Most parents (including this one) would give a child Tylenol right after a routine vaccination. But that may not be such a good idea, according to a new study published in Lancet.
Giving infants Tylenol (generic – paracetamol) to prevent fever after a vaccination may reduce the vaccine’s effectiveness, a new research has found.
Parents usually give Tylenol before or immediately after a routine shot so the child does not get a fever. However, this may not be a good idea since fever is usually the body’s natural immune response to the vaccine. In a Czech study published in …read more

This may sound like a sales pitch, but it’s not. If you’re having problems with your memory, or you want to improve it, then you might want to closely follow the research from this German team  of scientists. Published in the journal for experimental biology (FASEB Journal), German scientists discovered that administering a nasal spay containing interleukin-6 improved the memory of it subjects!
According to the paper, Interleukin-6 exerts “neuromodulating influences on the brain, with promoting influences on sleep”. The researchers hypothesized that IL-6 could help consolidate our memories better during sleep, so they administered a nasal spray of …read more

This latest FDA approval would bring relief to more than 7.5 million Americans who suffer from a chronic skin disorder called PSORIASIS, which look like red, thick, scaly patches on the skin. Psoriatic patches, which are usually itchy and painful, are inflamed areas where excessive layers of cells had built up on the skin.

And now, after extensive and extended testing, the FDA has approved ustekinumab (Stelara) for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.
(See amazing before-and-after photos!)
Psoriasis is an auto-immune disease, which means a faulty immune system mistakenly attacks the skin and joints, treating the body like an …read more

This new study is along the lines of vaccine-producing bananas.
One of the best uses of genetic engineering of plants is producing rare proteins with medical use in larger quantities. Interleukin-12 is one of those proteins that our bodies produce in regulated quantities, but is very essential for the function of the immune system. Certain immune diseases are the result of having either too little or too much interleukin-12. If scientists can harness enough of the protein for research and therapeutic development, then perhaps certain diseases can be controlled better.
New findings published in the journal Biotechnology and Bioengineering found …read more

(Image credit www.about.com) 
A University of Carolina study monitoring 1200 newborns from the ‘Isle of Wight cohort’ found that first borns were more likely to carry a gene variant which raised their risk of developing an allergy before the age of 10.  The study suggested that a first born experienced different conditions in the uterus from subsequent siblings.
The researchers measured levels of an antibody called Immunoglobulin E (IgE) in the babies’ umbilical cord blood.  This is known to play a key role in the development of allergic responses.   First born babies were more likely to have high levels of IgE, and those that …read more

A team from The University of Alabama (UAB) have found that among billions of HIV variants only a few lead to sexual transmission.
George M. Shaw Professor in the UAB departments of Medicine and Microbiology and senior author on the report, said the research sheds new light on potential vulnerabilities in the virus at a time when science, medicine and society are still reeling from the failure of a major HIV vaccine clinical trial.
“We can now identify unambiguously those viruses that are responsible for sexual transmission of HIV-1. For the first time we can see clearly the face of the enemy. …Our …read more

Phylogenetics tree of the HIV and SIV viruses (Wikipedia)
The HIV/AIDS epidemic in London in the 1990s was spread quickly and in clusters of groups of men having sex with each other within a relatively short period of time.
Collecting cluster data in the traditional way by interviewing infected men has proved challenging, particularly when tracing the network of sexual partners. Instead phylogenetics was used to examine the level of genetic relation between the viruses obtained by different individuals.
Collecting genetic data on HIV in individual patients is a part of determining an effective treatment regimen, so the Edinburgh University scientists were able to compare the sequences of genes …read more

HIV-2 Virus. Reference: http://www.csend.hu/magazin/0102/hiv2.jpg
A team of researchers at the University of Alberta has discovered a gene that is able to block HIV, and in turn prevent the onset of AIDS.  Stephen Barr, a molecular virologist in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, says his team has identified a gene called TRIM22 that can block HIV infection in a cell culture by preventing the assembly of the virus.

Stephen Barr (Courtesy of University of Alberta, Canada)
Barr says “interestingly, when we prevent cells from turning on TRIM22, the normal interferon response (a natural defense produced by our cells to fight infection by viruses …read more

(Merkel Skin Cancer – courtesy of DermIS, www.dermis.net)
US researchers have recently discovered a new virus they believe may be linked to a rare but extremely lethal type of skin cancer. Merkel cell carcinoma mostly afflicts the elderly and people with weaker immune systems, including AIDS and transplant patients. The newly discovered virus belongs to the polyoma family, which scientists have studied for more than 50 years because other members of the family have been found to produce cancers in animals. Although polyoma viruses have been suspected of causing human cancers, conclusive proof has been lacking.
Merkel cancer cases have tripled over …read more

 
 (Stylized rendering of a cross section of the AIDS virus)
New HIV infections are averaging around 2.5m per annum worldwide, and growing.
Most people infected with HIV produce antibodies against the virus within several weeks following infection, these antibodies rarely prevent the infection from progressing to symptomatic AIDS.
However a recent study involving a group of women from Mombasa, Kenya at risk of HIV infection identified one woman who carried an AIDS virus that was easily inactivated by antibodies. Analyzing this woman’s virus, they found that it contained mutations in four amino acids in the envelope protein, two of which, when introduced into unrelated strains …read more