The way antibiotic resistance spreads and possible problems from genes transferring have been identified by researchers from the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, in new evidence about the way genes pass from one bacterium to another. The research is presented today, Monday 7 April 2003, by Dr Karen Scott at the Society for General Microbiology’s Annual Meeting in Edinburgh.

“We all have a huge number of different bacteria in our guts,” says Dr Scott of the Rowett Research Institute, “a

A joint study between St Mary’s Hospital, the Paterson Institute, Christie Hospital, The University of Manchester, Guys Hospital in London, and Cambridge University researching breast cancer has found that women with defects in certain genes have a higher chance of developing breast cancer when they are young than previous estimates. The report calls for more family history information to be taken from young women with breast cancer.

Breast cancer affects one woman in 10 to 12 in the UK, a

Das Fraunhofer-Institut für Produktionstechnologie IPT stellt auf der HANNOVER MESSE 2003 vom 7. bis 12. April 2003 ein neues Verfahren zum Präzisionsblankpressen optischer Komponenten aus anorganischen Gläsern vor. Auf einem Gemeinschaftsstand mit der IVAM NRW e. V. (Interessengemeinschaft zur Verbreitung von Anwendungen der Mikrostrukturtechniken) zeigt das Fraunhofer IPT in Halle 6, Stand C22, verschiedene strukturierte Glasoptiken, die mit der Abformtechnologie am Institut hergestellt wurden.

Black holes really are holes – objects without a surface – say Drs Christine Done and Marek Gierlinski in a paper accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Having an “event horizon” rather than a surface is the property that makes something a black hole but, by definition, it’s impossible ever to see one directly. However, these new results give direct evidence of the existence of such holes in spacetime.

Drs Done and Gierlinski set out to track

People who live in neighborhoods where stores, schools and homes are within walking or cycling distance from each other make almost twice as many weekly trips on foot as residents of less “walkable” neighborhoods, according to new research.

And all that car-free traveling can add up to better health: One or two extra walking trips a week can burn off enough calories to drop nearly two pounds in a year, which is about how much weight American adults gain annually.

If a large propo

In a new study published in the April 1, 2003 issue of Genes and Development, scientists at University Health Network’s Advanced Medical Discovery Institute (AMDI)/Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI) have shown that a molecule called caspase-8 plays a key role in the immune system response, by controlling how T-cells are activated to respond to infections.

T-cells are white blood cells that recognize and fight off viruses and bacteria. When T-cells encounter these foreign invaders they build up