News Feature |
Featured
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News |
G8 revisits maternal and child deaths
More funds pledged at summit for the two UN Millennium Development Goals farthest from their targets.
- Alison Motluk
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News |
Evidence mounts against diabetes drug
Studies continue to find heart-attack risk.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
Oil-spill health risks under scrutiny
Scientists call for more research to monitor effects of oil exposure.
- Amanda Mascarelli
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Feature |
Who, how, what and where?
Chagas disease is a disease of Latin America. In spite of extensive control efforts it is so prevalent that in some areas, such as within the Gran Chaco (see Chagas disease in the Chaco, on page S18), one person in 16 is infected.
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Feature |
Country by country
Anna Petherick investigates the nature of Chagas disease and how its management varies across Latin America.
- Anna Petherick
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Feature |
Chagas disease 101
It is 101 years since Carlos Chagas discovered the parasite responsible for the disease that now bears his name. What progress has been made since this discovery? Here Julie Clayton gives the low-down on Chagas disease.
- Julie Clayton
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Feature |
Campaigning for Chagas disease
Energized individuals have worked hard to raise awareness. But politicians have not always listened.
- Anna Petherick
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Editorial |
A pandemic of hindsight?
We must learn lessons from the handling of the flu pandemic to improve future research and public-health responses to emerging diseases, but retrospective hindsight and recriminations are not the answer.
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Feature |
Chagas disease in the Chaco
Researching disease transmission in poor, rural settings is part scientific inquiry, part diplomacy.
- Anna Petherick
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Opinion |
Chagas disease: a new worldwide challenge
Endemic Chagas disease began as a neglected disease of poor, rural and forgotten populations. Its spread from Latin America to non-endemic countries is a new worldwide challenge, say José Rodrigues Coura and Pedro Albajar Viñas.
- José Rodrigues Coura
- & Pedro Albajar Viñas
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News |
Strange lesions after stem-cell therapy
Unproven treatment results in mysterious masses.
- David Cyranoski
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News |
Triple-punch gene therapy targets HIV
Stem-cell transplant passes safety trial.
- Alla Katsnelson
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News |
MRI set to win reprieve from EU ban
Directive that limits workers' electromagnetic exposure aims for a compromise.
- Alison Abbott
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Research Highlights |
Neuroscience: Drug shrinks brain
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Research Highlights |
Biomaterials: Surgical solution
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News |
Flu experts rebut conflict claims
Reports throw unsubstantiated suspicion on scientific advice given to the World Health Organization.
- Declan Butler
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News |
Antipsychotic deflates the brain
Drug for schizophrenia causes side effects by shrinking part of the brain.
- Amy Maxmen
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News |
Acupuncture for mice
Study hints at biological mechanism for alternative therapy.
- Daniel Cressey
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News |
Mouse project to find each gene's role
International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium launches with a massive funding commitment.
- Alison Abbott
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Letter |
Climate change and the global malaria recession
Rising global temperatures resulting from climate change have been predicted to increase the future incidence of infectious diseases, including malaria. However, it is known that the range of malaria has contracted through a century of economic development and disease control. This contraction has now been quantified, and compared with the predicted effects of climate on malaria incidence. It is suggested that the impact of rising temperature is likely to be minor.
- Peter W. Gething
- , David L. Smith
- & Simon I. Hay
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Letter |
Staphylococcus epidermidis Esp inhibits Staphylococcus aureus biofilm formation and nasal colonization
- Tadayuki Iwase
- , Yoshio Uehara
- & Yoshimitsu Mizunoe
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Correspondence |
How government spending cuts put lives at risk
- David Stuckler
- , Sanjay Basu
- & Martin McKee
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News |
Malaria may not rise as world warms
Studies suggest that strategies to combat the disease are offsetting the impact of climate change.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
No link found between mobile phones and cancer
Claims that mobile-phone use causes cancer are shown to be overblown.
- Daniel Cressey
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Opinion |
Vaccinate before the next pandemic?
Klaus Stöhr of Novartis argues that pre-pandemic immunization with a cocktail of likely strains could be a cheap, practical and equitable way to protect people against influenza.
- Klaus Stöhr
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Correspondence |
Volcanic ash should not be presumed harmless in long term
- Sergio Mascarenhas
- & Luiz H. C. Mattoso
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News |
Mice pull pained expressions
Animal and human faces display similar responses to suffering.
- Janelle Weaver
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News |
Radiation death sparks Indian safety enquiry
University of Delhi sold off a radioactive source for scrap.
- K. S. Jayaraman
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Opinion |
Financial pain should focus universities
The tightening of the US science budgets could improve both teaching and research, argues Diane Auer Jones — by forcing academics and their institutions to play to their strengths.
- Diane Auer Jones
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News |
Greeks hope crisis may spark reform
Financial troubles could be the stimulus for a fairer distribution of science research funding.
- Alison Abbott
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News |
Scientists fume over California's pesticide plans
State aims to approve use of strawberry fumigant methyl iodide.
- Nicola Jones
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News |
Protein jab mends broken bones
Injecting mice with Wnt proteins speeds up healing.
- Janelle Weaver
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Technology Feature |
From tools to therapies
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Research Highlights |
Neuroscience: Sharpening social skills
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Opinion |
Let parents decide
Twenty years on from the first pregnancies after preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Alan Handyside argues that informed prospective parents are largely good guides to the use of the thriving technology.
- Alan Handyside
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News |
Children who form no racial stereotypes found
Brain disorder eradicates ethnic but not gender bias.
- Janelle Weaver
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Review Article |
Genetics, pathogenesis and clinical interventions in type 1 diabetes
- Jeffrey A. Bluestone
- , Kevan Herold
- & George Eisenbarth
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Letter |
Chemoprevention of colorectal cancer by targeting APC-deficient cells for apoptosis
Cancer 'chemoprevention' uses substances to reverse, suppress or prevent the initial phase of carcinogenesis or the progression of neoplastic cells to cancer cells. Here it is shown that treatment with TRAIL proteins and all-trans-retinyl acetate can cause the death, in vitro and in vivo, of premalignant cells deficient in the adenomatous polyposis coli gene. Normal cells are unaffected. Selectively eliminating premalignant tumour cells in this way is thus an effective method for chemoprevention.
- Ling Zhang
- , Xiaoyang Ren
- & Xiangwei Wu
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Editorial |
Buyer beware
Lack of US regulation is allowing dubious dietary supplements to be sold as life-enhancing elixirs.
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News |
US health bill promises changes for biomedical researchers
Translational work set to receive a boost.
- Meredith Wadman
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Letter |
Evidence of RNAi in humans from systemically administered siRNA via targeted nanoparticles
It has previously been shown in mice and non-human primates that systemically delivered short RNA molecules can inhibit gene expression. Here it is shown that a short interfering RNA (siRNA) can be systemically delivered, using nanoparticles, to a solid tumour in humans. The siRNA mediates cleavage of its target mRNA, thereby also reducing levels of the encoded protein. This proof-of-principle study confirms the potential of this technology for treating human disease.
- Mark E. Davis
- , Jonathan E. Zuckerman
- & Antoni Ribas
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Editorial |
Handle with care
Britain's Department of Health must respond to concerns about electronic medical records.
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News & Views |
Closing in on an oral treatment
At present, only injectable drugs are available for treating multiple sclerosis. So clinical trials indicating that the drug fingolimod might be a step towards an oral treatment for the disease are exciting indeed.
- Roland Martin