Wiesbaden, Germany  - Patients with kidney stones should follow a low-purine diet, according to Germany's Professional Association of Internists.

Such a diet can reduce the concentration of uric acid in the blood which is linked to the formation of kidney stones.

Foods containing low levels of purine include eggs, fruit, vegetables and dairy products. Sufferers can also reduce the levels

of uric acid in the blood by drinking a minimum of three litres of fluids a day such as mineral water, diluted fruit juices or tea.

London, Apr 19 : The world's first stem cell therapy to cure the most common cause of blindness has been developed by British researchers.

The research team believes that the procedure, which can tackle age-related macular degeneration (AMD), will become a routine, one-hour method that will be generally available in six or seven years' time.

Sydney, Apr 19 : A drug that has been used to treat asthma sufferers for 40 years may help fat people shed up to five kilograms a week, say Australian researchers.

The main ingredient in Ventolin could be the key behind the magical weight loss.

A firm Down Under is planning to develop a slow-release capsule form of salbutamol, known as r-salbutamol. The company claims the drug can reduce body weight by 2 to 3 per cent a week and could be on the market in three years.

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.