LONDON, March 14 /PRNewswire/ -- NHS Choices (http://www.nhs.uk), the digital 'front door' to the NHS launches a new Live Well package on pregnancy, aimed at helping people find out more about keeping well during pregnancy.

Based on NHS accredited information, the pregnancy bundle (http://www.nhs.uk/LiveWell/Pregnancy/Pages/Pregnancyhub.aspx) provides users with information about staying healthy and fit during pregnancy, including eating well, exercise, choosing where to give birth and antenatal care. There is a page for dads-to-be, and videos about screening, antenatal classes, exercising after the birth and post-natal depression. This Live Well package is the latest addition to the NHS Choices' extensive Live well section.

A new mathematical object was revealed yesterday during a lecture at the American Institute of Mathematics (AIM). Two researchers from the University of Bristol exhibited the first example of a third degree transcendental L-function. These L-functions encode deep underlying connections between many different areas of mathematics.

The news caused excitement at the AIM workshop attended by 25 of the world's leading analytic number theorists. The work is a joint project between Ce Bian and his adviser, Andrew Booker. Booker commented that, "This work was made possible by a combination of theoretical advances and the power of modern computers."

Fifty years have passed since the United States Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Army invented DEET to protect soldiers from disease-transmitting insects and in the process made civilian life outdoors nicer as well.

Despite its effectiveness, and decades of research, scientists never knew precisely how it worked.

By pinpointing DEET's molecular target in insects, researchers at Rockefeller University have shown that DEET acts like a 'chemical cloak', masking human odors that blood-feeding insects find attractive. This research makes it possible to improve the repellent properties of DEET and also make it a safer chemical.

New data has indicated that in rats, "male" hormones drive the decision to become a male during a window of time before male genitalia develop, and that blocking "male" hormones during this time caused male genitalia birth defects.

These defects were associated with a decreased ano-genital distance, leading to the suggestion that measuring human neonatal AGD could provide a noninvasive method to predict those at risk of developing male genitalia birth defects.

Cryptorchidism, the absence in the scrotum of one or both testes (usually because of the failure of the testis to descend), and hypospadias, the abnormal positioning of the opening of the urethra, are common birth defects of the male genitalia and are risk factors for the adult-onset disorders of low sperm count and testicular cancer.

Better regulation is urgently needed for genetic tests, particularly those marketed directly to the public, argue researchers in this week’s BMJ.

In the past 18 months, studies have identified dozens of inherited DNA variations associated with common conditions such as heart attacks, diabetes and asthma, write Professor David Melzer and colleagues

In many cases, these findings provide insight on the cause of the disease, but clinical applications are still mostly unclear. Much work is now needed to identify and evaluate each potential clinical application. Yet, although the work of translating discovery into evidence based practice is just beginning, several companies have already marketed tests, many directly to the public.

If you read the medical news lately you may have seen a headline title Skeleton May Show Ancient Brain Surgery. This article was about an 1800 year old skeleton found in Veria, Greece. The skeleton was of a woman of about 25 years of age that suffered severe head trauma and underwent cranial surgery, unfortunately evidence shows that she did not survive.

There is an interesting history of skull surgery, known as trepanation, which comes from the Greek word trypanon, meaning auger or borer. Cranial trepanation has caught the interest of surgeons and archeologist since the 1860's, when it was first realized that ancient humans had scraped or cut holes in the skulls of living persons in France and Peru.

Trepanation is serious enough surgical procedure in this day and age, could this procedure have taken place as a routine operation as long ago as 2000 BC? We do have a historical record of thousands of skulls with evidence of this surgery. Sometimes historical records suggest a reality that we find hard to accept.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark and REDWOOD CITY, California, March 14 /PRNewswire/ --

- Summary: Genmab's Acquisition of PDL BioPharma's Antibody Manufacturing Facility has Closed.

Genmab A/S (OMX: GEN) and PDL BioPharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: PDLI) today announced the closing of the previously announced transaction under which Genmab has acquired PDL's antibody manufacturing facility located in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, USA for USD 240 million in cash. The transaction was first announced on February 21, 2008.

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The news keeps coming in, and examples of how real science works (as opposed to make believe creationism or so-called intelligent design) are beginning to get so numerous that it is hard to imagine people capable of reading newspaper articles are still capable of denying evolution. Last month, for instance, a spectacular discovery was published in Nature magazine, a finding that has resolved a long-standing question about the evolution of bats. Darwin listed the problem as one of the great mysteries of evolution he was not able to address in “The Origin of Species”: how did bats originate from terrestrial ancestors? The modern version of the conundrum hinged, until last month, on whether flight or echolocation (the amazing ability of bats to generate a sonar-like pulse to orient themselves and locate preys) came first. For decades biologists have been arguing in favor of either the flight-first or the echolocation-first hypothesis.

FAIRFIELD, New Jersey, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Unigene Laboratories, Inc. (OTCBB: UGNE) announced that it did not issue, authorize or approve the press release titled "Stonegate Report About Unigene Laboratories Inc.", which was released yesterday. Pursuant to the Company's policies and procedures, Unigene does not endorse, confirm, validate or otherwise comment on reports issued by analysts and unrelated third parties. Any opinions, estimates or forecasts regarding Unigene's performance made by analysts or other third parties are theirs alone and do not represent the opinions, estimates, forecasts or predictions of Unigene or its management.

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