Llama ‘nanobodies’ could hold key to preventing deadly post-transplant infection

Scientists have developed a ‘nanobody’ – a small fragment of a llama antibody – that is capable of chasing out human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) as it hides away from the immune system. This then enables immune cells to seek out and…

CEPI and IVI collaborate on clinical research to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines in Africa

July 20, 2021; Oslo, Norway and Seoul, Republic of Korea: The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) today announced a new programme of clinical research which aims to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines in…

Most studies of acute kidney injury are flawed due to non-use of standard definitions

In an article published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD), researchers found that among 176 studies on acute kidney injury, the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) definitions of kidney injury were inconsistently applied and 80% of studies…

The seeds that give: retired WVU plant pathologist donates tomato seeds to developing nations

Mannon Gallegly, professor emeritus of plant pathology at West Virginia University, is donating tomato seeds to the World Vegetable Center, a global nonprofit institute for vegetable research and development.

Measures and clinical approach of COVID 19

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has spread throughout the globe and much time has passed since it was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). COVID-19: Diagnosis and Management provides clinicians and scholars all the information…

‘Smart collar’ could prevent tapeworms in dogs

Dogs infected with echinococcosis play a major role in spreading tapeworms across human populations around the world. Now, researchers have developed a “smart collar” which gradually delivers a steady dose of a deworming drug to dogs. The collar successfully reduces…

Packaged water consumption linked to cholera outbreak in DRC capital

Cholera is a diarrheal disease caused by ingestion of the Vibrio cholerae bacterium. In November 2017, a cholera epidemic occurred in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where no outbreak had been recorded for nearly a decade. A study…

Eight new studies to investigate COVID-19 variants of concern in Canada

The research projects span from investigating the social factors that may protect Indigenous peoples — or increase their vulnerability to — COVID-19 and VOCs, to the creation of a Canadian Wastewater Surveillance Database

‘Genomics of Rare Diseases. Understanding Disease Genetics Using Genomic Approaches’

In 2018, Dr. Claudia Gonzaga-Jáuregui, who years before had completed her doctorate studies in Dr. James R. Lupski’s lab at Baylor College of Medicine, received an email from an editor at Elsevier’s Academic Press with a proposal that immediately caught…

Clinical and pre-clinical antimicrobial drug development

This book series brings updated reviews to readers interested in advances in the development of anti-infective drug design and discovery. It covers a range of topics including rational drug design and drug discovery, medicinal chemistry, in-silico drug design, combinatorial chemistry,…

“Smart” segmented ring device delivers medications to stop HIV transmission

Researchers have designed a device that delivers two medications that help stop HIV transmission. Although condom usage is the best strategy for preventing HIV transmission, the researchers are working to design a device that can be used by sex workers…

Air pollution exposure during pregnancy may boost babies’ obesity risk

Women exposed to higher levels of air pollution during pregnancy have babies who grow unusually fast in the first months after birth, putting on excess fat that puts them at risk of obesity and related diseases later in life, new…

Microscopic CCTV reveals secrets of malaria invasion

State-of-the-art video microscopy has enabled researchers at WEHI, Australia, to see the molecular details of how malaria parasites invade red blood cells – a key step in the disease. The researchers used a custom-built lattice light sheet microscope – the…

Global costs of Plasmodium vivax malaria estimated for the first time

Plasmodium vivax malaria is a mosquito-borne illness that causes significant morbidity. However, the household and healthcare provider costs of the disease are unknown. A new study published in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Dr Angela Devine at Menzies School…

Malaria parasite’s partiality for the spleen

The malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax may accumulate in the spleen soon after infection to a greater extent than its better-known relative P. falciparum, according to new research published by John Woodford of the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia and colleagues…