Genes reveal 'biological ageing'

Telomeres at the end of chromosomes shorten with age Gene variants that might show how fast people's bodies are actually ageing have been pinpointed by scientists. Researchers from the University of Leicester and Kings College London say the finding could help spot people at higher risk of age-related illnesses. People carrying the variant had differences in the "biological clock" within all their cells. The British Heart Foundation said the findings could offer a clue to ways of preventing heart disease. While doctors know that as people age they are more at risk from diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and heart disease, some people fall prey to these at an earlier age than expected. Telomeres One theory suggests that biological timers called "telomeres", part of the chromosomes in every cell that carry genetic code, From birth, every time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter and there is some evidence that people with shorter telomeres, either because they diminish more quickly or because they were born with shorter versions, may be at higher risk from age-related illness. The researchers say in the journal, Nature Genetics, that they looked at more than 500,000 genetic variations across the entire human genome to see which variants cropped up more frequently in people known to have shorter telomeres. They eventually located a number of variants located near a gene called TERC which, in people carrying them, seemed to be equivalent to an extra three or four years of "biological ageing". Bad lifestyles Professor Tim Spector, from King's College London, said: "What our study suggests is that some people are genetically programmed to age at a faster rate. "Alternatively, genetically susceptible people may age even faster when exposed to proven 'bad' environments for telomeres such as smoking, obesity or lack of exercise - and end up several years biologically older or succumbing to more age-related diseases." Professor Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the study, said it was not yet clear whether telomeres did contribute to an increased risk of disease. He said: "Understanding how our cells age is an important step in our quest for better ways to prevent and treat heart disease. "Perhaps in the future one of the ways we try to reduce the risk of, or treat, heart disease would be to use an 'anti-ageing' approach for our arteries." be a factor in this.

Premature birth gene clue found

Identifying mothers is vital DNA differences which appear to affect the risk of giving birth early have been found by US scientists. The US National Institutes of Health study found the variants in both babies and mothers, a US conference was told. It is thought they may play a role in controlling immune responses which could theoretically trigger labour if they become too powerful. Premature birth - which accounts for 7% of UK births - is one of the biggest threats to The causes of premature birth are poorly understood, although infections and other medical complications are blamed in some cases. The study looked at 700 DNA variants in 190 genes in women who delivered early, and those who carried their baby to term. The cord blood of the babies was also tested for these variations. They narrowed the search down to a handful of gene variations found more often in the women who gave birth prematurely, and their babies. In particular, babies who carried the gene for the "Interleukin 6 receptor" were more likely to be born early. This was a good candidate gene because Interleukin 6 is produced by cells in response to infection and is involved in inflammation. High levels of Interleukin 6 in the amniotic fluid and foetal blood have been linked to the onset of premature labour. Baby threat Dr Roberto Romero, who led the study, said: "Our hypothesis is that the mother and/or the foetus signal the onset of preterm labour when the environment inside the uterus is unfavourable and threatens the survival of the maternal-foetal pair. "When there is an infection in the uterus, the onset of premature labour appears to have survival value - it would allow the mother to rid herself of infected tissue and preserve her ability to have future pregnancies." The chief executive of charity Bliss, Andy Cole, welcomed the study results. "In England alone, 54,000 babies are born prematurely each year, a third of these for no known reason," he said. "The development of a reliable test for identifying these mothers is vital in ensuring our most vulnerable babies have the best possible outcomes." baby's future health.

Leukaemia cell 'breakthrough' offers treatment hope

T-ALL is a form of childhood leukaemia

Scientists believe they have made an important breakthrough in attempts to treat a form of childhood leukaemia.

In mice tests, Australian researchers found that a cell, which plays a key role in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, survives radiotherapy.

The Melbourne University team believes targeting this cell may help to stop this disease returning, but they warned much more research was needed.

UK experts said the findings may eventually lead to better care.

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is a rare form of leukaemia which is most common in older children and adolescents, although adults can also be affected.

About a fifth of children suffer relapses after radiation therapy.

In the tests, the team found that 99% of cells in the thymus, a small organ in the upper chest which helps protect people from infections and as a result plays a key role in leukaemia, were killed by radiation.

Resistance

But the Lmo2 gene was able to recover because of its stem-cell like properties, suggesting it could be responsible for the disease, the Science journal reported.

Lead researcher Dr Matthew McCormack said: "The cellular origins of this leukaemia are not well understood.

"Our discovery that these cells are similar to normal stem cells explains why they are capable of surviving for long periods.

"It also explains why they are remarkably resistant to treatment."

The team is now planning to focus on novel treatment capable of killing these cells, but warns it is still many years away from clinical trials.

Ken Campbell, of Leukaemia Research, said: "This is an interesting piece of research that increases our understanding of this small sub-set of childhood leukaemia patients.

"However, while the research could reduce relapse rates in the future for this group, it is likely that current treatment regimes will continue to be used."

Drug firm boost to malaria fight

All the molecules have been tested against the Plasmodium parasite, seen above invading a blood cell, which is known to cause malaria.

Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is to reveal previously confidential data on thousands of potential anti-malaria compounds.

In addition to this, the company is to pump millions into an 'Open Lab' for independent research teams.

The company has 13,500 molecules which have been tested against the parasite which causes malaria.

One expert said more sharing of data could trigger advances like those that came from the human genome project.

The way in which pharmaceutical firms guard the secrets of their drugs and research has long been cited as an obstacle to disease research. 

The latest announcement by GSK chief executive Andrew Witty, follows an earlier decision to set up a "patent pool" where information about patented drugs could be shared.

In a speech in New York, he said that it was important to "earn the trust" of society.

"The measures we have announced today are characterised by a determination to be more flexible, open and willing to learn.

"GSK has the capability to make a difference and a genuine appetite to change the landscape of healthcare for the world's poorest people."

Millions scanned

The data in question is the result of a year's effort by GSK scientists to study a disease which still claims almost a million lives a year, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa.

The company holds a "library" of millions of different molecules, and each of these was tested against the Plasmodium parasite which causes malaria.

The result was 13,500 which appeared to have an effect on it, although extensive further research would be needed to narrow down this list into those most likely to succeed as new drugs.

Dr Timothy Wells, Chief Scientific Officer of the Medicines for Malaria Venture, which has worked with GSK on the project, said it had the potential to "dramatically alter" the way the world approached malaria research.

"By sharing the data, the research community can start to build up a public repository of knowledge that should be as powerful as the human genome databases and could set a new trend to revolutionise the urgent search for new medicines to tackle malaria."

Dr Mallika Kaviratne, from the Malaria Consortium, a not-for-profit organisation, said it could boost access to medicines for developing countries, as resistance to existing drugs was an important issue.

She added: "The release of 13,500 molecules made to the public is very important - we have nothing else in the pipeline - and new drugs need to be developed, but they're expensive."

Professor Peter Winstanley, from the Liverpool School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that the decision was a "step in the right direction".

He said: "It looks like the chief executive has said: 'What's the sense of sitting on 13,500 molecules which perhaps have antimalarial properties when other people might be more interested in them than we are?'.

"How, while there's a slight possibility that we may have new drugs from this in the next five years, it is more likely to happen over the next 10 to 20 years, and that will take a lot of work, some luck, and a lot of money."

Cord blood stem cell transplant hopes lifted

Matching donors cannot always be found, despite extensive registries

A technique which may eventually remove the need for matched bone marrow transplants has been used in humans for the first time.

It is hoped that "master cells" taken from umbilical cords could be used on any patient without rejection.

The latest advance, published in the journal Nature Medicine, greatly multiplies the tiny number of cells from the cord ready for a transplant.

UK charity Leukaemia Research said this could be the "holy grail" for doctors.

Aggressive treatment

The current system of bone marrow transplantation helps patients who have diseases, such as leukaemia, which affect the stem cells in their bone marrow where new blood cells are grown. 

Their own bone marrow cells are killed off by aggressive treatment and cells from a matched donor are introduced in their place.

However, a matching donor cannot always be found, despite extensive donor registries held by organisations such as the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust and, even with a carefully matched donor, there is still a risk that the patient's body will reject the new cells.

Cells extracted from umbilical cords could overcome these problems - they do not have the characteristics which would normally trigger immune rejection, so it is likely that cells from a single baby's cord could be used in any patient, without the need for matching.

However, there is one big disadvantage - there are not enough cells in a single cord to meet the needs of an adult patient.

Scientists have been looking for ways to either combine the cells from more than one baby, or to "expand" the cell numbers in the laboratory.

The second of these options is far from straightforward - simply allowing the stem cells to divide and increase in the laboratory means that many of the resulting extra cells will be simple blood cells, which do not have the ability to produce new cells themselves.

Quick to work

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle believe they may have found a way.

They manipulated a "signalling pathway" in the stem cells to trigger an increase in numbers without losing their stem cell status.

After success in laboratory animals, these cells were used in human patients, and the researchers found that they were accepted by the body more quickly and contributed more to the rebuilding of functioning bone marrow than "non-expanded" cord blood transplants.

Dr David Grant, Scientific Director of charity Leukaemia Research said: "The holy grail is to have an 'off the peg' source of unlimited numbers of 'neutral' stem cells which can be given to any patient safe in the knowledge that they will not cause the very difficult 'graft versus host' problems that lead to rejection and often the death of the patient.

"This is a promising development towards this because the concern has been that once stem cells start 'growing' they lose their stem cell properties and progress to ordinary blood cells with a very limited lifespan."

Henny Braund, chief executive of The Anthony Nolan Trust, said the potential for umbilical cord blood was "huge", and that the charity had already imported well over 250 units of umbilical cord blood.

"Sadly in the UK, despite our scientific expertise, umbilical cord blood is still very much an untapped resource and we are only able to collect and store a tiny amount of the cords we need.

"We really need a properly resourced UK cord blood collection programme.

"Further investment is crucial if we are to capitalise on this amazing resource and save more lives."

Gene map of anti-malaria plant could boost supply

Scientists say they can boost supply of the key anti-malaria drug artemisinin

Global supply of a key, plant-based, anti-malaria drug is set to be boosted by a genetic study, scientists say.

Researchers have mapped the genes of Artemisia annua to allow selection of high-yield varieties.

The study, published in the journal Science, aims to make growing the plant more profitable for farmers.

"It's a major milestone for the development of this crop," Professor Ian Graham from the University of York in the UK told BBC News.

Short supply

The research has been welcomed by Dr Chris Drakeley, director of the Malaria Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "Anything that enables an increased yield of product from something like Artemisia annua is a major step.

"This is the first line anti-malarial in nearly all endemic countries at the moment and supplies can be limited."

Artemisinin combination therapies, or ATCs, are used widely to treat malaria and are seen as the best solution to the parasite's increasing resistance to anti-malarial drugs.

Professor Graham, who led the study, hopes that new higher yielding and more robust varieties could increase global supply of the malaria treatment within three years.

"Our aim is to have hybrid seeds that can be released to farmers in the developing world by 2011 or 2012. With a year lag for planting, this would have an impact on supply in 2012 or 2013."

"We have to wait six to eight months from putting the seed in the ground to harvesting the crop and seeing how it has performed."

Dr Drakeley hopes the new varieties will become available quickly.

"This will allow an increase in the basic compound that forms ATC therapies. If they can get these seeds out in the timeframe they're talking about it'll be a major advance," he said.

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Professor Graham explains how the project works

To identify the best plants for hybrid seed production, researchers measured characteristics of individual plants, for example, the number of artemisinin producing glands on the leaf. They also performed tests to find the plants with the best genetic make-up.

The resulting seeds are being planted in field trials in China, East Africa, India and Madagascar. "We are expecting to end up with not just one hybrid.

Leaf gland which produces artemisinin

"Ideally we would like good hybrids for east Africa and good hybrids for India etc.," explained Professor Graham.

The study is the culmination of three years work funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the genetic maps and markers the researchers have identified will be made available for free all over the world.

"All the information and tools we've developed in this work are free for people to use for the charitable purpose," Professor Graham told BBC News.

"We're also working with seed producers so they can produce the seeds as cheaply as possible for the developing world."

Window of time

Scientists hope a better supply of the drug might also help with the problem of fake drugs being distributed.

Some treatments being sold have been found to have no drug content or to be substandard in quality. This can make them fatal or they can be more likely to encourage resistance rather than combat the disease.

"Hopefully, if the final product is easier and cheaper to procure after this development, it might lessen the production of counterfeit drugs," said Dr Drakeley.

Professor Graham believes that the development of drug resistance by the malaria parasite has made the work more urgent.

"We have a window of time when we can use artemisinin effectively, and we want to have a stable, reliable supply that can be used in that window," he said.

Oesophageal cancer cell errors threaten research

The samples of adenocarcinoma were widely supplied, the researchers say

Dozens of cancer studies may be thrown into doubt by the discovery that researchers inadvertently used the wrong type of cancer cells.

The "cell lines", according to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, were supplied as samples of oesophageal cancer.

However, tests show they contained other types of tumour, including lung and bowel.

The Dutch researchers say this could put major trials of drugs in doubt.

Many experimental studies on cancer use laboratory-grown "cell-lines", meaning that dozens of studies may rely on cells originally taken from a single patient.

New drugs can be tested on these cells to see if they have an effect before they are tested on real patients.

The problem of "false" - or contaminated - cell lines, is not a new one, and there have been calls for scientists to take more care verifying they have the right sort of cells before continuing with their experiments.

If not, they run the risk that their findings, positive or negative, may be misleading.

The latest example of the problem involved samples widely supplied as oesophageal adenocarcinoma cells, a particular type of cancer affecting the windpipe.

In fact, they came from tumours of the lung, bowel and stomach, said researchers from the University Medical Centre in Rotterdam.

They wrote: "Experimental results based on these contaminated cell lines have led to ongoing clinical trials recruiting patients, to more than 100 scientific publications, and to at least three cancer research grants and 11 US patents - which emphasises the importance of our findings."

Widespread use of these cell lines could threaten the development of new treatments, they said.

In particular, use of the drug sorafenib for some oesophageal cancer patients should be reconsidered, since the wrong cell line was used to assess its potential.

Specialist suppliers

However, writing in the same journal, Professor Robert Shoemaker of the National Cancer Institute in Maryland, said he suspected that a similar study using the right cell lines would support the use of sorafenib.

In the UK, one of the main funders of cancer studies, Cancer Research UK, has said that it uses DNA testing to check its cell lines.

The Health Protection Agency also operates an extensive cell culture collection and a spokesman said it urged scientists to, where necessary, pay for tests to check their cell lines.

He said: "The use of wrongly identified human cancer cell lines is a problem that was first recognised more than 20 years ago.

"We draw attention to this danger on our website, which includes an ever-expanding list of those cell lines known to be incorrectly identified, or cross-contaminated with a cell line of a different type.

"As a national culture collection we, together with other national collections, exhort research scientists to always work with authenticated cell lines of known provenance."

Urine test 'can detect dangerous snoring'

It is estimated that up to 12% of children snore

A urine test that can differentiate between dangerous and safe snoring is possible, say researchers at the University of Chicago.

They looked at 90 children referred to a clinic to be evaluated for breathing problems in sleep, and 30 controls.

A number of proteins were increased in the urine of the children diagnosed with dangerous snoring.

The research is published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

The team say their findings need to be repeated but may lead to a simple test.

Sleep tests

The children all had standard overnight tests and some were classified as having obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).

OSA can lead to mental, behavioural, cardiovascular and metabolic problems in children. It is estimated that up to 3% of all children up to the age of nine may suffer from it.

The researchers collected the children's first sample of urine on the morning after the sleep study.

They used a process with fluorescent dyes to separate and characterise the proteins in the urine and found three proteins at higher concentrations in the urine of children with OSA: urocortin 3, orosomucoid and uromodulin.

Another protein, kallikrein 1, was at lower levels in the urine.

The scientists say further research is needed to work out which proteins work best for a test and the right time to get the urine sample.

They think that it may be possible to develop a simple colour-based test like a pregnancy kit that can be done by doctors or parents.

Diagnostic screening

"It was rather unexpected that the urine would provide us with the ability to identify OSA" said Dr David Gozal, who led the research.

"If we can develop this further we might be able to screen children for OSA for a fraction of the cost of keeping them in a sleep clinic overnight, and it would overcome the huge waiting lists for such screening."

Ian Balfour, a respiratory consultant at the Royal Brompton Hospital, which carries out many sleep studies on children, said: "OSA is a big problem in children with large tonsils or who are obese.

"Some overweight children with this problem have to use ventilators to sleep at night.

"This is an interesting finding - the implication is that the children's renal and kidney function is being affected by their OSA.

"But the research is too far from being something practical doctors and patients would be able to use."

Dr Paul Gringras, consultant in Paediatric Neurodisability and Sleep Medicine at the Evelina Children's Hospital, agreed that OSA was an important condition because of its harmful impact on physical health as well as learning and behaviour.

"The specialist centres that can accurately identify true cases are few, and at full capacity" he said.

"It is appealing to look at certain proteins from a single urine sample that could make the diagnosis.

"This study is the first step towards this possibility, but more work is needed to check the test is reliable, when the best time of day is to perform the test, and, finally, to simplify the biochemical tests so that they are easier to carry out."

Research finds no proof that a virus is the cause of ME

The blood samples were free of XMRV

UK scientists say they can find no proof that a particular virus is the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) or ME, contrary to recent claims.

The Imperial College London team say they want to share the findings as some patients are pinning their hopes on drugs to fight the virus called XMRV.

They analysed blood samples from 186 patients with CFS and found none had the virus, PLoS One journal reports.

Experts said the latest findings would be a bitter disappointment to many.

They said more trials were under way and when these report in coming months, scientists will be able to draw more firm conclusions.

Work in the US, published in Science, had found the retrovirus in 68 of 101 CFS patients.

The UK team say the conflict between the two studies might be down to differences between the patients enrolled or the way the research was conducted.

Or there might be different geographical types or strains of XMRV.

Regardless, they say potent antiretroviral drugs should not be used to treat CFS because there is not enough evidence that this is necessary or helpful.

The drugs may do more harm than good, they say.

Professor Myra McClure, one of the Imperial College London investigators, said: "We are confident that our results show there is no link between XMRV and chronic fatigue syndrome, at least in the UK."

She said they had used extremely sensitive DNA testing methods, called polymerase chain reaction, to look for the virus.

"If it had been there, we would have found it."

'Disappointing'

Co-author Professor Simon Wessely said the findings did not invalidate all previous research, some of which has shown that CFS can be triggered by other infectious agents, such as Epstein Barr Virus.

The charity Action for ME said it was disappointing to hear about these findings, but said no single small-scale study could be conclusive.

Dr Charles Shepherd, of The ME Association, said it was important to remain open-minded.

"We need to be extremely cautious until we know more. There has been enormous interest in this from patients.

"Some have been led into believing the cause and a test has been discovered and that treatment is just round the corner and that is not the case.

"Over the next few weeks and months we will have more results and then we can come to a conclusion.

"If it turns out that XMRV is important, we will have to start looking at whether it is worthwhile testing for it and treating it."

In a statement, the charity Invest in ME said the original study was of the "highest quality", and that much more work was required before any firm conclusions could be drawn.

Child brain tumours 'treatable'

Aggressive childhood brain tumours could be treatable with a novel combination of two existing cancer drugs, a study suggests.

Researchers led by the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) examined 90 tumours from children and found two new genetic abnormalities in nine of them.

They were then able to kill these abnormal tumours, in laboratory tests, by combining the two existing drugs.

But one expert says the findings remain "far off being applicable to patients".

In the UK, about 400 children are diagnosed with brain tumours every year.

The research, published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, brought together scientists from the UK, France, Portugal, Brazil and America.

The abnormal tumours - known as glioblastomas, aggressive and often fatal cancers of the brain's glial cells - contained too many copies of the EGFR gene and mutations of the gene the scientists say have never before been found in children.

"Cancers may look the same, but it is only when you get down to the genetic level that you can truly understand them and devise treatments"

Dr Chris Jones

They tried to block the EGFR gene with a drug, erlotinib (Tarceva), used in clinical trials to treat adult glioblastomas, but identified a molecule specific to the children's cells - platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PGFR) - that was making it ineffective.

But when they combined erlotinib with a drug, imatinib (Glivec), they hoped would block the PGFR molecules, they killed a significant number of the cancer cells.

Dr Chris Jones, who led the research, said it proved "that cancers may look the same, but it is only when you get down to the genetic level that you can truly understand them and devise treatments".

Professor Geoff Pilkington, of the Brainstrust charity, said the research, though fascinating, was at too early a stage to turn into a treatment for patients.

"This sort of twin therapy is a good thing to consider for the future," he said.

Bur he added: "The cells of the brain seem to be unusually resistant to anything thrown at them."

Heart study targets immune cells in the arteries

Ruptured plaques can cause a heart attack

Scientists are to try to develop a treatment to target harmful immune cells in the arteries that are believed to trigger many heart attacks.

It is two decades since it was established a patient's immune system could produce the inflammation in the arteries that leads to an attack.

But treatments based on this knowledge have so far proved ineffective.

The Bristol Heart Institute says this could be because drugs kill off the helpful as well as the harmful cells.

With the backing of the British Heart Foundation, they want to look at developing a treatment that specifically targets the more harmful immune cells.

It is thought these are drawn to the arteries as a result of the plaques of fatty deposits that build up here.

This can lead to the artery becoming inflamed, and the wall damaged.

Plaques can then rupture, causing the formation of a blood clot, which can then lead to a heart attack.

"This research could point to new ways to protect fatty deposits from becoming unstable by selectively modifying the harmful immune cells while preserving their helpful activity," said Professor Andrew Newby, who will lead the £750,000 research.

"Such a discovery will help pave the way for new treatments to prevent heart attacks, which could save thousands of lives each year."

The Bristol researchers are to team up with experts from France, Sweden and the Netherlands to test the effectiveness of combining conventional drugs and new treatments to lower the immune response in the arteries of patients with heart disease, who are at risk of heart attacks.

The work could build on research being carried out at Imperial College London, where scientists recently identified one of the molecules that switches the immune cell into "attack mode" in the arteries.

More than 300 people die of a heart attack each day, and there appears to be a peak on Christmas Day and New Year's Day - perhaps, it is speculated, due to the rich food, alcohol and anxiety the festive season brings with it.

Children more likely to catch swine flu, study suggests

Children have been hard hit by the swine flu virus

Children are twice as likely as adults to catch swine flu, according to a joint UK-US study.

Imperial College London researchers and a team from the US looked at how the virus spread among families.

In a study of more than 800 people, one in eight people developed the infection after someone in their house got it.

But the team also dismissed suggestions that children may be "super spreaders" as they were found to be no more contagious than older people.

Rates of swine flu have tended to be higher among younger age groups, the official figures have shown. 

What is more, there is thought to be a large pool of children who have been infected but not displayed symptoms.

This research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, confirmed that children were more likely to become infected.

The team looked at the families and household contacts of 216 people infected with swine flu.

Of that group of 600, the under-18s were most likely to get it - twice as likely as adults under 50 - while those over the age of 50 were the least likely.

Infectious

However, the overall one in eight figure for infections was deemed to be pretty low compared to past pandemics.

The researchers, who were also drawn from the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, looked at how long people remained infectious as well.

They found the average length of time between one person displaying symptoms and then someone else in their house falling ill was 2.6 days.

They said it meant suggestions at the start of the pandemic that people should stay at home for up to seven days when ill was probably unnecessary.

Lead researcher Dr Simon Cauchemez said: "If they are only likely to transmit the virus to other people for the first few days of their illness, keeping people off work for a week may be unnecessary and could be detrimental to the economy."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "All further information continues to add to our knowledge and understanding of the virus."

Parents warned on children's safety risk from alcohol

Parents should recognise the risks of alcohol to young people, say ministers

Parents in England are being warned not to under-estimate the "dangerous consequences" of under-age drinking.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls says parents worried about their children's safety should recognise the connection between alcohol and "risky behaviour".

This follows a survey suggesting many parents do not rank drinking alcohol as a serious risk to their children.

Mr Balls says parents must make "the link between alcohol and the impact it can have on a young person's safety".

The children's secretary's advice comes ahead of a publicity campaign which will promote a "safe and sensible" approach to alcohol among young people.

New year parties

The survey, carried out by the Mumsnet website, found that under-age alcohol consumption was not a major concern for parents of children aged between nine and 16.

They were more worried about issues such as drug taking, traffic accidents and teenage pregnancy.

The survey also found that only about a quarter of parents talked to their children about the risks associated with alcohol.

And almost two-thirds of parents were not concerned that their children would drink alcohol by the age of 16.

With new year celebrations approaching, Mr Balls urged parents to advise their children that alcohol was often a factor in other concerns - such as accidents and teenage pregnancy.

"Research tells us that young people who regularly drink alcohol are more likely to fall behind in school, be involved in road traffic accidents or have unsafe sex," said Mr Balls.

"If parents discuss the link between alcohol and these other issues, they can make sure it's their child making the decisions, not the alcohol."

Earlier this month England's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, criticised parents for an over-liberal approach in allowing their children to "get a taste" of alcohol at a young age.

He warned that 500,000 children between the ages of 11 to 15 years will have been drunk in the past four weeks.

Early exposure to alcohol could lead to binge drinking in later life, he said, advising that young people under the age of 15 should drink no alcohol.

Type-two diabetes limb amputations rise dramatically

Diabetes can lead to damaged feet and toes

The number of people in England having a limb amputated because of type-two diabetes has risen dramatically, a study has shown.

Between 1996 and 2005, below-ankle amputations doubled to more than 2,000, and major amputations increased by 43%.

However the number of amputations in people with type-one diabetes dropped, an Imperial College London team found.

A charity said more early diagnosis was needed, as diabetes can go undetected for more than 10 years.

The number of people diagnosed with type-two diabetes had increased greatly in the past decade, which could partly explain the findings, the researchers said.

In the UK, 2.35 million people have type-two diabetes, which is caused by the body not properly responding to the insulin it produces, and is often a result of lifestyle factors such as obesity.

DIABETES AND AMPUTATION Type-one diabetes is caused by the body failing to produce insulin Type-two diabetes accounts for 90% of cases and is caused by the body not responding properly to insulin or not producing enough Both types can impair blood flow to the feet People with diabetes can also suffer nerve damage and might not immediately notice a problem If left unattended a small injury could develop into a hard-to-treat ulcer that could become infected, leading to the need for amputation

Along with complications such as heart attacks and strokes, people with diabetes are far more likely to develop foot problems, including ulcers, which can become infected and lead to gangrene.

Writing in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, the researchers said the number of the most major amputations, above the ankle joint, had risen by 43%.

And the average age of those having above-ankle amputations fell from 71 to 69 years, which followed the pattern of people being diagnosed younger, they said.

More men underwent amputations than women, a gap that widened during the 10-year period.

Study leader Dr Eszter Vamos said they had expected to see long-term complications of diabetes rising to some extent because the number of people diagnosed with the condition had increased.

"But at the same time there is very strong evidence that with a multidisciplinary team approach you can prevent up to 80% of the amputations.
"It highlights the importance of frequent foot checks and that it is very important to get glycaemic control and blood pressure and cholesterol control."
Diabetes UK care manager Sara Spiers said there were about 100 diabetes-related amputations each week in the UK.
"The findings of this study are especially interesting because they indicate a particular rise in the number of type-two diabetes related amputations," she said.
"This rise could be for a number of reasons, including type-two diabetes not being diagnosed early enough, people not getting the education they need to manage their condition effectively, and swifter treatment of foot problems, meaning people are more likely to have an amputation than die because of foot ulcers."
She added more early diagnosis was needed, as the condition could go undetected for more than 10 years and most people already had complications when they were diagnosed.

Study blames two genes for aggressive brain cancer

Glioblastoma is a deadly form of brain cancer

Scientists have discovered two genes that appear responsible for one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer.

Glioblastoma multiforme rapidly invades the normal brain, producing inoperable tumours, but scientists have not understood why it is so aggressive.

The latest study, by a Columbia University team, published in Nature, pinpoints two genes.

The researchers say that the findings raise hopes of developing a treatment for the cancer.

Troubleshooters that block cancer

The research was carried out on breast cancer cells

Scientists have shown how a family of "limpet-like" proteins play a crucial role in repairing the DNA damage which can lead to cancer.

They hope the finding could pave the way for a new type of drug which could help kill cancer cells, and promote production of healthy replacements.

The proteins seem to have a remarkable ability to zero in on damaged areas.

The breakthrough, uncovered independently by two teams, appears in the journal Nature.

The family of Small Ubiquitin-like Modifier (SUMO) proteins track down sites in the body where DNA damage has occurred.

They attach themselves to normal proteins, and guide them in to fix the genetic faults.

Using this method, the proteins are even able to repair double strand DNA breaks - the most severe type of DNA damage.

When their work is done, the proteins detach themselves and move on.

Breast cancer gene

One of the study teams was able to follow this process of repair taking place on the BRCA1 gene, which, if damaged, is associated with a very high risk of breast cancer.

SUMO was shown to attach to the damaged gene, and switch it back on - helping prevent breast cancer forming.

Researcher Dr Jo Morris, from King's College London, said: "This new insight is the first step towards developing drugs which may protect normal cells from the side effects of chemotherapy, or improve the effectiveness of current breast cancer treatments."

Dr Lesley Walker, of Cancer Research UK, which part-funded the study, said: "DNA damage, particularly double strand DNA breaks, are a fundamental cause of cancer and we know that people who have mutations in the BRCA1 gene have a higher risk of developing some kinds of cancer.

"Discovering that these limpet-like proteins play such an important role in repair may provide new opportunities to stop cancer from growing."

But she added: "This is an extremely complex and intricate biological process so it may be many years before we can use this knowledge to safely intervene and help treat cancer patients."

‘Rapidly fatal’ swine flu kills in different ways: study

All fatalities from the (A)H1N1 were found to have a deadly version which caused acute lung injury.

WASHINGTON: People who die of swine flu contract a ‘rapidly fatal’ form of the disease and tend to die of lung injury, although it strikes different people in different ways, an autopsy study showed Thursday.

In the first study of its kind, researchers in Brazil examined 21 patients aged one to 68 who died in Sao Paulo with confirmed (A)H1N1 infections in July and August.

All 21 patients ‘presented a progressive and rapidly fatal form of the disease,’ the study, which will be published in the January one issue of the American Thoracic Society’s ‘American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine,’ found.

All were found to have died of severe acute lung injury, but with three distinct patterns of damage to the lungs, the study said, indicating to the researchers that swine flu ‘killed in distinct ways.’

‘All patients have a picture of acute lung injury,’ said the study’s lead author, Thais Mauad, an associate professor of the Department of Pathology at Sao Paulo University.

But some of the patients had only acute lung injury while in others it was associated with necrotizing bronchiolitis — severe inflammation of the small airway passages in the lungs — and in others there was ‘a hemorrhagic pattern,’ Mauad said.

Patients with necrotizing bronchiolitis were more likely to also have a bacterial co-infection, while patients with heart disease and cancer were more likely to have a hemorrhagic condition in their lungs.

‘It is important to bear in mind that patients with underlying medical conditions must be adequately monitored, since they are at greater risk of developing a severe H1N1 infection,’ said Mauad.

Sixteen of the patients had chronic underlying health conditions, such as heart disease or cancer, the study found.

The researchers also found evidence of an ‘aberrant immune response’ in the lungs of some of the patients, which ‘suggests that an overly vigorous host inflammatory response triggered by the viral infection may spill over to and damage lung tissue, causing acute lung injury and fatal respiratory failure,’ said John Heffner, a former president of the American Thoracic Society.

Alzheimer's 'associated with reduced risk of cancer'

The number of dementia patients in the UK is predicted to double

Alzheimer's disease is associated with a reduced risk of cancer and vice versa, a study suggests.

US researchers followed 3,020 people aged 65 and above for the study, published in the journal Neurology.

Those who had Alzheimer's at the start of the study were 69% less likely to be admitted to hospital with cancer than those free of the disease at the start.

And those with cancer at the study's start were 43% less likely to develop Alzheimer's than the cancer free.

The researchers followed the subjects for an average of five years to see whether they developed Alzheimer's, and an average of eight years to see whether they developed cancer.

At the start of the study, 164 people (5.4%) already had Alzheimer's disease and 522 people (17.3%) already had a cancer diagnosis.

During the study, 478 people developed dementia and 376 people developed invasive cancer.

The researchers stressed that more work was needed before any firm conclusions could be drawn, and said the findings only seemed fully to apply to white people.

They found no association between cancer and another type of dementia, known as vascular dementia, which is thought to be caused by a lack of blood supply to the brain.

However, patients with this condition died earlier than people with Alzheimer's.

Lead researcher Dr Catherine Roe, of Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, said this suggested the association between Alzheimer's and cancer was not simply due to people with those conditions dying before they could contract the other ailment.

"Discovering the links between these two conditions may help us better understand both diseases and open up avenues for possible treatments," she said.

"Alzheimer's disease and cancer are both characterised by abnormal, but opposing, cellular behaviour.

"In Alzheimer's disease, excessive cell death occurs, whereas cancer is characterised by excessive cell growth.

"Other scientists have suggested that there are certain molecular pathways that may influence both Alzheimer's disease and cancer."

For instance, one specific enzyme has been shown to target a number of proteins, some of which are believed to stimulate cancer, some to suppress it, and others to be a hallmark of Alzheimer's.

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, agreed the study raised hopes of finding new ways to prevent or treat disease.

She said: "This study suggests that there might be a link between cancer and Alzheimer's, but it is much too soon to say for certain whether the two diseases are connected.

'Research needed'

"There could be molecular processes involved in both Alzheimer's and cancer, which, with more research, we could identify."

However, Professor Clive Ballard, of the Alzheimer's Society, said the existence of one of the diseases could mask the symptoms of the other and affect diagnosis.

"More research is needed to establish categorically if this link exists."

It is estimated 700,000 people in the UK have dementia, a number forecast to double in a generation.

Another 'bad' cholesterol linked to heart disease found

Home testing kits can check for high cholesterol, but not Lp(a) specifically

Scientists say they have found proof that another "bad" type of cholesterol contributes to heart disease.

Unlike the well-known LDL cholesterol, lipoprotein(a) or Lp(a) cannot be controlled by cutting down on dietary fats or taking a statin drug.

But researchers say high levels do not carry the same risk as LDL.

And other drugs might work to minimise its effects, they told the New England Journal of Medicine.

LDL is considered the aggressive tiger of the cholesterol world, furring the arteries and greatly increasing heart risk. Scientist believe Lp(a), which is inherited, is more of a pussycat, although it does appear to upset blood clotting.

Inherent risk

The researchers used gene-chip technology to scan DNA that they knew from previous studies were potential "hotspots" for heart disease risk. This analysis revealed the two genetic culprits.

Professor Martin Farrall, lead author of the study carried out at Oxford University, said one in six people carries one or more of the genes for Lp(a).

He said: "The increase in risk to people from high Lp(a) levels is significantly less severe than the risk from high LDL cholesterol levels.

"So Lp(a) doesn't trump LDL, which has a larger impact and which we can already control pretty effectively.

"The hope now is that by targeting both we could get even better risk reduction."

Some existing drugs, such as Niacin, and others coming on to the market, such as CETP-inhibitors, lower Lp(a) as well as LDL cholesterol.

Professor Peter Weissberg of the British Heart Foundation said the findings were useful but urged people not to be alarmed by them.

"They highlight the importance of trying to lower Lp(a), which will spark new efforts to design a medicine to achieve this effectively.

"And they reveal clues that open a new avenue for research to decipher how heart disease develops.

"But LDL is still the type of cholesterol to be more concerned about."

Fats from food are turned into cholesterol by the liver. There are different types but some, such as LDL, are known as "bad" cholesterol. They can lead to a build-up in the body's cells.

Prof Weissberg said everyone could reduce their risk of heart disease by eating a healthy balanced diet, being physically active and avoiding smoking.

Alzheimer's 'associated with reduced risk of cancer'

The number of dementia patients in the UK is predicted to double

Alzheimer's disease is associated with a reduced risk of cancer and vice versa, a study suggests.

US researchers followed 3,020 people aged 65 and above for the study, published in the journal Neurology.

Those who had Alzheimer's at the start of the study were 69% less likely to be admitted to hospital with cancer than those free of the disease at the start.

And those with cancer at the study's start were 43% less likely to develop Alzheimer's than the cancer free.

The researchers followed the subjects for an average of five years to see whether they developed Alzheimer's, and an average of eight years to see whether they developed cancer.

At the start of the study, 164 people (5.4%) already had Alzheimer's disease and 522 people (17.3%) already had a cancer diagnosis.

During the study, 478 people developed dementia and 376 people developed invasive cancer.

The researchers stressed that more work was needed before any firm conclusions could be drawn, and said the findings only seemed fully to apply to white people.

They found no association between cancer and another type of dementia, known as vascular dementia, which is thought to be caused by a lack of blood supply to the brain.

However, patients with this condition died earlier than people with Alzheimer's.

Lead researcher Dr Catherine Roe, of Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, said this suggested the association between Alzheimer's and cancer was not simply due to people with those conditions dying before they could contract the other ailment.

"Discovering the links between these two conditions may help us better understand both diseases and open up avenues for possible treatments," she said.

"Alzheimer's disease and cancer are both characterised by abnormal, but opposing, cellular behaviour.

"In Alzheimer's disease, excessive cell death occurs, whereas cancer is characterised by excessive cell growth.

"Other scientists have suggested that there are certain molecular pathways that may influence both Alzheimer's disease and cancer."

For instance, one specific enzyme has been shown to target a number of proteins, some of which are believed to stimulate cancer, some to suppress it, and others to be a hallmark of Alzheimer's.

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, agreed the study raised hopes of finding new ways to prevent or treat disease.

She said: "This study suggests that there might be a link between cancer and Alzheimer's, but it is much too soon to say for certain whether the two diseases are connected.

'Research needed'

"There could be molecular processes involved in both Alzheimer's and cancer, which, with more research, we could identify."

However, Professor Clive Ballard, of the Alzheimer's Society, said the existence of one of the diseases could mask the symptoms of the other and affect diagnosis.

"More research is needed to establish categorically if this link exists."

It is estimated 700,000 people in the UK have dementia, a number forecast to double in a generation.