Scientists have long pondered the seeming contradiction that taking broad-spectrum antibiotics over a long period of time can lead to severe secondary bacterial infections. Now researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine may have figured out why. The investigators show that “good” bacteria in the gut keep the immune system primed to more […]
The human brain is a delicate organ, robustly defended. A thick skull shields it from any direct exposure to the outside world, and the blood-brain barrier keeps out any foreign substances that are circulating within. New research shows that the brain may have its own specialized immune defenses, too. In 2008, researchers at Rockefeller University […]
Researchers investigating UK samples have found no association between the controversial xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus (XMRV) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Their study, published in BioMed Central’s open access journal Retrovirology, calls into question a potential link described late last year by an American research team. Check the end of this review for a […]
Researchers from Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HZI) are investigating the development of novel therapies to make the old immune system young again. By comparing the immune responses of both, young and old mice, to bacterial infection they found that the number of macrophages, one of the major cell populations involved in the elimination […]
Dr. Philip Thorpe, Ph.D., lead researcher of the Bavituximab study [1] reviewed on this website, recently agreed to conduct an interview with The Behavioral Medicine Report. The original review of his research turned out to be a highly accessed article that justified a follow-up interview with Dr. Thorpe. I also wanted to clarify my understanding […]
Latent viruses and their damaging effects and possible cures are an intense focus of current research efforts. I not aware of any cure for these elusive latent viruses, who are virtually undetectable by the immune system during latent stages. Examples of latent viruses include herpes, Epstein Bar, and Cytomegalovirus. Latent viruses are suspected, and occasionally […]
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