http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. The research undertaken by researchers at University College, Imperial College, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine is the first ever detailed assessment of infectious diseases investments made by funding organisations to UK institutions. The study shows that gastrointestinal infections, antimicrobial resistance, and some neglected tropical diseases such as trachoma, the commonest infectious cause of blindness globally, receive particularly low levels of investment from UK funders, relative to the disability and death that they cause. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-uk-funding-infectious-disease-neglects.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 08 Nov 2012 18:30:01 EST news271614055 Exposure to cigarette smoke has long been associated with increased frequency of respiratory infections—which are harder to treat in smoke-exposed people than in those who lack such exposures. Now Ritwij Kulkarni of Columbia University, New York, NY, and colleagues show that cigarette smoke actually boosts virulence of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Their study appears in the November 2012 issue of the journal Infection and Immunity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-cigarette-boosts-virulence-staphylococcus-aureus.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:45:02 EST news271611884 A new respiratory illness, similar to SARS, has been identified in a man who is being treated in the UK. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-viewpoint-patient-illness-similar-sars.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 27 Sep 2012 07:25:31 EST news267949521 Saudi health authorities downplayed Tuesday the impact of a possible outbreak of a virus from the family of deadly SARS on its forthcoming Hajj pilgrimage, stressing that the cases remain rare. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-saudi-downplays-impact-mystery-virus.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:12:18 EST news267790331 A Qatari man suffering from a new respiratory virus from the same family as the deadly SARS remains in critical condition, the World Health Organisation said Tuesday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-qatari-mystery-virus-critical-condition.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 25 Sep 2012 07:28:57 EST news267776929 For decades before antibiotics became generally available, sunshine was used to treat tuberculosis, with patients often being sent to Swiss clinics to soak up the sun's healing rays. Now, for the first time scientists have shown how and why heliotherapy might, indeed, have made a difference. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-high-doses-vitamin-d-tuberculosis.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 03 Sep 2012 15:00:23 EST news265889620 (HealthDay)—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Afinitor Disperz (everolimus tablets for oral suspension), the first form of the anti-cancer drug Afinitor to be created especially for children. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-afinitor-disperz-rare-pediatric-cancer.html Medications Wed, 29 Aug 2012 19:10:01 EST news265483950 A study conducted in Mongolian schoolchildren supports the possibility that daily vitamin D supplementation can reduce the risk of respiratory infections in winter. In a report that will appear in the journal Pediatrics and has received early online release, an international research team found that vitamin D supplementation decreased the risk of respiratory infections among children who had low blood levels of vitamin D at the start of the study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-vitamin-d-supplementation-decrease-respiratory.html Pediatrics Mon, 20 Aug 2012 14:33:17 EST news264691987 An international team of researchers has found that certain bioactive components found in human milk are associated with a reduced risk of HIV transmission from an HIV infected mother to her breast-fed infant. Their study will be published in the August 15 online edition of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-breastfeeding-infants-hiv-transmission.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 15 Aug 2012 12:00:01 EST news264250298 (HealthDay) -- Instead of reaching for a commercial medicine when your child is coughing through the night because of a common cold, Israeli researchers suggest giving honey a try. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-honey-sweet-treatment-kids-night-time.html Pediatrics Mon, 06 Aug 2012 10:49:23 EST news263468943 (HealthDay) -- The first generic versions of Singulair (montelukast sodium) have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-versions-singulair.html Medications Sat, 04 Aug 2012 05:47:52 EST news263278064 (Medical Xpress) -- Queensland research shows that a resurgence of whooping cough in babies has arisen due to the lack of effectiveness of the current vaccine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-vaccine-babies-whooping.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 01 Aug 2012 06:18:35 EST news263020703 A training tool that helps physicians involve patients in decision-making can reduce the use of antibiotics for acute respiratory infections, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-decision-making-doctors-patients-antibiotic.html Medications Mon, 30 Jul 2012 12:00:01 EST news262867453 Building on previous work with the botanical abscisic acida, researchers in the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML) have discovered that abscisic acid has anti-inflammatory effects in the lungs as well as in the gut. The results will be published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-botanical-compound-crucial-influenza.html Medical research Wed, 18 Jul 2012 15:18:48 EST news261843492 Babies who spend time around pet dogs have fewer ear infections and respiratory ailments than those whose homes are animal-free, said a study released on Monday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-dogs-babies-infections.html Pediatrics Mon, 09 Jul 2012 04:40:02 EST news261026927 Carol Seibert had an upper respiratory infection she just couldn’t seem to shake. The timing of her illness was awful, as she had just returned from a trip to Florida for her youngest son’s surgery and was preparing for her eldest son’s wedding in September. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-nonsmoking-lung-cancer-survivor.html Cancer Fri, 25 May 2012 05:48:50 EST news257143717 Innate differences in immunity can be detected at birth, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. And babies with a better innate response to viruses have fewer respiratory illnesses in the first year of life. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-babies-susceptibility-colds-linked-immune.html Immunology Thu, 17 May 2012 14:15:55 EST news256482933 (AP) -- Cancer patient Kathy Watson voted Republican in 2008 and believes the government has no right telling Americans to get health insurance. Nonetheless, she says she'd be dead if it weren't for President Barack Obama's health care law. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-fate-frail-patients-hinges-supreme.html Health Thu, 17 May 2012 12:22:45 EST news256476158 (HealthDay) -- A mother's exposure to tobacco smoke during the last three months of pregnancy may increase the risk that her child will develop the allergic skin condition eczema during infancy, a new study suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-exposure-late-pregnancy-boost-baby.html Health Sat, 03 Mar 2012 13:08:41 EST news250002515 Breastfeeding is associated with improved lung function at school age, particularly in children of asthmatic mothers, according to a new study from researchers in Switzerland and the UK. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-breastfeeding-lung-function-school-age.html Health Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:22:54 EST news247465355 Battling colds and doing (or pledging to do) more exercise are familiar activities for most of us in January. But different levels of exercise can actually significantly increase or decrease your chances of catching a respiratory infection, says Professor Mike Gleeson from Loughborough University. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-couch-potato-elite-athlete-happy.html Health Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:49:46 EST news244979380 A research team led by Glenn Rall at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA developed a novel mouse model to show that a fatal central nervous system (CNS) disease can be caused by a pathogen that does not replicate in the CNS. The results of this new study are published December 22nd in the Open Access journal PLoS Pathogens. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-concomitant-immune-result-cns-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:24:11 EST news243800644 The researchers studied the immune response of 107 pregnant women after they were injected with a single dose of non-adjuvant H1N1 vaccine. They concluded that the influenza shot boosted the immune response in pregnant women and at the same time protected neuronatal babies via the antibodies that transferred through the placenta. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-h1n1-flu-vaccine-pregnant-women.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:30:07 EST news242476177 Use of retail medical clinics located in pharmacies and other retail settings increased 10-fold between 2007 and 2009, according to a new RAND Corporation study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-retail-medical-clinics-fold-year.html Health Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:57:31 EST news241192634 Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin have found a possible link between norovirus, a virus that causes "stomach flu" in humans, and food allergies. The findings are published in The Open Immunology Journal, Volume 4, 2011. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-stomach-flu-linked-food-allergies.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:55:55 EST news240508548 Two new studies led by University of California, Berkeley, researchers spotlight the human health effects of exposure to smoke from open fires and dirty cookstoves, the primary source of cooking and heating for 43 percent, or some 3 billion members, of the world's population. Women and young children in poverty are particularly vulnerable. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-woodsmoke-cooking-linked-pneumonia-cognitive.html Health Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:30:05 EST news240154961 Despite having the second-lowest smoking rate in the nation, California is still home to nearly 2.5 million children under the age of 12 who are exposed to secondhand smoke, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-million-california-children-secondhand-exposure.html Health Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:37:48 EST news238948622 There's more than one way to mop up after a flu infection. Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in Nature Immunology that a previously unrecognized population of lung immune cells orchestrate the body's repair response following flu infection. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-rebooting-immune-cells-lung-tissues.html Medical research Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:57:44 EST news236876253 Examination of lung tissue and other autopsy material from 68 American soldiers who died of respiratory infections in 1918 has revealed that the influenza virus that eventually killed 50 million people worldwide was circulating in the United States at least four months before the 1918 influenza reached pandemic levels that fall. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-earliest-evidence-influenza-pandemic.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:00:54 EST news235662152 Taking probiotics seems to provide both children and adults with a mild degree of protection against many upper respiratory tract infections including the common cold, according to a new systematic review. People who consume probiotics are also less likely to end up taking antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection, the review found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-probiotics-slight-effect-colds.html Health Fri, 16 Sep 2011 09:50:01 EST news235384066