The 1918 “Spanish Flu” pandemic killed between 20 and 50 million people worldwide. Many of the dead were young and healthy, an unusual pattern for influenza related deaths. As well, victims often succumbed quickly to this Influenza A (H1N1) infection.
Scientists have been working “feverishly” to identify factors involved in its lethality before it (or a similar virus) reappears. University of Wisconsin-Madison virologists Yoshihiro Kawaoka and Tokiko Watanabe have discovered a gene complex which likely allows the influenza virus to replicate in the lungs, unlike most influenza strains, which are limited to replicating in the upper respiratory tract. This appears to answer the question of why so many died with massive pulmonary edema and hemorrhage.
Posts by: Stephen Sheehan
Virulence Factor Found for 1918 Flu
Drug Delivery System Hits Gold
MIT researchers are reporting on a new multi-drug delivery system based on an interesting type of gold nanoparticles. Drugs attached to their surface are released when the gold nanoparticles dissolve after exposure to a specific frequency of infrared light. The infrared frequency is related to the nanoparticle shape and allows for the targeted release of drugs.
From the press release:
Computer Modeling Helping To Fight Malaria
MIT researchers have developed a computer modeling technique to assist in the fight against malaria, a disease which still accounts for 1/3rd of all deaths in children under 5 worldwide. The software analyzes numerous environment factors involved in malaria spread and can help predict what various interventions will have. Targeting environmental factors is not new, but being able to quantify the lasting effects of environmental interventions (such as leveling ground, planting trees in stagnant water, etc.) is.
MIT press office explains:
Manufacturing Antibodies Goes Sugar Free
Who would have thought there would be a reason to make sugar-free antibodies? Well, researches at MIT did! It has long been thought that a particular sugar attachment was required for antibody function but new research shows this to not be the case. This opens the door to mass producing therapeutic antibodies by bacteria or fungi.
MIT engineers have found that antibodies do not need a particular sugar attachment long believed to be essential to their function, a discovery that could make producing therapeutic antibodies much easier and cheaper in the future.
Christmas Cheer May Improve Brain Performance!
At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year – Thomas Tusser
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“Evocative Gene-Environment Correlation”: Do Geeks Result From Decreased Expression of a “Rule-Breaking” Gene?
Could the promising world of gene-therapy even make geeks more popular? A study released by behavioral geneticist S. Alexandra Burt of the Michigan State University demonstrates that the behavioral expression of a “rule-breaking” gene is linked to popularity in adolescents. So that’s why the “bad-guys” got all the babes
A groundbreaking study of popularity by a Michigan State University scientist has found that genes elicit not only specific behaviors but also the social consequences of those behaviors.
MammaPrint Identifies Low Risk HER2+ Breast Cancer
We have covered Agendia‘s MammaPrint® DNA microarray test in a February 2007 post. The latest news is that this gene expression profiling test has shown its utility in identifying a subgroup of patients with a good clinical outcome in HER2+ early breast cancer. The identified subtype of patients has an approximate 90% ten year survival rate.
From the press release issued by Agendia:
SmartHand: Thought Controlled Prosthesis That Patients Feel
The SmartHand is a European Union collaborative project to produce a functional artificial hand that looks and feels to a patient like a real hand. In the latest issue of Brain, scientists from Karolinska Institutet and Malmö University Hospital in Sweden describe the successful induction of the “rubber hand illusion” in amputees, namely the experience of a rubber hand as part of the patient’s own body. In addition, the scientists hope that their prosthesis, via electric stimulation of the nerves, will also be able to relieve the phantom pains in amputees.
From a statement issued by Karolinska Institutet:
Autoimmunity and Sex…Why the Disparity?
It is well known that women are at a much higher risk of developing many autoimmune disorders. Why the disparity? A study released in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has identified a molecular gender difference, regulated by androgens, which appears to be involved in a signaling cascade regulating leukotriene biosynthesis. This may provide a molecular basis for the gender difference seen in the inflammatory response and autoimmune diseases, and an important target in developing extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) to reduce autoimmunity.
These findings demonstrate possible treatment approaches to autoimmunity. It may be possible to develop medications to target this pathway, or perhaps, new techniques that could expose female neutrophils to androgen containing male plasma.
