Washington, April 14 : Muscle disorders like writer''s cramp may result from abnormalities in fibres connecting different brain areas, according to a study.

Dr. Christine Delmaire, of Centre Hospitalier Regional Universitaire Roger Salengro, Lille, France, and Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale, Paris, came to this conclusion after studying 26 right-handed patients with writer''s cramp and 26 right-handed control participants, who were the same sex and age.

Melbourne, Apr 13: Researchers from Murdoch Children''s Research Institute in Melbourne have revealed that there is no safe level of drinking for teenagers, as even moderate amounts could lead to alcohol abuse or promote risky sexual behaviour.

According to the Fairfax newspapers, the new study casts doubt on national guidelines that suggest there is a "low risk" level of drinking for under-18s.

Washington, April 13 : A new study has shed light on racial disparities in the treatment of lung cancer between black and white patients.

Dr. Dale Hardy, of the University of Texas School of Public Health, has found that black lung cancer patients are less likely to receive recommended chemotherapy and surgery than white lung cancer patients.

He says that this disparity is showing no signs of lessening.

Washington, April 13 : Making a significant advance towards new infertility treatments and a male contraceptive pill, scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have identified key biochemical changes that put sperm "in the mood" for fertilization.

Dr. Mark D. Platt, a researcher from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, notes that sperm cannot fertilize an egg immediately after entering the female reproductive tract.

Washington, Apr 13 : Scientists at University of Oxford have found that mutations that hide HIV from immune system weaken the virus'' ability to replicate.

According to them, when HIV infects a cell, a complex of human immune proteins called HLA (short for human leukocyte antigen) alert killer T cells by displaying bits of the virus on the surface of the cell, in response to which the T-cells trigger immune attack.

They suggest that individuals who have certain types of HLA proteins control infection better than others.

Washington, April 13 : In what may hold significance for cancer treatment, scientists at Harvard Medical School have found that very dissimilar reactions take place even in genetically similar cells.

Research leader Peter Sorger, a professor of Systems Biology, has revealed that such discrepancies result from protein levels that vary from cell to cell, even among cells that are identical genetic twins.