• Take two laps before breakfast . . .

  Imagine if the next time you visited your GP complaining of stress or diabetes or asthma, he prescribed a course of low-impact aerobics, a session on the treadmill or a few lengths of the pool? p
  

• Lifelines

  New research which involves genetically altering the HIV virus to prevent it from becoming active may, in the future, become a new treatment. The gene "tat" is known to be essential for the HIV virus to replicate. Researchers at the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia created a gene called "anti-tat" with genetic engineering technology. The anti-tat was then inserted into a mouse and entered the HIV-infected cells. The researchers found that anti-tat gene stopped the replication and activation of HIV. They also found that anti-tat prolonged the survival of T lymphocytes, cells of the immune system which are normally the primary target for the AIDS virus. Further studies are needed to determine whether such gene therapy could allow the HIV virus to remain dormant in infected humans. (Ivanhoe). p
  

• Pregnant pause

  As more and more Irish women delay motherhood and then want to have their babies within a specific time-frame, the shock of not being able to conceive within a few months can turn into a longer and more painful trauma of unexplained infertility for up to 12 per cent of women. Other couples can find their dream pregnancy results in a miscarriage, a still birth or the birth of a premature baby who struggles through the first months of his/her little life. p
  

• The march of measles

  The news that measles has taken hold in the Dublin area since the beginning of the year is worrying for parents. Public health specialists had warned of the likelihood of a serious disease outbreak ever since measles vaccination rates began to drop. Nevertheless, it is still a shock to discover that an infectious disease which we should be well on the way to eradicating has resulted in 17 admissions to Temple Street Hospital. p
  

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