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LOOSENING UP

Virtual reality appears to promote movement in stroke patients' partly paralysed limbs. Benefits were seen when patients operated a system controlling a virtual body with their own movements. Belén Rubio Ballester, lead researcher in the project at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, said: €Patients started using their paretic limb more frequently. This suggests that changing patients' beliefs on their capabilities significantly improves the use of their paretic limb. Often we neglect the remarkable contribution of the patient's emotional and psychological states to recovery.€

LESS MEAT, LESS CANCER

A 15-year Oxford University study has endorsed evidence that meat raises cancer risks. The project followed 60,000 volunteers, of whom more than 18,000 were vegetarian and 2,246 vegan. Cancer rates were 11 per cent lower in vegetarians and 19 per cent lower in vegans. Red and processed meat were already associated with bowel cancer and the researchers were unsurprised to find connections with other cancers too.

LIGHT FOR SAD PEOPLE

Seasonal affective disorder has been treated successfully with artificial light. Researchers used a bright light box for 30-45 minutes after patients woke, or a gradually increasing dawn-mimicking light during the final 30 minutes of sleep. Dr Konstantin Danilenko, who led the project at an institute in Nobosivirsk, Siberia, said: €Bright light was preferred for long-term therapy since patients seemed to feel stronger, faster positive effects €¦ Dawn simulation was preferred for a more soft, 'natural' action.€ Dawn-mimicking has previously had conflicting results, but Dr Danilenko called this study a welcome addition to SAD research.

PAIN STUDY

An online survey is being conducted at Southampton University to develop a means of assessing how women's lives are affected by chronic pelvic pain, whose many causes include endometriosis and inflammatory disease. Women over 18 are being asked to describe their experiences, including mood and wellbeing changes. The study, concluding a project begun last year, is an information-gathering exercise before action can be recommended.

MACHINE THAT VOMITS!

A vomiting machine with a pressure chamber and artificial body parts, including mouth, oesophagus and stomach, is being operated to study how norovirus bugs reach other victims when projected into the air. Researchers at North Carolina University cannot use the norovirus, so the harmless MS2 bacteriophage simulates it in the reproduced vomiting experiments. Professor Lee-Ann Jaykus, the university's food science specialist, said: €This machine may seem odd but it's helping us understand a disease that affects millions of people. This is work that can help us prevent or contain the spread of norovirus.€

BATTLE AGAINST AGEING

Discoveries about the genetic processes for keeping body cells stable may solve premature ageing, particularly Werner syndrome, the adult version of progeria, in which children and teenagers develop the appearance and illnesses of old age. Scientists at the Salk Institute in California and the Chinese Academy of Sciences found the mutated Werner syndrome gene jumbles the cell nucleus DNA bundle called heterochromatin, which regulates cell activity. They suggest the DNA chaos could be remedied to slow or reverse abnormal ageing. This would be €like remodelling an old house or car€, said Professor Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte.