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New research significantly improves our understanding of how insulin interacts with cells in the human body with implications for the treatments of diabetes.

Allergies and asthma are a continuing health problem in most developed countries, but just how do these ailments develop over the course of a childhood? In a population-based study designed to help answer this question, researchers in Norway found that 40 per cent -- or two of five -- of nearly 5,000 two-year-olds had at least one reported allergy-related disorder.

Researchers have discovered a potential new way to stimulate the immune system to prevent or clear a viral infection. By blocking the action of a key protein in the mouse immune system, they were able to boost immune "memory" in those mice -- work that may one day help doctors increase the effectiveness of human vaccines designed to prevent viral infections.

Researchers have identified a new disease mechanism and therapeutic approach for a type of advanced kidney disease that is a common cause of complications in patients with lupus.

Using combined and intensive treatments and restructuring care to treat obesity like other chronic diseases may help primary care clinicians and patients better address the condition, according to several new studies.

New research points to the drug rapamycin as a potential treatment for kidney disease. The study builds on past research and shows that studies performed on mice are more likely to translate to humans than previously thought.

The compound 7,8-dihydroxyflavone mimics BDNF, one of the brain's own growth factors, and can protect brain cells against damage in animal models of seizure, stroke and Parkinson's disease. 7,8-dihydroxyflavone is a member of a family of antioxidant compounds naturally found in foods ranging from cherries to soybeans.

Researchers have made a breakthrough in HIV research that had eluded scientists for over 20 years, potentially leading to better treatments for HIV. The researchers have grown a crystal that reveals the structure of an enzyme called integrase, which is found in retroviruses like HIV. When HIV infects someone, it uses integrase to paste a copy of its genetic information into their DNA.

Understanding of the particular cancer cells within a tumour that drive its growth could now advance more rapidly, thanks to new research. Scientisist now show how a crucial class of cancer cell, called cancer stem cells, can be investigated in the lab in ways that should greatly speed their study, and allow the development of drugs targeted against them.

Researchers have used high resolution genome sequencing to track a particularly virulent strain of MRSA as it traveled between South America, Europe and Southeast Asia. The findings shed light on how these deadly bacteria are able to spread from patient to patient in a single hospital and, on a larger scale of geography and time, between countries and entire continents.