http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (Phys.org)—Researchers have created a new type of miniature pump activated by body heat that could be used in drug-delivery patches powered by fermentation. http://phys.org/news266589872.html Chemistry Tue, 11 Sep 2012 13:44:46 EST news266589872 (Phys.org)—The Nanotechnology Innovation Station of the National Institute for Materials Science has succeeded in development of a technology which utilizes nanoparticles to enhance the action of immunity activating nucleic acid drugs. http://phys.org/news264933756.html Nanotechnology Thu, 23 Aug 2012 09:42:54 EST news264933756 For roughly two thousand years, Chinese herbalists have treated Malaria using a root extract, commonly known as Chang Shan, from a type of hydrangea that grows in Tibet and Nepal. More recent studies suggest that halofuginone, a compound derived from this extract's bioactive ingredient, could be used to treat many autoimmune disorders as well. Now, researchers from the Harvard School of Dental Medicine have discovered the molecular secrets behind this herbal extract's power. http://phys.org/news248265547.html Chemistry Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:00:16 EST news248265547 Research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists advances a strategy for taming the side effects and enhancing the therapeutic benefits of steroids and other medications that work by disrupting the activity of certain hormones. http://phys.org/news238413005.html Chemistry Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:50:33 EST news238413005 Patients with a recent onset of Parkinson disease have a high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency, but vitamin D concentrations do not appear to decline during the progression of the disease, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. http://phys.org/news219341477.html Medicine & Health Mon, 14 Mar 2011 17:30:04 EST news219341477 Little girls growing up in western society are expected to be neat and tidy – "all ribbon and curls" – and one researcher who studies science and gender differences thinks that emphasis may contribute to higher rates of certain diseases in adult women. http://phys.org/news215271229.html Other Sciences Wed, 26 Jan 2011 13:50:01 EST news215271229 Sugar molecules coat every cell in our bodies and play critical roles in development and disease, yet the components of these "glycans" have been difficult for scientists to study, because of their complexity. http://phys.org/news210777220.html Medicine & Health Sun, 05 Dec 2010 13:13:51 EST news210777220 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified a new pathway that helps control the immune balance through reciprocal regulation of specialized T lymphocytes, which play very different inflammatory roles. http://phys.org/news204220529.html Medicine & Health Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:30:01 EST news204220529 Elimination of a molecular gatekeeper leads to the development of arthritis in mice, scientists report in a study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. The newly discovered gatekeeper is a protein that determines the fate - survival or death - of damaging cells that mistakenly attack the body's own tissues and lead to autoimmune disorders such as arthritis. http://phys.org/news203170080.html Medicine & Health Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:30:07 EST news203170080 (PhysOrg.com) -- Purdue University researchers have developed a new type of pump for drug-delivery patches that might use arrays of "microneedles" to deliver a wider range of medications than now possible with conventional patches. http://phys.org/news202543380.html Chemistry Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:03:26 EST news202543380 Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found a new mechanism that explains how certain immune cells are activated to create protective antibodies against infections or pathological antibodies such as those present in autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. The research is published online in the September issue of Nature Immunology. http://phys.org/news200061467.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:38:17 EST news200061467 (PhysOrg.com) -- UA researchers participated in the discovery of an unexpected role played by a protein molecule, making it a candidate for a biomarker or drug target for breast cancer. http://phys.org/news198242669.html Biology Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:24:42 EST news198242669 Patients with a certain type of scleroderma may get cancer and scleroderma simultaneously, Johns Hopkins researchers have found, suggesting that in some diseases, autoimmunity and cancer may be linked. http://phys.org/news197818597.html Medicine & Health Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:00:01 EST news197818597 (PhysOrg.com) -- Rare variants in the gene coding of an enzyme that controls the activity of a key immune cell occur more often in people with autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes, Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital found in a multi-institutional study. The researchers' report, published in the journal Nature, identifies a pathway that could be a therapeutic target and may present a model for future studies of the role of rare gene variants in common disorders. http://phys.org/news197204464.html Medicine & Health Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:01:27 EST news197204464 An immune cell known to cause chronic inflammation in autoimmune disorders has been identified as a possible culprit in low back pain associated with herniated discs, according to doctors at Duke University Medical Center. http://phys.org/news196952648.html Medicine & Health Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:00:03 EST news196952648 A single species of bacteria that lives in the gut is able to trigger a cascade of immune responses that can ultimately result in the development of arthritis. http://phys.org/news195996325.html Medicine & Health Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:26:56 EST news195996325 A multi-institutional research team has found that rare variants in the gene coding an enzyme that controls the activity of a key immune cell occur more frequently in individuals with autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes. Their report, which will appear in the journal Nature and is receiving early online release, identifies a pathway that could be a therapeutic target and may present a model for future investigations of the role of rare gene variants in common disorders. http://phys.org/news195911215.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:00:07 EST news195911215 Dietary changes that include probiotics and/or prebiotics (found in some foods) may help alleviate the severity of celiac disease for some patients. According to a new research study appearing in the May 2010 print issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, differing intestinal bacteria in celiac patients could influence inflammation to varying degrees. This suggests that manipulating the intestinal microbiota with dietary strategies such as probiotics and prebiotics, could improve the quality of life for celiac patients, as well as patients with associated diseases such as type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune disorders. http://phys.org/news191761580.html Biology Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:30:15 EST news191761580 A new study, published online April 8 by Cell Press in the journal Immunity, describes a unique therapeutic "nanovaccine" that successfully reverses diabetes in a mouse model of the disease. In addition to providing new insight into diabetes, the research also reveals an aspect of the pathogenesis of the autoimmune response that may provide a therapeutic strategy for multiple autoimmune disorders. http://phys.org/news189948152.html Nanotechnology Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:25:16 EST news189948152 Researchers at Children's National Medical Center have discovered that African American children with asthma in metropolitan Washington, DC, are significantly more likely to have low levels of vitamin D than healthy African American children. http://phys.org/news188042678.html Medicine & Health Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:04:52 EST news188042678 A research team led by the University of Colorado at Boulder has discovered a previously unknown cellular "switch" that may provide researchers with a new means of triggering programmed cell death, findings with implications for treating cancer. http://phys.org/news187538128.html Medicine & Health Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:00:04 EST news187538128 There's an epidemic in progress, and it has nothing to do with the flu. A ground-breaking study published in the March 2010 Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found an astonishing 59 per cent of study subjects had too little Vitamin D in their blood. Nearly a quarter of the group had serious deficiencies (less than 20 ng/ml) of this important vitamin. Since Vitamin D insufficiency is linked to increased body fat, decreased muscle strength and a range of disorders, this is a serious health issue. http://phys.org/news187009099.html Medicine & Health Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:10:02 EST news187009099 The occurrence of gluten intolerance in the Finnish population has doubled in the past twenty years. In the early 1980s, about one per cent of adults in Finland had gluten intolerance, but the figure has since gone up to two per cent by the 2000s. http://phys.org/news187006827.html Medicine & Health Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:20:55 EST news187006827 The links between autoimmune diseases, infections, genetics and the environment are complex and mysterious. Why are people who live near airports more susceptible to autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus? How do hormones in meat trigger the onset of a disease? http://phys.org/news183645350.html Medicine & Health Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:36:38 EST news183645350 If you ever thought the stress of seeing your extended family over the holidays was slowly killing you -- bad news: a new research report in the December 2009 print issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology shows that you might be right. Here's the good news: results from the same study might lead to entirely new treatments that help keep autoimmune diseases like lupus, arthritis, and eczema under control. http://phys.org/news178802608.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:23:54 EST news178802608 Over nearly a century, thousands of residents and workers in Libby, MT, have been exposed to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite ore, leading to markedly higher rates of lung disease and autoimmune disorders, and causing to Libby in 2002 to be added to the federal Environmental Protection Agency's "National Priorities List." http://phys.org/news176399828.html Medicine & Health Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:20:04 EST news176399828 It was nine years ago that University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers discovered that a mysterious human protein called zonulin played a critical role in celiac disease and other autoimmune disorders, such as multiple sclerosis and diabetes. Now, scientists have solved the mystery of zonulin's identity, putting a face to the name, in a sense. Scientists led by Alessio Fasano, M.D., have identified zonulin as a molecule in the human body called haptoglobin 2 precursor. http://phys.org/news171565111.html Medicine & Health Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:50:01 EST news171565111 Patients suffering from two serious autoimmune disorders which cause muscular inflammation are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, says a group of Montreal researchers. Dr. Christian A. Pineau and his team at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) have linked muscular inflammation to increased cardiovascular risk for the first time. Their results were published recently in The Journal of Rheumatology. http://phys.org/news171031498.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:46:00 EST news171031498 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new experimental treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) completely reverses the devastating autoimmune disorder in mice, and might work exactly the same way in humans, say researchers at the Jewish General Hospital Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and McGill University in Montreal. http://phys.org/news169211700.html Medicine & Health Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:00:01 EST news169211700 A new study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health's Center for Infection and Immunity indicates that pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Tourette syndrome and/or tic disorder may develop from an inappropriate immune response to the bacteria causing common throat infections. http://phys.org/news169209665.html Medicine & Health Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:42:06 EST news169209665