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) —A potentially lethal fungal infection appears to gain virulence by being able to anticipate and disarm a hostile immune attack in the lungs, according to findings by researchers at Duke Medicine. http://phys.org/news282469118.html Biology Thu, 14 Mar 2013 08:38:47 EST news282469118 Scientists have sequenced the genome of the fungus Pneumocystis jirovecii, an advancement that could help identify new targets for drugs to treat and prevent Pneumocystis pneumonia, a common and often deadly infection in immunocompromised patients. The study will be published on December 26, 2012 in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The organism cannot yet be isolated and grown for study in the laboratory, so details about Pneumocystis pneumonia, the biology of P. jirovecii, and its pathogenicity are hard to come by. The genome sequence represents a wealth of new information for doctors and researchers tackling this disease. http://phys.org/news275576953.html Biology Wed, 26 Dec 2012 00:00:01 EST news275576953 Scientists have taken inspiration from one of the oldest natural materials to exploit the extraordinary qualities of graphene, a material set to revolutionise fields from computers and batteries to composite materials. http://phys.org/news273838372.html Nanotechnology Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:00:02 EST news273838372 (AP) -- As Europe's E. coli crisis wanes, some experts are now warning of a looming threat: possible long-term kidney complications for many of the victims. http://phys.org/news227360245.html Medicine & Health Wed, 15 Jun 2011 12:37:42 EST news227360245 (AP) -- Courtney Montgomery's heart was failing fast, but the 16-year-old furiously refused when her doctors, and her mother, urged a transplant. http://phys.org/news225385968.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 May 2011 16:13:01 EST news225385968 A new chemical bonding process can add new functions to stainless steel and make it a more useful material for implanted biomedical devices. Developed by an interdisciplinary team at the University of Alberta and Canada's National Institute for Nanotechnology, this new process was developed to address some of the problems associated with the introduction of stainless steel into the human body. http://phys.org/news223139060.html Chemistry Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:04:50 EST news223139060 There are currently more than 200,000 individuals in the United States on a waiting list for an organ transplant, and nearly 100 are under 1 year of age. In the first study to look at the potential for organ donation from dying infants in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) setting, Harvard researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Children’s Hospital Boston, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center demonstrated that an estimated 8 percent of NICU mortalities would be eligible for organ donation after cardiac death. http://phys.org/news213382270.html Medicine & Health Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:10:02 EST news213382270 (AP) -- A superbug named C-diff is on the rise, a germ that so ravages some people's intestines that repeated tries of the strongest, most expensive antibiotic can't conquer their disabling diarrhea. http://phys.org/news211481062.html Medicine & Health Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:30:01 EST news211481062 (AP) -- U.S. health officials say two Arizona organ transplant recipients died of an infection from a microscopic parasite they got from their organ donor. http://phys.org/news203862000.html Medicine & Health Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:20:42 EST news203862000 Experts from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Transplantation at King's College London, based at Guy's Hospital, have revealed exciting new scientific developments for people with an organ transplant, intended to help prevent rejection of the new organ and extend its life. http://phys.org/news203758641.html Medicine & Health Wed, 15 Sep 2010 08:37:37 EST news203758641 Individuals who received a non-kidney organ transplant in the past may be more likely to be listed for a kidney transplant prior to initiation of dialysis (pre-emptive listing) than other candidates, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The results indicate that the growth in the numbers of this group of kidney transplant candidates adds to the list of organ allocation challenges. http://phys.org/news202667019.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:30:01 EST news202667019 (AP) -- The scenario was unique, as far as doctors could tell: A man had gotten a transplanted kidney from a woman who had uterine cancer and didn't know it. http://phys.org/news194202580.html Medicine & Health Thu, 27 May 2010 18:10:01 EST news194202580 Montreal, April 27, 2010 - Chagas disease is one of the most deadly parasitic diseases in the world. It affects more than 10 million people, primarily in the Americas. In South America alone it kills 50 000 people each year. A reliable and rapid diagnosis is the key in the battle against infection but until now, this has been next to impossible. Dr. Momar Ndao and his team at the Research Institute of the MUHC have developed a new diagnostic approach that will help in the fight against Chagas disease.Their results were recently published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology. http://phys.org/news191607858.html Biology Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:26:52 EST news191607858 There is typically a shortage of donated blood in the United States, and research at Case Western Reserve University is looking for ways of improving the life-saving supply. http://phys.org/news186751656.html Medicine & Health Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:27:54 EST news186751656 (PhysOrg.com) -- Each year, 83,000 life-threatening fungal infections cost us $2.6 billion. And this number will only go up as HIV infection, cancer chemotherapy, and organ transplants bump up the immune-compromised population where these fungi thrive. http://phys.org/news184857019.html Biology Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:10:44 EST news184857019 Researchers at the Indiana University and Stanford University schools of medicine have determined how a "chemical chaperone" does its job in the body, which could lead to a new class of drugs to help reduce the muscle damage caused by heart attacks. http://phys.org/news182326944.html Chemistry Sun, 10 Jan 2010 13:00:01 EST news182326944 (AP) -- An extremely rare infection has been passed from an organ donor to at least one recipient in what is thought to be the first human-to-human transfer of the amoeba, medical officials said Friday. http://phys.org/news180469832.html Medicine & Health Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:00:06 EST news180469832 Keeping pets healthy can reduce infection risks for people who have received solid organ transplants and veterinarians should be seen as an integral part of the healthcare team. That's just one of the key pieces of advice from a safe living article published in an infectious diseases supplement in the American Journal of Transplantation. http://phys.org/news180351923.html Medicine & Health Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:00:01 EST news180351923 Surgeons and other healthcare professionals specialising in solid organ transplants have been issued with expert advice to guide them through the complex clinical issues posed by the global H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic. http://phys.org/news179060365.html Medicine & Health Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:10:02 EST news179060365 University of Michigan scientists say they have uncovered a fundamentally new mechanism that holds in check aggressive immune cells that can attack the body's own cells. The findings open a new avenue of research for future therapies for conditions ranging from autoimmune diseases to organ transplants to cancer. http://phys.org/news171028780.html Chemistry Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:10:02 EST news171028780 (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 (AP) -- The British government said Friday that it plans to ban private organ transplants from dead donors to allay fears that prospective recipients can buy their way to the front of the line. http://phys.org/news168255290.html Medicine & Health Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:50:02 EST news168255290 A UK hospital that combined its bereavement and donation services saw a forty-fold increase in tissue donations, such as corneas, in just five years, according to research in the August issue of Anaesthesia. http://phys.org/news168181251.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:02:23 EST news168181251 (PhysOrg.com) -- Since the World Health Organization proclaimed smallpox officially eradicated in late 1979 - thanks to vaccination programs that produced a protective “herd immunity” for most of the globe - fear of the fever-causing, blistering, sometimes fatal infectious disease has faded. In fact, in the more than three decades that the disease has been wiped out, routine smallpox vaccination has virtually stopped for most of the population. http://phys.org/news165590040.html Medicine & Health Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:14:57 EST news165590040 The immunosuppressive drugs required by organ transplant recipients after surgery can have serious side effects with prolonged use, including infection, heart disease and cancer. In an effort to reduce, or potentially eliminate the need for anti-rejection medications, researchers at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine are investigating the efficacy of a stem cell transplant after organ transplant. The study, which is the first to test the protocol on non-related living donor kidney pairs, involves transplanting stem cells from the kidney donor into the recipient one day following the organ transplant surgery. http://phys.org/news162738296.html Medicine & Health Thu, 28 May 2009 14:05:22 EST news162738296 More than 100,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for an organ transplant, and an average of 17 die waiting each day, according to University of Illinois communication professor Brian Quick. http://phys.org/news157738265.html Medicine & Health Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:11:30 EST news157738265 (AP) -- When Matthew Jones decided to donate a kidney to a stranger, the Michigan father of five had no idea he'd be starting a lifesaving, "pay it forward" chain. His kidney donation to a Phoenix woman in 2007 set off a long-running organ swap that resulted in 10 sick people getting new kidneys over a year. It hasn't ended yet. http://phys.org/news156013318.html Medicine & Health Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:02:49 EST news156013318