Contraceptive for male

Feminists have been calling for male contraceptives for years, now it seems almost time for a break through.
Scientists in China are testing the reliability of Testosteronundecanoat, a synthetic derivat of testosterone, in "real life".
Although the substance cannot be taken as oral contraceptive but needs to be injected by a doctor, it will hopefully fulfil most requirements like invisibility, reliability and easy to use.
Unfortunately, Testosteronundecanoat alone only prevents sperm production in Asians, whereas Europeans will probably need a mixture of different substances.
Since the number of people on earth will increase up to 8 billions until 2020, male contraception is considered as a solution to reduce the growth rate of population.

Read more at:
Die Zeit
21 July 2005
www.zeit.de


"Glue" in bones analysed

Human bones need to be hard and stable enough to carry our weight on the one hand, on the other hand they must be flexible enough to avoid fractures.
To achieve both aims, nature created a mixture of hard crystalline hydroxyapatite, embedded liable collagen fibres.
These fibres are cross-linked with each other, in order to gain higher stability along with equal high flexibility, as scientists from the University of California in Santa Barbara and the University of Rio de Janeiro recently found out.
They measured the forces needed to pull fibres apart and watched the experiment under the microscope.
A similar mechanism was found in the shell of a sea snail six years ago, where it fulfils the same requirements.

Collected from:
FAZ
27 July 2005
www.faz.net


Dark chocolate against heart attacks

Previous studies have already linked the consume of dark chocolate to reduced blood pressure and increased insulin sensitivity in healthy people.
Now, Dr. Jeffrey B. Blumberg, from Tufts University in Boston examined the effect on people suffering from high blood pressure.
He compared blood pressure, insulin sensitivity, and blood vessel function of two groups eating either a bit of dark or white chocolate each day.
There were a number of beneficial effects in the group receiving the dark chocolate, which are tracked back to flavonols in this chocolate.
Still, Blumberg advises not to rely only on chocolate but rather combine it with common therapies such as medication and exercise.

For further information:
MedlinePlus
18 July 2005
www.nlm.nih.gov

Laser can cut brain tumours

The European Cyberknife centre in Munich offers a new therapy for tumours in the brain.
A precise imaging system and robotic allow treatments without painful fixation of the patient's head and higher ray doses which can even be an alternative to operations.
The imaging system controls the exact position of the tumour in real time, the rays only being emitted after checking the position.

Collected from:
Handelsblatt
27 July 2005
www.handelsblatt.com


New imaging methods at hand

The means to have a look inside the human body or cells are becoming more and more variable.
Other than physical methods such as barium sulfate, molecular imaging agents often react only to a specific cellular signal.