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A substance found in saliva could help develop new drugs to treat antibiotic-resistant infections. It raises hopes for people with diseases like HIV and cystic fibrosis, who regularly develop infections that are difficult to treat with conventional drugs.

Dr. Libuse Bobek, of the University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine in New York, discovered the saliva chemical, which kills fungal agents like candidiasis, cryptococcosis and aspergillosis that can threaten people whose immune systems are compromised. It also destroys several bacteria, including E.coli and P. gingivalis, which cause serious intestinal and oral infections, and S. mutans, which causes tooth decay.
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Dr. Alison Wren, Research Fellow at Imperial College, London has isolated a ?hunger hormone? that dramatically boosts human food consumption. Scientists have known for some time that the hormone stimulates hunger in rats, but they had never been able to identify its effects in humans. Now they have shown that it can make people so ravenous they eat nearly a third more food than usual.

?There is currently little effective medical treatment for obesity and we are very excited to have taken this step toward a future therapy,? Wren says.
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A fake meat that is made from fungus, but tastes like chicken (of course) has arrived in U.S. supermarkets. Known as mycoprotein, it is marketed under the trade name Quorn (pronounced kworn) and made into a variety of fake foods, including chicken-like nuggets, lasagna and fettuccine Alfredo and an alternative to ground beef called ?grounds.?

?It?s wonderful as far as consumers are concerned,? says Leslie Bonci, director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who?s tried it. ?It?s a lot of protein for a minimal amount of calories and three to four grams of fiber.?
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International researchers at Stanford University have compiled what they say is the world?s most complete database of lost, stolen and misplaced nuclear material. This database reveals that we live in a world that is filled with weapons-grade uranium and plutonium that cannot be accounted for.

The Stanford program is called the Database on Nuclear Smuggling, Theft and Orphan Radiation Sources and is intended to help governments and international agencies track down lost nuclear material worldwide. Right now, many governments have national tracking programs but fail to share their information with other countries.
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