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Communication between bacterial cells

To each other: by using signal substances they inform their neighbours as to whether or not it is worth switching certain genes on or off.

4 Apr 2007

Environmental contamination could affect the evolution of wildlife through changes in mating behavior

Female rats avoid males whose great-grandfathers were exposed to a common fruit crop fungicide, preferring instead males whose ancestors were uncontaminated, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have discovered.

2 Apr 2007

Why some people are better looking!

Researchers believe they have solved a mystery that has puzzled evolutionary scientists for years ... if 'good' genes spread through the population, why are individuals so different?

2 Apr 2007

New target for removing unwanted ammonia from the body

Thousands of people with liver and kidney disease die every year from too much ammonia in their blood, and scientists from the United States and Japan have found a possible solution.

2 Apr 2007

Innovation is what actually drives fashion change

Fashions come and go at a surprisingly steady rate, new research suggests, driven by a small minority of innovators amidst a majority of people copying each other.

30 Mar 2007

Crocodiles provide clues to new pain treatments for humans

Sydney University researchers have identified how crocodiles and other reptiles detect temperature - shedding new light on their adaptation to environmental changes and pointing to new pain treatments for humans.

14 Mar 2007

Aging boosts chances that a family line will be long-lived

Scientists have puzzled over just why organisms evolved aging as a strategy, and now there appears to be an answer. Allowing one individual to carry all the cellular damage inflicted over time, rather than dividing it between two organisms during reproduction, increases the chances that the individual's line will continue to reproduce for many generations to come, a new study indicates.

13 Mar 2007

Does having longer legs really make a difference?

Scientists have known for years that the energy cost of walking and running is related primarily to the work done by muscles to lift and move the limbs.

12 Mar 2007

Inaugral conference of Society for Acute Medicine to be held in UK

The Society of Acute Medicine has announced that the 1st International Conference for Acute Medicine is to be held at the Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre, Glasgow, on the 1st and 2nd October 2007, and will be officially opened by Dr Harry Burns, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland.

5 Mar 2007

Unlocking the mystery of skin renewal

Everyday we shed the outermost layer of our skin and replace it from within with new skin cells. Scientists from Cambridge have looked at the way that skin is renewed.

4 Mar 2007

PPD licenses dyslipidemia statin from Ranbaxy

Ranbaxy Laboratories and PPD, Inc. have announced that PPD has acquired an exclusive worldwide license to develop, manufacture and market Ranbaxy's novel statin for the treatment of dyslipidemia.

27 Feb 2007

New changes for UK pharmaceutical regulation

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officers from England, Scotland and Wales came together today to reveal plans for historic changes to the regulation of the pharmacy profession.

21 Feb 2007

Mathematical model predicts cholera outbreaks

In research done over the past seven years, Pascual and colleagues have found evidence that a phenomenon known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a major source of climate variability from year to year, influences cycles of cholera in Bangladesh.

18 Feb 2007

Determinants of disease presentation and outcome during cryptococcosis

CRNS and the Institut Pasteur conducted research in France on patients diagnosed with cryptococcosis which ranks second among fatal opportunistic infections in patients infected by HIV and who are profoundly immunosuppressed.

12 Feb 2007

Loss of a universal tRNA feature

Scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) report in the Journal of Bacteriology that two alphaproteobacteria lack the universal extra guanylate nucleotide typically found in the transfer RNA molecule tRNAHis.

7 Feb 2007

Human proteins evolving slowly thanks to multi-tasking genes

Many human proteins are not as good as they might be because the gene sequences that code for them have a double role which slows down the rate at which they evolve, according to new research published in PLoS Biology.

6 Feb 2007

FDA commits to safety

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today outlined a comprehensive commitment to the safety of drugs and other medical products.

30 Jan 2007

Salmonella survives better due to altered DNA

Since 1995 there has been a considerable increase in the number of infections with a specific type of Salmonella bacteria transmitted via food.

30 Jan 2007

Latin America attempts to increase access to emergency contraception

Governments across Latin America are attempting to increase access to emergency contraception -- which can prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of sexual intercourse -- despite "stiff resistance" from the Roman Catholic Church, Reuters reports.

9 Jan 2007

Handbook on Developing pharmacy practice - A focus on patient care

The traditional role of pharmacists is to manufacture and supply medicines. More recently, pharmacists have been faced with increasing health demands: an ever-growing and complex range of medicines, and poor adherence to prescribed medicines, have forced the evolution of the pharmacist’s role into a more patient centred approach (known as pharmaceutical care).

23 Nov 2006