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WHO, Wyeth Launch Trial In Africa To Test New River Blindness Drug
The WHO on Wednesday announced plans for a clinical trial to test a new drug that "could halve the treatment period for river blindness [or onchocerciasis], a disease that threatens 100 million people mostly in Africa," AFP/Dow Jones Newswires/CNN Money reports (7/1). "This is a devastating illness that has plagued 30 African countries for centuries, in particular the populations in the most remote areas "beyond the end of the road,"" Uche Amazigo, director of the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC), said (ANI/Thaindian.com, 7/1).

Dramatic Drop In Deaths From Most Common Cancers
The death toll from three of the UK"s most common cancers has dropped to its lowest level for almost 40 years* - according to new figures released by Cancer Research UK.
News of the day
Stem Cell Surprise For Tissue Regeneration
Scientists working at the Carnegie Institution"s Department of Embryology, with colleagues, have overturned previous research that identified critical genes for making muscle stem cells. It turns out that the genes that make muscle stem cells in the embryo are surprisingly not needed in adult muscle stem cells to regenerate muscles after injury. The finding challenges the current course of research into muscular dystrophy, muscle injury, and regenerative medicine, which uses stem cells for healing tissues, and it favours using age-matched stem cells for therapy. The study is published in the June 25 advance on-line edition of Nature.
Cardiovascular

Invigorated Muscle Structure Allows Geese To Brave The Himalayas: Research Has Implications For Human Physiology

A higher density of blood vessels and other unique physiological features in the flight muscles of bar-headed geese allow them to do what even the most elite of human athletes struggle to accomplish - assert energy at high altitudes, according to a new UBC study. Named for the dark stripes on the backs of their heads, bar-headed geese are native to South and Central Asia. Often bred in captivity as domestic garden birds, they migrate annually in the wild between India and the high altitude plateaus in China and Mongolia, flying over the world"s highest mountains on their way. "They fly at altitudes up to 9,000 metres," says UBC Zoology PhD student Graham Scott. "That"s the equivalent of humans running a marathon at the altitudes commercial airlines fly." Scott and colleagues from UBC and the University of Birmingham in the UK compared the physiology of bar-headed geese to low-altitude waterfowl such as barnacle, pink-footed and greylag geese. Their findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. "We found approximately six to 10 per cent more aerobic muscle fibres in bar-headed geese compared to low altitude birds," says Scott. "There were also more capillaries - the body"s smallest blood vessels - surrounding these fibres in bar-headed geese." The team also found that the bar-headed geese"s mitochondria - the cell"s power s - are distributed closer to the cell membrane and therefore closer to capillaries. "These traits allow oxygen to be carried and diffused more effectively to the flight muscles," says Scott. Since these physical traits are inherent even in bar-headed geese that are bred in captivity and have never flown, the researchers believe they"ve evolved over time specifically to survive and perform at high altitudes. Scott had previously found that bar-headed geese also breathe more when oxygen is scarce than most other animals do, suggesting they are fine-tuned for flying high. These insights allow scientists to better understand the limitations of human physiology and potentially find ways to exceed them. Brian Lin University of British Columbia


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