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Study suggests link between genetic basis of height and arthritis

In studies involving more than 35,000 people and a survey across the entire human genome, an international team supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has found evidence that common genetic variants recently linked to osteoarthritis may also play a minor role in human height.

14 Jan 2008

A good night's sleep could improve long-term memory

Scientists from the Medical Research Council's Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit (ANU) at the University of Oxford have discovered evidence that sleep is important for the stabilisation of memory.

14 Jan 2008

Most people with diabetes would benefit from statins

Most people who have diabetes would benefit from statin therapy, even if they have not yet developed symptoms or signs of vascular disease such as heart disease and stroke.

14 Jan 2008

Cleaning up the NHS

UNISON is urging health ministers to bring back hospital cleaners, whose number has almost halved in the past 20 years.

14 Jan 2008

Etanercept drug reverses early symptoms of Alzheimer's in 10 minutes

Scientists in the U.S. say a drug which can reverse some of the early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease takes effect within 10 minutes.

14 Jan 2008

Top expert says bird flu risk overestimated

According to a top animal health expert the H5N1 bird flu virus has now stabilised but the risk that it could mutate into a new dangerous form remains.

14 Jan 2008

Bird flu strikes again in Bangladesh and India

According to officials in Bangladesh bird flu has killed nearly 500 chickens at a poultry farm in the northeast of the country and as a result another 20,000 chickens have been culled.

14 Jan 2008

Chewing too much gum linked to excessive weight loss

German scientists have revealed a link between chewing too much gum and excessive weight loss.

14 Jan 2008

British Prime Minister in favour of presumed consent for organ transplants

British Prime Minister Gordan Brown is calling for a debate on organ donation and says he is in favour of a policy known as "presumed consent" ; this would allow for organs to be transplanted without consent.

14 Jan 2008

How to mend a broken heart - Scientists make dead hearts beat again

Scientists in America have been able to revive the hearts of dead rats and start them beating again.

14 Jan 2008

New motor system impairment diagnosing tool

Researchers from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid are developing a tool that will allow doctors to easily evaluate the degree and type of the tremors caused in the upper limbs by some neurological disorders.

14 Jan 2008

New method to identify genetic determinants of Alzheimer's

A rapid and accurate DHPLC assay for determination of apolipoprotein E genotypes has been developed by researchers from the Department of Medical Genetics, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.

14 Jan 2008

New folic acid seal helps women choose enriched grain foods to help prevent birth defects

Not enough American women understand that consuming the B vitamin folic acid every day can help prevent serious birth defects, and only 40 percent are taking daily multivitamin supplements containing this essential nutrient beginning before pregnancy, two recent surveys show.

14 Jan 2008

Best weight loss diet

Scientists at Aberdeen's Rowett Research Institute have shown that a high protein, low carbohydrate diet is most effective at reducing hunger and promoting weight loss, at least in the short term.

14 Jan 2008

MIT reports single gene can encode as many as four different functions

MIT scientists have found a new way that DNA can carry out its work that is about as surprising as discovering that a mold used to cast a metal tool can also serve as a tool itself, with two complementary shapes each showing distinct functional roles.

14 Jan 2008

MIT brain imaging study looks at cultural influences

People from different cultures use their brains differently to solve the same visual perceptual tasks, MIT researchers and colleagues report in the first brain imaging study of its kind.

14 Jan 2008

Memantine and Alzheimer's

In a study published this month in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, researchers from the University of Aberdeen report that the drug memantine, used for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and praised as "the first and only representative of a new class of Alzheimer drugs" works in fact similar to other existing compounds, and is beneficial only in a narrow concentration range.

14 Jan 2008

Dissecting the genetic components of adaptation of E. coli to the mouse gut

New insights into the evolutionary mechanisms that facilitate the remarkably fast adaptation of intestinal bacteria within their natural environment are provided in the January issue of PLoS Genetics by researchers from INSERM and INRA at University Paris Descartes.

14 Jan 2008

Barr Pharmaceuticals confirms patent challenge of Namenda tablets

Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has confirmed that its subsidiary, Barr Laboratories, Inc., has initiated a challenge of the patent listed by Forest Laboratories, Inc. in connection with its Namenda (memantine hydrochloride) tablets, 5mg and 10mg.

14 Jan 2008

Two different neural pathways regulate loss and regain of consciousness during general anesthesia

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine researchers have answered long-running questions about the way that anesthetics act on the body, by showing that the cellular pathway for emerging from anesthesia is different from the one that drugs take to put patients to sleep during operations.

14 Jan 2008