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Scientists are working on a drug that may be used for chemical liposuction. It’s a natural enzyme that breaks down collagen in cells. Right now, it’s being used to shrink cancer tumors but researcher Tom Wegman says, “There’s no reason why fat in other parts of the body wouldn’t respond in the same way?We did think then that this might become a kind of chemical liposuction.” It’s already worked on obese mice.

But Wegman says, “We have yet to decide whether we want to investigate its effects for removing body fat. To become licensed as a chemical liposuction in the U.S. would be an expensive proposition.” In 2001, doctors conducted about 800,000 liposuction procedures in the U.S. alone.
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We assume men become boxers, firefighters, soldiers, etc. because of their superior strength. But it may also be because males are better at tolerating pain than females. It turns out there are major differences in how the sexes perceive pain.

A protein called GIRK2 plays a major role in pain sensation and drug sensitivity in males but is not as important in females. Removing GIRK2 makes men and women equal in their ability to withstand pain.

Researchers uncovered the sex difference by accident, while researching the effects of specific pain medications on mice. They compared normal mice with mice whose GIRK2 gene was “knocked out.” Without painkillers, males without GIRK2 were less able to withstand pain, but had the same pain tolerance as female mice. read more

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The dreaded killer disease Ebola passes easily from person to person, but no one knows where it starts. Ebola was discovered in 1976 and infects humans and monkeys. It’s caused hundreds of deaths in central Africa, and is fatal 50 to 90% of the time. Now scientists think it may be spread by birds.

The Ebola virus is similar to viruses that attack birds, meaning it could have jumped from birds to humans, the way AIDS did from monkeys to humans. If birds spread the disease, there would be no way to stop it from being carried long distances.
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