It's often said that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has a woman's face. The proportion of women infected with HIV has been on the rise for a decade; in sub-Saharan Africa, women constitute 60 percent of people living with disease. While preventative drugs exist, they have often proven ineffective, especially in light of financial and cultural barriers in developing nations. A new intravaginal ring filled with an anti-retroviral drug could help. Developed with support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases by Northwestern University visiting associate professor ...

Daejeon, Republic of Korea, September 29, 2013 -- For many decades, we have been relying on fossil resources to produce liquid fuels such as gasoline, diesel, and many industrial and consumer chemicals for daily use. However, increasing strains on natural resources as well as environmental issues including global warming have triggered a strong interest in developing sustainable ways to obtain fuels and chemicals. Gasoline, the petroleum-derived product that is most widely used as a fuel for transportation, is a mixture of hydrocarbons, additives, and blending agents. ...

Scientists of the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (IMSGC) have identified an additional 48 genetic variants influencing the risk of developing multiple sclerosis. This work nearly doubles the number of known genetic risk factors and thereby provides additional key insights into the biology of this debilitating neurological condition. The genes implicated by the newly identified associations underline the central role played by the immune system in the development of multiple sclerosis and show substantial overlap with genes known to be involved in other ...

New results from a trial of an antibody that helps the immune system to recognise and attack cancer cells have shown particularly encouraging responses in patients who are smokers or former smokers. Presenting the most up-to-date data from 85 patients with non-small cell lung cancer in a large, phase I clinical trial of an experimental drug called MPDL3280A, Professor Jean-Charles Soria told the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1] today (Sunday): "This is the first study to suggest a potential relationship between smoking history and response to inhibiting the ...

Identifying the molecular profile of a tumour where the primary site is unknown is crucial to the choice of treatment, the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1], will hear on Monday. In up to five percent of all cancers, the site of the primary tumour is unknown and the disease is not diagnosed until it is at an advanced stage, when the cancer has metastasised (spread to other parts of the body). Until recently, the choice of treatment has been based on efforts to find biomarkers that could indicate the site of origin, but now a team of researchers has succeeded in ...

Prostate cancer screening using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is widely used in France despite a lack of evidence showing that it reduces cancer deaths. Now, researchers have shown that men experience more harm than good from routine PSA screening, according to research to be presented on Monday by Professor Mathieu Boniol, at the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1]. Prof Boniol, Research Director at the International Prevention Research Institute (iPRI) and Professor at the Strathclyde Institute for Global Public Health at iPRI, Lyon, France, will ...

What keeps leukemia cells alive almost forever, able to continue dividing endlessly and aggressively? New research at the Weizmann Institute suggests that, in around a quarter of all leukemias, the cancer cells rely on an internal "balance of terror" to keep going. When one version of a certain gene is mutated, it becomes a cancer-promoting gene – an oncogene. But the new findings show that the second, normal version of the gene, which functions alongside the mutation, is what keeps the cells both cancerous and alive, able to continue forging their destructive pathway in ...

Jerusalem, Sept. 29, 2013 – Israel's southern Red Sea resort of Eilat, one of whose prime attractions is its colorful and multi-shaped underwater coral reefs, may have a clear advantage in the future over rival coral-viewing sites around the world, scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Bar-Ilan University have found. Coral reefs, earth's richest and most diverse ecosystem, are deteriorating rapidly. One of the most devastating causes for that deterioration is coral bleaching, which typically occurs when seawater temperatures exceed the local summer maximum ...

Lugano, Switzerland, 28th September -- Research institutes, regulators and the pharmaceutical industry are urged to cooperate to develop new approaches to testing cancer drugs, in order to bring the revolution in personalised medicine to patients across Europe, says the European Society for Medical Oncology. It has become clear in recent years that each patient's cancer has individual characteristics that are potentially amenable to "personalised" treatments that target those characteristics. But there is still a great deal of work to be done to ensure patients benefit ...

Perception of NTS are basic cognitive processes for humans to interact with their environment. Whether a common magnitude system exits for NTS processing is such an important question to investigate. Following and guided by previous researchers, Dr. Yalin Chen and Chang Liu, from the Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and the School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, China, reviewed present evidence and provided some comments concerning this question. Their work, entitled "Relationships and independence of human number, time, and space processing", was published ...

Washington, D.C.— A great deal of research has focused on the amount of global warming resulting from increased greenhouse gas concentrations. But there has been relatively little study of the pace of the change following these increases. A new study by Carnegie's Ken Caldeira and Nathan Myhrvold of Intellectual Ventures concludes that about half of the warming occurs within the first 10 years after an instantaneous step increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration, but about one-quarter of the warming occurs more than a century after the step increase. Their work is published ...

Nearly two-thirds of young children in low- and middle-income countries can identify cigarette brand logos, according to a study from researchers at the University of Maryland School of Public Health (UMD SPH) and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH). The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, examined the reach of tobacco and cigarette marketing among some of the world's most vulnerable populations, sampling five and six year-old children from Brazil, China, India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Russia. These countries were selected because they have ...

Bethesda, MD -- It's not the little blue pill famous for helping men get big results, but for those who need it, the outcome might be even more significant. A new research report published online in The FASEB Journal, offers hope to men who experience priapism. This condition, which is often seen in men with sickle cell disease, causes erections lasting so long that they cause permanent damage to the penis. Specifically, a compound, called "C6'" offered mice -- with and without sickle cell disease -- relief by normalizing nitric oxide levels in penile blood. In addition ...

Who would not want to live a long and healthy life? A freely available food supplement could help in this respect, scientists from ETH Zurich have demonstrated in roundworms. Vitamin B3 – also known as niacin – and its metabolite nicotinamide in the worms' diet caused them to live for about one tenth longer than usual. As an international team of researchers headed by Michael Ristow, a professor of energy metabolism, has now experimentally demonstrated, niacin and nicotinamide take effect by promoting formation of so-called free radicals. "In roundworms, these reactive ...

The outer membrane of bacteria contains many proteins that form tiny pores. They are important for absorbing nutrients and transmitting signals into the cell. The research group of Sebastian Hiller, Professor of Structural Biology at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, has now shown for the first time at atomic resolution, that these pore proteins are transported in an unstructured, constantly changing state to the outer bacterial membrane. This landmark study was recently published in the scientific journal "Nature Structural and Molecular Biology". The cell membrane ...

London -- Are we allowing alcohol marketing to children and teens via the music they love? As many as one in five songs in the UK top ten today include references to alcohol -- a figure rising partly due to US-imported songs. What impact is this having on the youth of today? Experts warn that fresh evidence demonstrates that public health messages on alcohol may no longer be audible over the louder message from some sections of the music industry. Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University, UK led by Katherine Hardcastle discuss their findings in: "Trends in alcohol ...

Results from a clinical trial of a new treatment for glioblastoma suggest that researchers may have found a new approach to treating this most aggressive of brain tumours, as well as a potential new biological marker than can predict the tumour's response to treatment. Presenting the research to the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1] today (Monday), Professor Wolfgang Wick will say that combining radiotherapy with an anti-cancer drug called APG101 – a fusion protein similar to an antibody – blocks a cell-signalling pathway called CD95 that plays a crucial role ...

For the first time, researchers have estimated the daily dose of radiotherapy that could be wasted in compensating for cancer cell growth that occurs overnight and during weekends in patients with early breast cancer. In research to be presented to the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1] today (Monday), Professor John Yarnold will say that, until now, there has been contradictory evidence as to whether gaps between radiotherapy treatments, for instance overnight or at weekends, makes any difference to the overall effectiveness of radiotherapy on breast cancer, ...

A black hole. A simple and clear concept, at least according to the hypothesis by Roy Kerr, who in 1963 proposed a "clean" black hole model, which is the current theoretical paradigm. From theory to reality things may be quite different. According to a new research carried out by a group of scientists that includes Thomas Sotiriou, a physicist of the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) of Trieste, black holes may be much "dirtier" than what Kerr believed. According to the traditional model, black holes are defined by only two quantities: mass and angular ...

Adults who move to farming areas where they experience a wider range of environmental exposures than in cities may reduce the symptoms of their hypersensitivities and allergies considerably. This is the result of new research from Aarhus University. This pioneering result was recently published online in the esteemed periodical, The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in an article entitled "Become a farmer and avoid new allergic sensitization: Adult farming exposures protect against new-onset atopic sensitization". The immune systems of people who work in farming ...

Global production of photovoltaic (PV) cells grew by 10% in 2012 in comparison to 2011 despite a 9% decline in solar energy investments according to the annual "PV Status Report" released by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. Europe remained a leader in newly installed capacities accounting for 51.7% (16.8 GW) of the 30 GW installed worldwide. Abundant solar resources in combination with zero emissions from solar installations have attributed to PV energy systems a key role in the transition to a low carbon energy supply. This potential has driven development ...

Researchers believe they have discovered how aspirin improves survival in patients diagnosed with colon cancer, the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1] heard today (Monday). Although previous research has shown that taking low dose aspirin after being diagnosed with colon cancer improves patient outcome, the reasons why this happens remain unknown. The new research has shown that aspirin improves outcome in patients whose tumour cells express a specific protein on their surface; the protein is known as Human Leukocyte Antigen class I (HLA class I), a cell-surface ...

The world's sharpest X-ray beam shines at DESY. At the X-ray light source PETRA III, scientists from Göttingen generated a beam with a diameter of barely 5 nanometres – this is ten thousand times thinner than a human hair. This fine beam of X-ray light allows focusing on smallest details. The research groups of Professor Tim Salditt from the Institute of X-ray Physics and of Professor Hans-Ulrich Krebs from the Institute of Materials Physics of the University of Göttingen published their work in the research journal Optics Express. High-energy (hard) X-ray light cannot ...

Bethesda, MD -- Cocaine use may increase one's vulnerability to HIV infection, according to a new research report published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. In the report, scientists show that cocaine alters immune cells, called "quiescent CD4 T cells," to render them more susceptible to the virus, and at the same time, to allow for increased proliferation of the virus. "We ultimately hope that our studies will provide a better understanding of how drugs of abuse impact how our body defends itself against disease," said Dimitrios N. Vatakis, Ph.D., the study's senior ...

Researchers say it's clear that some cases of autism are hereditary, but have struggled to draw direct links between the condition and particular genes. Now a team at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology has devised a process for connecting a suspect gene to its function in autism. In a report in the Sept. 25 issue of Nature Communications, the scientists say mutations in one such autism-linked gene, dubbed NHE9, which is involved in transporting substances in and out of structures within the ...