Research by Hungarian fertility experts published on Thursday 10 June in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction, has revealed that the onset of the menopause may not be dictated only by the fact that a woman’s lifetime supply of eggs are running low, but also by changes in the seasons.

Analysis of reliable questionnaires from over 100 patients at the menopause clinic at Baranya County Teaching Hospital in Pécs, revealed that the spring and autumn equinoxes played a

Scientists funded by the UK’s largest biomedical research charity, The Wellcome Trust, have developed a drink that enhances the effectiveness of medication given to treat psychiatric illnesses such as mania and schizophrenia.

A team of researchers from the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University have found that they can achieve this, and probably reduce problematic side effects from traditional treatments, by supplementing medication with a specially designed drink. The drink, called T

During their tender youth, both the endangered fish species totoaba and the commercially important gulf corvina require the brackish water habitat provided by the shrinking Colorado River estuary, report researchers.

Although overfishing has been implicated in the decline of both species, commercial harvesting isn’t the only reason for the two species’ decline, the finding suggests. Since 1960, diversion of Colorado River water for human uses has greatly reduced the amount of fresh water t

Plant pathologists present research on food safety at APS Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California

Recent advances in food safety research are enabling plant pathologists to gain insight into how dangerous human pathogens, such as strains of E.coli and Salmonella, can survive on fresh fruits and vegetables and what can be done to control future outbreaks.

According to Steve Scheuerell, faculty research associate at Oregon State University’s Department of Botany and Plant P

Heat turns colonial algae into hotties.

When algae find themselves in hot water, the normally asexual organisms get all stressed out and turn sexual.

Blame it on the free radicals, says a team of researchers.

Colonies of the multicellular green alga Volvox carteri exposed to temperatures of 111 degrees Fahrenheit (42.5 degrees Celsius) had twice the amount of free radicals, oxidants that can damage biological structures, as unheated colonies. High levels of oxidan

Unwanted, pulled or poisoned, the lowly weed is sometimes better than its highly touted “herbal” cousins for preventing and curing a host of diseases, according to University of Florida research.

“If I had one place to go to find medicinal plants, it wouldn’t be the forest,” said John Richard Stepp, a UF anthropologist who did the study. “There are probably hundreds of weeds growing right outside people’s doors they could use.”

Stepp combed through scientific journals an

Findings may help point researchers toward future medical treatments

Mayo Clinic researchers report in the latest issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings that there may be an association between lower urinary tract symptoms and sexual dysfunction among older men. As the population ages, this finding will help further research that could help millions of men.

Lower urinary tract symptoms become common as men age and their prostates enlarge, restricting urine flow or altering their b

Symptoms experienced by women that are more severe or frequent than expected and of recent occurrence warrant further diagnostic investigation because they are more likely to be associated with both benign (non-cancerous) and malignant (cancerous) ovarian masses, according to a study in the June 9 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

“Ovarian cancer has often been called the ‘silent killer’ because symptoms are not thought to develop until advanced stages when cha

Researchers have uncovered a cellular mechanism that can alter the fate of progenitor cells that normally generate the lung, causing them to create gut cells instead. The findings, which are published this week in the top-tier Open Access journal, Journal of Biology, could help researchers hoping to use adult stem cells for therapeutic purposes. Brigid Hogan and Tadashi Okubo, from Duke University Medical Center, studied the lungs of transgenic mice that had developed under the influence of

Carnegie Mellon University biologists are the first to show that minor changes in the tail of one protein cripple yeast’s ability to assemble protein-making machines called ribosomes. The findings, published in a recent issue of Molecular Cell, ultimately could help scientists develop better drugs to fight fungal infections.

“Our findings are the first to link the structure of a ribosomal protein to a critical step in the pathway to assembling a fully functional ribosome,” explained Joh

Using a common worm as a model, researchers from Duke University Medical Center have identified specific genes within Salmonella that give the bacteria its ability to infect host cells.

They said their findings could ultimately lead to improved drugs to prevent or treat Salmonella infections.

The researchers found four genes related to the Salmonella’s “molecular syringe” that are required for the bacteria to have maximum potency in infecting the worm, known as Caenorhabditis

For one caterpillar, eating an unusual fruit may be the key to an easy food supply and protection against parasites, according to a team of Penn State researchers.

The Heliothis subflexa caterpillar is a specialist herbivore that eats only the fruit of Physalis plants which include ground cherry, tomatillo and Chinese lantern. H. subflexa’s choice of food turns out to have unusual benefits in the three-way struggle between herbivores, their predatory wasps and the plants.

“We

Manx shearwaters marry for life and share the incubation and feeding of their single chick. Dr Keith Hamer of Leeds University’s School of Biology has discovered that males consistently provide more food than their wives, but it’s not because they’re better parents – they just don’t listen.

By dangling microphones into burrows of nesting shearwaters, Dr Hamer and Cardiff University colleagues Petra Quillfeldt and Juan Masselo found differences in the way shearwaters respond to the begging ca

Epilepsy drugs can increase the rate of bone loss in older women, according to a study published in the June 8 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Women over age 65 who were taking drugs for epilepsy were losing bone mass at nearly twice the rate of women who were not taking epilepsy drugs.

“If this rate of bone loss is not addressed, the risk of hip fracture for these women will jump by 29 percent over five years,” said study author Kris

Phase I trial shows experimental drug is safe and lowers level of key blood protein

Keck School of Medicine of USC researchers have reported that the antiangiogenesis drug they developed—called Veglin—not only is safe for patients with a wide variety of cancers, but also lowers levels of a key protein that tumors need to grow and stabilizes or even reverses some cancers for a period.

Alexandra M. Levine, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Medicine and chief of hematology at t

Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania today presented the first comprehensive study results which show that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is significantly better than traditional mammography for detecting the presence and extent of disease in patients with a diagnosis of breast cancer. The research has significant implications for women considering surgical options – other than a full mastectomy – to remove their breast cancer, such as a lumpectomy. Indeed,