Patients with type 2 diabetes are at lower risk of death and hospital admission for heart attack than patients with established coronary heart disease, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.

These results challenge the widely held view that patients with diabetes have as high a risk of cardiovascular events and death as non-diabetic patients who have had a heart attack, and therefore have important implications for clinical practice.

Researchers in Dundee carried out two studies involvin

Combination of the drugs artesunate and amodiaquine could be a new treatment option for children with malaria caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, conclude authors of a fast-track study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.

Drug-resistant P. falciparum malaria is a serious problem in sub-Saharan Africa. Chloroquine resistance is a major contributor to the increase in malaria-related illness and death among African children, and resistance to sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine (an inexpensive,

Couples who smoke around the time of conception could have a reduced chance of conceiving male offspring, suggest authors of a research letter in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.

The male to female ratio of children has declined substantially over the past few decades. The reason for this reduction is not clear, but it has been suggested that chronic exposure to toxic environmental agents that predominantly affect males and the male reproductive system could lead to a lower male to female bi

Microbiologists from Wageningen have discovered a strange form of digestion in an exotic microorganism. The `Rushing fireball´, Latin name Pyrococcus furiosus , has reinvented the wheel for several steps of sugar digestion.

Pyrococcus furiosus , which was discovered 15 years ago on an Italian volcanic island, digests sugar somewhat differently from humans, animals, plants and bacteria. All organisms, convert glucose into pyruvate by means of a glycolysis. Pyrococcus furiosus

A European team of researchers has demonstrated that sediment is transported to the deep sea via canyons in the seabed. The sediment accumulates in the head of the submarine canyons. At the end of the canyons, mud avalanches disperse into the deep sea. Scientists from the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) presented their findings at an international congress held from 7 to 10 April 2002.

With bottom landers, onboard the ship R.V. Pelagia, the researchers explored the Nazaré Canyo

The mysterious spectral bands in the infrared of interstellar gas clouds in deep space originate from organic compounds. Research by the Nijmegen physicist Hans Piest confirms this. He has provided new experimental evidence for this almost 30-year-old problem in astronomy.

Each molecule has specific wavelengths at which it can either absorb or emit light. This forms the fingerprint of a substance. With this fingerprint, astronomers can demonstrate the presence of a substance in a distant sta