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Papaya extract seems to have a toxic effect on cancer cells in culture, suggesting a potential treatment. Scientists documented for the first time that papaya leaf extract boosts the production of key signaling molecules called Th1-type cytokines. This regulation of the immune system, in addition to papaya’s direct anti-tumor effect on various cancers, suggests possible therapeutic strategies that use the immune system to fight cancers.

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Sonic hedgehog is at work in mice limb buds in what is known as the ectoderm, the cell layer that gives rise to skin, researchers discovered. Finding Sonic hedgehog here is akin to discovering that yeast has crept from the batter to the frosting, where it has the surprising effect of limiting how much the cake rises. In this case, instead of causing appendages to grow in mice, Sonic hedgehog prevents digits from developing.

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UK scientists have succeeded in growing empty particles derived from a plant virus and have made them carry useful chemicals. The external surface of these nano containers could be decorated with molecules that guide them to where they are needed in the body, before the chemical load is discharged to exert its effect on diseased cells. The containers are particles of the Cowpea mosaic virus, which is ideally suited for designing biomaterial at the nanoscale.

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Scandinavian Scientists have discovered that a species of tree defends itself from herbivore attack by using chemicals emitted by neighboring plants. The study, published today in New Phytologist, reveals how species of Birch tree absorb chemical compounds from neighboring Marsh tea plants, Rhondodendron tomentosum, in a unique “defense by neighbor strategy.”

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University of Minnesota researcher George Weiblen and colleagues have found a faster way to study the spread and diet of insect pests. Using a technique called DNA barcoding, which involves the identification of species from a short DNA sequence, Weiblen and an international team of researchers studied populations of numerous moth and butterfly species across Papua New Guinea. DNA barcodes showed that migratory patterns and caterpillar diets are very dynamic.

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Scientists have found evidence of a catastrophic event they believe was responsible for halting the birth of stars in a galaxy in the early Universe.

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At age 55, men can expect another 15 years of sexual activity, but women that age should expect less than 11 years, according to a study by University of Chicago researchers published early online March 10 by the British Medical Journal. Men in good or excellent health at 55 can add 5 to 7 years to that number. Equally healthy women gain slightly less, 3 to 6 years.

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People who are in good health are almost twice as likely to be interested in sex compared to those in poor health, according to research published on bmj.com today.

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Research into the long calls of male orangutans in Borneo has given scientists new insight into how these solitary apes communicate through dense jungle. An acoustic analysis of the calls, published today in Ethology, reveals that the calls not only serve to attract females, but also contain information on the identity and the context of the caller.

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Bad behavior in childhood is associated with long-term, chronic widespread pain in adult life, according to the findings of a study following nearly 20,000 people from birth in 1958 to the present day. The research, published online in the journal Rheumatology on Wednesday March 10, found that children with severe behavior disturbances had approximately double the risk of chronic widespread pain by the time they reached the age of 45 than children who did not have behavior problems.

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