Washington, Apr 18 : A possible way to stop the often-rapid spread of deadly brain tumors has been found by researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).

A gene with the playful-sounding name NHERF-1 may be a serious target for drugs that could prevent malignant tumors from rapidly multiplying and invading other parts of the brain, according to a cover story in this month''s edition of Neoplasia, an international journal of cancer research.

Washington, April 18 : Tracked how the cancer process began in 33 men with prostate cancer who died of the disease, Johns Hopkins researchers are now pointing to a set of genetic defects in a single cell that are different for each person's cancer.

Washington, Apr 18 : A connection between the laxity of a woman''s knee joint and her monthly hormone cycle has been found by University of Calgary researchers.

The research project - a collaboration between kinesiology, engineering and health sciences researchers - has found that not all woman experience knee laxity at the same time of their menstrual cycle.

London, Apr 18 : Is your expanding waistline giving you nightmares? Well, take heart. Researchers have found that a breakfast of muesli with milk, tinned peaches and yoghurt can help weight loss.

Experts at the University of Nottingham suggest that the low GI breakfast with apple juice helps the body break down fat better than a high Glycaemic Index start to the day of sugary cereal and white toast, reports The Daily Express.

Oslo  - Eleven mainly African countries are to be offered cheaper, more effective malaria drugs as part of a partnership between international agencies and governments, officials said Friday.

Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda are the first countries to take part of the programme - launched in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.

Washington, Apr 17 : A protein called PCSK9, which regulates `bad' cholesterol in the blood, has been found to work almost exclusively outside cells, according to researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Centre.

The finding could provide clues for the development of therapies to block the protein''s disruptive actions.

"The fact that it works mostly extracellularly provides more opportunities to develop different kinds of therapies," said Dr. Jay Horton, professor of internal medicine and molecular genetics and co-author of the study.