Copyright 2012 Medical News TodayLatest Health News and Medical News posted throughout the day, every day.http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/immune_system/admin@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Admin)editors@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Editors)en-us Mon, 13 Feb 2012 02:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241571.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241571.phpFor 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...Tropical Diseases Mon, 13 Feb 2012 02:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241573.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241573.phpA novel discovery by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and colleagues reveals a mechanism by which the immune system tries to halt the spread of HIV. Harnessing this mechanism may open up new paths for therapeutic research aimed at slowing the virus' progression to AIDS. The study appears online ahead of print today in Nature Immunology...HIV / AIDS Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241468.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241468.phpWhen disease-causing invaders like bacteria infect a human host, cells of various types swing into action, coordinating their activities to address the threat...Immune System / Vaccines Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241471.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241471.phpResearchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., have discovered that the immune response regulator IKBKE (serine/threonine kinase) plays two roles in tobacco-related non-small cell lung cancers. Tobacco carcinogens induce IKBKE and, in turn, IKBKE induces chemotherapy resistance. The study was published in a recent issue of Oncogene...Lung Cancer Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241473.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241473.phpA scientific team led by researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the Charite Berlin Medical University has made a completely unprecedented discovery showing how much our immune system is provoked into action when confronted by viral intruders...Immune System / Vaccines Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241362.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241362.phpThe molecular pathway that carries time-of-day signals from the body's internal clock to ultimately guide daily behavior is like a black box, says Amita Sehgal, PhD, the John Herr Musser Professor of Neuroscience and Co-Director, Comprehensive Neuroscience Center, at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania...Sleep / Sleep Disorders / Insomnia Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241385.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241385.phpDNA sequences from tumor cells can be used to direct the immune system to attack cancer, according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The research, in mice, appears online in Nature. The immune system relies on an intricate network of alarm bells, targets and safety brakes to determine when and what to attack...Cancer / Oncology Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241425.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241425.phpAfter an evaluation of 800,000 doses of pentavalent rotavirus vaccinations in U.S. infants, researchers reported in the February 8 issue of JAMA that there is no increased risk of intussusception after vaccination, despite some previous data indicating that those infants who received the vaccine were at potential increased risk...Pediatrics / Children's Health Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241423.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241423.phpA study in the February 8 issue of JAMA reports that routine infant immunizations with a vaccine for serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis, a bacterium that causes serious diseases like sepsis and meningitis, proved effective against meningococcal strains and displayed minimal interference with the response to the routine vaccinations...Pediatrics / Children's Health Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241334.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241334.phpA gene that influences the inflammatory response to infection may also predict the effectiveness of drug treatment for a deadly form of tuberculosis...Tuberculosis Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241340.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241340.phpIn a study conducted by researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues from 11 other institutions in the Unites States and the United Kingdom, genes that are known to be involved in inflammation were found to be related to risk of ovarian cancer. Their study appeared in a recent issue of Cancer Research, published by the American Association for Cancer Research...Ovarian Cancer Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241259.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241259.phpUniversity of Utah biologists found new evidence why mice, people and other vertebrate animals carry thousands of varieties of genes to make immune-system proteins named MHCs - even though some of those genes make us susceptible to infections and to autoimmune diseases. "Major histocompatibility complex" (MHC) proteins are found on the surface of most cells in vertebrate animals...Immune System / Vaccines Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241270.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241270.phpCoronary patients with low levels of an immune system antibody called anti-PC, which neutralises parts of the 'bad' cholesterol, run a greater risk of suffering complications following an acute cardiac episode and thus of premature death. This according to new research from Karolinska Institutet published in the scientific periodical The International Journal of Cardiology...Heart Disease Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241261.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241261.phpIMMUNOLOGY: How a stomach-colonizing bacterium protects against asthma The bacterium Helicobacter pylori can be found colonizing the stomach lining of almost half the world's population. Although persistent infection with Helicobacter pylori increases an individual's risk of developing stomach cancer, it also decreases their risk of developing asthma...Cancer / Oncology Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241223.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241223.phpUniversity of British Columbia researchers have discovered the molecular pathway that enables receptors inside immune cells to find, and flag, fragments of pathogens trying to invade a host...Immune System / Vaccines Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241243.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241243.phpImmune cells capable of attacking healthy organs "see" their targets differently than do protective immune cells that attack viruses, according to work published online this week in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. During development, T lymphocytes are screened for their ability to recognize normal tissue...Immune System / Vaccines Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241236.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241236.phpNew evidence has been discovered by biologists at the University of Utah as to why people, mice and other vertebrate animals carry thousands of different genes to create major histocompatibility complex (MHCs) proteins, despite the fact that some of those genes make humans vulnerable to autoimmune diseases and infections...Immune System / Vaccines Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241142.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241142.phpIn a recent study led by Uppsala University, the researchers compared the DNA of identical (monozygotic) twins of different age. They could show that structural modifications of the DNA, where large or small DNA segments change direction, are duplicated or completely lost are more common in older people. The results may in part explain why the immune system is impaired with age...Seniors / Aging Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241172.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241172.phpScientists working with Professor Bernd Kaina of the Institute of Toxicology at the Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz have demonstrated for the first time that certain cells circulating in human blood - so-called monocytes - are extremely sensitive to reactive oxygen species (ROS)...Immune System / Vaccines Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241134.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241134.phpNational Institutes of Health researchers and their colleagues have identified how resveratrol, a naturally occurring chemical found in red wine and other plant products, may confer its health benefits. The authors present evidence that resveratrol does not directly activate sirtuin 1, a protein associated with aging...Diabetes Sat, 04 Feb 2012 09:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241214.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/241214.phpA Missouri State Medical Association, led by two Saint Louis University pediatricians, aims to raise awareness about the importance of getting children vaccinated and change the way in which doctors respond to parents' fears of vaccines. The campaign is the focus point of Ken Haller, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, and Anthony Scalzo, M.D...Immune System / Vaccines Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241127.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241127.phpTwo Saint Louis University pediatricians are leading a Missouri State Medical Association statewide effort to change the way doctors respond to parents' fears of vaccines, and to raise awareness about the importance of getting children vaccinated. Ken Haller, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, and Anthony Scalzo, M.D...Immune System / Vaccines Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241066.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241066.phpThe development of a medicine for patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus, based on autoantigen GAD65, received a setback following crucial clinical phase 3 trials that failed to show significant effects. One possible explanation may be seasonal variations in the immune system, claim those responsible for the study that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)...Diabetes Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241057.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241057.phpCommon infections in children pose a high risk of ischemic stroke, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2012. In a review of 2.5 million children, the researchers identified 126 childhood ischemic stroke cases and then randomly selected 378 age-matched controls from the remaining children without stroke...Stroke Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 PSThttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241008.phphttp://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241008.phpResearchers at the University of Southampton, University of Oxford and Retroscreeen Virology Ltd have discovered a series of peptides, found on the internal structures of influenza viruses that could lead to the development of a universal vaccine for influenza, one that gives people immunity against all strains of the disease, including seasonal, avian, and swine flu...Flu / Cold / SARS