Health Research: New malaria test could lead to global eradication ♦ Breakthrough in tinnitus research ♦ Starved T cells allow hepatitis B to silently infect liver

New insight into inflammatory bowel disease may lead to better treatments A newly discovered link between bacteria and immune cells sheds light on inflammatory bowel disease, an autoimmune condition that affects 1.6 million people in the United States. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are the most common forms of IBD, an autoimmune condition that are thought to develop from genetic and environmental factors

Starved T cells allow hepatitis B to silently infect liver Hepatitis B stimulates processes that deprive the body's immune cells of key nutrients that they need to function. The work helps to explain why the immune system cannot control hepatitis B virus infection once it becomes established in the liver.

Using CRISPR, biologists find a way to comprehensively identify anti-cancer drug targets Imagine having a complete catalog of the best drug targets to hit in a deadly form of cancer. Imagine having a master catalog of such targets for all major cancers. Scientists have now published a method of doing precisely this, using the revolutionary gene-editing technology called CRISPR.

New malaria test could lead to global eradication of the disease One of the biggest difficulties faced by worldwide programs aimed at eliminating malaria is that the tests they use are not sensitive enough to detect all people who have the disease and need treatment. A study shows that a new test known as capture and ligation probe-PCR (CLIP-PCR) could diagnose the malaria cases that would typically escape detection and lead to new infections.

Breakthrough in tinnitus research could lead to testable model A major breakthrough has been made that provides new insights into how tinnitus, might develop and be sustained. Tinnitus is largely a mystery, a phantom sound heard in the absence of actual sound. Tinnitus patients "hear" ringing, buzzing or hissing in their ears much like an amputee might "feel" pain in a missing limb. It is a symptom and exposure to loud noise may cause it, some cases have no apparent trigger.