Revolutionary surgery in womb transplants may give hope to patients with fertility problems. Infertility is an increasing problem in the western world and it is estimated that around 15% of all couples are infertile. Most causes of infertility are today treatable by in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and sperm injection (ICSI), but infertility due to a hysterectomy or womb (ie uterus) malformation is not treatable. Uterine infertility can be caused by injury, congenital conditions, or hysterectomy. Even th

A compound found in many foods and drinks could form the basis for new drugs to defeat cancer and heart disease, scientists at UCL claimed today.

Professor Peter Shepherd and his team believe that caffeine and theophylline- compounds commonly found in cola beverages, coffee, tea and chocolate – block the operation of a key enzyme linked to a wide range of cell functions. This suggests these compounds would block cell growth and also blood clotting. The teams work may also explain the anti-in

Researchers in the Netherlands have found that the herbal dietary supplement St. John’s wort interferes with the metabolism–and potentially the effectiveness of–the chemotherapy drug irinotecan. Their findings appear in the August 21 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

St. John’s wort ( Hypericum perforatum L.) is widely used to treat mild to moderate forms of depression. Past studies have suggested that the compound increases levels of CYP3A4, an enzyme

In the search for low-cost color displays that do not drain a computer’s battery, the polymer light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) may be the next answer to the problem, according to an international team of electrical engineers.

“The color-variable LEC can provide a solution to simple, low cost color displays,” Cheng Huang, graduate student in electrical engineering at Penn State told attendees today (Aug. 20) at the 224th American Chemical Society annual meeting in Boston.

Ginkgo biloba has no beneficial effect on memory and related mental functions of healthy older adults when taken following manufacturer’s instructions, according to a study in the Aug. 21st issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association conducted by researchers at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. and The Memory Clinic in Bennington, Vt.

The study was designed and conducted by the paper’s lead author, Paul R. Solomon, Ph.D., professor of psychology and found

Herpes viruses enter the body and hide away in cells, often re-emerging later to cause illnesses such as shingles, genital herpes and cancer. How these viruses evade the immune system remains poorly understood, but researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis discovered that a mouse herpes virus uses molecules that mimic a cell’s own proteins to help thwart an immune attack.

The findings also suggest that a branch of the immune system known as the complement sys