http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Researchers from CNRS, Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier and IRD have elucidated new molecular mechanisms involved in resistance to visceral leishmaniasis, a serious parasitic infection. They have shown that dectin-1 and mannose receptors participate in the protection against the parasite responsible for this infection, by triggering an inflammatory response, while the DC-SIGN receptor facilitates the penetration of the pathogen and its proliferation in macrophages. This work, conducted on both mice and humans and published on 16 May 2013 in the journal Immunity, opens new perspectives for the prevention and treatment of this disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-resistance-visceral-leishmaniasis-mechanisms-involved.html Immunology Thu, 16 May 2013 11:10:01 EST news287919687 (Medical Xpress)—Labs around the world, and a core group at Penn, have been studying recently described populations of immune cells called innate lymphoid cells (ILCs). Some researchers liken them to foot soldiers that protect boundary tissues such as the skin, the lining of the lung, and the lining of the gut from microbial onslaught. They also have shown they play a role in inflammatory disease, when the body's immune system is too active. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-newly-immune-cell-cells-similar.html Immunology Tue, 14 May 2013 07:10:01 EST news287733340 Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a telltale molecular marker for Onchocerciasis or "river blindness," a parasitic infection that affects tens of millions of people in Africa, Latin America and other tropical regions. The newly discovered biomarker, detectable in patients' urine, is secreted by Onchocerca volvulus worms during an active infection. The biomarker could form the basis of a portable, field-ready test with significant advantages over current diagnostic methods. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-discloses-river-infection.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:00:01 EST news281008969 Today, The Lancet Infectious Diseases published a new report that examines the global economic burden of Chagas disease. In the first study of its kind, researchers measured the health and economic impact of Chagas disease and found that the total economic burden of Chagas disease matches or exceeds that of many more well-known diseases such as rotavirus, Lyme disease and cervical cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-highlights-chagas-disease-health-socio-economic.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 07 Feb 2013 18:30:03 EST news279472375 Guinea worm disease cases were cut to less than 600 in 2012, marking significant progress in eradicating the parasitic infection, former President Jimmy Carter said Thursday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-jimmy-carter-guinea-worm-cases.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:07:49 EST news277661263 While its common name may make it sound almost whimsical, sleeping sickness, or African trypanosomiasis, is in reality a potentially fatal parasitic infection that has ravaged populations in sub-Saharan Africa for decades, and it continues to infect thousands of people every year. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-discovery-treatments-deadly-sickness.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:10:59 EST news277650652 Researchers have discovered that adding lovastatin, a widely used cholesterol-lowering drug, to traditional antimalarial treatment decreases neuroinflammation and protects against cognitive impairment in a mouse model of cerebral malaria. Although there are differences between mouse models of cerebral malaria and human disease, these new findings indicate that statins are worthy of consideration in clinical trials of cerebral malaria, according to an article published in the Dec. 27 issue of PLOS Pathogens. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-statin-drug-malaria-effects.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:00:03 EST news275848796 (Medical Xpress)—A rare, potentially fatal species of parasite never before found in North America has been identified in a Florida horse. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-rare-human-parasite-horse.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 16 Nov 2012 07:42:17 EST news272274106 A targeted approach to treating toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease, shows early promise in test-tube and animal studies, where it prevented the parasites from making selected proteins. When tested in newly infected mice, it reduced the number of viable parasites by more than 90 percent, researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-antisense-approach-treatment-parasitic-infections.html Medical research Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:03:45 EST news264088963 After more than two decades of research, scientists are testing the first vaccine against the deadliest form of a disease that infects more than 12 million people worldwide. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-vaccine-black-fever.html Medications Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:30:02 EST news254401130 Chagas disease is the single most common cause of congestive heart failure and sudden death in the world. The devastating parasitic infection affects millions of people throughout Central and South America. But as global travel increases, it's becoming a greater threat in the United States and Europe as well. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-uga-animal-vaccine-deadly-chagas.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:50:01 EST news248628958 A neuropeptide called Substance P is the cause of seizures in patients with brains infected by the pork tapeworm (Taenia solium), said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in a report that appears online in the open access journal PLoS Pathogens. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-seizures-patients-pork-tapeworm-substance.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:00:12 EST news248008658 North American babies who acquire toxoplasmosis infections in the womb show much higher rates of brain and eye damage than European infants with the same infection, according to new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-basic-toxoplasmosis-newborns-contends.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:46:48 EST news237055580 The vaccine, RTS,S, developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Biologicals and PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), is currently in phase III clinical trials and has previously reduced episodes of malaria in infants and young children by more than 50%. The Liverpool team, in collaboration with the University College of Medicine, Malawi, are working in Blantyre over the next three years to investigate how to maximise its effectiveness when delivered through the childhood immunisation programme. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-clinical-trial-malaria-vaccine-africa.html Medications Wed, 25 May 2011 10:55:23 EST news225539712