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| MORE WARNINGS AGAINST 'EXCESSIVE CLEANLINESS' |
| An over-hygienic environment during childhood can increase a child's risk of developing asthma and eczema, say UK researchers. |
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| SMOKING DECREASES MEN'S CHANCES OF FATHERHOOD BY IVF AND ICSI |
| Men who smoke reduce their chances of successfully fathering a child by either standard IVF techniques or by ICSI, according to research carried out in Germany.
Dr Michael Zitzmann told the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology annual conference in Vienna that smoking altered the DNA of sperm and he believed this hampered the development of the embryo. |
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| SEMEN MAKES YOU HAPPY |
| Semen makes you happy. That's the remarkable conclusion of a study comparing women whose partners wear condoms with those whose partners don't.
The study, which is bound to provoke controversy, showed that the women who were directly exposed to semen were less depressed. The researchers think this is because mood-altering hormones in semen are absorbed through the vagina. They say they have ruled out other explanations. |
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| EXAMINING THE HEALING MYSTERY OF ALOE |
| If grandma gets a bedsore, the best thing to put on it might be a plant that's been used for 5,000 years.
The mysterious Aloe vera has been a source for healing since Old Testament times, and a Texas A&M University researcher is trying to uncover just what the substances are in the plant that work wonders and how they do it so that more might be learned about treating wounds. |
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| INFLUENZA INFECTION ATTRACTS PNEUMONIA BACTERIA |
| Lung cells infected with the influenza A virus are more likely to bind with bacteria that cause pneumonia than uninfected cells, but this phenomenon can be reversed with antiviral treatment. Researchers from the University of Kansas Medical Center present their findings today at the 102nd General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. |
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| IT'S THE CAT'S MEOW: NOT LANGUAGE, STRICTLY SPEAKING, BUT CLOSE ENOUGH TO SKILLFULLY MANAGE HUMANS, COMMUNICATION STUDY SHOWS |
| After more than 5,000 years of human-feline cohabitation and enough elaborations on "meow!" to fill a dictionary, cats still haven't mastered language. But a Cornell University evolutionary psychology study ---- analyzing people's reactions to feline vocalizations ---- shows that cats know how to get what they want. |
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| U OF MINNESOTA STUDY: ADULT BONE MARROW STEM CELLS CAN BECOME LIVER CELLS |
| Researchers at the University of Minnesota Stem Cell Institute (SCI) have demonstrated, for the first time, the ability of adult bone marrow stem cells to differentiate in vitro as hepatocytes (liver cells) with hepatocyte phenotype and function. The findings will be published in the May 15, 2002 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. |
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| NATURAL COMPOUND USED IN INDIA REDUCES CHOLESTEROL BY BLOCKING METABOLISM-CONTROLLING RECEPTOR |
| UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas researchers have helped prove that a naturally occurring compound used for centuries as a dietary supplement in India can help lower cholesterol levels. |
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| HOPKINS SCIENTISTS REVEAL HOW SOUND BECOMES ELECTRIC |
| Scientists from The Center for Hearing and Balance at Johns Hopkins have discovered how tiny cells in the inner ear change sound into an electrical signal the brain can understand.
Their finding, published in a recent issue of Nature Neuroscience, could improve the design and programming of hearing aids and cochlear implants by filling in a "black hole" in scientists' understanding of how we hear, say the researchers. |
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| SOCIAL INSECTS COULD OFFER CLUES ABOUT GENETIC CONFLICT |
| Two Rice University biologists believe social insects like ants and bees could provide clues to why some animals -- including humans -- have developed a curious quality in which the genes of their parents vie in direct competition, waging a kind of biochemical war. |
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| MEN REGAIN EVOLUTIONARY DRIVER’S SEAT. MUTATION STUDY CONFIRMS STRONG MALE-DRIVEN EVOLUTION AMONG HUMANS AND APES |
| Researchers from the University of Chicago have estimated that genetic mutations – the raw material for evolution – occur 5.25 times more often in males than in females. This discovery should lay to rest any doubts raised by recent studies questioning the dominant role males play in producing mutations for molecular evolution. |
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| CELLULAR LINK BETWEEN SLEEP APNEA AND ATHEROSCLEROSIS FOUND |
| Sleep apnea, a disorder characterized by the temporary cessation of breathing during sleep, displays the same cellular and biochemical changes that are found in atherosclerosis, a disease in which the walls of the arteries thicken, harden, and lose elasticity, resulting in impaired blood circulation. |
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| HORMONE-RICH SHAMPOOS. ARE HORMONE-RICH SHAMPOOS MAKING SOME GIRLS ENTER PUBERTY EARLY? |
| If your daughter starts puberty early, you might want to check her shampoo. Unbeknown to many parents, a few hair products-especially some marketed to black people-contain small amounts of hormones that could cause premature sexual development in girls. |
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| HOW AGING CELLS RETIRE |
| Loss of protection at tips of chromosomes may explain why elderly cells cease to divide
As we grow older, our hair turns gray, our bones grow thin and, among other changes, our telomeres shrink. But, more than markers of the passage of time, telomeres, the tips of chromosomes, may harbor answers to the fundamental mechanisms of aging and cancer. |
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| HUMANS LIVE A DOG'S LIFE |
| A new theory claims that many human behaviours are a result of our long-standing relationship with dogs, and vice versa. |
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| INTERMITTENT SUN A PROBLEM FOR SKIN CANCER |
| Sitting behind your desk all week and then spending your weekends out in the sun is more likely to give you skin cancer than getting the same amount of sun spread out over the week.
This is the message behind a series of public lectures that summarise the last 100 years of research into the causes of cancer, being held over the next month at the University of Sydney. |
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| FANTASY IS NOT REALITY |
| The expression 'it's all a figment of your imagination' has taken on a new reality with research that shows that imagination occurs in a different part of the brain to the recognition of real objects. |
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| BRAIN HAS BUILT-IN GRAVITY |
| Neuroscientists say that the brain contains an internal model of gravity — which is why it's so hard to catch a ball in space.
NASA reports that Joe McIntyre of the College de France and colleagues discovered the phenomenon during experiments on board the space shuttle Columbia. |
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| VANISHING TWIN THEORY DEBUNKED |
| Contrary to the standard dogma, Australian researchers have found that twins have no less chance of survival as embryos than single babies. |
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| MEN HAPPY TO TAKE CONTRACEPTION |
| The first survey of Australian men's attitudes to hormonal contraception has found that an overwhelming majority would be prepared to shoulder the responsibility.
The researchers, from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Monash Medical Centre, asked the male partners of women who had recently given birth what contraceptives they used and how they felt about a male contraceptive hormone. |
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| PLANT WILT LINKED TO IMPOTENCE |
| Research into plants' response to drought has shown there is a chemical link between the process of wilting in plants and impotence in humans. |
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| BEYOND SWEET AND SOUR - THE TASTE OF PROTEIN |
| Our understanding of taste has been given a boost by American scientists, who have identified an amino-acid taste receptor. |
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| GENETIC LINK TO ENDOMETRIOSIS – UNIQUE ICELANDIC STUDY PROVIDES FURTHER PROOF |
| A woman has more than five times the normal risk of developing endometriosis if her sister has the disease, according to research published today (Thursday 28 February) in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal, Human Reproduction* (full-text article). |
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| STRANGE ENCOUNTERS OF A REFLECTIVE KIND |
| An Australian neuropsychologist is working on the causes of an unusual condition in which people fail to recognise their own reflections in the mirror. |
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| 'AAAS' SPEAKERS REPORT WORLDWIDE 'EPIDEMIC' OF OBESITY |
| Obesity, considered until recently to be an exclusively "Western" disease, now poses a serious threat to the health of developing nations, particularly children, say scientists studying this emerging "global epidemic of fat." |
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| TANNING LAMPS MAY INCREASE RISKS OF SKIN CANCERS |
| Users of tanning lamps may have an increased incidence of skin cancers and younger users may be at greatest risk, report Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) researchers. |
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| DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS SHOW LESS THAN THREE WEEKS INTO PREGNANCY |
| Female embryos exert a greater influence than male embryos over the hormone that nurtures early pregnancy, and the difference can be detected as little as 16 days after conception, according to new research published (Wednesday 30 January) in Europe’s leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction. |
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| VITAMIN C PREVENTS CANCER BY BLOCKING HYDROGEN PEROXIDE, BUT APPLE CHEMICAL WORKS EVEN BETTER, CORNELL AND KOREAN SCIENTISTS REPORT |
| Writing in the medical journal, The Lancet , scientists from Cornell University and Seoul National University offer a more precise explanation for vitamin C's anti-cancer activity. And they suggest that a natural chemical from apples works even better than vitamin C. |
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| PERCEPTION IS STORED IN SINGLE NEURONES |
| Tuebingen Max Planck researchers discover that our perception of diagnostic features is controlled by single neurones.
Perception is something that must be learned. As we recognize things in our environment we gather experience and this experience in turn colours our perception. This is nothing new, of course. But brain researchers are going one step further to ask how different kinds of information are integrated in the brain and what principles govern how perceived objects are represented there. |
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| IS THIS THE CELL THAT COULD REVOLUTIONISE MEDICINE? |
| IT MIGHT turn out to be the most important cell ever discovered. It's a stem cell found in adults that can turn into every single tissue in the body.
Until now, only stem cells from early embryos were thought to be able to do this. If the finding is confirmed, it will mean cells from your own body could one day be turned into all sorts of perfectly matched replacement tissues and even organs. |
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| UT SOUTHWESTERN SPACE RESEARCHERS PINPOINT MECHANISM INVOLVED IN LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS AFTER SPACE FLIGHT |
| In one of the most ambitious medical experiments ever conducted aboard a space shuttle, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas space researchers have pinpointed the mechanism responsible for the brief loss of consciousness and lightheadedness that many astronauts experience in the upright posture after space flight. |
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| IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN ALCOHOL AND ALLERGIES? |
| Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is a molecule involved in allergic diseases. Atopy - the genetic predisposition to develop IgE antibodies against some antigens in the environment - affects as much as 30 percent of the population, and is believed to be increasing in frequency. In addition to the influence of genetics and allergen exposure, serum IgE levels can also be increased by a number of factors that include parasitic and other infections, neoplasms (abnormal tissue growth) and exposure to certain environmental factors. A study in the January issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research investigates if alcohol may be one such environmental factor. |
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| INFANT IMMUNE SYSTEM IS STRONGER THAN MANY PARENTS THINK |
| From the moment of birth, infants are capable of responding to numerous challenges to the immune system, including multiple vaccines, according to a new report published in the January issue of Pediatrics. |
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| DO ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES INCREASE THE RISK OF MISCARRIAGE? |
| The strong magnetic fields produced by some electric appliances and vehicles increase the risk of miscarriage, claim researchers in California. Their findings also suggest that most previous investigations into the health effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) have been measuring the wrong thing. |
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| BUBBLY GOES TO YOUR HEAD |
| New UK research confirms that bubbly champagne really does get you tipsy faster than flat. In a study involving volunteers mingling at two different drinks parties, Fran Ridout from the University of Surrey's Human Psychopharmacology Unit found that people who drank fizzy champagne produced significantly higher levels of alcohol in the first 20 minutes than those who drank flat champagne. |
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| SMOKING INCREASES LIKELIHOOD OF IMPOTENCY |
| Men who smoke are more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction than nonsmokers, reports an international group of impotency experts in the November issue of the Journal of Urology. |
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| MUSIC - GOOD VIBRATIONS FOR DEAF |
| Deaf people sense vibration in the part of the brain that other people use for hearing, according to the results of a recent study.
This may explain how deaf musicians can sense music, and how deaf people can enjoy concerts and other musical events.
The study was presented at the 87th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America this week. |
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| TIME GOES FUNNY WHEN YOUR EYES MOVE |
| Scientists say they can now explain why when you first turn your attention to a silently ticking clock, the second hand can appear to move slower than normal, and sometimes even stop. |
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| THE OLDEST RECORD OF EPILEPSY |
| Ezekiel's visions may owe as much to disease as to divine inspiration. The Bible may contain the oldest recorded case of temporal lobe epilepsy. Ezekiel, the prophet whose visions are recorded in a book of the Old Testament, apparently had all the classic signs of the condition. |
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| WEAK SPERM COUNT DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN INFERTILITY, STUDY SAYS |
| The nation's most in-depth study of the quality of sperm in nearly 1,500 men shows that sperm counts previously thought to be abnormal do not always mean infertility. The University of Rochester Medical Center research is published in the November 8, 2001 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. |
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| BABOONS CAN THINK ABSTRACTLY, IN THE FIRST STUDY TO SHOW THAT A NON-HUMAN, NON-APE ANIMAL SHARES A CENTRAL ASPECT OF HUMAN INTELLIGENCE |
| Two baboons successfully used analogous thinking to match symbol arrays that were the 'same but different'. More non-human animals may be capable of abstract thought than previously known, with profound implications for the evolution of human intelligence and the stuff that separates homo sapiens from other animals. |
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| LEPTIN AND OBESITY: ALL IN THE HEAD? |
| In the absence of leptin signaling, mice, like humans, grow extremely obese and develop many of the common sequellae of obesity in humans, such as diabetes and steatosis of the liver. Introduction of leptin directly into the hypothalamus potently reverses the overeating and obesity seen in leptin-deficient animals. |
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| OPPORTUNITIES AND RISKS OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOOD |
| In its new publication, the Senate commission deals with issues concerning the objectives, application and legal framework of green genetic engineering. It comments on conceivable risks resulting from the cultivation and consumption of genetically modified plants or food and refers to safety precautions to protect the consumer. The statement focuses on food from transgenic plants. Animal food is to be dealt with at a later point in a separate publication. |
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| WEALTH OF NATIONS DEPENDS ON JACK FROST, RESEARCH FINDS |
| Why do the rich get richer and the poor stay poor? When it comes to nations, the answers may include frost, according to a study that for the first time links economic and new global climate data. |
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| NO INCREASED RISK OF BRAIN CANCER FROM ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS |
| Exposure to electromagnetic fields does not increase the risk of developing a brain tumour, finds a study of electricity industry workers, reported in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. |
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| GENES EXPLAIN WHY MEN ARE TALLER |
| Over 4cm of men's height is due to the combination of just two genes, according to a new study undertaken at the University of Melbourne.
The research, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism this week, identifies one gene on chromosome 15 and one on the Y chromosome as contributors to height in men. These genes may also help explain why men are taller than women. |
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| STICKY FINGERPRINTS. EVEN A PRINT SMUDGED BEYOND RECOGNITION CAN NAIL A CRIMINAL. |
| THE sweaty, greasy residue that forms a fingerprint might one day reveal the identity of a criminal as surely as the pattern of whorls and ridges.
Whenever we touch something, we leave behind a minute residue of proteins, salts and fatty acids. Because the exact proportions of these components vary between individuals, some forensic scientists suspect that a chemical fingerprint could be as unique as a physical one. |
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| YALE RESEARCHERS DISCOVER A GENETIC CAUSE OF HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE |
| Researchers at Yale studying a rare inherited form of hypertension have discovered mutations in two different genes that can cause this disease, clearing the way for new medications to treat both the rare and common forms of high blood pressure. |
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| THE ANCIENTS WERE RIGHT - DELPHI WAS A GAS! |
| The Oracle of Delphi was the most important shrine in ancient Greece and was considered the center of the world. It was a crucial pilgrimage for those seeking guidance from Apollo's mouthpiece, the Pythia, who gave cryptic answers to such matters as timing for planting crops, preparing for war, or resolving a moral dilemma. |
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| DOING DIFFERENT TASKS AT ONCE ISN'T EFFICIENT, ESPECIALLY WHEN SHIFTING TO LESS FAMILIAR TASKS |
| New scientific studies reveal the hidden costs of multitasking, key findings as technology increasingly tempts people to do more than one thing (and increasingly, more than one complicated thing) at a time. |
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| PAIN WAVES-TOLERANCE LINKED TO BRAIN |
| Pain tolerance linked to brain. Whether it's childbirth or a broken leg, why can some people "grin and bear" a painful experience while others find the agony overwhelming? |
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| KINSEY STUDY FINDS ADVERSE SEXUAL, EMOTIONAL SIDE EFFECTS OF BIRTH CONTROL PILLS RELATED TO DISCONTINUATION |
| The birth control pill can have significant adverse effects on sexuality and mood in some women, increasing the likelihood of early discontinuation, according to a study by the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University. Results of the study will be reported in the July issue of the journal Contraception. |
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| MILK PROVIDES UNIQUE BENEFITS IN VITAMIN E ENRICHMENTS OF PLASMA LIPIDS |
| Saturated fat found in dairy products may contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, while vitamin E, a lipid antioxidant, may have a protective affect against CVD. In research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Hayes et al. studied the potential of vitamin E to offset the potential CVD risk effects of milk fat by adding the vitamin to milk at different dosage levels, in different forms, and through different dispersion methods. In comparison to other forms of vitamin E delivery, milk had an enhanced ability to transport vitamin E to plasma lipoproteins. |
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| LIVER REGROWTH DEPENDS ON PROSTAGLANDINS |
| Small fatty molecules called prostaglandins promote liver regrowth after injury, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. |
|
| EXERCISE EFFECTS DEPENDENT ON TIME OF DAY |
| Peak athletic performance may be related to time of day, suggests a University of Chicago study being presented to the Endocrine Society's annual meeting, ENDO 2001, in Denver, Colorado, on June 22, 2001. The study shows that the response of the systems regulating energy metabolism and some hormones differs according to when in the day exercise is performed. |
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| WAR OF WORDS. WHY WOMEN HAVE MORE REASON THAN MEN TO FEAR THE GOSSIP'S TONGUE |
| MOST women may be physically weaker than men, but they have a formidable weapon at their disposal: gossip. Nattering to each other in this way could be why women form such strong social bonds, says anthropologist Nicole Hess from the University of California at Santa Barbara. |
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| ELDERLY WOMEN HAVE BETTER MENTAL ABILITY THAN MEN, DESPITE LESS FORMAL EDUCATION |
| Elderly women have a better mental function than men despite their lower level of formal education, conclude Dutch researchers in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. These findings challenge the view that a limited formal education is associated with lower mental ability and suggest that biological differences between men and women may be an alternative explanation. |
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| HEIGHT HAS BEEN LINKED TO LONG LIFE FOR MANY CENTURIES |
| It is now well known that tall people tend to live longer, but has this always been the case? A study of skeletal remains dating back to the 9th century published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health concludes that short bones have always been a marker of a short life, despite disease patterns being quite different today from those in pre-industrial Britain. |
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| COLOR VISION OUT OF THE CORNER OF THE EYE |
| Scientists from Sydney, Gottingen, and New York have now elucidated how color is perceived in the peripheral visual field. In most humans, color vision is best in central vision and is far less sensitive in the periphery. |
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| CLAY DISHWARE SHOWS THE FACE OF THE LOST TRIBE LIVED 1,000 YEARS B.C. |
| A face of a person lived 3,000 years ago has been found on clay figures remained from that era, which were discovered on the seabed near the coastal line of Papua New Guinea. |
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| PLANT GENOME CARRIES SECRETS OF LONG LIFE |
| The Arabodopsis plant is able to survive even without a ferment preventing it from aging. Researchers, who study chromosome ends of Arabidopsis thaliana belonging to the mustards family, discovered the existence of a genome responsible for aging. The said genome has a lot in common with a humans’. Experiments carried out with plants at the genetic level are likely to be crucial for medicine. |
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| HOW A WOMAN CHOOSE A MAN TO LIVE WITH |
| What makes a woman to keep fidelity to the man she chose to live with or, visa-versa, revising her choice, seeking a matching partner again and again? According to the GEO magazine, a partial answer to this question puzzling many people was given through a research on animals conducted by Swiss scientists. The outcomes of their research force us to differently look at the physiology of a man and his partner-searching strategy.
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| HOW MANY PERCENTAGES OF THE WORLD WE REALLY SEE |
| Daniel Simons, a Harvard's physiologist, and his colleague from the State University of Ohio, Mr. Daniel Levine, carried out an experiment which has showed that 50% of tested people were not able to recognize a substitute in a bulk of things in a room when they entered the room for the second time. |
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| WOMEN HAVE INBORNE WISH TO TALK |
| British scientists have tested 3,000 yearlings and found out, that even two-year girls talk more, than boys of the same age. That's the result of inquiry of these children's parents. |
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| HOW BUSINESSMEN AND BUSINESSWOMEN RESPOND ON CRITICISM |
| Good criticism is a gift for a man it’s addressed. If this man understands his mistakes and demerits, he will never do them once again.
It was found that women, on the contrary to men, more seriously accept criticism targeted at them, and take it into account as a good experience.
This situation happens because women, stepping up in the career hierarchy, have to overcome obstacles laid by men who think that there is no room for women in business. Therefore, increased requirements women face make them carefully take into account all their mistakes and demerits. Otherwise, women will not be able to compete with men dominating in business. |
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| PEOPLE'S NATURE RESERVATION CAN BE OVERCOME |
| Reserved people generally have some ingenious features and a special communication style when they contact other people in city transport, for instance. Very often they hold their hands in pockets and slightly decline the head, looking down. |
|
| HOW TO FIGHT WITH FATNESS? |
| Trying to get rid of the overweight quicker, many go on fasting or take excessive physical exercises. Meanwhile, this isn't the best way to grow thin, since it results in proteolysis of proteins, but not in splitting the fat, which is a chief reason of overweight. At the same time, metabolic processes start passing strongly disbalanced. |
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| SINCIPUT LOCATION AND MAN'S HAIRDO ALLOW TO DETERMINE MAN'S TEMPER |
| Sinciput location allows to come to a certain conclusion about the temper of a man. For instance, men with a right sinciput displacement as well as those who brush their hair rightwards are thought to be stronger tan those who brush their hair leftwards; the latter are considered as the weak-natured. |
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| EATING LESS LINKED TO HEALTHIER BRAIN IN OLD AGE |
| Eating less may be good for the health of your brain, and may help keep debilitating ailments such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases at bay. |
|
| DO NOT CHANGE LATITUDES TO STAY HEALTHY |
| Specialists noticed that when a man travels (with a high speed, at least not less than a speed of a passenger train) over the world to the North-South, his physical condition is changing. People with a high blood pressure sharply rising during such trips feel this phenomenon better than others. |
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| WHO IS SMARTER? |
| Geneticists say that the level of mental development of the children born of parents who are cousins is expected to be lower than that of "ordinary" children. This fact is confirmed,
in particular... |
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| HETERO-CHROMATIC EYES - A MIRACLE CREATED BY NATURE |
| Since the case is rather unique,
there are some human beings and animals with hetero-chromatic eyes. Despite an
apparent asymmetry of their face caused by a different colour of the eyes these
people and animals can own some peculiarities distinguishing them from
one-colour-eyed species of their class. |
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