Research News

A drug used to treat altitude sickness - as well as glaucoma, epilepsy, heart failure and seizures - may also offer significant gains for patients with a fast-growing brain tumor known as glioblastoma, according to a study.

McMaster University researchers have developed a new theory on Huntington's disease which is being welcomed for showing promise to open new avenues of drug development for the condition.  Huntington's disease is caused by a mutation in the gene that makes the protein called huntingtin.

Cochrane Library shows that human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccines protect against cervical lesions in young women, particularly in those who are vaccinated between the ages of 15 and 26. It also summarizes findings on harms that have been assessed in randomized controlled trials.

New findings suggest that the molecule triggers a pathway that is normally used by the immune system to prevent excessive damage but may contribute to chronic white matter injury by completely blocking repair operations.

A drug combination aimed at preventing transmission of HIV from a pregnant woman to her fetus likely does not increase the risk for preterm birth and early infant death, according to a re-analysis of two studies funded by the National Institutes of Health. The research appears in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Transplanted livers change the profile of blood cells in the recipients, reducing the potential for organ rejection, Mayo Clinic research shows. The findings are published in Kidney International.

Researchers at LSTM's Alistair Reid Venom Research Unit are looking at treatment for snakebite in a completely different way and have shown that it is possible to treat the bite from one snake with antivenom produced from a completely different species that causes the same pathology in humans.

Novel technologies are being sought to replace the traditional pesticides used to protect plants, particularly edible plants such as cereals. A new collaborative project between the University of Helsinki and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) is shedding light on the efficacy of environmentally friendly RNA-based vaccines that protect plants from diseases and pests.

Blocking the activity of an enzyme that has a key role in the generation of recurring seizures may provide a new way to treat epilepsy that is resistant to anti-seizure drugs, according to a study of rats and mice published in JNeurosci.

The genetic cause behind a strain of typhoid’s resistance to five classes of antibiotics has been uncovered by scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and their collaborators at Public Health England and Aga Khan University, Pakistan. There is currently a major outbreak of typhoid fever in Pakistan, and there was a case in the UK following air travel, which has been isolated and treated. This study shows the typhoid strain causing the outbreak acquired an additional piece of DNA to become resistant to multiple antibiotics, including a third-generation antibiotic.