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Washington, Nov 7 : Canadian researchers are looking forward to step up the war on cancer by tapping into a global network of hundreds of thousands of people who volunteer their unused computer time to engage in some of the world’s most intricate problems.

The research team, led by Dr. Igor Jurisica at the Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI), and scientists at Princess Margaret Hospital and University Health Network, are the first from Canada to use the World Community Grid, a network of PCs and laptops with the power equivalent to one of the globe’s top five fastest supercomputers.

Washington, Nov 7 : Researchers have revealed vital information about haemoglobin, and opened up the possibility to optimise its function by modelling its role in oxygen transportation at atomic level.

The transport of oxygen in blood is undertaken by haemoglobin, the largest component of red blood cells. This protein collects oxygen in respiratory organs, mainly in the lungs, and releases it in tissues in order to generate the energy necessary for cell survival. Haemoglobin is one of the most refined proteins because its evolution and small mutations in its structure can produce anaemia and other severe pathologies.

Kabul, Nov.7 : Afghan President Hamid Karzai has declared three days of mourning in honour of the 41 people killed in Tuesday evening’s suicide bomb attack in northern Baghlan Province.

London, Nov 7 : Experts are certain that the Mercedes carrying Princess Diana in Paris 10 years ago collided with a white Fiat Uno before it crashed, the inquest into her death has heard.

Scotland Yard senior collision investigator PC Anthony Read and two other experts concluded that fragments of the smashed rear light of a 1980s Fiat Uno found at the crash scene and traces of white paint on the wreck of the Mercedes showed the incident did take place.

Diana, her lover Dodi Fayed and their driver Henri Paul were all killed when their car hit a pillar of the Pont de l'Alma Underpass in Paris on the morning of August 31, 1997.

Read presented the jury with four bags of debris retrieved from the tunnel within a few hours of the crash.

Washington, Nov 7 : A news study has found that the interaction between nicotine and alcohol may not only affect a person’s ability to learn, but may also have an implication for treating addiction to the substances.

The study was conducted by researchers Thomas J. Gould and Danielle Gulick from Temple University.

As a part of their attempt to examine the drugs’ interactive effects on learning, the researchers looked at the ability to learn and process contextual information, which is important for multiple reasons.

Washington, Nov 7: A recent health study has found that older, obese adults are more likely to suffer disability in present times than a decade ago.

The study was conducted at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and involved 9,928 people age 60 years.

The study revealed that obesity, which had become more common among older people today, was having an increasingly profound impact on their day-to-day activities and overall health.

The recent research has challenged the earlier studies that say that obese populations had actually become healthier since the 1960s. While other obesity-related risk factors – such as high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol – had declined.