MTT Agrifood Research Finland and the University of Liège, Belgium, have worked together successfully in locating a gene that regulates total yield and protein and fat content of milk. The scientists found a variation in the growth hormone receptor gene in the bovine chromosome 20. The variation in the receptor gene is associated with a major effect on milk yield and composition in Ayrshire, Holstein and Jersey cows.

Dr Johanna Vilkki of MTT says that developing associated markers for genes

The effect of spinal cord stimulation, in chronic pain treatment, can be drastically improved using continuous distance detection. The strength of the stimulation pulses then depends on the distance measured between the electrodes and the spinal cord. In this way, negative side-effects belong to the past. These side-effects arise with a varying distance, causing diminished pain treatment in case of a distance that is too large, or unwanted sensations when the distance is too small. Emiel Dijkstra of

University of Leicester biologist Dr Paul Hart has been carrying out a study to reveal the “Biological and Socio-economic Implications of a Limited Access Fishery Management System”, detailing the arguments for and against keeping different methods of fishing apart.

His aim is to discover a fishery management system which will encourage co-operation between stake-holders using the coastal zone. Dr Hart is working on this with two leading scientists from the University of Wales, Bangor

Tamoxifen appears to reduce the risk of benign breast disease and may result in fewer biopsies, according to an analysis of data from a major randomized clinical trial of tamoxifen. The findings appear in the February 19 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Tamoxifen was shown in the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial to reduce the incidence of invasive and noninvasive breast cancer by as much as 50% compared to placebo. Other studies have suggested that tamoxifen can also dec

In the years after the American Revolution, U.S. presidents were talking about the British a lot, and then about militias, France and Spain. In the mid-19th century, words like “emancipation,” “slaves” and “rebellion” popped up in their speeches. In the early 20th century, presidents started using a lot of business-expansion words, soon to be replaced by “depression.”

A couple of decades later they spoke of atoms and communism. By the 1990s, buzzwords prevailed.

Jon Kleinberg, a p

We all know people who can take pain or stress much better than we can, and others who cry out at the merest pinprick. We’ve heard stories of people who did heroic deeds despite horrible injuries, and stereotypes about women’s supposedly sensitivity to pain that don’t mesh with their ability to withstand childbirth’s pain.

But what accounts for all these differences in how individuals feel and respond to pain? And why are some people, especially women, more frequently pr