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Scientists tackle deadly hospital superbugs

It infiltrates hospitals as microscopic spores. Its defences are so strong it can resist most antibiotics. And it kills three times as many people every year as MRSA. But scientists at The University of Nottingham are amassing an arsenal of weapons in preparation for counter offensive against the most deadly of hospital superbugs.

4 Jul 2007

War trauma set to increase in the UK

The number of UK veterans suffering the debilitating effects of war trauma is set to increase, according to a University of Nottingham academic.

4 Jul 2007

Intelligent people more patient in financial matters

Assuming someone gave you the choice of 100 euros today or 150 euros in a year's time. Which sum would you take? Scientists at the University of Bonn and the Institute for the Study of Labour (Institut zur Zukunft der Arbeit, IZA) asked 1000 adults in Germany this question.

4 Jul 2007

Compound found in elderberry could give a natural boost to skin

Forget expensive moisturisers and cosmetic surgery, a compound found in the humble elderberry could give a natural boost to skin.

4 Jul 2007

Human immune system in a test tube

Surgical instruments or implants that are contaminated with residual bacteria, or pyrogens, can cause blood poisoning in patients. Researchers are developing a test that imitates the human immune system in the laboratory, eliminating the need for animal experiments.

4 Jul 2007

New device rapidly diagnoses gastrointestinal disease by 'reading' the odour of biological fluids

A pioneering new device that could help over four billion adults and children who suffer from infectious diarrhoea in the developing world and reduce outbreaks of diseases such as clostridium difficile (C.Diff) in UK hospital wards is the winner of this year's University of Bristol's New Enterprise Competition.

4 Jul 2007

Autism symptoms can appear as early as 14 months

According to a new study autism can be spotted as early as 14 months which is much earlier than previously thought.

4 Jul 2007

Chocolate lovers rejoice - it lowers the blood pressure!

Chocolate lovers have a good reason to rejoice - new research says dark chocolate helps to keep the blood pressure down.

4 Jul 2007

Drug gets rid of those nasty memories

A team of scientists say they have found a way to dampen down the impact of bad memories in people's brains.

4 Jul 2007

Loss of sense of smell - early sign of Alzheimer's

According to a new study older people who have difficulty identifying common odors may be more at risk of developing problems with thinking, learning and memory.

4 Jul 2007

TB jetsetter not as dangerous as first thought

It seems the jet setting air traveller with tuberculosis (TB) is not quite as dangerous as first thought. According to a federal health official, American lawyer Andrew Speaker has a less severe form of TB than previously diagnosed.

4 Jul 2007

AMA sics drug salesmen on doctors charge groups at annual meeting

The big topic at the American Medical Association's annual meeting this summer was not Michael Moore's Sicko but the AMA's sic-ing drug salesmen on doctors by selling its database.

3 Jul 2007

Epilepsy increases suicide risk

People with epilepsy are three times more likely to commit suicide than the general population, conclude authors of an Article published early online and in the August edition of The Lancet Neurology.

3 Jul 2007

The future of engineering devices, systems and materials: made from bacteria?

Members of the public will get to see how revolutionary scientists and engineers are proposing to make counters, sensors, calculators and other devices out of living bacteria at this year's Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.

3 Jul 2007

Brits keep fit to look good, not reduce cancer risk

UK men and women say reducing their risk of cancer is last on a list of reasons to exercise, according to a national survey by Cancer Research UK and Cannons.

3 Jul 2007

Elimination of Chagas disease by 2010

A new effort to eliminate Chagas disease by 2010 will be launched tomorrow at a WHO meeting of disease experts and partners.

3 Jul 2007

Skin rash actually signifies better outcomes for pancreatic and lung cancer patients

The appearance of a rash in cancer patients treated with erlotinib (Tarceva) is strongly associated with longer survival, according to researchers from the drug's developer, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

3 Jul 2007

Rethinking therapeutic cancer vaccine trials

Ongoing therapeutic cancer vaccine trials have yet to show evidence of vaccines spurring a patient's immune system to shrink tumors -- yet patients who receive these vaccines in trials tend to live longer and respond better to subsequent treatment.

3 Jul 2007

Fat kills cancer!

Researchers in Slovakia have been able to derive mesenchymal stem cells from human adipose, or fat, tissue and engineer them into "suicide genes" that seek out and destroy tumors like tiny homing missiles.

3 Jul 2007

Discovery of method to identify how cancer evades the immune system

One of the fundamental traits of a tumor - how it avoids the immune system - might become its greatest vulnerability, according to researchers from the University of Southern California. Their findings, demonstrated in human breast and colorectal cancers, indicate that a technique for determining a tumor's "immune signature," could be useful for diagnosing and treating specific cancers.

3 Jul 2007