Washington, October 24 : A team of researchers have found that the human rhinovirus (HRV), which causes 30 to 50 per cent of common colds, can manipulate the host’s genes to cause some of the most annoying symptoms.

The researchers say that HRV hijacks many of your genes, and causes an overblown immune response that ends up with the host’s nose being overblown.

"The study''s findings are a major step toward more targeted cold prevention and treatment strategies while also serving as a valuable roadmap for the broader respiratory science community," said Dr. David Proud, a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Calgary.

Washington, Oct 24: Former press secretary of George W Bush, Scott McClellan, has backed Democrat Barack Obama to triumph in the race for the White House.

McClellan made his declaration, which had been expected, during the taping of a CNN programme to be broadcast on Saturday.

“From the very beginning I’ve said I’m going to support the candidate who has the best chance of changing the way Washington works and getting things done,” the former White House spokesman told presenter DL Hughley.

“I will be voting for Barack Obama,” he said.

McClellan’s endorsement comes days after another prominent Republican, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, announced his support for Obama.

Washington, Oct 24 : Those who simply pray or meditate are more likely to keep depression at bay, compared to the people who frequently visit church and offer religious services, suggest a new study.

The new research led by Temple University researchers has revealed that a person''s religiousness – also called religiosity – can offer insight into their risk for depression.

In the study involving 918 participants, lead researcher Joanna Maselko, Sc. D., characterized the religiosity in three domains.

London, October 24 : An American doctor has estimated that the Republican presidential candidate John McCain has a six per cent risk of dying of a skin cancer recurrence each year, about 22 per cent over four years.

"There is a one-in-four to one-in-five chance that he would not survive a first term," New Scientist magazine quoted John Alam of a Cambridge, Massachusetts, as saying.

His estimate is higher than that of McCain''s physician at the Mayo Clinic, who had once said that the Senator had a less than 10 per cent chance of deadly relapse.

New York, Oct 24 : Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is showing surprising strength among portions of the political coalition that returned George W. Bush to the White House four years ago.

A cross section of support that, if it continues for Obama through Election Day, would exceed that of Bill Clinton in 1992, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News polls.

Underscoring his increasing strength in the final phase of the campaign, Obama led his rival John McCain among groups that voted for President Bush four years ago: Those with incomes greater than 50,000 dollar a year; married women; suburbanites and white Catholics.

Rome, Oct 24: Rejecting CIA Director Michael Hayden’s assessment that Al Qaeda was a top nuclear concern, a leading US expert has said that the international terrorist organization only had intention and not the capability to develop a nuclear arsenal.

Hayden had earlier said that al-Qaeda was “the CIA’s top nuclear concern.”

“The CIA director based his assessment on intentions rather than capabilities,” Jenkins, author of a new book Will Terrorists Go Nuclear?, said US expert Brian Jenkins, a senior adviser at the US think-tank “Rand Corporation”

Jenkins compared the threat posed by Al-Qaeda to the situation in Washington-branded “rogue states,” Iran and North Korea.