In what is the biggest shake-up of embryology laws in two decades, Britain’s lower house of parliament approved legislation allowing scientists to create animal-human embryos for medical research.

Despite opposition from religious and pro-life groups, MPs in the House of Commons backed the human embryology and fertilisation bill by 355 votes to 129. It will now go to a vote in the House of Lords, and could be law by November.

The wide-ranging bill, which has been debated …

Some 26 genes whose mutation plays a role in the commonest form of lung cancer have been identified by US scientists. The findings include genes that may be receptive to novel drugs or existing treatments used to tackle other tumours.

The haul, reported on Wednesday in the British-based science journal Nature, doubles the tally of genes fingered in lung adenocarcinoma, which accounts for around 40 percent of cases of lung cancer. Nearly nine out of every 10 cases occur among smokers …

A Japanese proposal to turn mosquitoes into “flying syringes” delivering vaccines has received funding to the tune of 100,000 dollars from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Foundation also awarded several other grants to scientists.

The charitable foundation created by the founder of software giant Microsoft said in a statement that the grants were designed to “explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve global health.”

The grants were awarded for research …

In what could be a major breakthrough in growing transplant tissue in the lab, molecular biologists reported Wednesday that they have grown prostates in mice from single cells.

The four-person team at the Californian biotechnology firm Genentech said they achieved the feat after identifying a primitive, powerful cell called a stem cell in mouse prostates.

The cell, known by its marker CD117, was transplanted below the kidney in lab mice, according to their study, publishe…

The United Nations said on Wednesday that China needs to revamp its food safety system, arguing an outdated and disjointed approach may have worsened a crisis over contaminated milk that killed four babies.

In a new report on food safety in China, the UN urged Beijing to adopt a “modern” food safety law and introduce other measures that would help build trust in the government’s ability to ensure the nation’s food was safe.

“The present system is managed by several laws a…

Bangladesh must act quickly to determine the extent of melamine contamination in milk products in the nation, the United Nations has said.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation, World Health Organisation and the UN Children’s Fund in Bangladesh said they were willing to offer the use of “internationally certified” laboratories to test for the industrial chemical.

Growing numbers of countries have pulled mostly China-made milk products from shelves after tests found they w…

Officials in the Seoul city government have announced plans to build 207 kilometres (129 miles) of cycle paths over the next four years extending to all corners of the South Korean capital in order to tackle global warming.

The 120-billion-won (88-million-dollar) plan is based on a “road diet” programme, under which the number of lanes for passenger vehicles in major roads will be cut to create new cycle paths.

It calls for the construction of 17 main cycle paths totaling…

A drug originally developed to treat leukaemia can halt and even reverse the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to researchers at the University of Cambridge.

In trials, alemtuzumab reduced the number of attacks in sufferers and also helped them recover lost functions, apparently allowing damaged brain tissue to repair so that individuals were less disabled than at the start of the study.

“The ability of an MS drug to promote brain repair is unprec…

In a major development, US researchers have been able to selectively erase memories from mice in a laboratory, thus raising hopes human memory afflictions like post-traumatic stress syndrome can one day be cured.

“Targeted memory erasure is no longer limited to the realm of science fiction,” the research team headed by Joe Tsien, from the Brain and Behavior Discovery Institute at the Medical College of Georgia, said in Thursday’s issue of Cell Press magazine.

The new tech…

The powerful Catholic Church has taken strong exception to a move to soften tough abortion laws in mainly Catholic East Timor.

Activists are backing a proposed law that would loosen the country’s blanket ban and allow abortions for women whose lives are in danger.

But church leaders have refused to drop their objections that the bill, scheduled to be voted on by parliament next month, violates basic religious teachings.

“The church is opposing this because the…

Worried Japanese parents are eager to marry off their children so they can retire in peace even as many adults in the country are opting to stay single even when they reach their 40s.

More than 200 parents gathered recently in the ballroom of a Tokyo hotel, many wearing reading glasses as they browsed a list of potential partners for their children.

Most of them were mothers and each parent carried at least 10 copies of their child’s photo and a personal statement to hand…

A new UN study is indicating that installing toilets and ensuring safe water supplies where needed throughout the world would do more to end poverty and improve world health than any other possible measure.

“Water problems, caused largely by an appalling absence of adequate toilets in many places, contribute tremendously to some of the world’s most punishing problems, foremost among them the inter-related afflictions of poor health and chronic poverty,” said Zafar Adeel, director of …

A new study says that Australian fathers spend only six minutes alone with their children on weekdays and leave most child-raising chores to their female partners.

In a study which also looked at parenting roles in Denmark, France, Italy and the United States, researcher Lyn Craig found that Australian fathers were among the most traditional.

“The difference between men’s and women’s lives when they have children is particularly pronounced in Australia,” Craig told AFP. …

A new study is speculating that obese people may have a diminished ability to experience the pleasure of eating, prompting them to overindulge to boost their satisfaction.

The study, published this week in the journal Science, found that obese individuals may have fewer pleasure receptors in their brains, requiring them “to take in more of a rewarding substance such as food or drugs to experience the same level of pleasure as other people,” said Eric Stice, a psychology researcher at…

In what could be a major breakthrough for medical science, scientists have revealed that a new class of antibiotics shows great promise in treating drug-resistant tuberculosis and other diseases caused by bacteria.

Researchers in the October 17th issue of the medical journal “Cell” said they discovered three naturally-occurring antibiotic compounds that can be used to create new medications, which can be administered to unleash “a kind of chemical warfare against other bacteria.” br…

The European Environmental Agency said Thursday that the 15 European Union countries who inked the 1997 Kyoto agreement on cutting greenhouse gases are collectively on track to meet their commitment, though individual performances vary.

“The EU-15 should meet its collective target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by eight percent for the period 2008-2012,” compared with 1990, a statement from the Copenhagen-based agency said.

Part of this decrease will come from emissi…

A project to make anti-AIDS drugs in Mozambique is being launched by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Brazil, long considered a model in the fight against AIDS, will invest 23 million dollars to build a factory to produce generic medications, the foreign ministry said.

Lula will sign the deal launching the project on Friday, with production of drugs expected to begin before the end of 2009.

He is also due to preside over the opening of an office …

The British minister for the newly-created Department for Energy and Climate Change has said the country will introduce a legally-binding pledge to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

The promise, which involves amending soon-to-be approved legislation that requires Britain to cut carbon emissions by 60 percent on 1990 levels by 2050, came after a recommendation to do so from a government-appointed committee.

“We will amend the Climate Change Bill to cut greenhous…

Indonesian prison officials have revealed that the HIV/AIDS infection rate is exploding in prisons in the country because intravenous drug users are being kept in the same overcrowded cells as other inmates.

“There should be a separation between people who have been convicted of drug-related crimes and other types of crime,” National AIDS commission head Nafsiah Mboi said.

About 27,000 of the 136,000 prisoners in Indonesia are drug users, she said.

Christian K…

On World Food Day, officials have warned that millions more are going hungry across the world as governments fail to deliver on promised aid.

Only a tenth of the some 22 billion euros in assistance for food and agriculture pledged for 2008 has reached the UN food agency, its chief Jacques Diouf said Thursday.

“Despite enthusiastic speeches and financial commitments, we have received only a tiny part of what was pledged,” Diouf said as he marked World Food Day at the Rome …

On World Food Day, the UN food agency has said that around one million Burundian children under the age of five suffer chronic malnutrition.

The World Food Programme, which runs 220 feeding centres in Burundi, said 46 percent of all children under five in the country were malnourished.

The World Food Day is meant to raise awareness on ways to alleviate hunger and malnutrition.

Burundi, one of the world’s poorest countries, is struggling from the devastation of…

A new study has said that children who try drugs or alcohol before age 15 run a greater risk of being substance-dependent as adults, contracting sexually transmitted diseases, dropping out of school or being convicted of a crime.

And girls who dabble in drugs and alcohol early on are more likely to become pregnant before they are 21, added the study, published in the October issue of Psychological Science, which followed 1,037 children from the age of three until 32.

At a…

The World Health Organization has revealed that there are at least two million mentally ill people in Afghanistan.

But in 2005 there were only 160 beds in the nation’s psychiatric facilities, it says., however there are more traditional methods offered for curing the afflicted.

With shaggy hair and beard, and mumbling incoherently, Sher Mohammed, 40, lies curled up under the shade of a tree to which he has been chained for a month.

This is the standard “treatm…

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How did Lewis Carroll produce the fantasy world of Alice in Wonderland and become famous?

Alice’s wonderland of rushing rabbits, magical brews, queen of hearts, shrinking sizes, Cheshire cats, pool of tears, knaves and tumbling cards did not blossom merely from Lewis Carroll’s imagination. Experts opine that the author who weaved the Wonderland has recreated, in his fantasy yarn, some of his experiences while grappling with migraine.

“Many of the descriptions conjured for Carroll’s stories were based on classic migraine experiences,” says neurologist Mary Ann Mays, M.D, of the Cleveland Clinic. “Only a person who had experienced these phenomena would be able to describe them.”

Today, “Alice in Wonderland syndrome” is a term used by neurologists to refer to a perception disorder that is characterized by hallucinations and visual disturbances –symptoms that are associated with the ‘aura’ that precedes a migraine.

A migraine is a traumatic experience, which the sufferer usually hates to recall. It is an intense, throbbing pain affecting one or both sides of the head. A migraine episode may last for a few hours or may extend for days; some are so severe that it incapacitates the sufferers, leaving them bed-ridden

It is still not clear why migraines occur although several triggers have been identified such as stress, pollution, noise, odors, certain medications, caffeine, champagne, red wine, processed meat, old cheese and chocolates. Hormonal changes and change in routine schedules are also known to usher in migraines.

Migraines seem to favor women, as they are three times more likely to suffer from the condition, compared to men. And it also observed that there is a genetic predisposition involved- the chances of the victims’ children being affected is higher than the children of normal individuals.

All about Aura

The word ‘aura’, which conjures up a surreal vision of subtle splendor, is actually an array of psychologic or neurologic disturbances that precedes a migraine episode.

Auras have a short life span; they may last for 5 to 20 minutes with their frequencies varying among individuals. Some experience it once in a lifetime while others experience it every day.

Auras comprise of symptoms such as vertigo, imbalance, confusion or numbness. Another intriguing feature of the aura is the dramatic visual effects or ‘special effects’-flashing lights, floaters, zigzag lines, complex colors and shapes.

Migraines are broadly classified into two- those with and those without aura. Although migraines with aura are less common , they are more challenging, medically, and can be more unsettling for the affected individuals.

The ‘one-eyed’ monster

In the ocular variety, which is the rarest migraine, individuals experience the ‘bizarre’ associated with the aura, but only in one eye. These symptoms are temporary and do not cause permanent damage. This is commonly followed by a migraine headache.

Some patients see blind spots or “holes,” which is actually a reference to the missing segments in a normal visual field. Shades of black or gray over the visual field are also viewed by some. Some people draw a comparison between these visual phenomena and the faulty patterns produced by an old television, with compromised reception. Others believe it is like looking through wet glass.

Although the experiences are similar for patients who experience ocular migraine and conventional migraine, there are differences.

One key difference is the source of the visual disturbances in the two headaches. In case of ocular migraine, the retinal blood vessels, inside the eye, play the trick, while the occipital cortex of the brain is the source of visual disturbances in migraines with aura.

Therefore, there seems to be some instant remedy for those affected with the ocular migraine. All they need to do is to close the affected eyes to stop the symptoms.

Taking the bull by the horn

Visiting a neurologist is not a bad idea for people who suffer from ocular headache. This would help to rule out other conditions, such as stroke or retinal artery thrombosis that produce similar symptoms.

Traditionally, anti-inflammatory agents have been used to treat migraines. Although not ideal for ocular migraines, the recently discovered triptans, are believed to be God –sent. A healthy life style with consistent patterns holds the key to a migraine-free existence.

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Nicotine could play a role in the development and growth of tumors in breast cancer, according to a new study published Wednesday.

Researchers studied for the first time the effects of nicotine on mammary cells and concluded the chemical found in cigarette smoke could contribute to cancerous growth.

“Although numerous studies indicate the role of nicotine exposure in tumor promotion, little is known about the effect of nicotine on breast tumor development,” said lead auth…

US scientists are reporting that one tiny brain cell is all it takes to restore voluntary movement of paralysed muscles.

In experiments pointing to new treatments for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury or stroke, monkeys learned within minutes to harness the power of a single neuron to activate muscles immobilised by drugs.

There are some 100 billion neurons in the human brain, and the study suggests an unsuspected degree of flexibility in the kinds of tasks they can …

Chinese state news agency Xinhua is reporting that 5,824 children are still receiving hospital treatment for kidney diseases caused by a contaminated milk scandal.

The figure was down to almost half that reported a week ago when 11,000 children across the country were said to be in hospital after drinking milk products laced with the toxic industrial chemical melamine.

Six of the children who remain under the care of medical staff are in serious condition, a statement fro…