A report in the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation has found that a group of drugs currently under development for the treatment of Type II diabetes caused both increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure in animal studies. These new findings regarding glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) receptor agonists suggest that the brain’s GLP-1 system has the ability to affect autonomic function, leading to changes in heart rate and blood pressure. A naturally occurring

While most scientists believe that allergies cause asthma, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are uncovering a second potential cause for this common respiratory illness. Their new model suggests that a viral infection in the first years of life may leave a lasting mark on the immune system, causing chronic respiratory problems later on. “While the allergic response may increase during an asthma attack, our research suggests that the anti-viral response also

Interrupting anti-HIV treatment for an extended period and then re-initiating therapy might be safe in some patients, according to a study by Northwestern University infectious disease experts. Chad Achenbach, M.D., and co-investigators from The Feinberg School of Medicine presented data from their research today at the XIV International AIDS Conference. In an observational study, 25 HIV-infected patients with viral suppression for at least six months while receiving highly active a

Smokers who inherit a particular genetic trait could triple their chances of getting lung cancer according to a report in the British Journal of Cancer.* While tobacco is the biggest cause of lung cancer. the risk of developing it varies. This has led scientists to believe that genetics may have a crucial role in deciding who is most susceptible to the disease. German researchers have found that a quarter of patients with the most common form of lung cancer carry a particular version of a g

Eating a diet rich in soya products such as tofu can affect the make-up of breast tissue, potentially reducing the risk of breast cancer, according to a new study* from Cancer Research UK.

Scientists have previously suggested that soya intake might contribute to the low rates of breast cancer in countries like China and Japan but research has proved inconclusive.

However, the new findings from a collaborative study involving scientists from the National University of Singapore, Can

Scientists at VTT and the University of Florida take immunotechnology to a new level

Mimicking the cell walls transport system by biocoated nanotubes opens novel possibilities for numerous applications

Living cells transport selectively molecules in and out through their cell walls. This process is remarkably accurate and efficient. In co-operation with Professor Charles Martin`s workgroup from the University of Florida, VTT`s Research Professor Hans Söderlund and Researcher

Dartmouth Medical School geneticists have discovered a new class of proteins that see light, revealing a previously unknown system for how light works.

The novel photoreceptors are part of the gears that drive biological clocks, the cellular timekeepers of the circadian rhythm, which paces life’s daily ebb and flow in a 24-hour light-dark cycle. Their identification also opens a window for genetically engineered drug delivery systems that exploit the properties of these newfound molecu

After 40 years of searching for the photoreceptor that controls multiple vital processes in fungi, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have discovered the protein that triggers this phenomenon.

Light regulates several physiological processes in fungi, including their ability to produce spores and the synchronization of their internal biological clocks, but their photoreceptors – receptors that are sensitive to light and are essential for most ongoing processes – were not

A study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET highlights a reduction in both HIV-1 incidence (the number of new cases) and prevalence (the number of cases in the population) from the beginning to the end of the past decade among a rural Ugandan population. Authors of the study conclude that the results could offer hope for other sub-Saharan countries where the HIV-1 infection rate remains high.

HIV-1 incidence rates in a community are a more accurate measure of epidemic trends than prevalence r

New screening techniques for Down`s syndrome are less effective than previously supposed, despite a government initiative to offer all pregnant women the new tests by 2004, finds a study in this week`s BMJ.

Researchers identified all cases of Down`s syndrome in eight district general hospitals in the Wessex region between 1994 and 1999. During these six years, 155,501 babies were delivered 335 cases of Down`s syndrome were identified.

Across the region, seven different screening pol

Temple healing practices may help to improve the symptoms of people with mental illnesses, according to researchers in this week`s BMJ.

The study was conducted at the temple of Muthuswamy in South India, known as a source of help for people with serious mental disorders. From June to August 2000, everyone who came for help was assessed by a trained psychiatrist on the first day of their stay in the temple and again on the day they left to return home, using recognised psychiatric rating scal

Researchers at Stanford University Medical Center have tricked cancer cells into self- destructing by briefly disabling a cancer-causing gene. Although the gene revs back up after deactivation, the brief hiatus gives the affected cells a chance to alter their cancerous destiny. This work in mice could open new avenues for treating some human cancers, researchers believe.

Cancer usually results after a cell accumulates a handful of mutations in cancer-related genes called oncogenes or tumor-

The average back garden may contain twice as many species as have so far been identified on the whole planet, according to a study published today by British scientists.

But gardeners would need a microscope to observe the massive biodiversity, which exists almost entirely among micro-organisms in the soil.

Using new methods of analysis, Dr Tom Curtis, of the Department of Civil Engineering, Newcastle University, England, and colleagues, estimated that a tonne of soil could contain

Genes that are inappropriately turned on play a critical role in triggering some diseases. For researchers, the trick is learning how to deactivate these genes to treat illnesses. In a step toward reaching that goal, scientists at Stanford University Medical Center have developed a gene-therapy technique to switch off genes in mice. The finding could potentially lead to ways of treating such diseases as cancer, hepatitis C and AIDS.

In plants and lower organisms such as flies or worms, rese

The Science Generation project which European research commissioner Philippe Busquin is presenting in Brussels today aims to make decision-makers, politicians and scientists, as well as the general public, better informed on action to be taken at the interface between life sciences and society. This project, receiving €1.44 million in EU funding, seeks to set up networks of scientists, students and journalists, extending into the regions, with colloquia and public opinion surveys and debates online

As film buffs queue to watch the new Spider-man movie, geography students from the University of Sussex have gone one better by discovering a new species of spider in the wild.

The second year undergraduates were taking part in a field course to the Seychelles, one of the most biologically diverse places on the planet. As part of this trip the students were responsible for helping to set insect traps in the Vallée de Mai, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Praslin, the second-largest island in