Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Zinc can help nursing home residents who are susceptible to pneumonia

When elderly nursing home residents contract pneumonia, it is a blow to their already fragile health.

22 Oct 2007

Stanford seeks volunteers for flu vaccine study

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital are looking for adults and children to participate in three studies that will help them better understand how the flu vaccine works in people of different ages.

22 Oct 2007

Microbix Biosystems granted U.S. patent for its influenza vaccine

Microbix Biosystems Inc. has been granted a patent by the U.S. Patent Office for its technology - VIRUSMAX - which enables vaccine manufacturers to double the amount of influenza vaccine they produce each year.

22 Oct 2007

Hypnotherapy effective for smoking cessation after hospital discharge

Hospitalized patients who smoke may be more likely to quit smoking through the use of hypnotherapy than patients using other smoking cessation methods.

22 Oct 2007

Endobronchial valve improves quality of life in emphysema patients

Emphysema patients whose lungs are implanted with a pencil eraser-sized, one-way endobronchial valve experience significantly improved measures of lung function and report better quality of life, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researcher Frank C. Sciurba, M.D., reported today at CHEST 2007, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.

22 Oct 2007

Human cytomegalovirus may help doctors treat glioblastoma multiforme

A common human virus may prove useful in attacking the deadliest form of brain tumors, according to a study by researchers at Duke's Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center.

22 Oct 2007

Smoking cessation programs should be tailored to age

A new study shows that obstacles to smoking cessation and motives for quitting smoking vary with age.

22 Oct 2007

Six Sigma practices may provide significant benefits for hospitals

Although Six Sigma practices are widely used in the manufacturing industry, the performance improvement system also may provide significant benefits for hospitals, medical professionals, and patients.

22 Oct 2007

Comedy helps kids deal with pain for longer periods of time

Watching comedy shows helped children tolerate pain for longer periods of time, suggesting that humorous distraction could be used in clinical settings to help children and adolescents better handle painful procedures, according to a study which teamed UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center with the nonprofit organization Rx Laughter.

22 Oct 2007

Scientists find predisposition to bronchiolitis in some babies

Scientists have found that a large proportion of infants who suffer from bronchiolitis have an inherent pre-disposition to the disease.

22 Oct 2007

Sanofi Pasteur receives FDA approval of Menactra meningococcal vaccine for children

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted licensure to expand the indication for its meningococcal conjugate vaccine, Menactra (Meningococcal [Groups A, C, Y and W-135] Polysaccharide Diphtheria Toxoid Conjugate Vaccine), to include children 2 years through 10 years of age.

22 Oct 2007

FDA says OTC cough and cold medicines do not work for young children

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. are warning parents about the use of over-the-counter (OTC) cough and cold medicines in young children.

22 Oct 2007

Implicit wins $16.3 million U.S. government contract to develop its clinical stage drug oglufanide disodium

Implicit Bioscience has announced that it has been awarded a US$16.34 million (AU$18.2million) contract payable over 37 months from the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to develop its clinical stage drug oglufanide disodium as a broad spectrum therapeutic for the treatment of a number of intracellularbacterial diseases.

22 Oct 2007

GenVec receives extra funding for adenovector-based HIV vaccines program

GenVec, Inc. has announced that the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has executed its sixth option period (year seven) under its multi-year collaboration with GenVec to develop and manufacture novel adenovector-based HIV vaccines.

22 Oct 2007

Study supports the theory of the seasonal flu

Low temperatures and relative humidities have been linked to the rapid spread of influenza in a new study by researchers, led by Dr. Peter Palese, from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

19 Oct 2007

New treatment a cure for Bell's Palsy

Scottish experts have discovered that Bell's Palsy, a syndrome which causes the muscles on one side of the face to become paralysed, can now be cured by a new steroid treatment.

19 Oct 2007

Antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infection, sore throat, or ear infection

Antibiotics are not justified to reduce the risk of complications after upper respiratory tract infection, sore throat, or ear infection, finds a study published on bmj.com.

19 Oct 2007

MRSA superbug a bigger killer than AIDS

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States says MRSA infections (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) are more prevalent and invasive than previously thought.

18 Oct 2007

New model helps explain rules governing the transmission of microbes

Many of the most successful microbes are those that inhabit but do not kill their host. Cheaters lose. Tuberculosis settles into the lungs. Helicobacter pylori, the microbe causing ulcers, burrows into the stomach where it thrives on acids. And Salmonella typhi takes up residence in the gallbladder. All of these organisms can persist in our bodies for decades. What explains their success?

18 Oct 2007

New mechanism discovered that mammalian cells employ to fight infections of the Hepatitis C virus

A team of researchers led by biologists at the University of California, San Diego has discovered a completely new mechanism that mammalian cells employ to fight infections of the Hepatitis C virus, which affects approximately 2.7 million Americans and 170 million people worldwide.

18 Oct 2007