The era of anti-cytokine treatment in rheumatology has just begun. The first generation therapeutic agents, biological agents that block tumour necrosis factor alpha such as monoclonal antibodies or receptor Ig fusion proteins are safe and effective, and so this has generated much interest in how to increase the benefit or deliver it more cost effectively. This article provides a personal view ...

Bacterial viruses (bacteriophages, also called "phages") can be robust antibacterial agents in vitro. However, their use as therapeutic agents, during a number of trials from the 1920s to the 1950s, was greatly handicapped by a number of factors. In part, there were certain limitations inherent in phage physiology (e. g. narrow host range, and rapid clearance from the body); in part there were ...

The Kamioka liquid scintillator anti-neutrino detector (KamLAND) is a low-energy and low-background neutrino detector which could be a useful probe for determining the U and Th abundances of the Earth. We constructed a model of the Earth in order to evaluate the rate of geologically produced anti-neutrinos (geoneutrinos) detectable by KamLAND. We found that KamLAND can be used to determine the ...

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disease characterized by absolute or relative insulin deficiency. Absolute deficiency of insulin most commonly results from an autoimmune destruction of insulin producing cells in the pancreas and in general, the term Type 1 DM (T1DM) is used to denote childhood diabetes associated with autoimmunity and absolute insulin deficiency. The term Type 2 DM (T2DM)...

When all the data and arguments are in, will the recent flurry of work in embodied cognition deliver a revolutionary paradigm shift in the sciences and philosophy of mind? Or will it be a case of business as usual in the mind-targeting laboratories and armchairs around the globe? Or is the most likely outcome a reformist tweak in which embodied cognition research is recognized as making genuine...

Microarray technologies are state of the art in biological research, which requires fast genome, proteome and transcriptome analysis technologies. Often antibodies are applied in protein microarrays as proteomic tools. Since the generation of antibodies against toxic targets or small molecules including organic compounds remains challenging the use of antibodies may be limited in this context. ...

Psoriasis is a chronic condition which causes the inflammation of the skin due to the activation of immune system leading to abnormal keratinocytes proliferation. The keratinocytes mature within a week as compared to normal cycle of 27 to 28 days. The oldest of the treatment includes the use of coal tar, Dithranol, sunlight, Dead Sea salts and emollients. Dermatologists now have a host of new t...

We discuss results of various surveys for millisecond radio pulsars, and make some comments on possible properties of the underlying population. Results of the Arecibo surveys indicate a density of millisecond pulsars (250 deg 2) ?1 above a threshold level of 1 mJy for long-period pulsars. Parkes results are consistent with Arecibo's after scaling to account for Parkes' baseline sensitivity of ...

Theobroma cacao-The Food of the Gods, provides the raw material for the multibillion dollar chocolate industry and is also the main source of income for about 6 million smallholders around the world. Additionally, cocoa beans have a number of other nonfood uses in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Specifically, the potential health benefits of cocoa have received increasing attention ...

1Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition, CIBER of Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases, Health Sciences Research Institute and University Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, 08916 Badalona, Spain 2Diabetes Centre, Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 9RW, UK 3Manchester University and Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester M13 9PL, UK 4Sezione Dipartimental...