Polio News and Research

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Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause severe paralysis. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralyzed, 5-10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized. Polio mainly affects children under five years of age. Naturally occurring polio was eliminated in the U.S. in 1979 and in the Western Hemisphere by 1991; however, worldwide efforts are continuing towards eradication of this contagious and devastating disease.

Study evaluates role of enteroviruses in human type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is a disease caused by the destruction of the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. It is often diagnosed in childhood and requires life-long treatment with daily insulin injections. It is associated with an increased risk for long-term complications which decrease the quality of life and average life-expectancy.

23 Oct 2013

Evidence less consistent for high blood sugar, insulin treatment and oral agents

Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., Dr.P.H., the first Sir Richard Doll professor and senior academic advisor to the dean in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University was senior author of a consensus statement from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists on diabetes and cancer, which was just published in Endocrinology Practice.

16 Oct 2013

NIH selects Salk scientist for EUREKA grant

The National Institutes of Health has selected Axel Nimmerjahn for a highly competitive EUREKA (Exceptional Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration) grant. Dr. Nimmerjahn is an Assistant Professor in the Waitt Advanced Biophotonics Center and holds the Richard Allan Barry Developmental Chair.

13 Oct 2013

Salk scientist receives Career Development Award for new research from JDRF

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has given Salk scientist Mark Huising a five-year, $750,000 Career Development Award for his proposed study on how a novel network of receptors in human islets receives and integrates molecular signals. In pre-clinical models, activation of these receptors has proven to actually prevent diabetes.

9 Oct 2013

Research recommends that pediatricians respect parents' rights in making case for immunization

Controversy about the risks of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines has been rumbling in the United States for years -- and now it's Israel's turn. After finding traces of the polio virus in sewage, Israel's Ministry of Health launched a national vaccination campaign that reached more than half a million children. Surprisingly, dissenting voices flooded social media and the mainstream news, calling for a halt to the campaign.

2 Oct 2013

Patients treated by ID physicians less likely to die in hospital

In a first-of-its-kind study to evaluate the impact of a medical specialty on patient outcomes, researchers found that hospitalized patients with severe infections such as meningitis and Clostridium difficile are significantly less likely to die if they receive care from an infectious diseases specialist. The study, which analyzed nearly 130,000 Medicare patient cases, is now available online and will be published in the December 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

30 Sep 2013

HOOKVAC consortium to begin first clinical testing of human hookworm vaccine in West Africa

The HOOKVAC consortium, led by the Academic Medical Center (AMC) at the University of Amsterdam, today announced it has been awarded a grant of six million Euros from the European Commission FP7 programme to expand the Sabin Vaccine Institute Product Development Partnership's (Sabin PDP) work to develop and test a vaccine for human hookworm, a disease that infects 600-700 million of the world's poorest people.

27 Sep 2013

MIT engineers develop nanoparticles that deliver cancer vaccines to lungs

Many viruses and bacteria infect humans through mucosal surfaces, such as those in the lungs, gastrointestinal tract and reproductive tract. To help fight these pathogens, scientists are working on vaccines that can establish a front line of defense at mucosal surfaces.

26 Sep 2013

First clinical trials to diagnose and treat Alzheimer’s disease

More than a century ago, Alois Alzheimer, a Bavarian physician, first identified the neurodegenerative brain condition that came to be known as Alzheimer's disease. Finding ways to diagnose and treat this disease has frustrated scientists and clinicians ever since.

19 Sep 2013

Researchers find key mechanism behind Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease affects more than 26 million people worldwide. It is predicted to skyrocket as boomers age-nearly 106 million people are projected to have the disease by 2050.

7 Sep 2013

Research on long-lived proteins may lead to better understanding of molecular basis of aging

Proteins are the chief actors in cells, carrying out the duties specified by information encoded in our genes. Most proteins live only two days or less, ensuring that those damaged by inevitable chemical modifications are replaced with new functional copies.

4 Sep 2013

Researchers develop model that completes bridge between cellular and human studies of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is one of the most devastating neurological conditions, with only 30 percent of sufferers ever experiencing full recovery. While current medications can control most psychotic symptoms, their side effects can leave individuals so severely impaired that the disease ranks among the top ten causes of disability in developed countries.

31 Aug 2013

New compound offers way to treat migraine and other disorders of central nervous system

For many migraine sufferers, bright lights are a surefire way to exacerbate their headaches. And for some night-shift workers, just a stroll through a brightly lit parking lot during the morning commute home can be enough to throw off their body's daily rhythms and make daytime sleep nearly impossible. But a new molecule that selectively blocks specialized light-sensitive receptors in the eyes could help both these groups of people, without affecting normal vision.

28 Aug 2013

tDCS for 15 days improves sleep and fatigue symptoms in patients with PPS

Of the 15 million people around the world who have survived poliomyelitis, up to 80% report progressive deteriorating strength and endurance many years after infection, a condition known as post-polio syndrome (PPS).

27 Aug 2013

Researchers uncover how SARS coronavirus uses host cell to reproduce itself

UC Irvine infectious disease researchers have uncovered components of the SARS coronavirus - which triggered a major outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2002-03 - that allow it to take over host cells in order to replicate.

23 Aug 2013

Powerful mechanism helps viruses evade body's immune response

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have discovered a powerful mechanism by which viruses such as influenza, West Nile and Dengue evade the body's immune response and infect humans with these potentially deadly diseases. The findings may provide scientists with an attractive target for novel antiviral therapies.

19 Aug 2013

Researchers unveil comprehensive portrait of the genome of world's first immortal cell line

A team from the University of Washington has unveiled a comprehensive portrait of the genome of the world's first immortal cell line, known as HeLa. The cell line was derived in 1951 from an aggressive cervical cancer that killed Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old African-American tobacco farmer and mother of five - the subject of the 2010 New York Times bestseller, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

8 Aug 2013

Viewpoints: How much power should the AMA have to set Medicare prices?; GOP's 'disastrous' march to defund health law

S.G.R. More than 99 percent of Americans have no idea what these three letters stand for. And yet they are extremely valuable: worth about $140 billion. This week, a House committee will finally take up the issue. The S.G.R., or the Sustainable Growth Rate formula, was enacted as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to restrain the inevitable increase in Medicare's annual spending on physician services. ... Nice idea in theory. Never worked out in practice (Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Topher Spiro, 7/29).

31 Jul 2013

Research findings on brain development may shed light on neurological disorders

Dennis O'Leary of the Salk Institute was the first scientist to show that the basic functional architecture of the cortex, the largest part of the human brain, was genetically determined during development.

23 Jul 2013

FDA approves Astellas' ASTAGRAF XL for prophylaxis of organ rejection in kidney transplant patients

Astellas Pharma US, Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc., announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved ASTAGRAF XLTM (tacrolimus extended-release capsules) for the prophylaxis of organ rejection in patients receiving a kidney transplant with mycophenolate mofetil and corticosteroids, with or without basiliximab induction.

20 Jul 2013