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. It is a common perception that bigger, stronger, faster organisms have a distinct advantage for long-term survival when competing with other organisms in a given community. http://phys.org/news227806773.html Biology Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:40:05 EST news227806773 The water mould Saprolegnia can cause skin disease in salmon during its freshwater phase. The mould attacks both fish and eggs and has at times caused great economic loss for the fish farming industry, both in Norway and in other salmon-producing countries. Saprolegnia infection may be seen with the naked eye as white patches on the skin or as "cotton-like" patches on eggs. http://phys.org/news167480774.html Biology Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:40:01 EST news167480774 Clarithromycin resistance is an uncommon occurrence among Malaysian isolates of Helicobacter pylori strains, and the mutations A2142G and A2143G detected were associated with low-level resistance. http://phys.org/news166960227.html Medicine & Health Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:57:05 EST news166960227 A $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation will allow University of Arizona researchers to unlock the genetic code of West African cultivated rice - and along the way to gain knowledge that could help commercial rice strains to better withstand dwindling resources, a changing climate and increased demand. http://phys.org/news166720205.html Biology Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:10:27 EST news166720205 (AP) -- U.S. health officials are stepping up testing of swine flu cases for Tamiflu resistance, now that an American has come down with a resistant strain. http://phys.org/news166211083.html Medicine & Health Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:44:57 EST news166211083 Hong Kong on Friday detected a strain of swine flu that was resistant to Tamiflu, the main anti-viral flu drug, the health department reported on its website. http://phys.org/news165838077.html Medicine & Health Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:40:01 EST news165838077 Every year, diarrhea causes around five million fatalities worldwide. Most people die due to pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria or viruses, which were ingested into the gastro-intestinal tract through contaminated drinking water or food. Determining which bacterium is causing the illness in those cases is sometimes very complex. In cooperation with Chilean researchers, scientists from the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research in Braunschweig, Germany, have now developed a fine-tuned diagnostic method. http://phys.org/news165577346.html Biology Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:43:48 EST news165577346 The current H1N1 swine flu strain has genetic roots in an illness that sickened pigs at the 1918 Cedar Rapids Swine Show in Iowa, report infectious disease experts at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health in the New England Journal of Medicine. Their paper, published online today and slated for the July 16 print issue, describes H1N1's nearly century-long and often convoluted journey, which may include the accidental resurrection of an extinct strain. http://phys.org/news165515364.html Medicine & Health Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:30:01 EST news165515364 Ready for some live, active cultures in your chocolate? How about your breakfast cereal? Probiotics, the so-called "friendly" bacteria with health benefits, have busted out of the dairy case and are colonizing other areas of the supermarket. http://phys.org/news164638153.html Medicine & Health Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:20:01 EST news164638153 Current tests to identify specific strains of infectious prions, which cause a range of transmissible diseases (such as mad cow) in animals and humans, can take anywhere from six months to a year to yield results - a time-lag that may put human populations at risk. http://phys.org/news162818825.html Medicine & Health Fri, 29 May 2009 12:27:34 EST news162818825 Genome Institute of Singapore scientists, led by Christopher Wong, Ph.D., have developed a novel approach to uncover the complete sequence of any influenza A virus, including H1NI, with just a quick nasal swab or nasal pharyngeal wash from patients. http://phys.org/news162730865.html Medicine & Health Thu, 28 May 2009 13:00:54 EST news162730865 New sequencing and analysis of six strains Chlamydia will result in improved diagnosis of the sexually transmitted infection. This study provides remarkable insights into a new strain of Chlamydia that was identified in Sweden in 2006 after spreading rapidly across the country by evading most established diagnostic tests. http://phys.org/news162106906.html Medicine & Health Thu, 21 May 2009 06:42:11 EST news162106906 Some genetic markers of influenza infection severity have been identified from past outbreaks. Researchers have failed to find most of these markers, described in the open access journal BMC Microbiology, in samples of the current swine-flu strain. http://phys.org/news160832514.html Biology Wed, 06 May 2009 12:42:38 EST news160832514 (AP) -- A flu virus is a powerhouse of evolution, mutating at the maximum speed nature allows. A mild virus can morph into a killer and vice versa. http://phys.org/news160765874.html Medicine & Health Tue, 05 May 2009 18:11:36 EST news160765874 (PhysOrg.com) -- In a global influenza pandemic, small stockpiles of a secondary flu medication - if used early in local outbreaks - could extend the effectiveness of primary drug stockpiles, according to research made available April 30 ahead of publication in PLoS Medicine. http://phys.org/news160666388.html Medicine & Health Mon, 04 May 2009 14:33:45 EST news160666388 (AP) -- Now that the swine flu virus has passed from a farmworker to pigs, could it jump back to people? The question is important, because crossing species again could make it more deadly. http://phys.org/news160636697.html Medicine & Health Mon, 04 May 2009 06:18:51 EST news160636697 (AP) -- The swine flu virus that has frightened the world is beginning to look a little less ominous. New York City officials reported Friday that the swine flu still has not spread beyond a few schools. In Mexico, very few relatives of flu victims seem to have caught the virus. http://phys.org/news160416786.html Medicine & Health Fri, 01 May 2009 17:13:27 EST news160416786 (AP) -- The new swine flu virus lacks genes that made the 1918 pandemic strain so deadly, a U.S. health official said Friday. http://phys.org/news160406074.html Medicine & Health Fri, 01 May 2009 14:14:55 EST news160406074 Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have combined their revolutionary new drug-delivery system with a powerful antimicrobial agent to treat potentially deadly drug-resistant staph infections in mice. The study is published this month in the online version of the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. http://phys.org/news160330557.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:16:19 EST news160330557 An influenza vaccine that protects against death and serious complications from different strains of flu is a little closer to reality, Saint Louis University vaccine researchers have found. http://phys.org/news160071564.html Medicine & Health Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:19:50 EST news160071564 For decades, microbiologists assumed that macrophages, immune cells that can engulf and poison bacteria and other pathogens, killed microbes by damaging their DNA. A new study from the University of Illinois disproves that. http://phys.org/news160048583.html Biology Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:56:58 EST news160048583 "Patient Zero," the first victim to come down with the rare strain of meningitis that has killed four and infected eight others in South Florida since December, was a South Florida resident who was sickened in December but has since recovered, health department officials said Friday. http://phys.org/news159867560.html Medicine & Health Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:39:40 EST news159867560 Chinese officials had confirmed the outbreak of a deadly strain of bird flu among poultry in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, state media reported Sunday, quoting the ministry of agriculture. http://phys.org/news159365820.html Medicine & Health Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:30:48 EST news159365820 Leave it to geneticists to answer a question that has perplexed humanity since the dawn of time: does love at first sight truly exist? According to a study published in the April 2009 issue of the journal Genetics, a team of scientists from the United States and Australia discovered that at the genetic level, some males and females are more compatible than others, and that this compatibility plays an important role in mate selection, mating outcomes, and future reproductive behaviors. In experiments involving fruit flies, the researchers found that before mating, females experience what amounts to "genetic priming," making them more likely to mate with certain males over others. http://phys.org/news158331876.html Biology Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:04:59 EST news158331876 (PhysOrg.com) -- New findings from research performed on the influenza virus using X-rays generated by the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory may help pave the way for the development of a new, more effective vaccine that could combat a wide range of strains of the common and frequently deadly illness. http://phys.org/news157383064.html Medicine & Health Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:32:12 EST news157383064 For some people it is a certainty: as soon as the annual flu season gets underway, they are sure to go down with it. It is little comfort to know that there are other people who are apparently resistant to flu or overcome the illness after just a couple of days. It is this phenomenon that is now being investigated by researchers at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research, using various strains of mice. http://phys.org/news157285267.html Biology Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:21:39 EST news157285267 The World Health Organization released staggering new data about the threat of tuberculosis and the toll it takes on people with HIV/AIDS today, in recognition of World TB Day. http://phys.org/news157125569.html Medicine & Health Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:00:09 EST news157125569 (AP) -- South Africa is trying a new approach to controlling drug-resistant tuberculosis - treating people at home rather than in isolation hospitals surrounded by barbed wire and baton-wielding guards, health officials said Monday . http://phys.org/news157032843.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:14:39 EST news157032843 Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and The University of Pittsburgh have developed an onsite method to quickly diagnose tuberculosis (TB) and expose the deadly drug-resistant strains that can mingle undetected with treatable TB strains. This study will be published in PLoS ONE, a peer-reviewed online journal from the Public Library of Science. http://phys.org/news156687183.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:13:34 EST news156687183 A new computerized method of testing could help world health officials better identify flu vaccines that are effective against multiple strains of the disease. Rice University scientists who created the method say tests of data from bird flu and seasonal flu outbreaks suggest their method can better gauge the efficacy of proposed vaccines than can tests used today. http://phys.org/news156521534.html Medicine & Health Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:12:47 EST news156521534