The Meeting Brief for this issue features reports byBioMednews correspondents who covered the 90th annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (FASEB), held in Washington, DC, April 17-21, 1999.
Stemming the Silent Epidemic of Chlamydia
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Some call it the silent epidemic, one that's sweeping across the world and quietly wreaking havoc. Although there's mounting evidence that infections by Chlamydia bacteria contribute to infertility, arthritis, heart disease, and perhaps Alzheimer's disease, until now there has been no good way to prevent it. But a new oral vaccine, presented April 19, 1998, at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology's Experimental Biology '99 conference, not only protects mice from genital chlamydia infections, it also reduces the joint inflammation that can lead to arthritis.
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Reef diving may be relaxing, and wreck diving may be exciting, but plumbing the depths is not without its dangers. The most common ailment experienced by divers both young and old is decompression sickness (DCS), popularly known as "the bends." DCS occurs when the gases dissolved in a diver's blood expand too quickly as he surfaces, causing the formation of bubbles in a range of the body's tissues, in everything from bones to brain. Now scientists at the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center have come up with a way to help get rid of some of that excess gas, thus lessening the likelihood that a diver will get bent. At the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology's Experimental Biology '99 conference, researchers studying pigs under hyperbaric pressure report that feeding divers a gas-gobbling gut bacterium may one day help to prevent "the bends."
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American scientists have discovered a class of neuropeptides that prevent damage caused by alcohol in the developing fetal brain. Their findings, which were presented on April 20 at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology's Experimental Biology '99 meeting, provide a model for the role of these proteins in protecting against oxidative stress, and could have implications for the treatment of a variety of neurodegenerative diseases.
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Andrzej Krauze is an illustrator, poster maker, cartoonist, and painter who illustrates regularly for HMS Beagle, The Guardian, The Sunday Telegraph, Bookseller, and New Statesman.
Stemming the Silent Epidemic of Chlamydia
Chlamydia - detailed information on the clinical manifestations, classification, pathogenesis, epidemiology, and control of chlamydia. From the online Medical Microbiology Textbook, maintained by the University of Texas Medical Branch's Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Global Reproductive Health Forum: STDs/RTIs: Chlamydia - a rich collection of chlamydia links.
Chlamydia Control: Components of an Effective Control Strategy to Reduce the Incidence of Chlamydia Trachomatis - an overview of options in chlamydia control.
Some Facts about Chlamydia - basic information from the Centers for Disease Control.
Bacteria Save Diving Pigs from the Bends
Effects of Increased Dissolved Nitrogen From Scuba Diving: Decompression Sickness - detailed information on the physiology and medical aspects of scuba diving. An excerpt from Scuba Diving Explained. Maintained by the Mount Sinai Medical Center.
Underwater Medicine Program - essays on topics in diving medicine, features about diving physiology, medical updates for physicians, and related links.
Decompression Sickness - basic information on decompression sickness and its treatment and prevention.
New Peptides Prevent Brain Damage
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - a detailed overview.
Neuroscience on the Internet - includes links to discussions, newsgroups, and conferences of interest to neuroscientists.
Society for Neuroscience - has many online services available to members and nonmembers alike, including a membership directory and abstracts of meeting presentations. The society publishes The Journal of Neuroscience (online table of contents and abstracts available for free; full text available with paid membership) and the Neuroscience Newsletter, Brain Briefings, and Brain Backgrounders, which are all online and free.
Neurodegenerative Diseases - an HMS Beagle Cutting Edge debate.
Brains and Hurricanes - highlights of the Society for Neuroscience's 1997 annual meeting. From HMS Beagle.