Researchers funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) have found mixed evidence about the value of cannabis-derived treatments for people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) but conclude that such treatments may be of benefit for some patients.
The researchers found little objective evidence that cannabis benefits people with MS but, subjectively, a majority of patients felt cannabis improved some of their symptoms.

The results of the world’s largest study to assess the medicinal

The Monty Python song was right: every sperm is sacred – if you’re living in the promiscuous world of chickens that is. Scientists studying the evolution of reproductive behaviour have shown that cockerels use sophisticated strategies to maximise reproductive return from limited sperm reserves.

University of Leeds researcher Dr. Tom Pizzari said: “When females are promiscuous, several males inseminate the same female, and their ejaculates compete inside the hen. This is ‘sperm competition’,

Cognitive abilities are influenced by an interplay of genes and environment. With regard to the genetic component, multiple genes are assumed to be responsible for interindividual variation in cognitive abilities. Despite tremulous progress in molecular genetics, little is known about specific genes that contribute to this complex behavior. In an attempt to further delineate the genetic component of cognitive abilities, the authors investigated the relationship between a genetic variation in the prio

The Human Cloning Policy Institute (HCPI) launched this week a major grassroots effort to head off a proposed ban on therapeutic cloning in the United Nations scheduled for vote this Thursday. The total ban is sponsored by Costa Rica and is supported by the United States. The Human Cloning Policy Institute is backed by Ian Wilmut (Dolly’s cloner), some of the world’s leading scientists, physicians and international law experts, including retired World Court judge, C.G. Weeramantry.

HCPI exe

Mayo Clinic researchers have identified a genetic syndrome — an inherited birth disorder characterized by learning disabilities, facial malformations, impaired organs and mental retardation. It has been previously misdiagnosed or undiagnosed.

Researchers also discovered the syndrome’s genetic basis: a rearrangement of DNA called “microduplication.” When microduplication occurs, DNA segments are repeated and this causes a surplus of genes. Microduplication is a little-studied mec

Investigators in the A.B. Hancock Jr. Memorial Research Center at Vanderbilt have identified a type of DNA damage caused by chronic inflammation as a potential risk factor for colorectal cancer.

The findings, published this week in the early online edition of the website of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (www.pnas.org), shed more light on the role that inflammation might play in cancer and suggests that measurement of this type of DNA damage might be useful in ass

Despite widespread attention to diet, calorie intake may not be a major factor in causing death by heart disease, according to a 17-year study of almost 9,800 Americans.

Instead, losing excess weight — or not becoming overweight to begin with — and exercising may do more to ward off death from heart disease, say Jing Fang, M.D., and colleagues from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York.

“The fact is that those who both exercised more and ate more neverthe

Variants of BMP2 gene as genetic risk factors for osteoporosis

Linking specific genes with common, complex diseases like osteoporosis is a tricky business. There are likely to be many genetic as well as environmental and lifestyle causes, and to find them researchers need large populations, abundant genetic markers, and extensive patient data. In addition to powerful genotyping resources, researchers at deCODE in Iceland can take advantage of a nationwide genealogical database of Icel

University of Leicester astronomers and biologists have patented a new way of analysing DNA from gene-chips, which may be used in laboratories and hospitals to diagnose diseases from a single drop of blood and compare gene expression in different samples.

The pioneering technique uses an instrument developed at the European Space Agency’s laboratories in Holland for the study of light from distant galaxies to overcome a problem that has previously dogged gene-chip research.

The genes that influence the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease may vary over the course of an individual’s lifetime, a new study by Duke University Medical Center researchers finds. The team’s results revealed two chromosomal regions not previously known to influence Alzheimer’s disease: one linked to the disorder in families that first show symptoms early in life and another in families with very late onset of the disorder’s symptoms.

While earlier studies hav

Amino acids have been found in interstellar clouds and in meteorites – but with some enigmatic omissions and tantalizing similarities to life on Earth. Just why some amino acids are present in meteorites and others are absent, and why they seem to prefer the same “left-handed” molecular structure as Earth’s living amino acids are questions that could unravel one of the most fundamental questions of science: Where and how did life begin?

“The bottom line is that you have these materials

Research aimed at understanding how lice feed off humans may lead to new methods to control the blood-sucking pest that can transmit fatal diseases.

In the November issue of the journal Insect Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Purdue and Harvard university researchers report finding lice genes that control the breakdown of their human blood meal into energy and waste. They also identified the first gene in lice that may impact the insects’ ability to fight off bacterial infections. The

New work shows how the developing placenta may cause the potentially fatal condition pre-eclampsia to develop through attempts to take over the mother’s metabolism for the survival of the foetus.

Pre-eclampsia can strike up to 10% (around 75,000) of pregnancies each year. This condition strikes in the second half of pregnancy, developing rapidly to give high maternal blood pressure and protein in the urine. It can lead to fits, and even the death of mother and baby. At present, the only ‘cur

Treatment also slows development of other tumors

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have dramatically slowed the metastatic spread of a highly malignant tumor in mice by disabling platelets with an experimental drug.

Based on earlier experiments, scientists had hoped the drug, ML464, would block the spread of a melanoma cell line into bones. They were pleasantly surprised to find that not only did the treatment block bone metastases, it also

Biomedical engineers at Purdue University have proven that bone cells attach better to metals with nanometer-scale surface features, offering hope for improved prosthetic hips, knees and other implants.

Conventional titanium alloys used in hip and knee replacements are relatively smooth – their surfaces possess bumps measured in microns – or millionths of a meter. Natural bone and other tissues, however, have rougher surfaces with bumps about 100 nanometers – or billionths of a meter – wide.

Rising systolic blood pressure is the clearest indicator for increased risk of death compared to other blood pressure measurements, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Their evaluation of blood pressure measurements and mortality risk found that diastolic and pulse pressure measurements were weaker indicators of mortality risk and their effect was more dependent on age and other factors. The study appears in the November 4, 2003, edition of the Annals of I