Washington, April 29 : A simple blood test can offer valuable support to healthcare in the fight against malaria, scientists at Karolinska Institute have found.

According to their study, the rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for malaria infection could help ensure that a greater number of patients receive the right treatment at no extra cost for the healthcare services.

London, Apr. 29 : The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that border controls may not be effective enough to stop the spread of swine flu, even as several countries tightened airport checks.

More than 80 Mexicans are believed to have died from pneumonia and respiratory illness linked to the virus.

Experience from previous episodes like the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, and from computer models, showed the strategy was ineffective at controlling outbreaks said Gregory Hartl, a WHO spokesman.

Washington, Apr 29 : A cheap method of predicting who is at greater risk of dying suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack has been developed by researchers in France.

In a study of 7746 French male civil servants, published in Europe''s leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal, the researchers found that men whose heart rate increased the most during mild mental stress just before an exercise test had twice the risk of dying of a sudden heart attack in later life than men whose heart rate did not increase as much.

The study is the first to discover this association and since taking a patient''s pulse is an easy and inexpensive procedure, it suggests a way of identifying people who may be at increased risk.

Washington, April 29 : An anti-cancer compound studied for treating blood cancers may also help in treating cancers of the head and neck, say researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

The study involved a new class of chemotherapy agents known as histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, which affect the availability of genes that are transcribed and translated into proteins.

Washington, April 29 : A research team, including an Indian-origin boffin, has developed a painless new method for detecting diabetes, utilizing saliva.

While searching for biomarkers that may indicate diabetes, doctors examined the saliva of 40 different patients.

Through salivary analysis, they managed to devise a new `non-invasive' method for detecting diabetes that foregoes the uncomfortable prick of a needle- patients need only to spit into a cup.

The spit test could be performed for little cost in a doctor's office or at a patient's home.

Johannesburg - Airport authorities in South Africa on Wednesday said the swine flu outbreak had provided impetus to plans for the installation of technology that can help detect the virus among travellers, according to press and radio reports. Bongani Maseko, operations director of the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA), which manages the country's airports, was quoted gave details of the plans to thermal image detection systems in light of the outbreak.

"They would certainly help ... to detect people who may be carrying the disease," he told the South African Broadcasting Corporation.