Monthly Archives: April 2014

Stratifying arthritis treatment: a ‘tantalizing’ new step

Separated pills

In this guest post, Natalie Carter, Head of Research Liaison and Evaluation at Arthritis Research UK, looks at the findings of a new article published today in Arthritis Research &Therapy and tells us more about the latest developments in rheumatoid arthritis research. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that affects around 400,000 people in the… Read more »

Medicine
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Can we find a better way to diagnose malaria?

Anopheles_albimanus_mosquito

In 1907, Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. It was awarded for his discovery that it was possible to identify the parasites that cause infectious diseases – such as malaria – in the blood. Since then, the diagnosis of malaria has proved challenging and continues to rely heavily… Read more »

Medicine

Just one bite…

Anopheles mosquito – public domain CDC

When you think of an animal with a deadly bite, what comes to mind? A lion, a great white shark or possibly a crocodile. True, these animals can certainly take a large chunk out of you but, in the whole scheme of things, they have nothing on the deadliest biters: small arthropods such as mosquitoes,… Read more »

Biology Medicine

Rabies – does it have to be fatal?

800px-Military_dog_barking

Rabies is a reliable killer – the only known infection with a near 100% fatality rate. That is until 2004 when a pediatrician in Milwaukee, USA, tried an experimental protocol that saved the life of 15-year-old Jeanna Geise. Dr Willoughby’s treatment, published here, was to induce a coma to protect her brain from the disease,… Read more »

Medicine

OA: it's not just about the access

It has been over a decade since the launch of the first major open access (OA) journals by  BioMed Central and PLoS, but controversies still  surround the field. Many of these concern the legitimacy of some of the many open access journals that are now available. Of these, a subset of OA journals have collectively… Read more »

Medicine Open Access

Arthritis discovery hailed as ‘exceptional example’ of translational research outcome

feldmann-and-maini-225

Sir Ravinder Maini and Sir Professor Marc Feldmann were last week awarded a prestigious 2014 Canada Gairdner International Award for their discovery of anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) therapy for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.   Rheumatoid arthritis is a common, chronic, painful and disabling autoimmune disease that affects over 21 million… Read more »

Medicine