London, Nov 3: Newcastle University scientists have found out what leads to the abnormal electrical waves in the brains of schizophrenia patients.

The researchers say that schizophrenics lack the vital brain receptor cells that control them.

They made this discovery when they used a drug, called ketamine, for switching off the receptors in rats, the waves changed frequency.

The scientists believe that the new work could pave the way for new treatments.

Hong Kong - Like most things from the cradle to the grave in Hong Kong, it used to be simply a question of money. If you had it, then a bed in a maternity ward at a private hospital was yours. Hong Kong's birth rate was falling, and maternity care was very much a buyer's market.

But things have changed dramatically in the past five years. Now women opting to give birth in one of Hong Kong's private hospitals have to book their beds as soon as they discover they are pregnant, with some of the hospital's maternity units already fully booked until May.

London, Nov 3: Scientists from King's College London have launched a major clinical trial to test whether common antidepressant drug lithium can effectively treat motor neurone disease.

Till now, there is no effective cure or treatment for the fatal motor neuron disease, which is commonly found in men and most likely to strike between the ages of 50 and 70.

However, it can affect any adult at any age.

An Italian study had shown that lithium might have a protective effect with MND, but the British scientists said that the findings should be treated with caution.

The researchers said that the study was necessary because positive findings from a small-scale Italian study were "too dramatic too ignore".

Washington, November 3: A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center has shown that the administration of all recommended flu vaccines to kids reduces their likelihood of catching the respiratory virus, due to which many children are hospitalised every year.

Published in the journal Pediatrics, the study included 2,400 from 6 months old to 5 years old in Rochester, Nashville and Cincinnati in
2003-2004 and 2004-2005.

Nasal and throat swabs were used to determine whether children who came to the hospital or participating outpatient practice had the flu.

London, November 3: A genetically modified soya bean, which can help to prevent heart attacks, has passed the first phase of trials in the United States.

Researchers at the University of South Dakota say that the promising results of the experiments have cleared the way for its use in foods such as spreads, yoghurts, cereal bars, and salad dressings.

The researchers said that their study had shown that oil from the GM soya could raise blood concentrations of long-chain omega3 acids, which are found chiefly in oily fish such as salmon, trout and fresh tuna.

London, November 3: An international research team has found that bacteria can directly cause human blood and plasma to clot, something that has long been thought to have been lost during the course of vertebrate evolution.

The researchers believe that their new findings may help advance scientists’ understanding of coagulation during bacterial infections, which in turn may pave the way for new clinical methods for treating serious medical conditions like sepsis and anthrax.