Health Meaning

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - This is far from the ideal therapy, but scientists say a new combination of two old drugs is an important step in the fight against sleeping sickness, a long neglected tropical disease. They hope the combo will help reduce the use of a 60-year-old drug, highly toxic killing a patient 20.

Sleeping sickness, caused by two subspecies of Trypanosoma brucei unicellular parasite and transmitted by the tsetse fly, affects approximately 50,000 to 70,000 people a year in Africa. In the later stages of infection, parasites not only disrupt the sleep cycle, but also cause paralysis, behavioral changes, and ultimately death. That's why scientists find the common name a little too innocuous sounding; they usually call the affliction of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT).

Among the few existing drugs that fight HAT, none are very good. An originally developed for cancer drug called eflornithine, kills Trypanosoma and is reasonably safe, but parasites are increasingly resistant. In addition, patients need intravenous 56 (IV) infusions of more than 14 days, a huge problem in developing countries. (The simple drug weight and other necessary materials makes eflornithine very expensive to ship and says Pere Simarro of the World Health Organization.) Consequently, 70% of patients in 07 were always treated with melarsoprol a compound based arsenic developed in the 1940s which is very toxic.

an international consortium of researchers tested a new treatment in the Democratic Republic of Congo and its neighbor, the Republic of Congo. They enrolled 280 patients in a trial that compared standard eflornithine regime with one where only 14 injections of the drug were given on time a week, combined with 10 days of nifurtimox, an oral drug against licensed Chagas disease - which is also caused by Trypanosoma parasites -. but are not considered active enough as a standalone HAT drug

Find, treat and monitor patients in the most remote corners of the two countries has proved a huge challenge, said Gerardo Priotto, an epidemiologist with Médecins Sans borders in Paris. To ensure that patients were truly free of the parasite, for example, they had to be persuaded to go to the clinic of the study and undergo painful lumbar punctures 6, 12, and 18 months after the trial - which is not easy when patients no longer feel sick.

But it was worth it. The combination works at least as well as eflornithine or melarsoprol alone, researchers reported yesterday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. And there were fewer side effects. This is an important step, said Peter Hotez, who studies the THA and other tropical diseases at the Medical Center of George Washington University in Washington State two drugs rather than one should help prevent resistance, he said . And because 14 instead of 56 infusions of eflornithine are needed, the combination should help reduce the use of melarsoprol.

However, better and cheaper drugs that remove the need for infusions in total are desperately needed, said Simon Croft of London School for Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Thank you to a recent influx of money on the ground, several are now in the pipeline; combination therapy, said Croft, "will finally be no more than a stopgap."

- Researchers funded by Genome Canada, Canadian excellence by funding organization in large-scale genomics and proteomics research, react with shock to the news that the Canadian government withdraws funds from the 9-year-old organization. The Government states that the organization can count on the money from last year.

"This is extremely serious," said Anthony James Pawson, a cell biologist based at Toronto University who won the Kyoto Prize $ 550,000 in 08 for his work on cellular communication signaling proteins, which was hired to establish a basic paradigms of signal transduction.

Since 00, the research organization has received about $ 0 million of the Government of Canada has identified that co-financing. Genome Canada planned approximately $ 100 million from the government for the coming year. the cut in genomics budget is that Canada reduced its research funds in the midst of a budget crisis.

instead, the government offered nothing. "It's like we fell between the chairs," says the president of the organization, Martin Godbout.

Genome Canada currently supports 33 major research projects in schools and hospitals across Canada, with operating grants of about $ 10 million a year for each.

Godbout said that the lack of funding will not affect currently funded by previous budget plans, but it will limit Canada's ability to contribute to new large-scale genetic research projects. Lack of funding stalls effectively all new research initiatives, said Godbout.

The Canadian government said that funding for previous years was intended to cover this year.

"There is no cut funding from Genome Canada," said Annie Trepanier, spokeswoman for Industry Canada, Science Insider. "Genome Canada received $ 840 million since 00. Budget 08 provided $ 140 million, which will support research operations Genomics and Genome Canada from 09-10 to 2012-13."

But Godbout said that this budgetary strategy is new to him. While money from last year's budget was allocated to finance future projects, no indication was provided by the Government that new initiatives would not be funded this year, he announced on CBC public broadcasting . Genome Canada has received funding every year except 06, when the money is allocated in 05 was specifically designated him for a 2 year long.

Speaking to a conference in Colorado, Pawson said after the news broke, "Genome Canada has helped build Toronto into a first center-first among large-scale peer-to the 21st century of biology . Today I'm in Colorado at a meeting on large-scale biology where Canada is strongly represented through Genome Canada continued support provided to research teams. Personally for me this will have very serious consequences. We have intensified a fabulous laboratory with support from Genome Canada. Now we have to get rid of it? "

If you had the flu this year you can expect only a brief respite. There are chances that you will again next year and the year after and the year after. Thank you to its rapid evolution, the influenza virus continually slips away from the immune system and continues to lead the efforts of researchers to counteract this. But this week, the researchers report that they caught antibodies that disable multiple varieties of the virus. The findings could help scientists develop a vaccine against pandemic influenza or treatments that Quash many strains of influenza, including the dreaded bird flu.

The key to this advance is in a viral protein known as hemagglutinin name. Viral protein covers the surface and secures to a receptor on the surface of the target cell. Hemagglutinin then performs a molecular gymnastics. These contortions allow the virus membrane to fuse with the cell membrane, opening the way for viral entry.

Vaccines primarily induce antibodies that target hemagglutinin head. But this part of the protein changes rapidly, undermining the immune system. Immunochemist Wayne Marasco of Harvard Medical School in Boston and colleagues found an immutable part of hemagglutinin that could provide a better target when they were looking for antibodies that neutralize the avian flu. Researchers trawl their gigantic library of more than 27 billion human antibodies to determine which lock molecules of H5 hemagglutinin version carried by the avian flu. They identified 10 antibodies which recognize different versions of H5. In solution, the antibodies would block not only H5 but also eight other types of influenza viruses, including the one responsible for the deadly 1918-1919 pandemic flu.

Next, the team tested three antibodies in mice were infected with lethal doses of avian flu. When they received the antibodies before or up to 3 days after infection, most rodents survived, suggesting that the antibodies are therapeutic and preventive.

structural biologist Robert Liddington of the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in San Diego, California, and his team then used x-ray crystallography to break a closeup of an antibody bound to hemagglutinin. Instead glomming on hemagglutinin variable head, the antibody snuggled into three pockets on the tail, or the stem of the virus. When researchers checked with a database of the genomic sequences of 00 variants of the influenza virus, they found that the amino acid sequence of this region remains constant in many viral strains. This means that an antibody that recognizes this region alone could protect against a variety of flu strains, possibly including one that causes bird flu, the researchers conclude.

Marasco The team moves to safety testing in animals and hope to begin clinical trials of the 2010-11 flu season. "I think it is a very good paper," says molecular biologist Brendon Hanson DSO National Laboratories Singapore, because it suggests an "option available" to wedge pandemic.

One version longest of this story appears in the February 27 issue of science.

(Update: President Obama signed an executive order lifting the federal restrictions on funding for stem cells)

the Washington post has a good primer on stem cell policy, and New York Times reports that President Obama will avoid issuing an opinion on the controversial question whether taxpayer money should be used direct experiments on embryos. Supporters of the left side and critics on the right weigh. Meanwhile, a blogger Times London published the remarks provided Obama before he delivers them, including a decree ordering the Office of Science of the White House to set new rules to restore "scientific practices through sound administration"

promoting science is not just to provide resources - it is also to protecting free and open inquiry. It is letting scientists like those here today do their jobs, free from manipulation or coercion, and listening to what they tell us, even when it's inconvenient - especially when it's inconvenient. It aims to ensure that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda -. And that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology

Obama apparently also plans to mention Christopher Reeve in describing the decision on stem cells, which lifts restrictions federal funding of research on stem cells and load the National Institutes of Health to formulate guidelines within 4 months for using newly created lines:

Christopher once told a reporter that interviewing him

Christopher did not have this chance "If you come back in ten years, I foresee that I walk to the door to greet you.". But if we pursue this research, maybe one day - maybe not in our lifetime, or even in the lives of our children -. But maybe one day, others like him might

public health experts have long struggled to convince TB patients resistant to drugs to continue taking their drugs after they get better to eradicate resistant strains. But the monitoring of compliance was horribly difficult. A new solution, brilliant? Having patients urinate on chemically treated paper to reveal a secret code word or if urine contains evidence of the drug. The patient then calls a number and receives money or other prizes as an incentive. It is the MIT scientists fruit.

More details on the NIH draft guidelines on stem cells.

On March 9, Obama signed a decree that raised the bar of the Bush administration on funding lines derived after about 9 s August 01. But Obama has left the National Institutes of Health to work out the details, leaving unanswered the critical question of where the embryos could come. Many researchers would prefer to have the freedom to work not only on leftover embryos from fertility clinics, but also in human embryonic cell lines derived from embryos created for research purposes, for example, the skin cell of a patient suffering from a disease, so researchers could then use the cell line to study the disease in test tube experiments.

But NIH decided not to include embryos created specifically for research, despite the support of many scientists do. NIH Director Raynard Kington Acting told reporters during a conference call today that "there is strong, broad support" to allow research on cell lines from surplus embryos from fertility clinics, as shown in the legislation that has twice passed the Congress. "There is a broad support similar to not use other sources," he said, adding that "we do not believe that there is still no consensus even within the scientific community. " Moreover, Kington said, there are cell lines created by research cloning yet.

Even with the limitations, Kington predicted that "in a matter of months, we are likely to significantly increase the number of human embryonic stem cell lines eligible for federal funding, including cell lines with greater genetic diversity and lines with pathogenic mutations. "He said NIH estimates that up to 700 lines exist, although the number who qualify based on the number to comply with the draft policy. the proposals already submitted the NIH will be queued for review until the final guidelines are out.

the list of proposed rules to several conditions of a cell line must meet to be eligible, most involving obtaining informed consent for couples receiving fertility treatment are not required to donate their surplus embryos. the policy does not specify that embryos should be frozen rather than fresh, a possible restriction worries some scientists.

SAN DIEGO, California- Late in the afternoon of April 16, five days before the public learned about the current outbreak of swine flu, Michele Ginsberg received word of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that a 10 year old boy in the County of San Diego had tested positive for the rare infection. "I thought this could be the great, honestly," said Ginsberg, director of the epidemiology of the community of the county Health Agency of Human Services and San Diego. By "big one", meant the arrival Ginsberg as expected of a new strain of flu that humans had not seen before and could completely overwhelm the immune system, immunized.

Ginsberg said the two first cases surfaced that easily could have been missed, but new ongoing research projects in the San Diego area, both connected to the Naval Health research Center (NHRC) here, determined that something unusual was afoot. NHRC has developed sophisticated tests for influenza that can sort if the virus strain a or B, then the specific subtype based on two proteins, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, on the viral surface. "In the usual context, they would have a quick test and found both were positive for influenza A, and that's as far as it would go, "says Ginsberg. But the new tests could not identify the specific subtype, so the Navy sent the samples to the CDC.

NHRC has received little attention for his crucial role in the discovery of the American epidemic with what is known as H1N1 influenza A virus, so Science Insider requested a detailed explanation of its influenza program and how these cases have come his way.

Answers after the jump.

Q: When did the NHRC to increase its influenza surveillance capabilities?

Our expansion was largely the result of an initiative of the Department of Global Emerging Infectious System (DOD) Defense intensify surveillance for pandemic because of the crisis bird flu (H5N1). NHRC increased febrile respiratory disease surveillance programs among trainees to recruit soldiers and populations to existing ships and expanded in the dependent population in San Diego. Furthermore, in a collaborative effort with the CDC, we have developed monitoring the southern border of California and Mexico, which has been improved this year to deepen surveillance and increase the diagnostic training our Mexican employees through funding from the Department of State's commitment biosafety Program.

Q. How these swine flu cases do end the NHRC?

The first case, a 10-year dependent DOD, was identified in a test to evaluate a new diagnostic virus. April 1st, a patient's specimen sample was tested on the diagnostic platform. The result suggested a flu, but the subtype of the virus negative. Our screening questionnaire considered the low risk patient for infection of bird flu. For the study protocol, a second sample was sent to a third laboratory in Wisconsin. This laboratory and the laboratory of the State, has confirmed influenza A / untyped discovery. The specimen and an isolated virus were then sent to CDC for confirmation. The CDC has determined that the virus was influenza A / swine / H1N1.

The second case, a female of 9 years of Brawley, California, was sampled in the collaborative study with the project monitoring of infectious diseases Border CDC. What was thought to be a routine sample was sent to our laboratory the first week of April. Our initial testing has shown influenza A / typed virus. Other tests on the platform Ibis T5000, which infers the types H and N from several genomic signatures, suggested an A / swine influenza / H1. [Although most tests rely on known DNA sequence or antibodies to identify influenza isolates, the Ibis T5000 has a mass spectrometer and can identify unknown subtypes.] This was just when we received word of CDC on the first case. At that time, we knew we were onto something important. The CDC then confirmed an A / swine influenza A / H1N1.

Q: What was the reaction of researchers NHRC

The elusive nature of influenza viruses keeps us on our toes. Because of the obvious public health concern, we found it prudent to send the sample to the CDC for confirmation.

Q: How many specimens of influenza NHRC process during the flu season and it has increased since the discovery of this swine flu cases

NHRC regularly treats around 5,500 specimens per year, about two-thirds coming during the influenza season from October to February. Normally, late in the flu season, the number of specimens that we treat every week falls. In the 08-09 season, cases began to decline in late January. This decline continued until last week when the number of cases and the sampling effort among our civilian population has increased

Q:.? Have you ever had specimens before you could not type and sent to the CDC

This was the first

Q:.? do do NHRC monitoring only for San Diego County or for a larger area

Our monitoring is quite extensive. NHRC is the Navy's hub for conducting surveillance in population-based recruitment centers involving the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. We also carry the onboard monitoring 20 large Navy ships deck US in the three fleets in the Pacific Basin, deployed among the populations and of course along the border U.S./Mexico. We participate in monitoring during military exercises such as Cobra Gold in Thailand, and also collaborate in monitoring febrile respiratory infection with the Singapore army

Q :. Do you now have the ability to identify this strain of swine flu or even samples must be sent to the CDC?

We hope to have the reagents for swine variant soon. We are currently developing our own reagents. At this point, we can use advanced diagnostics such as the Ibis T5000 to detect swine viruses. That said, it is important to share samples with new CDC for public health. Both institutions benefit from this collaboration.

This is a question on the lips of everyone these days, with governments issuing contradictory warnings about avoiding the countries affected by swine flu. But travelers as nervous reconsider the planned Mexican vacation, officials of the World Health Organization (WHO) does not suggest travel be restricted, and they do not believe it will make a difference in the path of the virus.

Computer modellers have studied this issue, too, and they tend to come down on the side of the WHO things, even if not everyone agrees with them. A previous Science analysis of the issue by journalist Martin Enserink can be found here.

For healthcare organizations who fight against swine flu (recently renamed H1N1), it is a delicate balance: Be honest and clear without triggering panic. Officials of the World Health Organization, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and its European counterpart, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), seeking to strike the right tone, a challenge to all the more difficult by a sudden attack of media inquiries that threaten to overwhelm their systems.

The agencies manage by running information sessions in the daily press (during which they inevitably are less questions that journalists ask), the establishment of hot lines media, and work late at night to accommodate different time zones. They beefing staff and based on the training they received in the "outbreak communications."

In 04, WHO began to reconsider the way it has shared information about pandemics with the public, and the following year he published his five "principles of epidemics," based in part on lessons learned from SARS. "We struggled with SARS [and] we did not have a lot of risk communication resources or training to call," said Dick Thompson, who joined the WHO communications office in 01 after 23 years as a journalist Time magazine.

Since then, WHO has begun trust focusing, the first announcement, and transparency. "We trained representatives of more than 0 health departments and dozens of journalists" in these principles, says Thompson, now a consultant who heads the WHO media response to H1N1. "Quite often, countries are reluctant to say anything" about a disease outbreak, and when they do, they "overreassure." But really, he said, "you need to announce early: People are sick, people are dying you should talk" Sometimes transparency means that you have no idea what will happen-as.. servants, soothing voices generally have repeated again and again in briefings to the media this week.

CDC, meanwhile, added 50 new people to staff its information line where waiting 15 minutes for calls to the public to respond now to about 0 seconds. the agency receives 4,000 calls a public day and more than 2,000 e-mails, said Richard Besser, acting director of the centers Americans for disease control and prevention, in a press conference. the agency is "out there twitting well. I've never tweeted" before, Besser said.

ECDC, which was formed in 05, was used to make three or four calls a day journalists; now he is fielding hundreds. To make things more chaotic, H1N1 "started the weekend that crises always do," said Ben Duncan, a spokesman for the ECDC which was out skiing at the time. His "system early warning "consisted of media calls on his cell phone.

To handle the influx, ECDC began daily briefings earlier this week, which come after a "rehearsal" with scientists and officials that older journalists could ask, Granatt said Michael, who was director general of government information services in the UK and is now a consultant for ECDC communication operations. "These guys look at each other" talk to the press and the public, he said. "They now understand that they have to speak in relatively plain language" agree with each other to reduce fear, and especially "working on" Who is the man in the street will think of that? "

The threat of H1N1 swine flu appears to be easing, but the virus could come roaring back later in the year, and experts are now debating whether to produce a vaccine against pandemic influenza. A key problem is that almost all the vaccine against influenza in the world is produced using chicken eggs, and the production capacity is very limited. Many manufacturers are working on alternatives to the outdated technology for the production of vaccines, but those who will play a small role in the world should best be hit by an influenza pandemic this year, the World Health Organization vaccine expert Marie-Paule Kieny, told a news conference today. They could make a difference on the road, however.

Almost all vaccines against seasonal flu is made using a 50-year clumsy process, in which companies adapt the virus to multiply in chicken eggs, Growing the virus, then break open eggs and purify the key antigens which are needed to make a vaccine, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase molecules coming out of the surface of the virus. Overall, the process takes longer than 5 months. This is also how the vast majority of a vaccine against the pandemic would be made.

Most vaccine manufacturers are working on similar vaccines are grown in mammalian cells rather than eggs. This has several advantages: Manufacturers are less dependent on the supply of chicken that eggs that is difficult to increase quickly and may become vulnerable during the avian influenza outbreaks and could shave 10 weeks of leave of 22 weeks for necessary make a vaccine using eggs. It would also produce a vaccine that is safe for people allergic to eggs.

But much more convenient and cleaner, cell based vaccines do not promise a major boost in production capacity. Moreover, the success of the technique has been slow in coming, despite more than $ 1.5 billion in the Department of Health and Human Services US contracts to several companies to finance vaccines for clinical trials cells and intensify production. Novartis is the only company that began building a cell-based vaccine facility in the United States (North Carolina) with the help of a $ 487 million HHS contract awarded in January. It should be operational by 2012. No vaccine based on cells has not yet been approved in the United States, partly because obtaining regulatory approval is complicated.

In Europe, at least three companies licensed a vaccine based on cells, but none have actually started producing far. Solvay is building a plant in a small town outside Amsterdam several years ago, but technical problems delayed the start of production. "In terms of quantity, worldwide, [cell-based vaccines] only represent a small amount of the total," Kieney said today.

Some alternatives might be faster to scale up. Is furthest along Protein Sciences Corp. Meriden, Connecticut, which is a vaccine against influenza by infecting caterpillar cells with a baculovirus carrying the hemagluttinin gene. The company has completed clinical trials at an advanced stage for its vaccine against seasonal flu and is awaiting the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration this year; he plans to make a vaccine against swine flu in five weeks at its pilot plant production, says CEO Daniel Adams. This vaccine could be produced in many plants worldwide for the production of pharmaceutical proteins, which could allow production of enough vaccine for between $ 3 billion and 6 billion people in three months, said David Fedson, a retired officer of drug company living in France.

other recombinant vaccines that could really lead to an explosion of production capacity are further away. VaxInnate, a company in Cranbury, New Jersey, is developing a vaccine against the flu is in E. coli , which requires much less volume for the production of animal cells. It connects a portion of the hemagluttinin protein flagellin of bacteria to increase the response of immune cells. CEO Alan Shaw says the company could make enough doses for the state of New Jersey in a reactor the size of the gas tank on a barbecue.

"It is a much simpler production system," says expert vaccine against influenza John Treanor of the University of Rochester in upstate New York. Treanor notes, however, that this first new approach to stimulating immunity will require extensive clinical trials to establish that it is safe and works.

Cox was at the center of the storm in many respects: April 23, the day she learned that the single H1N1, first found in the US and also identified by CDC been spreading in Mexico, lightning struck his house and all but burned to the ground. Still, Mother's Day, May 10, Cox spoke with Science Insider length on ongoing studies at the CDC. She explained how scientists there sound the autopsy tissues, the immune system of those who received the vaccine against swine flu in 1976, older cases of swine flu infect humans, and how people manage currently infected infection. CDC researchers are also trying to develop improved diagnostics for the influenza A (H1N1) and to assess the potential value of the seasonal vaccination against this strain more closely, and the ability of the virus to evade antiviral drugs. Cox said the propensity of a specific influenza virus to combine with his parents and create a new strain-all this is a "triple reassortant" of humans, pigs and birds can have a coating of money because it could pick up genes from a parent that our immune systems have encountered and how to overcome

This is a condensed transcript of the interview, edited for clarity

Q: .. What research priority issues for you and your group
NC:. We will look at animal models and also autopsy of deceased patients tissues that have this disease to watch the pathogenesis

Q: What specifically you look
NC: We will compare the image that you see in the lungs of people infected with this virus with pictures of lungs of people who have died from seasonal flu to see if there are differences, and also to see if there is virus in the extra fabric where you would not normally find in people who have died from seasonal flu

Q :. there is evidence from previous 50 cases reported in the literature of swine flu in humans that different lung compartments are infected than in human influenza
NC: There have been so few deaths in the cases and no autopsy I know. There are additional cases. We just had a [ The ] New England Journal of Medicine Article 11 cases, and a number of unpublished cases we have to CDC of the past. But they also have, in general, are not very interesting

Q :. You are also looking at the antibodies in the blood of people vaccinated in 1976 against the swine flu. What you are looking
NC:. We will look to see if there is cross-reactivity of the antibodies of people given the swine flu vaccine in 1976 with the current virus

Q: You are looking for their today or samples stored antibody
NC: This stored samples. We do not have the ability to trace the 45 million people who are vaccinated

Q: .. You could probably find 100 of them
NC: Well, I'm one of them. I was a brand new postdoc here at CDC and of course I volunteered.

We expect that the antibodies induced by the vaccine against swine flu has decreased over the years, but there would be memory there. This question is one of the centers of interest and scientific courses of interest if you have been involved in the vaccination campaign against swine flu 1976 to see if there is some residual benefit. Regarding our current response, we would not say, "OK guys, if you had the vaccine in 1976, you will not receive the vaccine for it," assuming it is developed

Q: are you saying that you could see a certain level of protection in this older age group who received the vaccine 33 years ago
NC :. Correct

Q: Although early studies suggested that the seasonal vaccine provides no protection against H1N1 flu, you are looking at the possibility that this might not prevent infection, but still reduce the severity of disease
NC: We are looking very, very carefully serum panels from individuals who received different seasonal vaccines from various manufacturers and successive years what we. see is that the older you get, the more likely you are to have what we call cross-reactive antibodies to the new virus. We are not saying that this is a protective antibody. But we are looking very, very carefully the data.

We try to make the spectrum of ages that you would need to make recommendations on the use of seasonal vaccine. What is absolutely clear and confirmed by many groups is that for children 6 months to 9 years say, there is no pre-vaccination of cross-reactive antibodies or after vaccination with the vaccine against seasonal influenza

Q :. Is there evidence that anyone in Mexico or the United States who had a serious illness has been vaccinated
NC: All teams are looking very carefully at this. You'd be surprised how hard it is to track back and whether a person is vaccinated. Some people think we should be able to snap your fingers and have that data. And we do not do.

I assure you before giving you an answer that I go through the latest data I have, and I work on other emerging issues.

Q: I understand. I can not imagine that those who are
NC: .. You would not know

[On 13 May, Nancy Cox said CDC knew the vaccination status of 40 people hospitalized because of a confirmed H1N1 infection. Of these, nine reported having received the seasonal flu vaccine, but seven had underlying medical conditions that could have predisposed them to severe disease from influenza. "We're really not able to draw conclusions about vaccine effectiveness," she cautioned.]

Q: Shortly after the new strain has been detected, the CDC has developed and distributed a test that uses real-time analysis of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect. But this is not the ideal rapid test, is it?
N.C. No, it's not. It takes 3-4 hours for a response to the real-time PCR

Q :. There are quick tests on the market today. What are their limitations?
N.C. All rapid tests that are commercially available now that you say so is influenza A or B or just the flu. And there is variability between rapid tests commercially available to do so. Some of these, commercial approved rapid tests have become less sensitive to pick up seasonal influenza viruses A, and in addition, some of them seem to be less sensitive to pick up this new virus as influenza A.

Q: But how do you use these because they are not sub-type at all? You can not say that it is this new H1N1 virus.
NC: No, but in the face of an epidemic where you have very high attack rate, say in a school, you can use these rapid tests to determine, yes there is influenza A, we're having here, and you would be able to take samples from a subset of these children and sending them to the health department of the state for diagnosis with real time PCR.

Q :. This helps explain what happened in Mexico
N.C. Exactly, exactly. Because they used standard tests available, and immunofluorescence, and of course, they are not able to determine what it was because there is simply not the sensitivity. Now that they have the real-time PCR test is, they are able to test a large number of specimens.

Q: What about looking at how many people infected with the virus occur, viral shedding studies? What are you and what do you hope to learn from them?
N.C. We would like to know how long people could be infectious. So we seek both the amount of virus and duration so that we can try to understand the period in which people will be able to transmit the virus

. Q: And what is the average for influenza A
NC: This varies by population group, and that's what makes this so difficult. The children throw higher titers of virus for longer periods. Immunocompromised people throw higher titers of virus which can be very long periods of time. Normal, healthy adults probably shed the virus for 3 or 4 days

Q :. What about children
N.C. Children can shed the virus 10 days or more ?. But the excretion of virus transmission equal. You must be shedding large amounts enough virus to actually infect someone

. Q: How do you test for viral shedding? Is this a nasal swab every day? It seems complicated.
N.C. is complicated. You must have buffers series and try to make semiquantitative PCR or plaquing studies so you're measuring quantities of virus. And it is difficult to establish a standard method of sampling for they are equivalent daily

Q :. And you do not have Marcus Welbys door-to-door visiting people who have flu. How do you do? People are sick arrive?
N.C. We have field teams to do the studies, and they are very difficult to do. It is difficult to find infected people are willing to do and hard to put these studies into place. But they are important, and the National Institutes of Health is working on natural history studies as well. And you're more likely to do this kind of study for the most serious patients, for hospital patients

Q :. This H1N1 has not genotypic mutations known to cause resistance to drugs that inhibit neuraminidase [the "N" in H1N1]. But have you grown the virus in cultures and looked to see if the isolates could still have a resistance to these drugs, the so-called phenotypic testing
NC: With the neuraminidase inhibitors, we know not even the full range of mutations that can confer resistance. So to be sure we do not lack anything, we phenotypic testing

Q:.? Have you seen even isolates that are resistant
NC: No

Q: It is inevitable in the minds of some people that we will see co-infections with the new H1N1 other flus "seasonal", including human H1N1 currently circulating that is resistant to neuraminidase inhibitors. Can they restock as the new strain develops resistance to drugs
NC: co-infections occur frequently enough that we could very well be the emergence of an H1N1 virus with the seasonal N1, which is resistant, and hemagglutinin [the “H”] of this new virus. But the population would have some antibodies against the N1 seasonal virus that could reduce the severity of infection, providing a degree of cross-protection against the disease

. Q: reassortment may have opposition in the head end of the world scenario than the current strain could become resistant to all drugs. Do you still detected coinfections?
N.C. Not us. We are very, very carefully heterogeneity at each nucleotide position. So we would see the heterogeneity at different nucleotide positions if we see coinfections

Q :. What other studies are you that you think are really interesting, even if they are not as important from a point of view of public health
NC: The various theories of the origins of these viruses explored in detail. We are looking very carefully any additional data that is entered in the database that may give us additional clues about the interim we are looking for missing links. We also examine very carefully how viruses change once the avian influenza virus are introduced into pigs and humans. And we began to look hemagglutinin [glycoprotein], and there are some very interesting models that we will explore. We structural biology studies looking at what parts of the molecule change, trying to understand our observations that might mean in terms of the physiology of the host.

These studies help us understand not only what the virus are most likely to jump from species to species, but once they are in a new host, what types of changes are likely to produce. This can also help us determine how long the virus was in that particular host

Q :. I am interested in the Canadian swine herd. Canadians apparently have not completed the sequencing of the virus in pigs. The assumption that a carpenter working at the infected farm pork is not based on experimental evidence, and according to his own description, he swapped some vents to a barn and has no direct contact with pigs. It would be interesting to make a phylogenetic analysis of the virus in pigs and see if it is younger or older
NC: .. Exactly

Q: did this happen
NC: this is the veterinary people, the Canadian food inspection Agency, they are sequence analysis, and the last time I talked to my counterpart Canadian on the human side, Frank Plummer, was last Friday and his colleagues had not finished making the movie. He thought they would have the complete sequence in the coming days. And he, and everyone was really interested in looking at the sequences of these viruses. But from what he knew of his colleagues, the sequence similarity was very large. Of course, to see where he is phylogenetically interesting. Could it be a precursor or is it just clearly part of this epidemic

Q :? So you have not excluded the possibility that the pigs were infected first
NC: no, I'm not completely exclude anything. Until you see the data, you can not rule anything

Q :. Because the CDC is speed sequential measurement of isolates and position data in GenBank, you seem particularly able sequencing of these viruses. Have you asked Canadians to isolate this pig?
N.C. Before this outbreak, we have had experience with the triple reassortant swine that had infected humans, we had our primers and probes already ready to go. Our machine was already oiled and ready to go. We just had to do tweaking.

But we did not ask this isolate because we felt it was well in hand. And human disease is our disease pathways and animals is the way the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). As we work to the animal-human interface, and we work very closely with our colleagues from the USDA, we try to stay in our lane and use the data generated by those working on the side of the animal health.

Q: But in this case, you made the triple reassortant who moved from pigs to humans before. And there is this confusion of the lines, it seems to me that you are the perfect place to do it.
N.C. Correct, right. We are always happy, I mean, we never turn samples

Q :. Do you think the epidemic will grow from the current phase 5 to phase 6, a full pandemic -scale? There was a time when it seemed imminent and everyone said yes, and now it is
NC "Who knows, perhaps, not be ." L World health Organization is looking very, very carefully the spread to Europe to see if transmission and sustained community outbreaks. It is a sort of cape in this direction, but it is not there yet

Q:.? Are you surprised it's not there yet
NC: What we have been able to verify is that in the United Kingdom and Spain, they had advanced warning. By the time we had the disease, it was broadcast in the United States, spread really quickly. Europeans were able to screen travelers returning from Mexico or the United States, followed by ensuring that had a flu-like illness, put on Tamiflu [oseltamivir], to their contacts on Tamiflu. Some countries that have done this and not have very many cases to start have been able to really dampen disease

Q :. I also heard about your home, and that is the terrible moment.
NC :. If this were my only headache I would be happy at this point in time

Effect Measure, a lively and popular blog written by anonymous public health scientists / practitioners, has an entertaining riff on the confusion over whether to call the swine flu outbreak ' a pandemic. "The argument boils down to this," write the authors of the measure of the effect, which say the Reveres (after Paul Revere, a member of the first American Board of Health). "We should not call a pandemic a pandemic, because people might misunderstand that mean it is a pandemic. "

marmosets whose skin turns green under ultraviolet light can take a big role in the study of aging and neurodegenerative diseases in humans. A Japanese team introduced the gene for green fluorescent protein (GFP), a biomarker widely used in the smallest monkeys in the world and found the gene in the next generation of animals. Get introduced gene to pass from mother to offspring is a first in a non-human primate and is a step to breeding colonies with marmoset human disorders.

mouse Researchers engineering, rats, pigs and other animals for transporting the mutant genes that cause a variety of human diseases. But these animals are not quite like people to effectively model human aging and neurodegenerative diseases. There has been some success in the transfer of genes in monkeys ( Science NOW, May 19, 08), but these transgenic animals either died young or failed to transmit genes to their offspring.

In the new study, Hideyuki Okano, a neuroscientist at the Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo, and colleagues turned to marmosets. At about 20 centimeters high, the creatures are smaller than the other monkeys and cheaper to handle and at home. Marmosets are also more fertile: Mature females in 12 to 18 months and can withstand 4-6 children per year. Yet Okano's team had to overcome some obstacles.

The first was tweaking the standard gene transfer procedures. To add a new gene to a fertilized egg, researchers typically injected a virus carrying the gene into the space between the egg and a protective membrane that surrounds it; the virus then transfers the gene into egg cells. Okano and his team have made this process more efficient by placing the egg and the membrane in a chemical soup that caused the oocyte to shrink, thereby creating a vacuum inside of the membrane they could then fill of several virus particles carrying the gene for GFP.

The second improvement hinged on good timing. Once a gene is added to a fertilized egg, the transgenic embryos obtained must then be quickly placed in the stomachs of substitution of monkeys are at an optimum time in their menstrual cycles. The researchers found that they can control breeding cycles marmosets more effectively than other monkeys. This meant the team could relatively easily Okano have enough substitutes ready to receive the embryos just the right time.

The researchers injected the GFP gene into 91 marmoset embryos. They then implanted the embryos into 50 surrogate mothers, some of whom received multiple embryos. Four surrogates produced a total of five living descendants, all carrying the GFP gene as indicated by exposure of the skin to ultraviolet light, which causes it to glow, and using sophisticated genetic methods to confirm the presence of gene. One of these marmosets grew, apparently healthy, and finally produced a baby also carrying the GFP gene, reports the team in Okano Nature tomorrow .

In theory, researchers can now repeat the experiment, the addition of genes responsible for human diseases, such as those causing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson's disease (also known as disease name Lou Gehrig's disease). "This represents a step forward in the development of [animal] most appropriate models for human disease," says Thaddeus Golos, a reproduction biologist at the Research Centre of the Wisconsin National Primate in Madison. The marmoset has limits, however . rhesus macaques and other monkeys are genetically more similar to humans in a way that may be important for the study of metabolic and endocrine disorders, said Golos. and Okano emphasized that the virus of his team used in this experiment can carry that relatively small genes in embryos. as such, the technique must be modified for larger genes, such as one that causes muscular dystrophy.

For the past year, the biomedical research community of the United States was rocked by a Senate probe revealing that several prominent researchers failed to disclose properly heavy payments they received from drug companies. The National Institutes of Health is now looking to strengthen its rules to monitor conflicts of interest involving NIH grants. Yesterday, two academic groups heavyweights weighed on possible changes. They agree that scientists need to disclose more of their income, but reject other proposals.

Currently, recipients of NIH are accountable to their own institutions financial interests (consulting fees or stock, for example) "affected by the research" that exceeds $ 10,000 per year or 5% of the capital. This threshold is too high, says a letter to NIH of the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Association of American universities. the groups say the investigators should report directly or indirectly related to their research . for institutions to report to NIH, they would like to see a less "significant" threshold: $ 5,000 or 0.1% of capital for listed companies

the two groups also agree that the NIH should. gather more information on conflicts of institutions they manage. Under current rules, the institutions just say NIH that a conflict exists for a particular subsidy.

However, the groups did not think that the NIH should set any limit on financial conflicts, even for studies involving human subjects. Although AAMC and the AAU have recommended to their members that major conflict should generally be prohibited in clinical research, they say institutions need flexibility. The letter said that it is premature for NIH to require political conflicts for institutions (and individuals) because schools are still working on how to develop institutional policies.

"Imposing overzealous regulations could disrupt productive partnerships at the expense of science and the public," the letter warns. The comment period is open until July 7, and other groups and individuals are likely to weigh. But AAMC and AAU are very influential, so that finally the regulations will likely reflect closely what they recommend.

More than two dozen speakers, including an expert in dietary supplement and breast cancer advocate, vented frustrations today a lack of long-time transparency to the US Food and Drug Association. The unusual gathering, held in Washington, and webcast, is the most visible sign yet further efforts by the FDA to better communicate with the public and to clarify its scientific process. In the spirit of openness, the FDA has also launched a "transparency website" at the beginning.

The meeting was an opportunity for the FDA's various stakeholders to describe their effort trying to wring information from the often secretive agency. Bray Patrick-Lake, a young woman who participated in a clinical trial of a cardiac device designed to ease migraines, she and frustrations of a fellow participant described trying to communicate with the FDA after problems arose in the trial. Several speakers urged the FDA to release more information about its releases with companies, including discussions on medical treatments before they are approved or rejected. The agency normally will not confirm or deny whether the examination of an application for a new drug.

There are also a lot of confusion about how the FDA weighs scientific evidence. Public meetings, for example, advisory committees of the FDA, could reveal some problems with treatment, but the final action of the FDA seems to contradict what was up there. Diana Zuckerman of the National Research Center for Women and Families in Washington, says the silicone breast implants for example. In this case, the data presented at a public meeting several years ago laid the implants in a poor light; The product was then approved without a clear explanation, Zuckerman recalled. "We do not have access to find out why" FDA made the decision he did.

Not surprisingly, industry representatives are not big fans of the show-all and -Comes back they have with the FDA on a regular basis, mostly, they said, because of fears it could tip off the competition. Just revealing a meeting between a company and a particular branch of the FDA could be damaging, noted Andrew Emmett of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, if it suggests a company is considering expanding the use of a drug or a particular device.

the working group, which composed of senior officials from the FDA and is headed by the Senior Deputy Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein, will try to analyze how transparent it is ready. the group, who complained a speaker would do well to include those of the outside the agency, will use the meeting, comments on the blog, and other contributions to make recommendations to the newly installed FDA chief Margaret Hamburg later this year.

A survey of people working on HIV / AIDS in 71 countries in various forms of the United Nations have found that 31% expect the global financial crisis will impact the ability to provide antiretroviral treatment. These 71 countries have 3.4 million people receiving anti-HIV drugs. The survey, conducted in March by the World Bank and UNAIDS, is the foundation of a new report, The Global Economic Crisis and HIV Prevention and Treatment Programmes: Vulnerabilities and Impact . Other issues include the impact of the financial crisis on prevention and programs that target TB and HIV.

Since Canadian officials announced in May that pigs on an Alberta farm housed the new H1N1 virus that causes the swine flu outbreak, scientists have struggled to explain its origins. Researchers had hoped scrutiny swine virus isolates clarify things, but new sequences published on a public database yesterday had many unusual mutations that have raised more disturbing questions.

Many mysteries remain about the origin of the pandemic in humans and Alberta pigs received intense attention, as they were the first pigs found to harbor the virus. From the outset, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has rejected the possibility that pigs have spread the virus to humans, saying it was "highly probable" that the animals had become infected with carpenter working on the farm who had recently returned from Mexico with a respiratory illness. But the carpenter, Adrian Blaak says science Insider on June 24 that it has tested negative for the virus on several tests, the Alberta health officials have confirmed. However, the CFIA maintained a human probably infected pigs, as this farm is isolated and has no pigs from other sources. (Pigs on a farm in Argentina recently tested positive for the virus, and officials there also suspect that he was human to pig transmission.)

May 14, the CFIA sent GenBank, a base public data, the sequence of one isolate Alberta pork. evolutionary biologist Andrew Rambaut of the University of Edinburgh in the UK co-founded a website wiki on evolution and the origin of the new virus and that he had noticed an unusual number of mutations compared to human sequences . But with only one isolate, Rambaut had difficulty to understand. Then, on July 9, the CFIA published partial sequences of 10 more swine isolates; these, too, have not seen many mutations in the virus found in humans, he said.

Although Rambaut agreed that the most likely man infected pigs, he said he had trouble understanding the evolutionary relationship between pork and human isolates from Alberta. "At first glance, it seems that they are quite genetically diverse, and I fear that this could be interpreted to mean the virus are in some way the ancestral human epidemic," said Rambaut. But he suspects that mutations are a laboratory artifact. Specifically, if the swine isolates are older than humans, they must share the same mutations, he said. But these isolates pigs each have unique mutations apparently scattered willy-nilly. Rambaut released its preliminary analysis of the sequences of pig on its wiki site.

The intuition of Rambaut is that mutations can be introduced when Canadian scientists isolates prepared for sequencing. As a study published in 00 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found, increasing influenza isolates in eggs prior to sequence the mutations may be introduced. John Pasick CFIA, who helped sequence the swine isolates, said Science Insider that the laboratory has grown isolates in eggs. "It could be these mutations may be adaptations of virus growth in chicken embryos," said Pasick, who grew them in eggs, because he runs a laboratory for avian influenza.

A another explanation Pasick said, is that the swine virus had adapted to humans, and when he returned in the Alberta herd, he transferred to readjust to the pigs. "We find a little unusual mutations "Pasick said, adding that his group is preparing a manuscript dealing with his conclusions. He says they also have the original stamps collected from pigs and" time and resources allow, "increase the virus in a medium containing cells and resequence to see if the mutations were introduced by growing them in eggs.

A Senate spending panel equaled the request of President Barack Obama to the National Institutes of Health funding in 2010, a coup inch $ 442 million to $ 31.8 billion. This slight bump of 1.4% is less than half of the increase in the House of Representatives approved last week. After the full committee and the Senate approved the bill, it will be reconciled with the House version.

As President, work credits, Health and Human Services subcommittee Senate, led by Tom Harkin (D-IA), said that the NIH does not need more money because the recovery Act, it gave $ 10 billion to spend until 2010. Bill "was greatly influenced" by the financing of the Act, a declaration of the said committee. But the draft law does not include the president's request for big boosts to cancer and autism research, according to Jennifer Zeitzer, director of legislative relations for the Federation of American societies for experimental biology. FASEB is "satisfied" because the allocations specific disease are contrary to the fortuitous nature of scientific discovery, she said. FASEB hope a total higher number for the NIH in the conference with the House.

Here is an overview of some of the stories that we followed on science political blog of science insider:

on Proceedings of the national Academy of sciences will be stop a submission option for members, at its best, made several prestigious scientific times in difficult situations and, at worst, critics alleged, allowed the scientists to facilitate their way through the process of peer review.

Deliver its summary report yesterday in the White House and NASA, the commission Augustin surprise anyone by saying that the US human space flight program is "on an unsustainable trajectory." But while his call for a budget greater agency, his scruples to go to Mars, and its support for trade participation have received most of the media attention, the report also flags a largely neglected problem during his two months of hearings.

a leading prostate cancer researcher was prosecuted for making false allegations about a prostate cancer biomarker . In 01, Robert Getzenberg, now at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, claimed to have found a biomarker called EPCA-2. Now Onconome Inc., based in Redmond, Washington, continued Getzenberg in federal court for the presentation of scientific results over 6 years "have been and are imaginary," states the lawsuit.

In consternation of US environmental groups, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration authorized a plan for offshore aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico to enter into force. the agency also announced that it would create a national policy for marine aquaculture in the coming months. environmentalists are urging Congress to give the agency the ability to apply this policy, a power he does not have.

the Obama administration has announced it will keep Thomas D'Agostino as Chief US nuclear weapons complex . the decision was greeted with dismay by many in the arms control community and nonproliferation, who fear that it will be more difficult to implement the growing vision for the future without nuclear that President Barack Obama stated while maintaining the key figures in the Bush administration that the continued expansion of the nuclear arsenal of the country.

on Indian Space Research Organisation announced August 31 that it has the technical capability for unmanned mission to Mars and invites scientists to suggest experiments.

For more on these stories and the latest news and analysis of science policy, visit science Insider

An autopsy last week revealed that a geneticist who died mysteriously have succumbed to the plague. Malcolm Casadaban, 60, studied a weakened form and would benign bacterium responsible for plague, Yersinia pestis in his laboratory at the University of Chicago. Casadaban died Sunday, September 13 and an autopsy report 5 days later, indicated a high level of Y. pestis in his blood. No other cause of death was obvious, the university said.

A University team of scientists with the support of local health authorities and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is studying the issue. Until now in contact with Casadaban showed symptoms of plague. Investigators are focusing on whether the strain Casadaban worked on was different from other benign strains of the bacteria and if he had an innate sensitivity to the microbe. Results are expected in a few weeks.

A Homeland Security Bill spending that received final congressional approval yesterday will give the Department of Homeland Security 32 million $ next year to continue planning the National Facility Bio and Agri-Defense in Manhattan, Kansas. But the construction money for the controversial project to $ 450 million, where the researchers want to study anthrax and other deadly diseases, will have to wait until Congress is satisfied with the results of new studies, it has ordered determine if the laboratory can operate safely.

President Barack Obama has no new initiatives in his today's visit to the Massachusetts Institute of technology, where he highlighted the clean energy technology and the need for climate change legislation. But he did wonder if it would be able to leave the campus. "I understand a group of engineering students put my motorcade on top of Building 10," he joked. MIT archived webcast of his speech.

The US House of Representatives passed yesterday a bill, HR 3585, that would require the Department of energy to create a roadmap for the development of solar energy technology and get more participation from the industry. the project law requires that the industry subsidies to be examined on merit and increases of $ 250 million funding authorization to $ 550 by 2015 (current credit is approximately $ 0 million). DOE should establish a program R & D for recycling solar panels. No draft accompanying law was introduced in the Senate.

researchers in Germany published a study (PDF, auf Deutsch) yesterday showing how in 2050 the Germany could reduce its emissions by 95% compared to its 190 levels, while maintaining its standard of living. Renewable energy for electricity, traffic, and heating would be 60% of employment, the rest would come from industry, agriculture and waste management.

After avoiding a judgment of his animal research, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, offers to hire a vice chancellor of research for managing grants and compliance with federal rules.

concern seems to be rising in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in groups of people at low risk of cuts online to receive the limited supplies of vaccine against H1N1. A letter sent today CDC Director Thomas Frieden local health workers and urges that 35.6 million doses of vaccine is now available to first go to those most at risk of developing a serious disease of pandemic . Although the letter does not specify any particular problems, it is said pointedly, "the vaccine distribution decisions that appear to direct vaccine to people outside the identified priority groups have the potential to undermine the credibility of the program."

Genital herpes comes and goes - at least that what it looks like to patients. But a mathematical model published in the November issue 18 Science Translational Medicine suggests that herpes never slumbers. Instead, nerve cells pump continuously tiny amounts of virus in the life of a victim. If the conclusions are, it can be much harder to stop the patient transmitting infection than researchers thought.

As many as one in five people is infected permanently with herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2), the most common cause of genital ulcers of the skin. The virus is transmitted through sexual intercourse; After infection, it takes refuge in the nerve cells that have their endings in the genital skin. HSV-2 is not a problem in 80% of those infected, but a minority suffering from blisters and sores once or twice a month. For decades, most scientists thought the virus was just "off" in the intervals between epidemics, said William Halford, who studies herpes at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield.

But this view is under fire the past decade, researchers have shown that the virus is sometimes present in genital skin, even if no lesions are apparent. The new work, by infectious diseases researcher Lawrence Corey and his colleagues from the University of Washington and the Center for Research on Cancer Fred Hutchison, both in Seattle, goes even further.

Joshua Schiffer, a clinician and mathematical modeler Corey group built mathematical models from a large number of patients and virological data - including the amount of virus in the skin of patients who took four samples per day for 60 days. This is what seems to happen: the nerve cells lose tiny amounts of virus almost constantly in the genital skin. Frequently, a virus infects an epithelial cell, which in relation to a nerve cells are "real virus factories" said Schiffer They produce massive amounts of virus that can infect other epithelial cells nearby and can likely also infect . sexual partners in most cases the infected epithelial cells are rapidly killed by CD8 + cells, another type of white blood cells only occasionally does infection overwhelm the immune system, resulting in a lesion [

"It is impressive that they were able to build a model that makes sense of a large amount of clinical data," said Philip Krause, a researcher herpes to the Food and Drug administration of the United States. "It is a very thoughtful way of looking at the data." Halford said the document should help dispel the notion, still supported by many scientists of herpes, the virus "does nothing" between clinical episodes.

The results may also explain certain properties of Antiherpes drugs like acyclovir, says Schiffer. For example, in a case where the herpes patients acyclovir to prevent their infection from partners, the drug was only 50% effective. If virus shedding never ceases, these drugs have a much harder job, said Schiffer, in particular compounds, such as acyclovir that quickly disappear from the body of a patient. To really prevent transmission, the drugs should last longer or stop the shedding by nerve cells, he adds -. But it's a challenge

LONDON -At a press conference today, researchers, government and biomedical charity officials

the project, announced in 07, includes the Medical Research Council UK (MRC), the two charities Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK ( CRUK) and University College London (UCL). During the briefing, Paul Nurse, Nobel Laureate and British head of Rockefeller University in New York who is leading the development of scientific UKCMRI, spoke about the ambitions of the four partners. They create a multidisciplinary institution dominated by early-career scientists who will not be limited by departmental barriers or focus on a single disease or medical strategy. The institute says Nurse, a "simple goal :. Keep Britain at the forefront of biomedical research in the world"

Others at the briefing confirmed that UKCMRI house a "high class 3" installation of infectious diseases, which means that researchers will be able to work with the flu virus, but not even the most dangerous pathogens such as the Ebola virus, which require the next biosafety level. small animals such as mice, rats and ferrets, will be available for experimentation, but UKCRMI does not intend to carry out work on cats, dogs and primates.

many details of UKCRMI remain unresolved, not least that scientists from the National MRC Institute for medical research (NIMR) and London research Institute of CRUK will be selected to join the new institute. managers each research center recognize that not everyone will move to the new building; Both centers will be closed and the land sold to cover much of the cost of UKCRMI. NIMR staff in particular were worried about how many of them will move their famous house in Mill Hill outside London, and the statement by the head of the MRC Leszek Borysiewicz that a "large part" of NIMR relocating may not completely alleviate these concerns.

MRC also still get approval from the British government to its request for additional funds to build UKCRMI-MRC plans to contribute 45% to 50% of the cost, Cancer Research UK 25% to 30%, Wellcome Trust 20% UCL and 5% to 10%. And UKCMRI must still submit the construction plan to the local council. Some residents are expected to protest against the project, complaining that the land was originally designated for affordable housing or claiming to have research on infectious diseases in the heart of London, next to train hubs could spread pathogens across the UK and Europe.

Illustration: UKCMRI

Tasmanian devils can be fierce, but they are no match for a contagious cancer that decimated their population. Scientists have identified the cell type that gave rise to these tumors -. A discovery that can stimulate the development of a test or vaccine for the deadly disease

The stocky Tasmanian devil in black and white is an Australian carnivore related to kangaroos and koalas. In the mid 190s, researchers began to notice that animals die of what became known as the disease of the facial tumor devil (DFTD), a cancer that produces unsightly growths on the head and kills within months. According to some forecasts, DFTD could wipe out wild Tasmanian devils within 40 years.

DFTD is unusual because it is spread from animal to animal, but not by a virus, as some human cancers. Instead, the demons seem to spread the cancer cells themselves, mainly through bite. Rogue cells then settle into their new host and develop into tumors. But the type of cell that spawned the cancer has been a mystery.

To delve into the genealogy of cancer, molecular biologist Elizabeth Murchison of the Sanger Institute Wellcome Trust in the UK and colleagues used a called deep sequencing technique. Their approach was to analyze microRNAs - small strands of RNA that help control the activity of genes - from healthy tissue and tumors DftD. Each type of tissue in the body usually shows a characteristic pattern of miRNA production, and the team found that tumors of the devil clustered with samples from the nervous system.

The researchers also reduces the origins of DftD by determining which genes were turned on in cells of normal and cancerous devil. In their activity profile gene, tumors were most similar to the Schwann cells that isolate the nerves outside of the brain and the spinal cord by secreting an oily substance called myelin. For example, tumors periaxin make the distinctiveness of Schwann cell protein, which is part of the biochemical pathway of the myelin-how. The researchers reported in the last week the number of Science that DFTD probably first started when a Schwann cell or one of its less specialized precursor cells become cancerous.

Tasmanian devils are subject to a variety of tumors, and the results could lead to methods to quickly distinguish animals with DFTD, said Murchison. "We found specific genes that allow us to distinguish between what transmissible cancer and other types of cancer in the demons." She and colleagues suggest a diagnostic test that screens for periaxin. Another possible advantage is a vaccine that stimulates the immune system to eliminate the devil DftD cells -. Something, it seems to be

"It is a beautiful piece of work," says oncologist viral Robin Weiss of University College London. By revealing which genes are active in tumors, the study could also provide clues to how cancer cells survive and why they can jump from animal to animal, said Hamish McCallum disease ecologist at the School of Environment Griffith Australia. at the same time, says McCallum, results raise a question: "This is clearly something that cancer can play, so why is it so rare?"

The bees worldwide contribute about work worth $ 215 billion to agriculture, with industrial farmers often bringing swarms of bees to pollinate several hectares of a single culture. But is pollinating monocultures threaten the health of insects? A study published today suggests that forcing the bees to feed on only one type of pollen can reduce their ability to synthesize an enzyme needed to protect beehives of infection. "This is a very good first step," says behavioral ecologist Marla Spivak of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. "In the past, there have been studies on the protein content of acids and amino acids pollen, but no link between that to the immune systems of bees. "

bee populations in many countries, including the United States, seem to have declined markedly in recent years. many commercial beekeepers were devastated by a mysterious syndrome called colony collapse disorder (CCD), in which many worker bees disappear. Some research has suggested that the immune system of bees have been removed or are less able to defend hive against parasites. Entomologist Cédric Alaux of the french National Institute for agricultural research in Avignon wondered if the diet of bees could be changing their immune system.

"We know that in humans, the protein is very important for the immune system, and the beekeepers were told that protein nutrition was very important for bees, but no one had really tested" said Alaux.

Thus the team divided newborn bees Alaux local colonies into 80 groups and high in cages. Each group received a pollen preparations with a different protein content; some preparations include pollen from one flower type, while others were a mixture of pollen of various flowers. After 5 days, the team measured four chemical indicators of the health of the immune system of bees. To the surprise of Alaux, bees fed with the highest pollen protein showed no signs of a higher immunity. But when the team compared bees fed a varied diet with those fed only one type of pollen, they found something more interesting.

The bees fed pollen from a variety of plants showed levels higher by about 40% of a hormone called glucose oxidase, Alaux and colleagues report online on January 20 in the Royal Society Journal Biology Letters . Worker bees use this hormone for sterilizing food fed to the larvae, protecting the next generation and contribute to the collective immunity of the hive.

Next, the team plans to see if Alaux colonies resist infection in the field with various plants. They also want to know if the chemicals in particular pollen types can be linked to specific immune functions so that beekeepers can optimize the bee diet.

A similar hormone insulin accelerates the destruction of the bone caused by malignant tumors, a team of clinical pathologists found. "The study addresses a fundamental question," says Jonathan Waxman, an oncologist at Imperial College London. If confirmed, the findings could eventually point to drugs to slow or stop the bone damage caused by cancers.

Known as relaxin, the hormone had already been linked to cancer. previous studies have linked high levels of relaxin for endometrial cancer and aggressive prostate and cancers that spread bone, like the breast, thyroid, and myeloma. But if relaxin produced by cancerous tumors could stimulate bone destruction remained unclear.

indirect evidence suggested that it might said Alberto Ferlin and Carlo Foresta, clinical pathologists at the University of Padua in Italy and co-author of the new study. Relaxin belongs to the same class of hormones that produced in the testes called INSL3. In previous work with the mouse and human cells in culture, Ferlin and his colleagues have shown that, under certain conditions, INSL3 interacts with cells called osteoblasts that build bone. When the testes do not produce enough INSL3, bone mass decreases and osteoporosis occurs. "We thought that relaxin could trigger a similar effect," said Ferlin. "We were right."

The researchers demonstrated that by studying the effects of relaxin on cells in human bone culture. They found that the hormone stimulates osteoclast cells, which normally combine osteoblast activity by removing excess bone through a mechanism called resorption. By binding to a receptor molecule called RXFP1 on the surface of osteoclasts, resorption relaxin triggered runaway, causing osteoclasts to consume too much bone and release a large amount of calcium. In the body, such a calcium influx into the blood causes hypercalcemia, severe impairment usually associated with the presence of bone metastases. The researchers also found that relaxin promotes growth, differentiation and invasiveness of various tumors, particularly those that give bone metastases.

When the researchers added an anti-relaxin antibodies in cell cultures, the antibody prevents relaxin to bind with receptors and trigger bone lesions. This finding, they fall in the number 2 February Os , suggests that a drug based on this antibody or which inhibits the receptor relaxin may slow bone lesions while preventing hypercalcemia, said Foresta .

"It seems almost too good to be true," said Waxman, who said the results could be "the point of embarking on a journey" toward treatments that stop the spread of bone cancer. Find such a drug will not necessarily be a short trip, however. Regarding the targeting of RXFP1 receiver, Ferlin and Foresta say there peptides already available for this purpose. However, they also point out that a new drug designed to target the receptor would be completely new, so side effects are unknown.