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Racial/ethnic disparities in symptom severity among children hospitalized with asthma

Children in this country suffer from asthma more than any other chronic illness, and new research finds African-American children with the condition have a greater risk than others of experiencing severe symptoms that escalate into an emergency.

20 Feb 2007

Beta-blockers should not be a doctor's first choice for treating high blood pressure

Beta-blocker drugs such as Tenormin, Inderal and Lopressor should not be a doctor's first choice for treating high blood pressure, according to a large new review of studies.

20 Feb 2007

Expert questions validity of genetic testing patents

Molecular Pathologist-Attorney Roger D. Klein in a letter published in the February 15, 2007 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine questioned the validity of patents often used to prevent clinical laboratories from performing certain genetic tests.

20 Feb 2007

Britain tests human influenza plan

The British Government's response to a human flu pandemic was tested in Exercise Winter Willow on Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th February.

20 Feb 2007

How T cells attack tumors

Our immune system struggles to eliminate tumors effectively. By unraveling its strategies, we can enhance its effects on tumor cells and so improve the clinical prospects of cancer immunotherapy.

20 Feb 2007

Health professionals would prioritize spending on the young over the old

In prioritizing health care spending, health professionals rank childhood immunization highest and cancer treatment for smokers lowest, according to a new international survey published in PLoS Medicine.

20 Feb 2007

Cell-based bone tissue engineering

In an article in PLoS Medicine, Gert Meijer (University Medical Centre Utrecht, The Netherlands) and colleagues discuss what kind of progress there has been in restoring the function of diseased or damaged bone by bone tissue regeneration.

20 Feb 2007

Why is heart shaped like it is?

How does the heart attain its characteristic shape? Shape may be sculpted by cell movement, cell division, or changes in cell size and shape, all of which can be influenced by the local environment. The heart appears as a simple tube early in development; later, the tube walls bulge outward to form the cardiac chambers.

20 Feb 2007

Revisiting the basic reproductive number for malaria

Each year, malaria results in more than a million deaths. Controlling this disease involves understanding its transmission, and understanding its transmission means understanding its basic reproductive number, R0.

20 Feb 2007

How DNA is packed

The life cycles of many viruses include a self-assembly stage in which a powerful molecular motor must pack the DNA genome into the virus's preformed shell (the capsid). How it manages this intricate feat has been subject to debate, but we know that the DNA passes into the capsid shell through a channel formed by a structure called the connector. Scientists have speculated that rotation of the connector complex might feed the DNA into the capsid as it turns.

20 Feb 2007

Nanoparticles advance photodynamic therapy to kill tumor cells

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a powerful approach for destroying tumors, one that uses light and a light-sensitive chemical to rapidly kill cells.

20 Feb 2007

Nanoparticles rely on 'velcro effect' to target tumor cells

One of the basic tenets of targeted nanoparticle drug delivery is putting multiple targeting molecules on a nanoparticle surface will improve the ability of nanoparticles to stick to their targeted cell and deliver their drug cargos to the appropriate diseased cell.

20 Feb 2007