Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

Latest Cold, Flu & Cough News and Research

How the body controls brain temperature: the temperature shielding effect of cerebral blood flow

Attempts to cool the brain to reduce injury from stroke and other head trauma may face a significant obstacle: current cooling devices can't penetrate very deeply into the brain.

4 Aug 2006

Toxoplasma may be affecting human behavior on a mass scale

A common parasite found in cats may be affecting human behavior on a mass scale, according to a scientist based at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

3 Aug 2006

Protein CD86 raises antibody output

Cancer immunologists here have discovered how a protein on the surface of antibody-making immune cells boosts the amount of antibody the cells make.

2 Aug 2006

Global sharing of avian influenza virus samples

OFFLU, the OIE/FAO joint network of expertise on avian influenza, will systematically make avian influenza virus sequences accessible to the entire scientific community.

2 Aug 2006

FDA approves next seasons flu vaccines

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it has approved this year's seasonal influenza (flu) vaccines that include the new strains of virus judged likely to cause flu in the Northern Hemisphere in 2006-2007.

2 Aug 2006

Scientists identify genetic element that the dengue virus uses to replicate

The first step in the transmission of mosquito-borne viruses is no mystery: it's the pesky insect's bite that allows the virus to enter its victim's bloodstream.

2 Aug 2006

Altering fatty acid levels in diet may reduce prostate cancer growth rate

UCLA researchers found that altering the fatty acid ratio found in the typical Western diet to include more omega-3 fatty acids and decrease the amount of omega-6 fatty acids may reduce prostate cancer tumor growth rates and PSA levels.

2 Aug 2006

Three more bird flu suspects in Indonesia

According to a senior health official in Indonesia three children have been hospitalized on suspicion of having the bird flu virus.

2 Aug 2006

9/11 responsible for 12 years worth of lung damage for rescuers

Following the the collapse of the World Trade Centre in 2001 firefighters and other emergency crew workers inhaled vast amounts of 'dust'.

2 Aug 2006

Why reassurance fails in patients with unexplained symptoms

When patients are unconvinced by reassurance from their doctor that they have nothing to worry about, it may be because their emotional state makes it hard for them to remember all the information the doctor has given them, according to new research in PLoS Medicine.

2 Aug 2006

New way to assess pandemic potential of influenza viruses

Study provides first assessment of the risk of an H5N1 pandemic strain emerging from the combining of avian and human influenza viruses.

1 Aug 2006

Creating your own pandemic virus is not so easy

A team of scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed a new research method that may help identify the types of genetic changes that would be necessary for the avian influenza virus (H5N1) to be more easily transmitted among people.

1 Aug 2006

Bird flu doing the rounds again in Thailand

The discovery of the H5N1 bird flu virus in northeast Thailand's Nakhon Phanom province near the border with Laos has prompted the culling of 310,000 hens; the lethal virus killed a teenager in the northern province of Phichit last week, the country's first victim this year.

31 Jul 2006