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Research targets diabetes-related eye conditions

World Diabetes Day is on 14 November this year highlighting that diabetes is on the increase and to create awareness to aid prevention of figures growing larger. To help prevent diabetes becoming a burden to the NHS resources in the future, new research projects commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research's Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programme will evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of different screening tests used in diabetic eye care.

23 Oct 2008

Why some people have a better head for languages

Learning a second language is usually difficult and often when we speak it we cannot disguise our origin or accent. However, there are important differences between individuals with regard to the degree to which a second language is mastered, even for people who have lived in a bilingual environment since childhood.

23 Oct 2008

Self assembling "organic wires"

From pacemakers constructed of materials that so closely mimic human tissues that a patient's body can't discern the difference to devices that bypass injured spinal cords to restore movement to paralyzed limbs, the possibilities presented by organic electronics read like something from a science fiction novel.

23 Oct 2008

Providing pain relief with computers

Pain relief is big business - very big business - which is why Dr Adrian Mulholland in the School of Chemistry has just won an EPSRC Leadership Fellowship grant of nearly £1million, part of which will be used to further his research into designing drugs for pain relief. However, he never goes near a lab, doing it all from his computer.

23 Oct 2008

Women who are overweight and obese find healthcare access and attitudes a constant struggle

Women who are overweight and obese can find accessing healthcare difficult and stressful, according to research in the latest UK-based Journal of Advanced Nursing.

23 Oct 2008

Grant funds research on environmental link to breast cancer

A foundation that funds research that examines the environmental causes of breast cancer has awarded a grant to a post-doctoral associate at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

23 Oct 2008

Mouse genes guide search for human anxiety disorder genes

We are all familiar with the question - "Are you a man or a mouse?" What if the answer is "a little of both"? Because of the power of molecular genetics research in animals and the maturation of animal models, the path to identifying genes involved in particular types of behavior, such as fear, is much clearer in animals than in humans.

23 Oct 2008

Memory function varies after damage to key area of the brain

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have discovered dramatic differences in the memory performance of patients with damage to the hippocampus, an area of the human brain key to memory.

23 Oct 2008

The most effective anti-smoking ads scare or disgust

According to researchers in the United States, in order for anti-smoking adverts to be effective they must either scare or disgust the audience.

23 Oct 2008

Leukaemia drug may reverse multiple sclerosis brain damage

Scientists in Britain say a drug which was developed to treat leukaemia may also be a powerful new weapon against multiple sclerosis (MS).

23 Oct 2008

Scientists grow prostates from mouse stem cells

A team of molecular biologists in the U.S. have grown complete prostates derived from stem cells in the prostates of mice and they say the experiment represents a big step towards regenerating organs from a patients' own cells.

23 Oct 2008

Cracking the code of adolecent drug use

A University of Sydney researcher has won a grant to study how exposure to drugs during adolescence affects the brain and behaviour.

23 Oct 2008

Ministers urged to rethink rather than repackage $2 billion global response to infectious diseases

As the first globally co-ordinated plan for the planet's gravest health threats is hatched by government ministers from around the world this weekend, a new report sets out a 10-point plan for this new, globalised approach to infectious diseases such as avian flu.

23 Oct 2008

Depressed pregnant women have twice the risk of preterm delivery

Depressed pregnant women have twice the risk of preterm delivery than pregnant women with no symptoms of depression, according to a new study by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. The study is published online in the Oxford University Press's journal Human Reproduction on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

23 Oct 2008

Could brain abnormality predict drug addiction?

Scientists at The University of Nottingham are to use MRI technology to discover whether abnormalities in the decision-making part of the brain could make some people more likely to become addicted to drugs.

22 Oct 2008

Skin creams can actually dry the skin

Many people have noticed that as soon as you start using a skin cream, you have to continue with it; if you stop lubricating, your skin becomes drier than when you started. And now there is research to confirm for the first time that normal skin can become drier from creams. Izabela Buraczewska presents these findings in the dissertation she is publicly defending at Uppsala University in Sweden on October 24.

22 Oct 2008

Gene mutation in worms could further understanding of alcoholism in humans

The work follows a study carried out by Oregon Health and Science University, which suggested a link between a gene mutation in mice and tolerance to alcohol. Researchers at Liverpool have investigated this in worms, looking specifically at the role the gene plays in communication between cells in the nervous system.

22 Oct 2008

CytoDyn files new IND for Cytolin

CytoDyn, Inc. has filed a new IND for a study to reconfirm dose ranging and to "prove the principle" with a randomized, double-blind placebo controlled study of Cytolin, the Company's first-in-class drug for treating HIV/AIDS. This comes 13 years after the first IND was issued for the drug.

22 Oct 2008

Gene study sheds new light on lung cancer

A multi-institution team, funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today reported results of the largest effort to date to chart the genetic changes involved in the most common form of lung cancer, lung adenocarcinoma. The findings should help pave the way for more individualized approaches for detecting and treating the nation's leading cause of cancer deaths.

22 Oct 2008

UK teenage suicide rates on the decline

Suicide rates in those aged 10-19 in the UK declined by 28% in the seven year period from 1997-2003, shows a study published today in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Manchester, showed that the decline was particularly marked in young males, where rates declined by 35%.

22 Oct 2008