Some are resistant to HIV

Individuals who naturally lack CCR5 receptor have resistance to HIV. Read more >>

Biosafety platform provides boost to biotechnology innovators

Biosafety South Africa was officially launched last week. According to some it has brought South Africa a step closer to the declared goal of the Department of Science and Technology to see the country become one of the top three emerging biotechnology nations by 2018. Read more >>

Study: Single, unhappily married men may have elevated risk of fatal stroke in the coming decades

Single or unhappily married men may have an elevated risk of fatal stroke in the coming decades, according to a large study presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2010. Read more >>

Cape measles outbreak now official

The Western Cape Department of Health has set up isolation wards to deal with a measles outbreak that has affected more than 500 children in the province over the past few months. Read more >>

Body repairs itself through microvesicles: New hope for tissue regeneration

Study sheds new light on how body repairs itself when organs become diseased. Read more >>

Learning through listening

Early auditory experience affects deaf children's word-learning skill: Cochlear implantation removes the defect. Read more >>

Can you die of a broken heart?

Biochemical link between misery and death discovered as researchers develop novel strategy to probe 'genetic haystack'. Read more >>

Meditation improves cognition in people with memory loss

The Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation today announced data demonstrating that a specific meditation performed daily for eight weeks increased brain activity in areas central to memory and actually improved cognition in patients suffering from memory problems. The results of the study, conducted at the University of Pennsylvania, were published in an early online version of an article scheduled to appear in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (Volume 20:2, April 2010). Read more >>

US mental health fellowships open for SA journos

There are two Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism open to South African journalists annually, together with six American and two Romanian journalists. The idea of these fellowships is educate the public, raise awareness and inform other journalists in the field. Read more >>

Would you want to select your future child's gender?

A bioethics expert has argued that parents should be allowed to use selective reproduction to choose their future child's gender and to screen out serious disease and disability. Read more >>

Psychologists investigate morning sickness and idea of normal pregnancy

Psychologists discuss whether 'baby brain' is fact or fiction and investigate morning sickness and the idea of 'normal pregnancy' in the latest issue of the Psychologist, the in-house magazine of the British Psychological Society. Read more >>

Babies born from frozen ovarian tissue

Frozen/thawed ovarian tissue transplant: Woman has two children from separate pregnancies. Read more >>

Wanted! Lymphoma survivor to climb Mount Kilimanjaro

A Cape Town-based Communications agency is conducting a rather unusual search... Read more >>

Massaging advanced cancer patients for 14 minutes can reduce stress: Study

Advanced cancer patients who regularly received massages averaging 14 minutes or more by a partner or family member declined in stress scores over four weeks, according to results of a study reported at the 7th annual conference of the American Psychosocial Oncology Society. Read more >>

Testosterone replacement therapy may benefit male cancer survivors with testosterone deficiency

A new study has found that many male cancer survivors who develop testosterone deficiency after receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy have an impaired quality of life and reduced energy levels. Published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study suggests that young male cancer survivors with testosterone deficiency may benefit from testosterone replacement therapy. Read more >>

Maternal sensitivity may influence language development among children in early stages of autism

Researchers at the University of Miami show that maternal responsiveness can predict language growth among children in the early stages of autism. Read more >>

Early to bed helps brain mature

Marcos Frank, PhD, associate professor of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has views on early brain development and the importance of sleep during early life when the brain is rapidly maturing and highly changeable. Read more >>

Improving health through recreational football

For more than 15 years, effective prevention of injuries in professional football has been the top priority of FIFA's Medical Committee and Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC). Now, having ensured the health and safety of football, they are moving beyond the professional game. Read more >>