GOOD NEWS

Trachoma test

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed and successfully tested the first cheap, simple and accurate test for trachoma, an eye disease that causes the eyelid to fold inward, causing the lashes to scrape across the corneas and damage them. The new method uses a dipstick-based test that diagnoses in under 30 minutes whether someone is infected with the bacterium called Chlamydia trachomatis that causes trachoma, according to The Lancet. Researchers say the test can be used by local health workers who need only an hour of training and a makeshift room ? rather than a lab ? to carry it out.

Gym and tumours

Exercise can protect against skin cancer, according to researchers at New Jersey. Their study, reported in the journal Carcinogenesis, found that mice exposed to ultraviolet B light (UVB) ? and with continual access to running wheels ? took longer to develop skin tumours than a group of similarly exposed mice that didn’t have a gym handy. In both groups, the number of tumours per mouse increased with time, but animals with access to running wheels had approximately 32 per cent fewer tumours. As might be expected, the exercising mice ate and drank more but had less body fat than their more sedentary associates, and the number of tumours also decreased with lower body fat.

BAD NEWS

Pneumonia risk

New research shows that current or former alcoholics have a high risk for developing Streptococcus pneumoniae, a bacteria known to cause pneumonia. A joint Spanish-German team compared the cause of the disease, antibiotic resistance of S pneumoniae, severity, and outcome of patients with alcohol abuse with non-alcoholics hospitalised with community-acquired pneumonia. Results indicated that patients with a history of alcohol abuse had the highest incidence of S pneumoniae, according to a study in the journal Chest.

Medicine abuse

World-wide users of methamphetamine (an anti-depressant) outnumber the combined total of cocaine and heroine users, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, US, told the International Drug Enforcement Conference at Montreal recently. Methamphetamine, also known as “crystal meth” or “meth”, is highly addictive and prolonged use can lead to serious depression and violent behaviour.