Women who work during pregnancy are almost five times as likely to develop pre-eclampsia, concludes research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

In pre-eclampsia abnormally high blood pressure, blood poisoning, and swelling develop. Pre-eclampsia can be dangerous for both mother and child.

The blood pressure of 933 women in their early to late 20s was monitored over 24 hours while they went about their daily routines. The women were all between 18 and 24 weeks of pr

Optimism about the success of heart and lung transplants at the start of the 1990s is not supported by the evidence, shows an audit of the procedure, published in Heart.

Transplants continue to be hampered by the high death rates after surgery and a shortage of suitable donors, finds the study. Almost half of those waiting for a lung transplant will not receive one, and at least a quarter will die within two years of being listed.

All nine UK units performing heart, lung, or heart

Chemists put biological catalysts to work in clean industrial solvents.

In a move towards cleaner chemical processing, researchers in Spain and France have worked out how to use enzymes as catalysts using two ’green’ solvents: one to dissolve the enzyme, the other to dissolve the materials it transforms.

In some industrial processes chemists have replaced polluting organic solvents, such as chlorine and benzene, with supercritical carbon dioxide. This is the liquid

Research chemists have a found a class of synthetic molecules that could quite literally act as a key which could lock away sections of DNA into a closely wound coil preventing proteins from interacting with particular sections of DNA code. By locking up the DNA in this way scientists could stop particular sequences of DNA from activating biological changes that doctors or scientists would rather avoid, or wish to regulate closely.

Until now researchers trying to devise synthetic molecules t

Invading insect empire stretches 6,000 kilometres.

An invading empire has conquered Europe. One super-colony of South American ants, with millions of nests and billions of individuals, stretches 6,000 kilometres around the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, researchers have found.

Every ant in the colony treats every other as its nest-mate – even though they may be quite unrelated. The nests have buried their differences to create the largest cooperative unit ever discovered

Blood vessel prostheses work best when the biochemical and mechanical properties match reality as much as possible and when they are made of biodegradable material. To this end tissue technologists grow natural vascular wall cells, endothelial cells, in a biodegradable tube made of collagen. According to Professor István Vermes tissue technologists are overly concerned with developing stem cells, necessary to build blood vessels, and not enough with the development of the vascular skeleton or scaffo

Over-the-counter cough medicines could give early warning of bioterrorism.

Tracking over-the-counter sales of cough medications for unseasonable surges could be a way of spotting imminent anthrax epidemics, say US researchers 1 .

In the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States, scientists are working on ways to detect a biological attack quickly and so minimize its effects. Because a sore throat and cough are the first symptoms of anthra

Waiting lists will not be eliminated by makeshift measures like a policy on absenteeism or recruiting people returning to work after having a family. The best way to balance supply and demand in the health care services is the application of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and in particular telemedicine. These are care innovations of the future for which government will also have to open their pockets. This was the political message brought by prof.ir. Theo de Vries in his inaugural le

Hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder, dyslexia and antisocial or aggressive behaviour in children can be traced back to what they eat. According to Dr Neil Ward from the University of Surrey’s Chemistry department, some children can react to the additives, preservatives and colourants in food products, causing certain behavioural problems. “Parents should identify the products which cause the reaction and eliminate it from the child’s diet,” he said.

Dr Ward monitored groups of children

In the city, frogs do not feel as comfortable as in the wild nature because of dirty water, a lack of food, and dangers at every turn. That is why the life of frogs in urban areas is shorter. However, they do not leave these habitats, but adapt to them. Apparently, there are two ways to adapt: either become more tolerant or increase the number of progeny.

Every spring from 1998 to 2001, Elena A. Severtseva and her colleagues from the Biological Faculty of the Moscow State University

A crayfish’s urine scares off its enemies.

A well-timed blast of urine is the key to winning a crayfish fight, say researchers. The chemical aggression intimidates opponents into backing down.

Ecologist Thomas Breithaupt injected freshwater crayfish with a dye that made their urine glow green. He and his colleague Petra Eger staged fights between blindfolded crayfish ( Astacus leptodactylus ), to replicate the animals’ nocturnal habits1.

The eventual

They did not work with people; instead they examined rats of two lines. The rats of the first line were more anxious by their nature. Some rats were kept in groups, while others were kept in single cages. It is known that solitude is an unfavourable factor for rats.

The animals were given 0.1% solution of caffeine when they were thirsty. To measure the anxiety level the researchers examined the behaviour of animals in a cage with two sections: light and dark. More time the animal sp

Fungi that trigger allergies go under scrutiny.

Industry researchers have produced the largest study yet of airborne fungi in US buildings. The fungal fingerprints may help scientists understand their role in triggering allergies and other medical conditions.

Exposure to spores released by moulds is known to cause or worsen allergies and trigger asthma episodes in sufferers. Spores enter buildings through air ducts or open windows and can thrive in moist indoor conditions.

Long-term exposure to the weightless environment of space has significant effects on astronaut physiology, notably changing the skeleton and muscle. To meet the requirements of long-stay missions aboard the International Space Station, the European (ESA), French (CNES) and Japanese (NASDA) space agencies are jointly conducting ground-based research to evaluate ways of countering the adverse effects.

Countermeasures are tested on the healthy subject using an experimental model reproducing t

How do turtles survive long trips across the ocean? At the Society for Experimental Biology conference on Friday 12 April Ms Corinne Martin (University of Wales Swansea) will present evidence of energy-saving diving patterns adopted by green turtles to survive long ocean trips.

The turtles breed at Ascension Island, undertaking long-distance migrations greater than 2 300 km between the island and their feeding grounds on the Brazilian coast. During their trip across the ocean they don’t feed

The first public release of plant gene chip information is being launched at the Society for Experimental Biology conference in Swansea on Friday 12th April. Scientists from the Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre (NASC), part of a multi-million pound resource network, will announce a newly accessible plant gene chip database which is available through the internet.

Unlike in GATTACA, where a drop of Ethan Hawke`s blood or an eyelash could tell you what genes he had, gene chips can tell you