London, Nov. 7 : Health inspectors have shut down an Indian takeaway after a customer found a live cockroach in their food.

The Mogul Tandoori, in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, was infested with insects, and Cotswold District Council''''s Environmental Health Officers immediately shut it down on Sunday.

The council''''s Public Protection Team visited The Mogul on Monday.

It found poor hygiene standards as well as live and dead cockroaches.

A Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Order ensuring The Mogul remains shut has now been granted at Cheltenham Magistrates'''' Court.

London, November 7 : Ingredients in plastic test tubes can block some biological reactions while testing the efficacy of drugs, and thereby lead researchers to bogus conclusions, according to a new study.

University of Alberta researcher Andrew Holt says that water alone can leach such chemicals out of plastic tubes.

He has revealed that the his team noticed the effect while testing experimental drugs that could potentially treat Parkinson''s disease.

According to him, his team’s work supports anecdotal evidence from various studies that plastics seem to affect some experiments.

Washington, November 7 : Duke University bioengineers say that gold nanostars may revolutionise medical diagnoses, and testing for environmental contaminants.

The researchers have revealed that their proposition is based on a comparison between all the shapes of nanoparticles studied to date, including rods, cones, cubes, and spheres.

They say that any such revolution would depend upon how light reflects off the particles, and nanostars can dramatically enhance the reflected light.

According to them, this increases their potential usefulness as a tracer, label, or contrast agent.

Washington, Nov 7 : Scientists have found evidence that Beta-alanine (BA), a dietary supplement widely used by athletes and body builders, can boost fitness levels in older adults.

BA is an amino acid that, together with histidine, forms the dipeptide carnosine.

Carnosine is found in muscle tissue and makes an important contribution to the maintenance of intracellular pH, which is vital for normal muscle function during intense exercise. An increased intake of BA significantly raises muscle carnosine levels.

The study, led by Jeffrey Stout, PhD from the University of Oklahoma, USA, also suggested that BA supplementation improves muscle endurance in the elderly.

Washington, Nov 7 : For the first time ever, MIT engineers have attached tiny "backpacks" in cells, allowing them to deliver chemotherapy agents, diagnose tumours or become building blocks for tissue engineering.

According to Michael Rubner, director of MIT''s Center for Materials Science and Engineering and senior author of a paper on the work, this is the first time anyone has attached such a synthetic patch to a cell.

The polymer patch system consists of three layers, each with a different function, stacked onto a surface. The bottom layer tethers the polymer to the surface, the middle layer contains the payload, and the top layer serves as a "hook" that catches and binds cells.

Washington, Nov 7 : Staying active, acting early and learning the warning signs of lymphedema – an adverse effect of breast cancer treatment caused by damage to the lymph system – can help women fighting the deadly disease avoid developing chronic lymphedema.

That’s what the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has suggested that women can learn more about how to protect themselves from this common and distressing adverse effect of treatment.