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. Scientists from the Drug Discovery Unit (DDU) at the University of Dundee - working together with partners at the University of York and the Structural Genomics Consortium in Toronto - have made a major breakthrough in identifying new treatments for a fatal disease which infects tens of thousands of Africans each year. http://phys.org/news189257907.html Medicine & Health Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:00:34 EST news189257907 Stay and fight, or flee? These are usually the alternatives facing a victim when it is attacked by an enemy. Two researchers from Lund University have now collected and discussed various examples from the animal world where the victim makes use of another possibility. http://phys.org/news188206622.html Biology Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:50:01 EST news188206622 (AP) -- High rates of the most effective type of malaria-fighting drugs sold in three African countries are poor quality - including nearly half the pills sampled in Senegal - raising fears of increased drug resistance that could wipe out the last weapon left to battle a disease that kills 1 million people each year, according to a U.S. report released Monday. http://phys.org/news184849029.html Medicine & Health Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:10:02 EST news184849029 Malaria causes more than two million deaths each year, but an expert multinational team battling the global spread of drug-resistant parasites has made a breakthrough in the search for better treatment. Better understanding of the make-up of these parasites and the way they reproduce has enabled an international team, led by John Dalton, a biochemist in McGill's Institute of Parasitology, to identify a plan of attack for the development of urgently needed new treatments. http://phys.org/news183924368.html Medicine & Health Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:30:01 EST news183924368 Putting yourself in the line of fire is shown to reap huge rewards, in a new study published this week in Science. http://phys.org/news182096046.html Biology Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:00:02 EST news182096046 (PhysOrg.com) -- Parasite infections are an important threat in conservation biology, particularly to individuals that have been bred in captivity for release into the wild. http://phys.org/news181899417.html Biology Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:50:01 EST news181899417 How do one-celled parasites move from the salivary gland of a mosquito through a person's skin into red blood cells? What molecular mechanisms form the basis for this very important movement of the protozoa? A team of researchers headed by Dr. Friedrich Frischknecht, head of a research group at the Department of Infectious Diseases at Heidelberg University Hospital, observed the initial stage of the malaria parasite that is transmitted by mosquitoes with new microscope techniques. http://phys.org/news180784195.html Medicine & Health Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:50:25 EST news180784195 Infectious diseases can be transmitted by sneezing, touching, or - for Tasmanian devils - biting each other on the face, a habit that may have driven the dinosaurs to extinction through the transmission of a protozoan parasite. http://phys.org/news180011297.html Other Sciences Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:20:03 EST news180011297 Researchers have discovered how the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes Chagas' disease, prolongs its survival in infected cells. A protein on the parasite activates the enzyme Akt, which blocks cell death signals, preventing cell destruction and parasite elimination. Chagas' disease affects some 8 to 11 million people throughout Latin America and even the United States. http://phys.org/news179502191.html Chemistry Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:45:49 EST news179502191 When people have malaria, they are infected with Plasmodium parasites, which enter the body from the saliva of a mosquito, infect cells in the liver, and then spread to red blood cells. Inside the blood cells, the parasites replicate and also begin to expose adhesive proteins on the cell surface that change the physical nature of the cells in the bloodstream. http://phys.org/news178174676.html Biology Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:10:05 EST news178174676 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new species of parasitoid wasp that feeds on a common whitefly pest has been discovered in the UK by a Natural History Museum scientist. http://phys.org/news175274627.html Biology Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:40:11 EST news175274627 Scientists have found that the human liver fluke (Opisthorchis viverrini) contributes to the development of bile duct (liver) cancer by secreting granulin, a growth hormone that is known to cause uncontrolled growth of cells. Details are published October 9 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens. http://phys.org/news174286102.html Medicine & Health Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:20:02 EST news174286102 (PhysOrg.com) -- A study conducted in Vietnam has added further weight to the view that parasitic gut worms, such as hookworm, could help in the prevention and treatment of asthma and other allergies. http://phys.org/news173363300.html Medicine & Health Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:29:00 EST news173363300 The number and diversity of male partners a queen honeybee has could help to protect her children from disease, say University of Leeds scientists, who are investigating possible causes of the widespread increase in bee deaths seen around the world. http://phys.org/news172139164.html Biology Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:40:03 EST news172139164 In a perfect world, for every boy there would of course be a girl, but a new study shows that actual sex ratios can sometimes sway very far from that ideal. In fact, the male-to-female ratio of one tropical butterfly has shifted rapidly over time and space, driven by a parasite that specifically kills males of the species, reveals a report published online on September 10th in Current Biology. http://phys.org/news171805083.html Biology Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:38:36 EST news171805083 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from Uppsala University and the Karolinska Institute have found major genetic differences between the human variants of the intestinal parasite Giardia intestinalis. Sequencing of the genomes using the latest technologies shows that people are infected by two different Giardia species, according to a study published in the journal PLoS Pathogens today. http://phys.org/news170079288.html Biology Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:30:02 EST news170079288 Malaria kills anywhere from one to three million people around the world annually and affects the lives of up to 500 million more. Yet until now, scientists did not fully understand exactly how the process that caused the disease's severe hallmark fevers began. http://phys.org/news170052624.html Medicine & Health Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:20:01 EST news170052624 The parasites that cause leishmaniasis use a quirky trick to convince the immune system to effectively invite them into cells for dinner, according to a new study published today in PLoS Pathogens. The researchers, from Imperial College London, say their findings improve understanding of the way Leishmania parasites establish an infection and could aid the search for a vaccine against this neglected tropical disease. http://phys.org/news170052545.html Biology Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:49:32 EST news170052545 Immunology researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that bacteria present in the human gut help initiate the body's defense mechanisms against Toxoplasma gondii, the parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis. http://phys.org/news169909790.html Biology Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:00:10 EST news169909790 Daytime temperature fluctuations greatly alter the incubation period of malaria parasites in mosquitoes and alter transmission rates of the disease. Consideration of these fluctuations reveals a more accurate picture of climate change's impact on malaria. http://phys.org/news168538875.html Medicine & Health Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:10:02 EST news168538875 Researchers have identified what they believe is the original source of malignant malaria: a parasite found in chimpanzees in equatorial Africa. http://phys.org/news168538678.html Medicine & Health Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:18:33 EST news168538678 Schistosoma haematobium (S. haematobium) is a parasitic flatworm that infects millions of people, mostly in the developing world, and is associated with high incidence of bladder cancer although why is not clear. Now, however, two works by Portuguese researchers just out in The Journal of Experimental Pathology 1 and  the International Journal of Parasitology 2 reveal that cells infected in laboratory with S. haematobium, acquire cancer-like characteristics and, when injected into mice develop into tumours. http://phys.org/news168156930.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:16:04 EST news168156930 Schistosomiasis, one of the most important of the neglected tropical diseases, is caused by infection with parasitic helminths of the genus Schistosoma. These parasites are long lived (>10 years) and dwell within blood vessels, where they produce eggs that become the focus of intense, chronic inflammatory responses. In severe cases, this inflammation is associated with life-threatening liver disease. http://phys.org/news167923493.html Medicine & Health Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:50:02 EST news167923493 Genetically modified crops are being grown in Britain for the first time in 12 months after controversial trials were resumed without alerting the public, a newspaper reported Monday. http://phys.org/news167905842.html Biology Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:00:01 EST news167905842 The coevolutionary struggle between a New Zealand snail and its worm parasite makes sex advantageous for the snail, whose females favor asexual reproduction in the absence of parasites, say Indiana University Bloomington and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology biologists in this week's Current Biology. http://phys.org/news167571608.html Biology Thu, 23 Jul 2009 12:40:51 EST news167571608 What's so great about sex? From an evolutionary perspective, the answer is not as obvious as one might think. An article published in the July issue of the American Naturalist suggests that sex may have evolved in part as a defense against parasites. http://phys.org/news166118400.html Biology Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:00:32 EST news166118400 (PhysOrg.com) -- Evolutionarily speaking, baboons may be our more distant cousins among primates. But when it comes to our experiences with malaria over the course of time, it seems the stories of our two species have followed very similar plots. http://phys.org/news165068326.html Medicine & Health Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:20:34 EST news165068326 Reed warblers live with the threat that a cuckoo bird will infiltrate their nest, remove one of their eggs, and replace it with the cuckoo's own. This 'parasitism' enables the cuckoo to have its young raised by unsuspecting reed warblers. http://phys.org/news163343509.html Biology Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:12:12 EST news163343509 (PhysOrg.com) -- Hands wring and teeth gnash over the loss of endangered species like the panda or the polar bear. But what happens to the parasites hosted by endangered species? And although most people would side with the panda over the parasite, which group should we worry about more? http://phys.org/news163089276.html Biology Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:35:04 EST news163089276 That's one conclusion from a new study that looked at how virulence evolves in parasites. The research examined whether parasites evolve to be more or less aggressive depending on whether they are closely connected to their hosts or scattered among more isolated clusters of hosts. http://phys.org/news162651265.html Biology Wed, 27 May 2009 13:55:58 EST news162651265