Drug 'cuts long-term cancer risk'
Tamoxifen reduces the risk of breast cancer returning long after women stop taking the drug, research suggests.
21 Feb 2007
News
£33m carer-support plan unveiled
The government is to unveil its New Deal for Carers which will see £33m used for measures to help people who care for elderly or disabled relatives. Most of the money - £25m - will go to local authorities to fund emergency respite care for people who need a break from the demands of their role. Ministers say it would relieve the burden on carers if they were sick or had other family responsibilities.
21 Feb 2007
Pig cells hope for diabetes cure
When Professor Bob Elliott boards a plane from New Zealand to Moscow later this month, he will be taking extra care of his hand luggage. In a secure container he will be carrying millions of insulin-producing pig islet cells. Many believe they have the potential to transform the lives of patients with Type 1 diabetes. A trial about to start in Russia will help determine if this is true.
19 Feb 2007
Ministers lose mental health vote
The government has suffered a defeat in the House of Lords over plans to detain mental health patients who have not committed an offence. The Mental Health Bill would mean people with severe personality disorders could be confined if judged a threat to themselves or others. Peers voted that a mental disorder cannot be diagnosed on grounds of sexuality, beliefs or bad conduct. Critics argue the bill could prevent people from seeking treatment.
19 Feb 2007
Autism-like disorder 'reversible'
The symptoms of a severe brain disorder similar to autism, which affects around 10,000 UK children, could be reversed, scientists believe. Scottish researchers made symptoms of Rett syndrome disappear in mice by activating a single gene, the magazine Science reports. The condition, which mainly affects girls, was previously thought to be irrevocable. It can leave children mute and with multiple disabilities.
19 Feb 2007
Autism gene breakthrough hailed
Scientists have found new autism genes by scanning the largest collection of families with multiple cases of autism ever assembled. The monumental task of studying the 1,200 families took more than 120 scientists from more than 50 institutions across 19 countries. The work, described in Nature Genetics, implicates a region of chromosome 11 and a specific gene called neurexin 1. Experts say the findings should help with finding new autism treatments.
19 Feb 2007