Washington, March 1 : American spine surgeons say that artificial disc replacement often works better than spinal fusion surgery.

Both procedures are performed on people whose discs in the neck get damaged.

Experts at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and other U. S. centres found that patients who received an artificial disc lost less motion in the neck and recovered faster than those who had a disc removed and the bones of the spine fused.

Recent study revealed that exercise can affect hippocampus size and memory in humans. Earlier studies have already proven this phenomenon in animal models. A curved structure deep inside the brain is known as hippocampus. It is a key player in spatial navigation and other types of relational memory.

Research led by Art Kramer of the University of Illinois and Kirk Erickson of the University of Pittsburgh, analyzed data collected from 165 adults, ages 59 to 81.

Recent study revealed how caffeine can offer protection against skin cancer. Research team led by Dr. Paul Nghiem, an associate professor of dermatology at the University of Washington in Seattle studied the caffeine's effect on human skin cells in a laboratory that had been exposed to ultraviolet radiation.

Research team found that caffeine interrupted a protein called ATR-Chk1 in cells damaged by UV rays. This led the damaged cell to self destruct. Caffeine had no effect on the healthy cells.

Washington, February 28 : Karolinska Institutet scientists have identified a gene that regulates the activity of another gene called p53, which protects against cancer.

Writing about their work in the journal Molecular Cell, the researchers have revealed the newly identified gene as Wrap53.

They have found that Wrap53 gives rise to a molecule, known as antisense RNA, the presence of which is necessary for the production of sufficient quantities of p53 protein in the event of DNA damage.

Washington, Feb 28 : Duke University researchers are decoding the way people's noses recognize scents - a development that will lay the groundwork for a future of cancer-sniffing artificial noses.

In an experiment, researchers tested hundreds of receptor gene types found in human and mouse noses, reports National Geographic News.

Scientists were able to figure out which receptors respond to which odor molecules and translate the smells into brain signals by inundating the receptors with odors.

Unlocking this interface would show how the brain recognizes and reacts to different smells.

Washington, Feb 28 : Achieving a milestone in the fight against malaria, scientists at Amyris Biotechnologies have produced 25 g/L of amorphadiene, a precursor of the antimalarial agent artemisinin, by using synthetic biology and E. coli fermentations.

It was in 2003 that the production of amorphadiene in E. coli was first described, but the amount produced was low (50 mg/L). The level was increased to 0.5g/L in 2006, but still 50-fold lower than target production levels.

In the new study, researchers have described the interplay of industrial fermentation processes and synthetic biology that achieve the required 50-fold increase in production levels.