New candidate cancer drug does damage only in tumours.

A new drug turns lethal only when it reaches cancer cells. In healthy cells it is harmless. Though not yet shown to work in humans, it is a step towards a magic bullet to knock out tumour cells selectively, with minimal side effects.

The drug works in mice implanted with human tumours, say chemists Lutz Tietze and colleagues at the University of Gottingen in Germany. Before being treated with the drug, the mice are giv

New technique could help rapid detection of infecting organisms in hospitals and prove authenticity of foods such

Researchers at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (UWA) are about to put ultra-violet Raman spectroscopy through its paces as a new technique for studying biological materials.
Dr Roy Goodacre and colleagues in the Institute of Biological Sciences have been awarded a grant worth £306,291 by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to develop an

Researchers from the Basque University have discovered the relationship between E2F2 gene and autoimmunity. The Science Faculty team, leaded by Ana Zubiaga has published the results of its researches in the fifteenth issue of the Immunity magazine.

The team began analysing E2F2 gene and its family. This gene family is responsible for the cell proliferation and the aim of the research was to discover how they work. There are 6 genes on this family and experts do not know yet the reason why

A Commission survey on the patenting and publication by EU scientists and organisations from industry and academia involved in biotechnology and genetic engineering research, that highlights the need for support to and training of academics in the proper use of the patent system. Public research organisations can handle patent applications almost as professionally as industrial organisations and without significantly delaying the publication of results that are subject to patent applications. In cont

South Asian patients are less likely to receive treatment for coronary artery disease than white patients, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.

Researchers in London compared rates of coronary revascularisation (a procedure to restore adequate blood supply to the heart) in 502 south Asian and 2,974 white patients with heart disease.

Although the same proportion of south Asian and white patients were deemed appropriate to undergo revascularisation, south Asian patients were less likely

Homoeopathic remedies are no better than placebo for the treatment of asthmatic patients who are allergic to house dust mite, but there is a difference in response between homoeopathy and placebo, concludes a study in this week’s BMJ.

The research team identified 242 asthmatic people allergic to house dust mite. Participants received either homoeopathic therapy or placebo and were assessed over 16 weeks.

They found no improvement in lung function or quality of life between those tre

HIV patients at risk of a potentially fatal hypersensitive reaction to the antiretroviral drug abacavir could be identified by genetic testing before drug therapy has started, suggest authors of a fast-track study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.

The use of the HIV antiretroviral drug abacavir, a potent HIV-1 nucleoside-analogue reverse-transcriptase inhibitor, is complicated by a potentially life-threatening hypersensitivity syndrome in about 5% of cases. Genetic factors influencing the

Authors of a French study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET highlight the link between a specific strain of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus and a severe form of pneumonia in children.

Between 1986 and 1998, eight cases of community-acquired pneumonia due to S aureus strains carrying the gene for the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) were recorded in France, six of which were fatal. Jerome Etienne from the Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire of Lyon, France, aimed to assess the clinical feat

Alcoholics, especially those who relapse after frequent attempts to “dry out”, are damaging areas of their brain that recognise emotions, a University of Sussex study suggests.

Research on people’s responses to photographs of different emotional facial expressions shows that heavy drinkers who had previously tried to kick the bottle are more likely than either non-alcoholics, or alcoholics who had not previously experienced withdrawal symptoms, to read fear and sadness in all emotional expre

Scientists at the University of Sussex have provided the key to resolving a 30-year-old controversy in evolutionary biology: what proportion of the differences between similar species came about as a result of natural selection, and how many are just the result of ‘random genetic drift’. In a paper in this week’s issue of Nature (28 February), Sussex biologists put the ratio at 45:55.

The DNA sequences of humans and chimpanzees differ by less than 2% but this adds up to about 350,000 amino a

Research chemists at the University of Warwick have devised and patented a new process called Living and Controlled Radical Polymerisation which can cheaply and easily grow designer polymers (plastics). They have already used the process to produce a wide range of designer polymer designs that are now being tested by major companies for use in applications as diverse as hairspray, anti-obesity drugs and inkjet printer ink.

Previously “designer-polymers” could only be synthesised by resorting

A team of researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, co-ordinated by Professors Josep Egozcue and Cristina Templado, has shown for the first time that the older a man is, the more probable it is that his spermatozoa will present chromosome anomalies. This is the first time that a lineal relationship has been established with precision between these two factors. The conclusions of this study, published in the European Journal of Human Genetics, increase the importance of the father’s age in

Women are seven times more likely than men to admit to a partner that they have a sexually acquired infection, reveals research in Sexually Transmitted Infections. The findings were irrespective of age or type of infection.

The findings are based on three population surveys of sexual behaviour carried out in France in the early to mid 1990s. Two of the surveys comprised a total of around 7000 adults; the third dealt with just over 6000 adolescents from 15 upwards. All those surveyed were ask

The issue of insulin-dependent diabetes has long been discussed. No wonder, as the problem concerns more than 5% of the world population. However, despite the enormous efforts and funds spent on its solution, the scientists so far have failed to replace the injections with pills. The difficulty is that insulin (like any other polypeptide) gets easily destroyed under the influence of proteolytic enzymes in the stomach and small intestines. The scientists have tried a variety of means: insulin plasters

Nearly 500 years after forming in their parent plant, lotus seeds from a Chinese lakebed have sprouted seedlings of their own, researchers say. According to the lead author of a study detailing the findings, published in the current issue of the American Journal of Botany, the cultivation of offspring from seeds this ancient is “a first in plant biology.”

Biologist Jane Shen-Miller of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues collected 20 ancient lotus seeds on a trip to Chi

A team of researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has discovered a new mechanism that accelerates the shortening of telomeres (structures that protect the ends of chromosomes) involved in genetic instability and a predisposition to cancer. The research has been published in the journal Human Molecular Genetics.

DNA in higher organisms is organised into individual chromosomes, the ends of which are protected by structures called telomeres. Telomeres are very important in ma