A research team based at the University of Chicago Medical Center shows that the drug, known as JPC-2056, is extremely effective against Toxoplasma gondii, the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, without toxicity.

"JPC-2056 has the potential to replace the standard treatment of pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine," said infectious disease specialist Rima McLeod, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Chicago and senior author of the study. "The drug, taken by mouth,...

A team of researchers, led by Bradly Wouters, at the University of Toronto, Canada, has determined that a cellular response pathway known as the unfolded protein response pathway helps protect human tumor cells from hypoxia and anticancer irradiation treatment.

Further analysis indicated that the unfolded response pathway increased expression of two proteins involved in a cellular process known as autophagy, which is known to act to protect cells in times of stress.

Importantl...

GBS is the leading cause of serious bacterial infections such as meningitis and pneumonia in newborns and is increasingly recognized as a serious pathogen in adult populations, including the elderly, pregnant women and diabetics.

In studies with mice and human blood samples, published in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of September 20, 2004, the UCSD scientists demonstrated the protective roles of two cylE-encoded factors, one that c...

"Our findings raise the question of a link between the increased neonatal mortality among planned home births and the decreased obstetric intervention in this group," according to lead investigator Joseph R. Wax, MD, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maine Medical Center. "Women choosing home birth, particularly low-risk individuals who had given birth previously, are in large part successful in achieving their goal of delivering with...

The paper explains that wound infection is a serious surgical complication leading to longer stays in hospital and greater risk of death. Problems include bacterial contamination of the wound, drying of body tissues and heat loss.

The authors suggest that a wound could continuously be flooded with carbon dioxide gas (CO2) during surgery. Carbon dioxide could prevent airborne bacteria from reaching the wound and would also suffocate germs. CO2 is already used for this purpose in the fo...