PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Progress on vaccine for 'Ich,' bane of fish farms and home aquarium hobbyists

2010-09-15
(Press-News.org) Tests of a potential vaccine against "Ich" — the dreaded "white-spot" disease that plagues fish in commercial fish farms, public aquariums, pet fish retail outlets, and home aquariums — are raising hopes for finally controlling the disease, scientists reported at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

"Outbreaks of the parasitic disease caused by Ichthyophthirius (Ich) can result in losses of 50-100 percent of fish," Dehai Xu, Ph.D., said. "The disease is very common, and almost every home fish hobbyist has encountered it. Once the parasite infects fish, and starts growing in the skin, fins, and gills, there is no really effective treatment. Ich causes losses estimated at $50 million annually. It would be much better to prevent the disease."

Their study evaluated influence of vaccine formulation and doses of vaccine on protective immunity of channel catfish against Ich. The results showed that vaccination with live Ich theronts and trophonts killed with high-frequency sound waves stimulated production of protective antibodies in the catfish. "This study demonstrated that vaccines against Ich induced protective immunity and could provide a unique solution to prevent this parasitic disease through vaccination," Xu said. "An Ich vaccine would have great impact by preventing the disease, minimizing loss of valuable fish and increasing profitability of aquaculture."

INFORMATION: ARTICLE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VIEW FULL TEXT ARTICLE http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-08/acs-pov080610.php

CONTACT:
Dehai Xu, Ph.D., Research Parasitologist
USDA, Agricultural Research Service
Aquatic Animal Health Research Laboratory
990 Wire Road, Auburn, AL 36832-4352
Telephone: 334- 887-3741
Fax: 334- 887-2983
E-mail: Dehai.Xu@ars.usda.gov


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Secret funding fosters hope for new drugs for autism

2010-09-15
Funding from an anonymous wealthy family has been the secret to progress, at long last, in developing drugs that show promise for helping millions of people worldwide with Fragile X syndrome, the most common genetic cause of autism. That's the topic of a fascinating article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine. C&EN Senior Editor Lisa Jarvis notes that until recent interest from big pharmaceutical companies, a small drug company in Cambridge, Mass. named Seaside Therapeutics was virtually the only company trying to develop ...

Facial recognition technology aimed at spotting terrorists

2010-09-15
Rapid improvements in facial-recognition software mean airport security workers might one day know with near certainty whether they're looking at a stressed-out tourist or staring a terrorist in the eye. A research team led by Dr. Alice O'Toole, a professor in The University of Texas at Dallas' School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, is evaluating how well these rapidly evolving recognition programs work. The researchers are comparing the rates of success for the software to the rates for non-technological, but presumably "expert" human evaluation. "The government ...

New investigational compound targets pancreatic cancer cells

2010-09-15
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (Sept. 14, 2010) – A new investigational drug designed to penetrate and attack pancreatic cancer cells has been administered to a patient for the first time ever at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare. ASG-5ME is a potent, targeted compound designed to selectively kill cancer cells, says Daniel Von Hoff, MD, a principal investigator in the Phase I clinical trial. Pancreatic cancer is a fast-growing and difficult to treat form of cancer, and is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States. "ASG-5ME is intended ...

Higher altitudes hide deadly problem: Increased suicide risk

2010-09-15
SALT LAKE CITY—The Intermountain West is renowned for the beauty of its towering mountains and high deserts, but according to new research from an investigator with the University of Utah Brain Institute the region's lofty altitudes significantly influence a deadly problem: the high prevalence of suicides in this part of the country. In the Sept. 15, 2010, online edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry, Perry F. Renshaw, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, professor of psychiatry at the U School of Medicine and an investigator with Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative, ...

Present imperfect: Doctors in training work even when ill

2010-09-15
A new study demonstrates that young doctors often fail to heed the Biblical injunction, "physician, heal thyself." In a research letter published in the September 15, 2010, issue of JAMA, researchers report that three out of five residents surveyed came to work in the previous year while sick, possibly exposing their patients and colleagues to suboptimal performance and, in many cases, communicable disease. The survey, which involved multiple hospitals, found that 60 percent of residents—physicians who have completed medical school and are getting on-the-job advanced ...

Researchers find selfishness can sometimes help the common good

2010-09-15
Scientists have overturned the conventional wisdom that cooperation is essential for the well-being of the whole population, finding evidence that slackers can sometimes help the common good. Researchers, from Imperial College London, the Universities of Bath and Oxford, University College London and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology studied populations of yeast and found that a mixture of 'co-operators' and 'cheats' grew faster than a more utopian one of only "co-operators." The study, publishing next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology, ...

Combined impact of lifestyle factors on mortality among Chinese women

2010-09-15
In research published this week in PLoS Medicine, results from the Shanghai Women's Health Study reveal the impact of lifestyle-related factors on mortality in a cohort of Chinese women – confirming the results from other Western research studies. The large prospective cohort study by Wei Zheng and colleagues (from Vanderbilt University & Shanghai Cancer Institute) showed that lifestyle factors other than active smoking and alcohol consumption, have a major combined impact on total mortality on a scale comparable to the effect of smoking. For example healthier lifestyle-related ...

Specialist health journalists write better news stories

2010-09-15
David Henry from the University of Toronto and colleagues analysed Australian news stories over a five-year period, and examined whether experienced specialist health reporters write better stories than other categories of journalists. They found that it does matter who writes news stories that cover the benefits and harms of health care interventions: stories written by specialist health journalists working for a single media outlet were of higher quality than those written by less experienced writers. The authors say their findings are important because "this source of ...

The 'urban advantage' in health care is more complex than it seems

2010-09-15
Amos Channon from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom and colleagues outline the complexities of urban advantage in maternal health where the urban poor often have worse access to health care than women in rural areas. They used improved methods to measure urban poverty in 30 countries, and found substantial inequalities in maternal and newborn health, and in access to health care. The authors outline two main patterns of urban inequality in developing countries, and offer recommendations for improving access to care. INFORMATION: Funding: No funding was received ...

Burnout associated with self-reported unprofessional conduct among medical students

2010-09-15
Medical students with higher levels of distress (burnout) were more likely to self-report unprofessional conduct related to patient care and less altruistic professional values, according to a study in the September 15 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on medical education. "Professionalism is a core competency for all physicians. Professionalism includes being honest, acting with integrity, advocating for the needs of patients, reducing barriers to equitable health care, and adhering to an ethical code of conduct," the authors write. "Despite the widely acknowledged importance ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Reality check: making indoor smartphone-based augmented reality work

Overthinking what you said? It’s your ‘lizard brain’ talking to newer, advanced parts of your brain

Black men — including transit workers — are targets for aggression on public transportation, study shows

Troubling spike in severe pregnancy-related complications for all ages in Illinois

Alcohol use identified by UTHealth Houston researchers as most common predictor of escalated cannabis vaping among youths in Texas

Need a landing pad for helicopter parenting? Frame tasks as learning

New MUSC Hollings Cancer Center research shows how Golgi stress affects T-cells' tumor-fighting ability

#16to365: New resources for year-round activism to end gender-based violence and strengthen bodily autonomy for all

Earliest fish-trapping facility in Central America discovered in Maya lowlands

São Paulo to host School on Disordered Systems

New insights into sleep uncover key mechanisms related to cognitive function

USC announces strategic collaboration with Autobahn Labs to accelerate drug discovery

Detroit health professionals urge the community to act and address the dangers of antimicrobial resistance

3D-printing advance mitigates three defects simultaneously for failure-free metal parts 

Ancient hot water on Mars points to habitable past: Curtin study

In Patagonia, more snow could protect glaciers from melt — but only if we curb greenhouse gas emissions soon

Simplicity is key to understanding and achieving goals

Caste differentiation in ants

Nutrition that aligns with guidelines during pregnancy may be associated with better infant growth outcomes, NIH study finds

New technology points to unexpected uses for snoRNA

Racial and ethnic variation in survival in early-onset colorectal cancer

Disparities by race and urbanicity in online health care facility reviews

Exploring factors affecting workers' acquisition of exercise habits using machine learning approaches

Nano-patterned copper oxide sensor for ultra-low hydrogen detection

Maintaining bridge safer; Digital sensing-based monitoring system

A novel approach for the composition design of high-entropy fluorite oxides with low thermal conductivity

A groundbreaking new approach to treating chronic abdominal pain

ECOG-ACRIN appoints seven researchers to scientific committee leadership positions

New model of neuronal circuit provides insight on eye movement

Cooking up a breakthrough: Penn engineers refine lipid nanoparticles for better mRNA therapies

[Press-News.org] Progress on vaccine for 'Ich,' bane of fish farms and home aquarium hobbyists