Washington, April 10 : Experiments on mice conducted by American scientists have shown that transplanted pancreatic precursor cells are protected from the immune system when encapsulated in polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE).

The finding, made by researchers from Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) School of Medicine, suggests a new approach to treating Type 1 diabetes.

London, Apr 10 : A new healing drug can reduce scarring after surgery or injury, say UK researchers.

At the site of the wound before and after an incision, the drug, a synthetic cell- signalling agent, is injected under the skin.

To reach the conclusion, researchers conducted three trials of the treatment on groups of volunteers who willingly suffered centimetre-wide puncture wounds in their arms. The incisions were deep enough to penetrate through the skin to underlying muscle, reports The Scotsman.

Washington, Apr 10 : Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a new test that can assess whether an Alzheimer''s drug could really reduce the production of amyloid beta (A-beta)- one of the possible underlying causes of Alzheimer''s disease in humans.

With the test, called stable isotope-linked kinetics (SILK), the researchers showed that an Alzheimer''s drug given to healthy volunteers reduced A-beta production

The test could speed up the development of new treatments for the disease.

Washington, April 10: Researchers in New York have moved a step closer towards developing a biological solution to artificial heart pacemakers.

Richard Robinson and his colleagues at Columbia and Stony Brook Universities highlight the fact that the body''s own natural pacemaker, called the sinoatrial (SA) node, is extremely vulnerable to damage during a heart attack, often leaving the patient with a weak, slow or unreliable heartbeat.

London, April 10: Scientists at the University of Nevada School of Medicine claim that they have gained fresh insights into the reproductive workings of the male sex chromosome, which may have significant implications for male infertility and contraception.

The researchers have found that the X chromosome in developing sperm cells encodes numerous tiny ribonucleic acids called microRNAs despite the fact that that most of genes on the X chromosomes are suppressed.

According to them, this suggests that these small RNAs have critical roles in chromosome inactivation and also in sperm formation.

London, April 10: Early administration of antiretroviral treatment can reduce the rate of AIDS development and deaths in HIV-positive patients by 28 per cent, according to an international study.

The study analysed information from more than 45,000 patients in Europe and North America, and combined data from 15 international cohorts.

The best moment to instate antiretroviral treatment has been the subject of debate for some time.