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The antiviral drug, valganciclovir, can lower the levels of Epstein-Barr virus in children with liver transplants, according to a new study.

Sleep-disordered breathing (also known as sleep apnea) is associated with an increased risk of death, according to new results from the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort, an 18-year observational study. Researchers found that adults (ages 30 to 60) with sleep-disordered breathing at the start of the study were two to three times more likely to die from any cause compared to those who did not have sleep-disordered breathing.

New preclinical research shows that cannabinoid cell surface receptor CB1 plays a tumor-suppressing role in human colorectal cancer, scientists report in the Aug. 1 edition of the journal Cancer Research.

Researchers have discovered that methadone, an agent used to break addiction to opioid drugs, has surprising killing power against leukemia cells, including treatment resistant forms of the cancer.

"Smart" contact lenses that measure pressure within the eye and dispense medication accordingly could be made possible using a new material developed by biomedical engineers at UC Davis.

A U.S. federal decision to permit the State of Michigan to spray the state's apple orchards with gentamicin risks undermining the value of this important antibiotic to treat blood infections in newborns and other serious human infections, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Normally percolation theory is used to describe the movement of liquid through porous material. A good example of percolation is when hot water is forced through ground coffee in an espresso machine. By moving through the coffee via the empty spaces between the ground coffee particles, the water picks up the flavor of the coffee. Scientists now report in Nature that the spread of the bubonic plague bacteria in Central Asia by gerbils, works much the same way.

A new study adds fuel to the growing controversy over how well the flu vaccine protects the elderly. The study of more than 3,500 Group Health patients, ages 65 to 94, found no link between flu vaccination and risk of pneumonia during three flu seasons.

Not all patients can tolerate the currently recommended cumulative dose of epirubicin. New models can help physicians calculate the epirubicin dose associated with a 5 percent risk of cardiotoxicity for individual patients.

A new study of a space-age, low-gravity training machine used by several 2008 Olympic runners showed it reduced impacts on muscles and joints by nearly half when subjects ran at the equivalent of 50 percent of their body weight.