immune system

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Pitt receives $2.5 million to simulate and analyze brain, immune system activity

In an effort to promote the application of mathematics to medical treatment, researchers in the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Mathematics will undertake a $2.5 million project to create models of how the brain and immune system function and change over time in response to certain illnesses, infections, and treatment.

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Immune molecule plays powerful role in avoiding organ rejection identified

When a mouse's immune system is deciding whether to reject a skin graft, one powerful member of a molecular family designed to provoke such a response can effectively reduce the visibility of the mouse's own cells and help the graft survive, researchers say.

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Vitamin D findings point to new treatment for heart failure

Strong bones, a healthy immune system, protection against some types of cancer: Recent studies suggest there’s yet another item for the expanding list of Vitamin D benefits. Vitamin D, “the sunshine vitamin,” keeps the heart, the body’s long-distance runner, fit for life’s demands.

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New PET scanning probe that will allowing monitoring of immune system

Researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have modified a common chemotherapy drug to create a new probe for Positron Emission Tomography (PET), an advance that will allow them to model and measure the immune system in action and monitor response to new therapies.

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Regulatory B cells exist, and pack a punch

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have uncovered definitive evidence that a small but potent subset of immune system B cells is able to regulate inflammation.

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Lower food intake has negative effect on immune system

Researchers studying deer mice have discovered evidence to support what mothers everywhere have long suspected: the immune system needs food to function properly.

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People with Job's syndrome lack specific immune cells

Scientists have made another major breakthrough--the second in the past year--in understanding a rare immune disorder called Job’s syndrome. Job’s syndrome is characterized by recurrent and often severe bacterial and fungal infections leading to outbreaks of abscesses and boils.

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Researcher finds new defense mechanism against intestinal inflammation

The body’s first line of defence against pathogenic bacteria that we ingest may not be the immune system but rather the cells that line the intestine. This surprising conclusion is just one facet of a study by Dr. Maya Saleh, a researcher at the Research institute of the McGill University Health Centre that will be published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe on March 12.

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Aromatherapy may make you feel good, but it won't make you well

One of the most comprehensive investigations done to date on aromatherapy failed to show any improvement in either immune status, wound healing or pain control among people exposed to two often-touted scents.

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Invisible bacteria dupe the human immune system

Scientists at the University of York have characterised an important new step in the mechanism used by bacteria to evade our immune system.

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Web will work wonders for the faint hearted

A new device could put the beat back into weak hearts - and free patients from a lifetime of anti-rejection drugs.

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Immune system protein starves 'staph' bacteria

One of the ways we defend ourselves against bacterial foes is to “hide” their food, particularly the metals they crave. A multi-disciplinary team led by Vanderbilt University investigators has now discovered that a protein inside certain immune system cells blocks the growth of “staph” bacteria by sopping up manganese and zinc.

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