills off microbial strains, even in multidrug-resistant microorganisms. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-metals-microbes-biocidal-effect-metalloacid-coated.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 13 Nov 2012 20:00:03 EST news272047476 Scientists from the University of Utah School of Medicine have discovered that a mouse protein called IFITM3 contributes to the body's defense against some types of viral infections by binding to an enzyme responsible for regulating the pH of a cell's waste disposal system. This finding, published in the March 30, 2012, issue of Innate Immunity, sheds light on the cellular mechanisms involved in flu resistance and opens up potential new avenues of research for anti-viral medications. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-reveals-insight-key-protein-viral.html Immunology Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:16:56 EST news252576998 (Medical Xpress) -- Because of its high water content and polymer network, peptide hydrogel is a promising material for protein storage and transfer without significant loss of their biological activity. These hydrogels have potential as injectable materials for medical applications, e.g., liquid injection agents that become gelatinous in the human body to keep drugs around cancerous tumors. In this study, scientists from Kansas State University, University of Nebraska, and PNNL used two native functional sequences from spider flagelliform silk protein and a trans-membrane motif of human muscle L-type calcium channel to design a self-assembling peptide, h9e. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-scientists-merge-spider-silk-human.html Medical research Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:50:29 EST news242027414