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A new study sheds light on the action of the drug ezetimibe (trade name Zetia), which is used to treat high cholesterol. Ezetimibe is unique among cholesterol-lowering drugs in that it works by cutting the amount of cholesterol taken in from the diet rather than by blocking cholesterol's manufacture in the body.

The road to death or differentiation follows a similar course in embryonic stem cells according to new research in the journal Cell Stem Cell. Caspases, known as 'killer enzymes,' that are activated during programmed cell death, are also active in the initial phases of cell differentiation, according to researchers.

A single organ may contain more than one type of adult stem cell -- a discovery that complicates prospects for using the versatile cells to replace damaged tissue as a treatment for disease, according to a new study.

One of the great scientific challenges is to understand the design principles and origins of the human brain. New research has shed light on the evolutionary origins of the brain and how it evolved into the remarkably complex structure found in humans. The research suggests that it is not size alone that gives more brain power, but that, during evolution, increasingly sophisticated molecular processing of nerve impulses allowed development of animals with more complex behaviors.

A new type of exercise equipment can prevent serious lifestyle illnesses in paraplegic patients. The equipment was first designed for the American actor Christopher Reeve. Patients who are unable to walk after a spinal injury have a poorer quality of life and a shortened lifespan than their non-paralyzed counterparts. Sitting passively in a chair makes people susceptible to weight and digestion problems, lower bone density, diabetes -- and last but not least, heart and circulation problems.

Diabetes is the leading cause of renal failure that requires dialysis. The disease generates such a hostile environment that it forces the kidney cells to kill themselves, progressively reducing the renal functions of the kidneys. A research group has studied the causes and consequences of the cell suicide of renal cells. Diabetes slowly destroys the kidney up to the point where the renal function has to be taken on by dialysis (artificial kidney) or a transplanted kidney.

Images from inside the body? It can be done with tiny cameras which the patient has to swallow. In the past there was no way of controlling the device as it passed through the body. Now it can be steered and stopped where desired, and even deliver images of the esophagus.

A chemist has apparently solved a long-standing frustration in creating certain synthetic molecules that make up drugs, which could lead to better drugs with fewer side effects. Like human hands, many molecules that make up drugs come in two shapes, right and left. But usually only one of the two versions has the desired effect; the other is at best useless and sometimes even harmful. For example, side effects from the morning sickness drug Thalidomide resulted in profound birth defects because one shape of the molecule was therapeutic and the other was dangerous.

Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease that affects approximately 2--3% of individuals in the Western world. New data have indicated that a subset of immune cells known as Tregs (which act to prevent other immune cells from responding inappropriately) are dysfunctional in a mouse model of psoriasis and that this dysfunction contributes substantially to the development of disease.

Teeth may fall out as a result of inflammation and subsequent destruction of the tissues supporting the teeth. Dutch researchers have investigated a possible solution to this problem. They studied the regeneration of the periodontal ligament by use of tissue engineering. The 3-D in-vitro model she has developed appears to be promising for regenerating periodontal ligament and may also prove valuable for restoring tendons and ligaments elsewhere in the body.