Germ of a great idea

Hope Serepa, a master's student in biotechnology and microbiology at Wits University, is the winner of the SA round of the Falling Walls Lab competition. Read more >>

Younger scientists needed urgently

South Africa must hurry up and make the necessary investments to ensure there is a new crop of young scientists trained and ready for work emerging from universities every year says Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi. Read more >>

Spin-off for your brain of protecting your heart

Managing and treating vascular disease risk factors will help you not only to prevent a heart disease and stroke, but also to protect your brain from common forms of dementia, says a US scientist. Read more >>

10km run was a hit says Moloi

[Ramatsiyi Moholoa] The new Nike We Run, which attracted 20 000 people in Johannesburg last Sunday, is a great platform to lure joggers into competitive road running. Read more >>

Cruise ship crew member dies of meningitis in Italy

ROME, ITALY: An Indonesian cruise ship crew member died of meningitis on Tuesday, nine days after being hospitalised with three colleagues in the western Italian port city of Livorno, health sources said. Read more >>

Genome sequencing identifies variants possibly linked to childhood asthma

The first comprehensive sequencing study of the protein coding regions of the genome in a family with both asthmatic and non-asthmatic members has identified several variants that may contribute to the potentially debilitating condition. Read more >>

The patient who cried wolf: Assuming the sick role

[Chamendran Naidoo] At some point, we've all heard the fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", the moral of which relates to those who are known to alarm others with imagined dangers, and the fact that they are less likely to be believed in the face of actual danger, possibly with dire consequences. In the medical world, this tale plays out in the concept of the sick role. Read more >>

Yale team finds way to save blood from ravages of chemo treatment

Chemotherapy kills blood cells as well as cancer cells, often with fatal results. Now Yale stem cell researchers have identified a method they hope one day will help cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy maintain a healthy blood supply, they report in the 18 October issue of the journal Cell Reports. Read more >>

Older breast cancer patients see more complications with brachytherapy

The breast cancer treatment brachytherapy - heralded for its low complication rates - actually results in more complications than whole-breast radiation one year after treatment, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in the October issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Read more >>

Creams, patches can ease painful knees

For those suffering from osteoarthritis of the knees or hands, applying topical non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) - in the form of creams, gels and patches - can bring weeks of pain relief, say UK scientists. Read more >>

'Doctor' an ambulance assistant

The Health Professions' Council of SA was unable to close down a bogus doctor's practice yesterday, 17 October, because the police failed to cooperate. Read more >>

248 doctors found guilty of incompetence

[Lindile Sifile] More than 200 South African medical practitioners were found guilty in 306 cases of negligence and mistreating patients over the past four years, the Health Professions Council of SA said yesterday, 18 October 2012. Read more >>

TCCC celebrates Global Handwashing Day

The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC), through its Africa Foundation, joined the rest of the world on Monday, 15 October 2012, to mark the fifth anniversary of Global Handwashing Day 2012. Read more >>

Top TB scientists' urgent call for effective vaccines

LONDON, UK: Drawing on recent findings of a significant rise in cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the UK and globally, top TB researchers at a briefing in London on Monday, 15 October 2012, called for greater focus on the quest for new vaccines - a crucial long-term, cost-effective method for addressing the growing threat. Read more >>

Insuring your breast assets

[Robyn Farrell] It is estimated that 8,676 women will be affected by breast cancer in 2015 [1]. With October earmarked as Breast Cancer Awareness Month in South Africa, this is a time where we remember the women who have battled the disease and also consider the ways that we can protect ourselves. Read more >>