Stress may activate immune cells in the skin, resulting in inflammatory skin disease. – Current research suggests that stress may activate immune cells in your skin, resulting in inflammatory skin disease. The related report by Joachim et al., “Stress-induced Neurogenic Inflammation in Murine Skin Skews Dendritic Cells towards Maturation and Migration: Key role of ICAM-1/LFA-1 interactions,” appears in the November issue of The American Journal of Pathology.
Waste from gut bacteria helps host control weight, UT Southwestern researchers report. – A single molecule in the intestinal wall, activated by the waste products from gut bacteria, plays a large role in controlling whether the host animals are lean or fatty, a research team, including scientists from UT Southwestern Medical Center, has found in a mouse study.
US FDA Approves Updated Labeling for Psoriasis Drug Raptiva by Genentech; Safety concerns drove labeling changes. – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced labeling changes, including a Boxed Warning, to highlight the risks of life-threatening infections, including progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), with the use of Raptiva (efalizumab).
‘Deadly dozen’ reports diseases worsened by climate change – Health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society. – Health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society released a report that lists 12 pathogens that could spread into new regions as a result of climate change, with potential impacts to both human and wildlife health and global economies.
Friendly? bacteria in stomach protect against type 1 diabetes, Yale researchers find. – In a dramatic illustration of the potential for microbes to prevent disease, researchers at Yale University and the University of Chicago showed that mice exposed to common stomach bacteria were protected against the development of Type I diabetes.
Bad teeth, bleeding gums and poor dental hygiene can end up causing heart disease, revealed by researchers at the Society for General Microbiology’s Autumn meeting being held this week at Trinity College, Dublin. – People with poor dental hygiene and those who don’t brush their teeth regularly end up with bleeding gums, which provide an entry to the bloodstream for up to 700 different types of bacteria found in our mouths.
Contraceptive pills may cause change in women’s natural ability to choose a right partner, result in difficulties when trying to conceive, an increased risk of miscarriage and long intervals between pregnancies. – The contraceptive pill may disrupt women’s natural ability to choose a partner genetically dissimilar to themselves, research at the Universities of Liverpool and Newcastle has found.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has notified manufacturers of fluoroquinolone antimicrobial drugs that a Boxed Warning in the product labeling concerning the increased risk of tendinitis and tendon rupture is necessary. – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requests boxed warnings on fluoroquinolone antimicrobial drugs. FDA seeks this to strengthen warnings concerning increased risk of tendinitis and tendon rupture.
The US nonprofit nutrition watchdog urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to crack down on that and other deceptive ?structure/function? claims increasingly appearing on food labels. – US Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) urges FDA to crack down on food frauds saying that Kraft, General Mills, Dole, & others ripping off consumers with bogus immunity claims.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration – FDA agency unveiled the plan just months ago to help keep Americans enjoying one of the safest food supplies in the world. – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Food Protection Plan Progress Report in conjunction with the Interagency Working Group on Import Safety Action Plan Update, shows significant areas of activity to further improve the safety of America’s food supply since unveiling its Food Protection Plan in November 2007.
A strain of malaria thought previously to be ?benign? has been found to be potentially fatal in a recent study. – Plasmodium vivax can cause severe malaria associated with substantial morbidity and mortality, show two studies published in PLoS Medicine this week. These findings challenge the current dogma that P. falciparum can be severe and life-threatening whereas Plasmodium vivax tends to be mild, according to the related commentary by Stephen Rogerson (University of Melbourne, Australia), an expert not connected with these studies.
A new skin patch may help protect travelers from a common vacation spoiler: traveler’s diarrhea. UT School of Public Health researchers discover significant efficacy of travelers’ diarrhea vaccine. – Researchers at The University of Texas School of Public Health have found that patients given a travelers’ diarrhea vaccine were significantly less likely to suffer from clinically significant diarrhea than those who received placebo, according to a study published in this week’s edition of The Lancet.
