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A new model illustrates how HIV evades the immune system. The study, in PLoS Computational Biology, incorporates detailed interactions between a mutating virus and the immune system.

Scientists have found a new way to study cancer that could be very useful for developing targeted therapies against tumors and possibly many other diseases. A data analysis revealed which genes are most tightly controlled in the cancerous tissues studied, yielding a new class of genes, in which only slight changes could affect gene function to elicit a sizable effect on a tumor.

Protective clothing worn by firemen and other emergency workers may soon get a germ-fighting upgrade. Researchers in South Dakota report progress toward the first Kevlar fabrics that can kill a wide range of infectious agents, including bacteria, viruses, and the spores that cause anthrax.

Video games — often regarded as nothing more than mindless entertainment for lethargic kids and teens — are proving to be an effective, new tool to motivate patients to perform rehabilitation exercises. The Burn Center is also employing a special add-on to the Nintendo Wii system, Guitar Hero III.

Singapore scientists found that certain substances from bacteria living in the human intestine cause the normally harmless Candida albicans fungus to become highly infectious. Once in the infectious form, the fungus is able to invade surrounding tissues and escape destruction by the body's own immune cells.

The first person in the world has been successfully treated with a new device designed to make it safer and easier for heart specialists to create a hole in the cardiac atrial septum. The hole, created by the NRGTM Transseptal Needle, allows cardiac catheters to cross from the right side of the heart to the left side.

Alzheimer's patients showed rapid improvement in language within minutes of a novel immune-based treatment. A new article provides preliminary evidence that the disrupted neural communication seen in Alzheimer's disease may be reversible.

In two complementary studies, scientists have developed a new method for reconstructing a cell's 'family tree,' and have applied this technique to trace the history of the development of cancer. So far, the scientists have been able to calculate the age of the tumor and characterize its growth pattern. The scientists believe cell lineage studies of cancer can eventually lead us to the root of cancer.

A new study by sleep psychologists is shedding light on why some people with life-threatening conditions do not adhere to medical treatment, even when "it's for their own good". Psychological factors had a powerful effect on whether people would accept effective medical treatment.

Zinc supplementation benefits children suffering from diarrhea in developing countries, but only in infants over six months old, Cochrane researchers have found. Their study supports World Health Organization guidelines for the treatment of diarrhea with zinc, although not in the very young.