immune system

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Less Sleep Linked to Cancer
  Less Sleep Linked to Cancer 
Nov 18, 2008 2:07 AM CST

Less Sleep Linked to Cancer

Less than 7 hours a night tied to 47% hike in cancer risk

(Newser) - Sleep and exercise may play an important role in cancer risk, according to a new US study. Researchers confirmed earlier studies that exercise appears to protect against cancer—but discovered that physically active women who slept less than seven hours a night had a 47% higher risk of developing cancer....

Assassin Cells Slay Hidden HIV
 Assassin Cells Slay Hidden HIV 
Nov 10, 2008 4:02 AM CST

Assassin Cells Slay Hidden HIV

Human trials set next year

(Newser) - A promising new treatment for AIDS may be in the works, with the discovery that genetically engineered immune cells can detect and destroy HIV even when the virus tries to hide by mutating. The so-called “assassin” cells, created from the T-cells of an HIV patient, have worked their magic...

Study: Drug Reverses MS Brain Damage

Doctors hail 'major breakthrough' in treatment

(Newser) - Doctors are hailing what appears to be a huge breakthrough in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, the BBC reports. A drug used to treat leukemia reversed some of the brain damage caused by MS, researchers found, leaving sufferers less disabled at the end of the 3-year study than they had...

Genetic Hiccup Causes Obesity In Mice: Study

Evolutionary relic in humans could be fixed by drug or gene therapy

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered an immune system pathway in the brain that they think is the root cause of diseases related to obesity, Reuters reports. When mice were overfed, the hypothalamus secreted a compound that suppressed the conversion of food into energy, and led to inflammation associated with heart disease and...

Women on Pill Choose the 'Wrong' Man

Oral contraceptives twists choice based on smell

(Newser) - The pill skews women's choice of partners because the contraceptive disrupts the sense of smell, according to new research. Women usually seek partners who have an odor that indicates dissimilar genes. That's important because a gene mix tends to produce healthier offspring. But research shows women using the pill tend...

How Did Bernie Mac Slip Away?
 How Did Bernie Mac
Slip Away?
Aug 10, 2008 8:10 AM CDT

How Did Bernie Mac Slip Away?

Lung disease, immune-suppressing meds were factors

(Newser) - Suffering from a rare lung disease, Bernie Mac was on medication to suppress his immune system—and that that made him vulnerable to the pneumonia that ended his life, his sister-in-law told People. He was hospitalized 8 days earlier than reported with a fever and trouble breathing, and “was...

Mac's Illness Spotlights Sarcoidosis

Immune disorder could be behind comedian's hospitalization

(Newser) - Bernie Mac is in the hospital, and although his publicists deny it, the pneumonia for which the comedian's being treated may have something to do with sarcoidosis, the Chicago Tribune reports. The rare immune system disorder has been in remission since 2005.

Tobacco May Help Cure Cancer
 Tobacco May Help Cure Cancer 
Jul 22, 2008 5:39 PM CDT

Tobacco May Help Cure Cancer

Plant's robust immune system makes it a viable vaccine factory

(Newser) - Scientists are trying to use the tobacco plant to produce a cancer vaccine, Newsweek reports. Ironic though it may be, the plant could someday offer fast and cheap production of antibodies personalized for individual’s tumor cells. In the first study of its kind, scientists found that the plant-based vaccine...

Melanoma Cured by Cloning Patient's Own Immune Cells

Immune system boost wipes out tumors

(Newser) - Scientists eliminated a man's late-stage melanoma by giving the body's own defenses a massive boost, Scientific American reports. They removed infection-fighting white blood cells from the patient's body, cloned them in the lab until they numbered in the billions, and injected them back into the patient. He was tumor-free 2...

Pregnancy Stress Ups Kid's Asthma Risk

Babies' immune systems respond to pressures on moms

(Newser) - Stress an expectant mother experiences can increase her child’s predisposition to allergies and asthma, Reuters reports. Mothers-to-be with high stress levels gave birth to babies with high levels of an immune compound involved in the allergenic response, Harvard researchers found—even when their environmental exposure to allergens was low.

For Infections, Try Gator-cillin

Scientists probe reptile's impressive immune system

(Newser) - Scientists are trying to harness the power of alligator blood to fight disease, bacterial infections, and even HIV, Cox News reports. Proteins in the reptiles' blood have antibiotic properties thanks to the animals' long evolution and frequent exposure to bacteria; their exceptionally effective immune systems can fight off invaders without...

Scientists Build Immune System in Test Tube

Breakthrough could make it easier, and safer, to test vaccines

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered a way to produce tiny artificial human immune systems, Time reports, a breakthrough that could transform vaccine research. The process—called Modular Immune In Vitro Construct—will allow researchers to test budding medicines as never before and possibly make faster progress against AIDS and other killers. 

Vegan Diet May Help Arthritis
 Vegan Diet May Help Arthritis 
Mar 18, 2008 10:25 AM CDT

Vegan Diet May Help Arthritis

Small Swedish study offers hope for patients

(Newser) - Patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis may be able to ease their painful symptoms and cut down on their risk of heart attacks by switching to a vegan, gluten-free diet. The new findings from a Swedish study offer hope for patients of the disease, which has no cure but can be...

Immune-System Ailments Now an 'Epidemic'

Doctors blame sterile homes, diet, obesity for making us sick

(Newser) - Allergies and immune-system ailments like asthma, lupus, and MS are on the rise—and scientists increasingly blame modern life, the Washington Post reports. Many point to sterile conditions in the US and Western Europe, but pollution, diet, and obesity may also play a role. "We have dramatically changed our...

Cold 'Remedy' Firm Settles Suit for $23M

Airborne ends class action with promise of consumer refunds

(Newser) - Herbal supplement company Airborne will pay $23.3 million to settle a class-action suit alleging false advertising but won't say it did anything wrong, CNNMoney reports. At issue was the company's claim its pills could cure colds. Airborne denies “any wrongdoing or illegal conduct,” but it will give...

Flu Shot May Help Fight Off Bird Flu: Study

Vaccinated patients more likely to have immune response to deadly H5N1 virus

(Newser) - A regular flu shot may offer at least some protection against the bird flu, a new study finds. Researchers tested the blood of 42 volunteers who'd recently gotten flu vaccines, exposing it to the deadly H5N1 avian flu, and found that in some of them, the immune system recognized the...

Staph Strain Explodes Immune Cells
Staph Strain Explodes Immune Cells
Nov 12, 2007 4:30 AM CST

Staph Strain Explodes Immune Cells

Part of puzzle explains infection's deadly punch

(Newser) - A key reason why a powerful strain of drug-resistant staph infections known as MRSA has proven so deadly is because it produces a compound that causes immune cells to explode, a new study in Nature concludes. The finding helps explain why MRSA, usually found in hospitals in patients with weakened...

Lonely People's Genes Make Them Sick

Loners' DNA shows impaired immune system, study says

(Newser) - Scientists say they’ve figured out why loners get sick and die young: “a highly suspicious conspiracy of genes” screws up their immune systems, Reuters reports. Their altered DNA can lead to heart disease, arthritis, Alzheimer’s and other problems. “There is something about being isolated and lonely...

New Genetic Ties to MS Found
New Genetic Ties to MS Found
Jul 29, 2007 6:04 PM CDT

New Genetic Ties to MS Found

Findings represent stunning medical breakthrough

(Newser) - Scientists have pinpointed two genes that may be linked to MS, signaling a breakthrough in the fight against the debilitating disease 20 years in the making. In separate studies published today by two medical journals, researchers revealed one specific gene receptor may trigger cells to inhibit the body's autoimmune reaction,...

Bacteria Battle Depression
Bacteria Battle Depression
Apr 6, 2007 8:55 AM CDT

Bacteria Battle Depression

Research shows brain produces serotonin as an immune response

(Newser) - Clinical depression may be treatable with bacteria, doctors at Bristol University posit. They got the idea when they observed lung cancer patients inoculated with harmless Mycobacterium vaccae who showed reduced symptoms and improved mental health. The brain produces serotonin as an immune response, the docs hypothesized, raising the low serotonin...

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