London, November 6 : A team of researchers says that the reason why the STEP trial of an experimental vaccine against AIDS failed could be partially because it made some people’s immune cells more vulnerable to HIV infection.

Lead researcher Eric Kremer, of the University of Montpellier in France, said that the research group examined why people participating in the STEP vaccine trial who had previously been exposed to a cold virus, adenovirus 5, seemed more likely to become infected with HIV-1 than those who hadn''''t been exposed to the virus.

Washington, Nov 6 : In a new study, scientists have found that a therapy targeting a protein, called cyclin D1, may block the expansion of breast cancer stem cells.

The study shows how stem cell expansion in breast cancer (called Notch activity) takes place.

Breast cancer stem cells are known to be involved in therapy resistance and the recurrence of cancerous tumours.

Headed by Dr. Richard Pestell and colleagues at Thomas Jefferson University, the study was the first to show that cyclin d1 is required for breast cancer growth in mice.

Washington, November 6: Tel Aviv University researchers have written a piece of software that they believe may help reduce hospital-related infections by 50 per cent.

Professor Yehuda Carmeli of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, who has developed the high-tech software program, says that his security system works by integrating basic sanitary procedures.

He says that the novel system uses the tools of high-tech communication like email alerts, SMS’s, and online communication to alert hospital staff of potential threats.

His team had adopted this system in their own institutions two years ago.

“We stopped forty-five percent of the primary hospital-borne organisms that attack patients from spreading,” says Carmeli.

Washington, Nov 6: Men’s risk of developing diabetes can be calculated by factors like their genetic background and behaviour, according to a new study.

While scientists have learned a lot about human disease through research in traditional laboratory mice, there are limits in studying genetic variation since controlled breeding and diet introduces artificially influences.

In order to study diabetes risk in a more naturally genetically diverse animal, Roxanne Oriel, Paul Vrana and colleagues studied glucose tolerance, a test often used to diagnose diabetes and metabolic syndrome, in a type of field mouse native to North America.

Hanoi - Vietnamese health authorities have found the industrial chemical melamine in powdered milk imported from Australia and three brands of cookies imported from Malaysia, raising the number of melamine-tainted products found in the country to 29, health officials said Thursday.

Nguyen Thi Khanh Tram, deputy director of Vietnam's Food Hygiene and Safety Agency, said the importers were cooperating with the agency's request to recall the milk and cookies.

The tainted Gold 1-10 milk powder was produced in Australia in May. The cookies - known as Lexus Cheese Cream, Lexus Chocolate Cream and Lexus Peanut Cream - were produced in Malaysia in May and August.

Washington, Nov 6 : Stomach cancer has been strongly linked to chronic inflammation. Now, a new study, led by Columbia University scientists, has shed light on how inflammation contributes to the cancer of stomach.

The research team found that increased levels of a single proinflammatory cytokine, an immune system protein called interleukin-1 beta (IL-1â), can start the progression towards stomach cancer.