Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have developed several drug candidates that show promise in animal studies in protecting the brain against sudden damage from stroke, with the potential for fighting chronic neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. The drugs, called p53 inhibitors, attack a key protein involved in nerve cell death and represent a new strategy for preserving brain function following sudden injury or chronic disease, according to t

A new company is helping to solve a 20-year problem in the chemicals industry.
Enviresearch, a Newcastle University ‘spin-out’, uses computer models to determine whether chemicals are environmentally friendly.

The British Government demands that chemicals undergo a rigorous testing programme, including an ‘environmental risk assessment’, before it is satisfied a substance is safe. Only then will it grant a sales licence for the UK and Europe.

Due to these strict regulations,

The incidence of gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs), generally considered a rare sarcoma, is more than three times as high as previously believed, according to data presented in Nice at the 27th annual European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress. An accurate estimate of GIST incidence has been elusive because of diagnostic ambiguities, now largely resolved by modern immunohistochemistry.

The higher incidence of GIST – calculated at 16 per 1,000,000 people annually – is especi

It’s hard to keep a straight face, and especially difficult if you meet someone who looks angry or happy. This the conclusion drawn from experiments carried out by Ulf Dimberg, professor of psychology at Uppsala University, Sweden, and his associates. The results, which are presented in the journal Cognition and Emotion, show that we are not in full control of our facial muscles: their reactions are controlled by unconscious mechanisms.

It is well known that emotions find direct expression

Sexual reproduction has many advantages — some most pleasurable — and probably leads to the long-term survival of the species concerned. During the formation of reproductive cells or gametes, sexual reproduction is accompanied by an exchange of genes between the two chromosomes inherited from the parents. Each individual arising from these gametes thus receives a veritable mosaic of parental and grandparental characteristics, and so at one and the same time resembles and differs from the parents.

A new giant was born recently in the coastal waters of Antarctica. A series of images captured from May through the beginning of this month by ESA`s Envisat satellite shows the subsequent duel between the new iceberg and another as it breaks free of the Ross Ice Shelf and tries to move north.

Christened C-19 by the US National Ice Centre in Maryland, the new iceberg measured 200 x 32 km, and about 200 m thick.

As seen in the accompanying animation of images acquired by Envi