The age-old dream of keeping our skin looking young and healthy is starting to come true, thanks to latest research in the lab.

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Last Thursday evening, the Chinese Shenzhou-VII spacecraft and its anxious passengers were blasted off the face of the Earth.  Last night they triumphantly returned having sent one of their taikonauts into orbit, becoming only the third country in the world to master a spacewalk.

Millions around the world watched the live broadcast with momentous awe and admiration as Zhai Zhigang emerged from the module wearing a US$4.4 million Chinese-made extravehicular activity (EVA) space suit, tethered to the craft by two safety wires.  He proceeded to wave a small Chinese flag while floating in the vast nothingness of space – a moment of pure symbolism marking a milestone in the nation’s space exploration.

The crew of the Shenzhou-VII spacecraft safely touched down by parachute on the Inner Mongolia region, where they were greeted as heroes having victoriously carried out a historical landmark achievement.   Their success has been greeted with substantial enthusiasm across the world.

So what comes next for the conquering nation?  Well, China is adamant that the developments of its space flight technologies are solely for the peaceful exploration and use of outer space.  By all means further significant accomplishments are certainly desired.  China’s manned space program spokesman, Wang Zhaoyao, announced plans to set up a simple space lab in 2011 and a manned space station by 2020.

It has been previously reported in Nature that China does not yet have any official plans to place a man on the moon.  However, recent developments show that this may not be the case with the prospect of a moon landing certainly not residing out of their sights, Zhaoyao stating that “The moon landing is an extremely challenging and sophisticated task, and it is also a strategically important technological field. It is necessary for China to achieve something in this field.”

The success of this space mission has undoubtedly revealed China to be a serious contender in cosmic exploration.  A space race is certainly underway.

Photo credit: Xinhua/Associated Press

An edited version of this article was posted on the Nature news blog, which can be viewed here.

Scientists at Cornell University have successfully created hybrid insects whose muscles can be controlled by implanted electronics.  The goal is to control the flight of these microsystem-controlled insects, making human control over nature ever more plausible.  Such life forms have a variety of applications, ranging from crime investigation to military and homeland security.

These insect cyborgs are the latest achievement of the Defence Advanced Research Program Agency and have recently been showcased at the Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems international conference in Tucson, Arizona.  The researchers, led by Dr. Amit Lal, implanted electronic circuit probes into tobacco hornworms during their early pupal stage.  These were then allowed to develop and mature into long-lived moths, whose muscular movement could be manipulated with the implanted electronic network.

Thomas Easton, a professor of science and author of Sparrowhawk – an engaging novel about such insect cyborgs – suggests an amusing way in which the technology could identify individuals from a crime scene.  He describes how moths are particularly sensitive to sex attractants.  If traces of these chemicals could be transferred onto money, stolen cash along with the bank robbers would be traceable using the moth-based-hybrid to follow the scent.  If that isn’t a scene for the next Bond movie, I don’t know what is!

Even more impressively, the sex attractant receptor on the moth antennae could potentially be replaced with receptors for explosives or drugs via genetic engineering.  Readers beware: science fiction is becoming a reality.

Is this really the full story?

“Place the chocolate-iced custard-filled doughnut back on the second shelf and step away from the fridge,” whispers the voice in my head as I’m about to indulge in my guilty pleasure.  My conscience overrides my taste buds and I restrain myself from consuming the fourth delicacy of the day – the one that would push me forward another 300 calories and eight grams of saturated fat.

It has long been thought that being overweight was simply a result of overeating.  One consumes an excess of calories resulting in those pounds piling on – this being the sole explanation for an expanding waist line.  Until now.

One group of scientists is adamant that our genetic make-up has a vital role to play.  It is not only our actions that stimulate the onset of these consequences but in a large proportion of cases it could be down to our genes – the building blocks of life. 

In the past little has been known about the influence of genetics behind illnesses coupled with obesity, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.  Professor Jaspal Kooner and his colleagues at Imperial College London found that half of the population contains a specific sequence of genes closely associated “with waist size, body mass index and insulin resistance, which is a pre-diabetic state.”

The uncovered sequence is positioned next to a gene, named MC4R, which is responsible for regulating energy levels in the body by influencing how much we eat and how much energy we expend or conserve.  Kooner and his colleagues think that this sequence is responsible for controlling the MC4R gene.

Studies like this are key in finding new ways to tackle the world’s weight problem.  The number of obese children is rapidly increasing, leading to the threat of a global obesity crisis.  Here in the UK 1 in 10 six year-olds suffer from the disease, thereby increasing their susceptibility to major health problems.

“Using this research, you can do one of two things,” explained Professor Kooner. “You can identify the people that are at risk and work on prevention, or develop antagonists.”  As the position of the gene sequence and its protein product are both known the challenge is to now “develop antagonists to protein products that may ultimately turn out to be drug targets.”

Interestingly, the gene sequence was found to be around 30% more common in the Indian Asian rather then European lineage.  This could explain why there is a greater prevalence of obesity and insulin resistance in Indian Asians.  The sub-group makes up around 25% of the world’s population but will account for 40% of global cardiovascular disease by 2020.  Lead author Dr John Chambers stressed the importance of his research; “The number of people involved, the comparisons between two ancestries, and the detail with which we can explore genetic and environmental effects are helping us identify crucial linkages.”

Using a genetic approach to combat the disease is promising.  Our genetic make-up can not be altered, however, we can focus on the development and application of preventative and innovative measures, for action needs to be taken.  Action in the form of backing such studies, supporting research against a disease that is at present a burden to an estimated 300 million people worldwide, who might be glad to hear that over indulgence might not be the only thing to blame.

Upon arrival she was only 16 years old.  Her mother had passed away as a result of a fatal neurological disorder, she doesn’t know who her real father is and after a decade of cruel detention in her home country of Burundi there was only one option – to escape, and escape she did.

Lana is one of an estimated 5,500 lone asylum refugees living here in the United Kingdom – their destination in a quest for protection and shelter from danger.  However, upon arrival in the country she felt extremely lonely, shocked and confused, while suffering from a number of health problems and unable to access the help she needed.  This is not unusual.

British scientists have for the first time conducted an investigation comparing the post-war experiences of lone asylum-seeking children with those that had been accompanied.  Their results recently published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

The team of scientists, from Imperial College London, found that the solitary asylum-seeking children were at a significantly greater risk of developing a range of mental health problems, increasing the likelihood of unpleasant experiences, such as frightful flashbacks and nightmares, compared with their accompanied peers.  Many more of the lone children were found to have been involved in combat, having experienced torture of some kind as well as having been imprisoned.  As a result more than half of the male and nearly three quarters of the female lone asylum seekers were found to have a high risk of developing post traumatic stress disorder – these figures being significantly higher than that of the male and female accompanied refugees, which were around 14% and 35% respectively.

Dr Matthew Hodes, lead author of the study from the Division of Neuroscience and Mental Health at Imperial, explained how the work was “also the first to clearly relate the associated psychological distress to quality of care, reflected in living arrangements.”

These unaccompanied asylum seeking children have been sent away from their families or made to flee as a consequence of persecution, violence and war.  Those aged between 16 and 18 are in most instances placed in bed and breakfast accommodation whereas those of a younger age are entered into a more supportive care system, including foster families and children’s homes.  It is in the monitored environments where appropriate treatment can be administered.

Tim Spafford is a freelance refugee education consultant and who has provided consultancy support to schools and local authorities across the UK since 2003.  Mr Spafford explained how the study’s “findings support what many practitioners in the field know; unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people have experienced enormous stresses and risks. The losses they have endured and the lack of a caring, nurturing and safe environment in the UK means they can at times suffer poor mental health…the research demands renewed scrutiny of the care arrangements provided” for these individuals.

Dr Hodes emphasised the importance of his research clarifying how “the findings are significant as they indicate that the legal claims for asylum of the unaccompanied children should be taken very seriously. From a health perspective, they illustrate the importance of assessing physical health in this group as many had been tortured or in combat and injured. They highlight the psychological difficulties and importance of high-support living arrangements.”

Spafford expressed further his concerns describing how “the research findings serve as a warning to those working in education that the legal processes [associated with seeking asylum] can increase the refugee’s fear of, and preoccupation with, the persecution they have experienced.  The new Home Office reforms emphasise a ‘twin track’ approach, engaging schools and colleges in preparing the unaccompanied asylum-seeking children for possible return to their country of origin. This may significantly increase anxiety and undermine learning and security.”

This novel study powerfully illustrates the importance of supporting those that seek asylum.  Children arriving in the UK often have a past filled with terrible experiences.  It is a necessity to reduce their vulnerability and sense of isolation.  It is crucial to help them acquire a sense of self allowing them to integrate into society.  Admittedly, monitored living arrangements are a costly alternative for the local authorities.  However, it seems that they provide the support so crucially needed in order for the thousands of children who have no choice but to escape and flee for safety in their search for protection, shelter and a better quality of life.

Scientists have announced a novel method of attacking the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, the cause of AIDS.  The study, a collaboration between Boston University and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), investigated the targeting of a protein located on human immune cells.  Once targeted, the virus was unable to infect these cells.  Eric Green, the director of the NHGRI said that “This new insight represents an important contribution to HIV research,” and spoke of the discovery as “an exciting model for deriving potential new HIV therapies.”

The human immune system is made up of white blood cells, a large proportion of which are known as T cells.  It is these cells of the human body that the HIV virus infects.  The researchers interfered with a signalling protein on the surface of these cells called interleukin-2-inducible T cell kinase, known as ITK.  The protein is responsible for the activation of T-cells, required for the body to mount an efficient immune response.  Schwartzberg, one of the lead researchers, explained how “suppression of the ITK protein caused many of the pathways that HIV uses to be less active, thereby inhibiting or slowing HIV replication.”

Drugs in the past have targeted proteins present on the virus itself.  This is problematic due to drug-resistant strains appearing as a result of the proteins rapidly altering in composition, a process called genetic mutation.  The human cells have a much lower mutation rate thereby making them an optimal target.

The inactivation of ITK was carried out using a chemical and a genetic inhibitor.  The T cells were then exposed to the virus and its effects studied during different stages of the virus’s replication cycle.  It was not only shown that the ability of the virus to enter cells was reduced but interference did not affect the cell’s ability to survive.

The study was published earlier this month in the online edition of the prestigious journal; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A recent poll, collectively carried out by USA Today, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, has revealed that 40% of Americans have difficulty affording essential prescriptive medicine.

The nationally representative telephone survey of 1695 adults, aged 18 or over, was undertaken in January of this year in the United States.  Half of the participants were found to regularly take at least one medication.  The research concluded that the high cost of prescriptive medicine has serious implications with 29% of individuals not filing a prescription due to these high prices and around 23% cutting pills in half or skipping doses in order to make their medication last for a longer period of time.  This can potentially lead to a considerably increased health risk as a result of the vital drug treatment not being administered.

The pharmaceutical trade is unarguably a multi-billion dollar industry.  The use of prescriptive medicine is extensive, with half of all adults taking at least one prescription drug daily.  Eight in ten Americans concur that the cost of these prescription drugs is unreasonable – a large proportion questioning the pharmaceutical companies’ motivation and their overpowering concern with revenue. The study found there to be mixed opinion with regards to the pharmaceutical companies themselves – 47% favourably viewing the industry.  They are thought of as carrying out their research complying with ethical and moral regulations, with the testing and monitoring of drug production believed to be at a high standard, as would be expected.  A slightly lower percentage of the public, 44%, view the companies in a negative light.  Making a comparison across the professions, they are viewed as faintly more favourable than health insurers but extensively less than doctors.

Despite there being a large number of individuals that possess this attitude, there is a clear optimistic consensus that drug developments over the past 20 years have improved the lives of people in the States.  In a number of cases their availability has reduced the need for expensive medical procedures and/or hospitalisation.  There are clearly implausible benefits from prescriptive medication, which is highly valued.

Over the years, the progress made in scientific research and development is outstanding.  This is not contestable.  The problem lies in affordability; resulting in many calling for stricter governmental regulation to place a limitation on the individual has to pay for required medicine.

This poll was the third in a series of polls conducted by USA Today/Kaiser Family/Harvard.  The whole report can be viewed at http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/pomr030408pkg.cfm.