http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/ NIAID News Releases en-us 10/8/2008 12:48:59 PM http://www3.niaid.nih.gov:80/news/newsreleases/2008/radnuc08.htm NIAID has awarded 25 new grants to develop new and better diagnostics and treatments for radiation exposure after a nuclear attack. 10/7/2008 12:00:00 AM NIAID http://www3.niaid.nih.gov:80/news/newsreleases/2008/commensals.htm A new study shows that the DNA of so-called “good bacteria” that normally live in the intestines may help defend the body against infection. 10/2/2008 12:00:00 AM NIAID http://www3.niaid.nih.gov:80/news/newsreleases/2008/HIV_evolution.htm New research indicates that the most pervasive global strain of HIV began spreading among humans between 1884 and 1924, not during the 1930s, as previously reported. The earlier period of origin coincides with the establishment of urban centers in the west-central African region where the epidemic of this particular HIV strain—HIV-1 group M—emerged. This suggests that urbanization and associated high-risk behaviors set the stage for the HIV/AIDS pandemic. 9/30/2008 12:00:00 AM NIAID http://www3.niaid.nih.gov:80/news/newsreleases/2008/diabetes_genes.htm New research from Stanford University scientists suggests that type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that develops in children and young adults, may not be due to bad genes but rather to good genes behaving badly. 9/19/2008 12:00:00 AM NIAID http://www3.niaid.nih.gov:80/news/newsreleases/2008/eNO_asthma.htm A new study shows that monitoring levels of exhaled nitric oxide in adolescents with asthma and adjusting treatment accordingly does not improve the course of their disease. 9/19/2008 12:00:00 AM NIAID http://www3.niaid.nih.gov:80/news/newsreleases/2008/Apobec3.htm Scientists have uncovered new evidence that strengthens the link between a host-cell gene called Apobec3 and the production of neutralizing antibodies to retroviruses. Published in the Sept. 5 issue of Science, the finding adds a new dimension to the set of possible explanations for why most people who are infected with HIV do not make neutralizing antibodies that effectively fight the virus. 9/4/2008 12:00:00 AM NIAID http://www3.niaid.nih.gov:80/news/newsreleases/2008/hiv_vax_rfa.htm Investigators from an array of life science disciplines are encouraged to seek grant funding through a new HIV vaccine research program of NIAID. Through a newly issued Request for Applications (RFA), NIAID will award up to $10 million in fiscal year 2009 for such studies. 8/29/2008 7:30:09 PM NIAID http://www3.niaid.nih.gov:80/news/newsreleases/2008/HIV_vax_NEJM08.htm Events of the past year in HIV vaccine research have led some to question whether an effective HIV vaccine will ever be developed. In the August 28 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, officials from the NIAID examine the extraordinarily challenging properties of the virus that have made a vaccine elusive and outline the scientific questions that, if answered, could lead to an effective HIV vaccine. 8/27/2008 6:58:35 PM NIAID http://www3.niaid.nih.gov:80/news/newsreleases/2008/1918_flu_pneumonia.htm The majority of deaths during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 were not caused by the influenza virus acting alone, report researchers from NIAID. Instead, most victims succumbed to bacterial pneumonia following influenza virus infection. 8/18/2008 7:09:12 PM NIAID http://www3.niaid.nih.gov:80/news/newsreleases/2008/leishmaniasis.htm Cutaneous leishmaniasis, a disease characterized by painful skin ulcers, occurs when the parasite Leishmania major, or a related species, is transmitted to a mammalian host by the bite of an infected sand fly. In a new study from the NIAID, scientists have discovered L. major does its damage by not only evading but also by exploiting the body’s wound-healing response to sand fly bites, as reported in the August 15 issue of Science. 8/14/2008 12:00:00 AM NIAID