About 1000 Australian males and females of all ages were tested for their ability to detect or identify a range of different odours at different concentrations, and then given an overall score for their sense of smell, or olfactory function.

Cancer is a complex and common disease caused by a combination of both genetic and environmental factors. An inherited predisposition seems to be involved in at least 5–10 per cent of all cases of breast cancer. The two major familial breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 only explain 20-30 per cent of families with site-specific female breast cancer, which suggests the contribution of additional susceptibility genes. According to Dr Robert Winqvist, who coordinates the research effort, the identification of these genes may help to clarify the genetic background contributing to breast cancer and suggest novel pharmaceutical targets. It could also lead to genetic screening that identifies individuals at increased breast cancer risk and result in improved prevention efforts and treatment.

CRNS and the Institut Pasteur conducted research in France on patients diagnosed with cryptococcosis which ranks second among fatal opportunistic infections in patients infected by HIV and who are profoundly immunosuppressed. A multicentric prospective study, published on February 5 2007 in PLoS Medicine, uncovers parameters associated with more severe infections, such as the patient’s sex and the infecting serotype. In light of the results, the authors propose a modification in the therapeutic treatment of individuals suffering from cryptococcosis.

We may not be as fit as the people of ancient Athens, despite all that modern diet and training can provide, according to research by University of Leeds (UK) exercise physiologist, Dr Harry Rossiter.

The regions of the brain that control vision and other sensory information grow dramatically in the first few months following birth, while the area that controls abstract thought experiences very little growth during the same period, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have found.

Scientists at Queensland University of Technology are one step closer to developing a world-first vaccine to protect women against contracting the most common sexually-transmitted disease, Chlamydia.

The launch of the first large-scale study to evaluate a candidate HIV vaccine on the African continent was announced today by study collaborators in the United States and South Africa. The trial will involve up to 3,000 participants at five sites throughout South Africa and is expected to continue for four years.

A robotic exoskeleton controlled by the wearer's own nervous system could help users regain limb function, which is encouraging news for people with partial nervous system impairment, say University of Michigan researchers.

Most people inherit a version of a gene that optimizes their brain's thinking circuitry, yet also appears to increase risk for schizophrenia, a severe mental illness marked by impaired thinking, scientists at the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered. The seeming paradox emerged from the first study to explore the effects of variation in the human gene for a brain master switch, DARPP-32.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report citing the detrimental loss of sea ice sheets in the Arctic due to global warming echoes what many in the scientific community have been saying for years. Now researchers at The University of Texas at San Antonio's Department of Earth and Environmental Science are turning their attention to the South Pole to find out if global warming is having similar effects in the frigid Antarctic region.

To help physicians non-invasively identify women at risk for preterm birth, 3-D ultrasound was used to measure the size of fetal adrenal glands, according to an abstract presented by Yale School of Medicine researchers at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Conference February 8 in San Francisco.