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New research carried out at the University of Leicester suggests that Barack Obama has become a 'glorious mascot' for biethnic people seeking to achieve in the workplace.

The US president is seen to give inspiration and new impetus to biethnic people who seek to achieve 'against the odds.'

Postgraduate researcher Rana Sinha has studied if a biethnic background provides any advantage to a biethnic adult in adapting to the modern international workplace. The study has been carried out at the University of Leicester Centre for Labour Market Studies.

A joint venture from researchers from the Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, the Otto-von-Guericke-University in Magdeburg, and the Karolinska institute in Sweden have taken an in-depth look at the connection between flu infection and pneumonia. Their results, recently released in the scientific journal "PLoS One", have disproven a common theory about flu-like pneumonia.

Eating dog meat, and to a lesser extent cat meat, is common in Asia. In a case-based education article published by PLoS Medicine, Heiman Wertheim (Oxford University Clinical Research Unit–Hanoi, Viet Nam) and colleagues describe two patients in Hanoi who died from laboratory-confirmed rabies.

In the past few years, a number of anti-cancer drugs have been developed which are directed selectively against specific key molecules of tumor cells. Among these is an antibody called cetuximab, which attaches to a protein molecule that is found in large amounts on the surface of many types of cancer cells. When this surface molecule, called epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGF-R for short, is blocked by cetuximab, the cancer cell receives less signals stimulating cell division.

Nearly four per cent of ACT kindergarten children have a peanut allergy and while the region's schools are well prepared to cope with this, some parents are taking inappropriate action when dealing with their child's allergy, according to a new study.

DALLAS – March 17, 2009 – Collagen injections can benefit women who still suffer from stress urinary incontinence (SUI) even after urethral or periurethral surgery, a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher has found.

"Patients with persistent or recurrent incontinence often do not wish to undergo another surgery," said Dr. Philippe Zimmern, professor of urology and the study's lead author. "The collagen injection is also a good alternative for those who cannot afford recovery time from surgery or are too medically unfit or frail to undergo a second surgical intervention."

WASHINGTON, D.C., MARCH 17, 2009 – The medical costs that businesses pay to care for one premature baby for a year could cover the costs for nearly a dozen healthy, full-term infants, according to new statistics from the March of Dimes.

The simple intervention of using ultraviolet (UV) lights near the ceiling together with fans may reduce the spread of tuberculosis (TB) in hospitals, and air treatment with negative ionizers may also be effective, according to research published in PLoS Medicine.

TB transmission in overcrowded health care facilities is an important public health problem, especially in low resource settings, populations affected by HIV, and locations where drug-resistant TB occurs frequently.

Eating dog meat, and to a lesser extent cat meat, is common in Asia. In a case-based education article published by PLoS Medicine, Heiman Wertheim (Oxford University Clinical Research Unit–Hanoi, Viet Nam) and colleagues describe two patients in Hanoi who died from laboratory-confirmed rabies.

Eating dog meat is common in many Asian countries, but research conducted as part of the South East Asian Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Network has discovered a potentially lethal risk associated with preparing dog meat: rabies.

Ultraviolet lights could reduce the spread of tuberculosis in hospital wards and waiting rooms by 70%, according to a new study, published in PLoS Medicine today. The study, which explored the transmission of tuberculosis (TB) from infected patients to guinea pigs, suggests that installing simple ultraviolet C (UVC) lights in hospitals could help reduce the transmission of TB, including drug-resistant strains.

Researchers have shown that a gene implicated in the development of obesity is also associated with susceptibility to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The FTO gene has recently been shown to influence a person's predisposition to obesity, and is now the first gene to be associated convincingly with susceptibility to PCOS(1). Carried out by Dr Tom Barber and colleagues from the Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Oxford and Imperial College London, this research is the first evidence to show a genetic link between obesity and PCOS.

New research suggests the hormone kisspeptin shows promise as a potential new treatment for infertility. The research is being presented at the annual Society for Endocrinology BES meeting in Harrogate. Scientists led by Dr Waljit Dhillo from Imperial College London, have shown that giving kisspeptin to women with infertility can activate the release of sex hormones which control the menstrual cycle. This research could lead to a new fertility therapy for women with low sex hormone levels.

STANFORD, Calif. — Immune cells once thought to be innocent bystanders in cystic fibrosis may hold the key to stopping patients' fatal lung disease. New findings from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital show that white blood cells called neutrophils respond strongly to conflicting signals from cystic fibrosis patients' lungs, setting up a molecular fracas that may explain the patients' severe lung damage.

White blood cells known as CD4+ T cells are the main target of HIV. The virus hijacks these cells and replicates within them, which ultimately destroys the cell. This depletion of the T cell population represents a major blow to the immune system and puts HIV-infected individuals at increased risk of opportunistic infections. Treatment of HIV-infected individuals with a cocktail of drugs called combination antiretroviral therapy (c-ART) is able to restore the T cell population and help fight HIV infection, however not all patients respond to this therapy.