wild mushroom

Scientists discover how wild mushroom cancer drug works

The drug was first isolated from a parasitic mushroom

Scientists have discovered how a promising cancer drug, first discovered in a wild mushroom, works.

The University of Nottingham team believe their work could help make the drug more effective, and useful for treating a wider range of cancers.

Cordycepin, commonly used in Chinese medicine, was originally extracted from a rare kind of parasitic mushroom that grows on caterpillars.

The study will appear in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

The cordyceps mushroom has been studied by medical researchers for some time - the first scientific publication on cordycepin was in 1950.

However, although the drug showed great promise, it was quickly degraded in the body.

It can be given with another drug to combat this - but the second drug can produce side effects that limit its potential use.

As a result, researchers turned their interest to other potential candidate drugs, and exactly how cordycepin worked on the body's cells remained unclear.

It could lay the groundwork for the design of new cancer drugs that work on the same principle Dr Cornelia de Moor University of Nottingham

Researcher Dr Cornelia de Moor said: "Our discovery will open up the possibility of investigating the range of different cancers that could be treated with cordycepin.

"It will be possible to predict what types of cancers might be sensitive and what other cancer drugs it may effectively combine with.

"It could also lay the groundwork for the design of new cancer drugs that work on the same principle."

The researchers have also developed a method to test how effective the drug is in new preparations, and combinations with other drugs, which might solve the problem of degradation more satisfactorily.

Dr De Moor said: "This is a great advantage as it will allow us to rule out any non-runners before anyone considers testing them in animals."

The Nottingham team observed two effects on the cells - at a low dose cordycepin inhibits the uncontrolled growth and division of the cells, and at high doses it stops cells from sticking together, which also inhibits growth.

The knowledge generated by this research demonstrates the mechanisms of drug action and could have an impact on one of the most important challenges to health Professor Janet Allen Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Both of these effects probably have the same underlying mechanism - that cordycepin interferes with how cells make proteins.

At low doses cordycepin interferes with the production of mRNA, the molecule that gives instructions on how to assemble a protein.

And at higher doses it has a direct impact on the making of proteins.

Professor Janet Allen is director of research at the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, which funded the study.

She said: "This project shows that we can always return to asking questions about the fundamental biology of something in order to refine the solution or resolve unanswered questions.

"The knowledge generated by this research demonstrates the mechanisms of drug action and could have an impact on one of the most important challenges to health."

prosecutions under the Hunting Act

Minister Hiliary Benn fights to keep hunting ban

The hunting ban, which came into effect in 2005, remains controversial

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn is launching a campaign to boost support for the fox hunting ban.

Mr Benn is urging people to sign up on a website backing the ban.

He claims the Tories plan to make repeal of the Hunting Act "a priority". Party leader David Cameron has promised MPs a free vote on the issue.

The pro-hunting Countryside Alliance has said today's meets could be the last traditional Boxing Day hunts before the ban is repealed.

Hunting foxes with dogs was outlawed in 2005, although hounds are still allowed to follow a scent or flush out a fox, but not kill it.

'Barbaric act'

Mr Benn's campaign is being launched to coincide with the Boxing Day hunts and is backed by the actors Patrick Stewart, Jenny Seagrove and Tony Robinson.

The environment secretary said: "For David Cameron, getting the act repealed is a priority.

"He used to hunt foxes; he talked about fox hunting in his first ever speech to Parliament; and he has said that if he becomes prime minister he will get rid of the fox hunting ban.

The arguments in favour of repeal simply don't stack up Douglas Batchelor League Against Cruel Sports

"But, like the vast majority of people, I think that the barbaric act of letting dogs tear foxes to pieces shouldn't return to our countryside."

In October, shadow environment secretary Nick Herbert described the hunting ban as "an affront to civil liberties" and "completely unworkable".

He said a Conservative government would consider creating a regulatory body for fox hunting which could work towards "minimising animal suffering".

But Mr Benn insisted Mr Herbert and Mr Cameron's views were indicative of wider Conservative attitudes.

Footage released

"If you think the Tories have changed, their views on fox hunting with dogs make it absolutely clear that their priorities haven't," he added.

Only a small number of prosecutions under the Hunting Act have reached court since 2005, but the League Against Cruel Sports says the arguments in favour of repeal "don't stack up".

The League Against Cruel Sports has released graphic footage which it says reinforces the need for a ban.

It says the footage, filmed before the act came into force, shows "the horrific cruelty" of hunting.

Chief executive Douglas Batchelor said: "The arguments in favour of repeal simply don't stack up and we believe the public has a right to see what the hunting lobby, and some politicians want to bring back.

"The truth of the matter is that hunting is barbaric and cruel and the only purpose it serves is to appease the sick minds of a very small minority who enjoy torturing animals for their own entertainment."

But the Countryside Alliance says the ban is "fundamentally illiberal, based not on principle and evidence but prejudice. Such laws should have no place in a modern, tolerant and free society."

It also insists: "The hunting community stands united and determined to secure repeal and huge support is anticipated this year."

Staff at the Recovery and Rehabilitation Centre in Carpenis

A BBC investigation has uncovered appalling conditions and abuse in adult institutions in Romania, 20 years after the fall of Nicolai Ceausescu exposed conditions in the country's orphanages.

As the care worker unlocked the door and pushed it open, a musty stench of body odour and urine filled the air. There were 10 people crammed into the room, bed-bound on rotting mattresses and lying in their own faeces, some two to a bed.

Among the dirty, scarred faces peering above the duvets were the orphans whose plight roused the international community when Romanian orphanages opened their doors to Western journalists in 1990.

Staff at the Recovery and Rehabilitation Centre in Carpenis had no idea how old the latest arrivals from a children's orphanage were - they guessed 18 but they looked much younger.

The three boys cowered under their dirty duvets, escaping from the wrinkled faces of the disturbed men and women they shared a bed with.

The overthrow of Ceausescu shone a light on the plight of the orphans

One of the boys was desperately thin. A worker explained that they didn't know anything about him. He couldn't talk and they suspected he has hepatitis, but they had no means of finding out for sure.

Another new arrival had deep cuts to her head. Like others who have been institutionalised since birth, she exhibits self-harming behaviour, including violent rocking backwards and forwards. She repeatedly banged her head against the wall, and wore a makeshift helmet to cushion the impact.

Notorious institutions

There were dozens of rooms, packed with 160 adults aged up to 80. It was difficult to tell the men and women apart, but they all shared a confined existence. They are all unwanted human beings, abandoned by their impoverished parents at birth and neglected into adulthood by the state.

We came across several institutions where there were cases of human rights abuses Georgiana Pascu, Romanian human rights campaigner

The Romanian government had promised it had dealt with its notorious institutions as part of its conditions for joining the European Union. The only way we could witness the reality of conditions in adult institutions was to pose as charity workers, and secretly film our findings.

The Carpenis institution is just 32km (20 miles) from the capital Bucharest, the heartbeat of the country's growing economy. In the main squares, neon lights advertise the biggest Western brands; shopping centres are bursting with families spending new money on Christmas gifts. It is a measure of how far Romania has come since the fall of its dictator Nicolai Ceausescu who bankrupted the country. But not everyone has seen change in the last 20 years.

In Bolintin, another village close to the capital, a lone nurse and six helpers take care of more than 100 patients - they are not sure exactly how many. They were wrapped in blankets and thermal jackets to escape the freezing cold.

Signs of gangrene were evident at one institution in Bolintin

In a wooden cabin, separate from the main building, we found 15 severely disabled people slumped on uncomfortable chairs. The nurse insisted they were at least 20 years old, but their tiny faces and bodies suggested they were much younger.

Unlike the able-bodied in the main building, they had nothing to escape the cold. Their clothes were thin and tatty and their bare feet produced an odour of rotting flesh. A closer look revealed signs of gangrene.

Low standards

Georgiana Pascu of the Romanian human rights group the Centre for Legal Resources has visited nearly every one of Romania's 150 adult institutions. She says adults in state care face a long list of problems.

Nicolai Ceausescu was executed with his wife Elena on Christmas Day 1989

"There is overcrowding, lack of access to adequate medical treatment, lack of access to psychologists and social workers. We came across several institutions where there were cases of human rights abuses during our visits this year. With a little help, most of them could live in a community environment."

But that help has never come. Again, posing as charity workers, we witnessed some pitiful scenes at the Ganesti Social Medical Unit in eastern Romania.

Staff there told us that there was one carer to 40 residents, and that there were 160 people sharing 140 beds.

Most staff at the institutions we visited were caring and compassionate, but with ratios like this it is little wonder that standards are so low. It was mid-afternoon, and we found most patients still in bed, many showing signs of heavy sedation.

One girl was restrained in her bed by her jumper which acted as a straitjacket.

Human rights activist Eric Rosenthal gives his views on the BBC's secret footage

We showed the findings of our investigation to Eric Rosenthal, who campaigns to protect the human rights of institutionalised people and is an adviser to the US government.

"I cannot say I'm surprised given Romania's record, but I am horrified," he said. "My organisation Mental Disability Rights International documented this abuse in great detail. We talked to government officials, and we brought it to the European Union. They promised they would end these abuses and they have failed on that promise.

"These conditions are exactly what we saw five years ago, 10 years ago. They did what they needed to do to get into the EU, but the abuses are still going on."

Well-cared for

Some institutions, however, have been turned around. The orphanage in Cighid, north-west Romania, was one of the institutions that achieved notoriety in 1990.

A young man from the orphanage in Cighid, an institution that has been turned around

At least 137 children died in the space of two years, most of them no older than three.

Foreign aid and the efforts of a new director, Dr Pavel Oarcea, who has now retired, led to many improvements.

Cighid - now an adult institution - was the only facility we got permission to visit as journalists. Around 60 of the children have remained there into adulthood, and they appeared well-cared for.

They had musical instruments, crayons and colouring books. But many have only ever known life in an institution. The disabilities they were either born with or developed as a result of previous neglect in the orphanage meant they were always unlikely to be adopted.

Dr Oarcea defied orders by the local authority not to speak to us. He told us the 15 years he spent in Cighid were the most rewarding of his life, but that he still has regrets.

"A disabled child who's lived with a family his whole life doesn't rock backwards and forwards. What the Cighid children have missed out on is family life, the love that only a family can give," he said.

"Twenty years ago I believed the Romanian government would have made much greater progress in protecting their unwanted children and adults."

Since 1990, Romania has received 100m euros (£89m, $144m) from the EU to improve its institutions.

In response to our investigation, the Romanian government said the conditions we found were not representative of care in the country.

"The Romanian authorities continue the reform and the protection of the disabled with social risk by implementing proactive policies and good practices," it said in a statement.

It added that two of the institutions we visited were scheduled for closure in the next three years.

Human-like fossil

Human-like fossil find is breakthrough of the year

By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News

The team slowly reconstructed what "Ardi" would have looked like

The discovery of a fossilised skeleton that has become a "central character in the story of human evolution" has been named the science breakthrough of 2009.

The 4.4 million year old creature, that may be a human ancestor, was first described in a series of papers in the journal Science in October.

It has now been recognised by the journal's editors as the most important scientific accomplishment of this year.

It is part of a scientific top 10 that ranges from space science to genetics.

The first fossils of the species, Ardipithecus ramidus, were unearthed in 1994. Scientists recognised their importance immediately.

But the very poor condition of the ancient bones meant that it took researchers 15 years to excavate and analyse them.

It's not a chimp. It's not a human. It shows us what we used to be Professor Tim White University of California, Berkeley

The most important thing to emerge from that excavation was the partial skeleton of a female creature, which has now been nicknamed "Ardi".

An international team of scientists unveiled the skeleton in a series of scientific papers published in Science in October.

Their careful examination of its skull, teeth, pelvis, hands and feet revealed that Ardi shared a mixture of "primitive" traits shared with its predecessors, and "derived" features, which it shared with later hominids, or human-like creatures.

It shared some of these derived features with humans.

Professor Tim White from the University of California, Berkeley in the US, was one of the lead scientists working on the project.

"This is not an ordinary fossil. It's not a chimp. It's not a human. It shows us what we used to be," he told Science Magazine at the time the research was published.

One of his team's key conclusions was that Ardi walked upright. This was based on the painstaking reassembly of its very badly crushed pelvis, which the scientists said had a shape that would have allowed Ardi to balance on one leg at a time.

Evolution debate

Professor White said that some researchers had been sceptical about these conclusions.

"Some people have looked at the pelvis and said, 'my gosh, that's fairly squashed. Are you sure you knew how to put it together correctly?' So we're responding to that," he told Science magazine.

Ardipithecus was even more primitive than the famous "Lucy" fossil - a 3.2 million year old Australopithecus skeleton that was discovered in 1974.

Professor Chris Stringer, a palaeontologist from the Natural History Museum in London said that Ardi was likely "a remnant of a more ancient stage of human evolution" than Lucy.

"[It was] closer in many ways to the ancestor we shared with our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees, more than six million years ago," he said.

Nasa's discovery of water on the Moon was one of the runners up

The editor-in-chief of Science said that the Ardipithecus research represented a "culmination of 15 years of painstaking, highly collaborative research by 47 scientists of diverse expertise from nine nations."

The nine runners up in Science's list of this year's most important breakthroughs were published in a number of scientific journals, including Science, Nature and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The first runner up was Nasa's discovery of magnetised, rapidly rotating neutron stars called pulsars.

Others included the discovery that a compound called rapamycin boosted longevity in mice - the first time any drug has stretched a mammal's life span - and advances in gene therapy that could help treat a fatal brain disease.

The nine runners up were:

• Pulsar mystery: Nasa's Fermi gamma-Ray Space Telescope helped identify previously unknown pulsars - highly magnetised and rapidly rotating neutron stars.
• Extending life: Researchers found the compound rapamycin extends the life span of mice. The discovery was particularly remarkable because the treatment did not start until the mice were middle-aged.
• Supreme conduction: Materials scientists probed the properties of graphene - highly conductive single-layer sheets of carbon atoms - and started fashioning the material into experimental electronic devices.
• Plant survival: Scientists discovered the structure of a critical molecule that helps plants survive during droughts. This could help in the design of new ways to protect crops against prolonged dry periods.
• Laser tool: The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California unveiled the world's first X-ray laser, a powerful research tool capable of taking snapshots of chemical reactions as they happen and studying materials in unprecedented detail.
• Gene Therapy: European and US researchers made progress in treating a fatal brain disease, inherited blindness, and a severe immune disorder by developing new strategies involving gene therapy.
• Magnetic monopoly: Physicists working with strange crystalline materials called spin ices created magnetic ripples that behaved like "magnetic monopoles" - fundamental particles with only one magnetic pole.
• Watery Moon: Nasa discovered water vapour in the debris when it deliberately crashed a rocket near the south pole of the Moon. The experiment was part of the space agency's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission.
• Hubble Repair: A final repair mission by space shuttle astronauts gave the Hubble telescope sharper vision, enabling it to produce some of its most spectacular images yet.

A solstice is an astronomical phenomenon

Astronomical Solstice

Last Updated: Dec 21, 2009

A File Photo of Winter Solstice, December 22, 2004. Image Credit: NASA/Takmeng Wong/CERES Science Team at NASA Langley Research Center.

A solstice is an astronomical phenomenon which occurs twice a year and is based on the position of the Earth in relation to the sun. The term is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).

The Earth revolves around the sun once per year. The seasons on Earth are caused by the tilt of the Earth on its axis, which is approximately 23.5 degrees. As the earth revolves around the sun its axis is continually tilted in the same direction. If one extended the line of the axis into space it would touch Polaris, or the North Star. As the earth rotates around its axis Polaris appears to remain in the same place while all the stars rotate around it.

Twice a year the earth is tilted directly toward or away from the sun. These days are called Solstices – the longest and shortest day of the year. In the northern hemisphere the longest day of the year falls on June 21st. This is the day when the sun illuminates the largest area of the northern hemisphere, resulting in more hours of daylight as the earth rotates. The shortest day of the year is December 21st. This is the day the sun illuminates the least surface area and the northern hemisphere receives the fewest hours of daylight.

During the summer solstice, the sun is overhead at its nearest point, above the Tropic of Cancer. At the time of Winter Solstice, the sun is furthest away, over the Tropic of Capricorn.

On Winter Solstice, the polar North receives no energy from the Sun. In contrast, the amount of incoming solar energy the Earth receives on June 21, Summer Solstice, is 30 percent higher at the North Pole than at the Equator.

Twice a year the earth’s tilt is neither towards nor away from the sun, it is perpendicular to the sun. These days are called Equinoxes – meaning equal day and equal night. All areas of the northern and southern hemisphere are equally illuminated. On these two days of the year there are 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness everywhere on earth. The autumnal, or fall, equinox occurs on September 22nd, and the vernal, or spring, equinox occurs on March 20th.

The solstices, together with the equinoxes, are connected with the seasons. Therefore most cultures and religious traditions honour these days with celebrations and festivals of various kind. For the June solstice, Christian and Pagan cultures observe the feat of St. John, St. John's Eve, 1 Ivan Kupala Day or Midsummer. The December solstice marks a holiday season cultures honour. Christmas, Yalda, Saturnalia, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Karachun are the most notable. The equinoxes also have their spring and autumn observances, and in some cultures the midpoints between these - called cross-quarter days - are also celebrated.

Brief Summary

Summer solstice - the longest day of the year, when the Sun is at its most northern point in the sky.

Autumn equinox - day and night are each 12 hours long and the Sun is at the midpoint of the sky.

Winter solstice - the shortest day of the year, when the Sun is at its most southern point in the sky.

Spring equinox - day and night are each 12 hours long and the Sun is at the midpoint of the sky

appetite hormone likely to develop the disease

Alzheimer's risk linked to level of appetite hormone

The hormone leptin controls appetite

High levels of a hormone that controls appetite appear to be linked to a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, US research suggests.

The 12-year-study of 200 volunteers found those with the lowest levels of leptin were more likely to develop the disease than those with the highest.
The JAMA study builds on work that links low leptin levels to the brain plaques found in Alzheimer's patients.
The hope is leptin could eventually be used as both a marker and a treatment.
The hormone leptin is produced by fat cells and tells the brain that the body is full and so reduces appetite. It has long been touted as a potential weapon in treating obesity.
But there is growing evidence that the hormone also benefits brain function.
Research on mice - conducted to establish why obese patients with diabetes often have long-term memory problems - found those who received doses of leptin were far more adept at negotiating their way through a maze.
The latest research, carried out at Boston University Medical Center, involved regular brain scans on 198 older volunteers over a 12-year period.
A quarter of those with the lowest levels of leptin went on to develop Alzheimer's disease, compared with 6% of those with the highest levels.
"If our findings our confirmed by others, leptin levels in older adults may serve as one of several possible biomarkers for healthy brain ageing and, more importantly, may open new pathways for possible preventive and therapeutic intervention."
Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: "Previous studies have shown that obesity in mid-life is associated with an increased risk of dementia, but this new research suggests that leptin might have a role to play.
"There is evidence that leptin has functions in the brain - further studies in this area could lead to the possibility that this hormone plays a role in new treatments for Alzheimer's."

gypsys delight

Albino hedgehog put on weight-loss regime

An albino hedgehog being cared for at St Tiggywinkles wildlife hospital in Buckinghamshire is being put on a diet because he is dangerously overweight.

Snowball, as he has been nicknamed by staff, needs to lose two pounds to get down to a healthy weight.

He is now being put through a rigorous exercise regime, as Claire Price reports

AUSTRALIA has appealed to China

Heat on China to break impasse at Copenhagen

AUSTRALIA has appealed to China to step up to the leadership role expected of a global superpower, as a standoff between the US and China deadlocked the Copenhagen climate change talks.

The 48 environment ministers already in Copenhagen were meeting away from the conference centre yesterday to consider a political deal for two separate treaties.

Kevin Rudd has been hitting the phones to try to secure a political-level deal, speaking with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and developing-nation leaders Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and PNG Prime Minister Michael Somare.

The fate of the talks now lies with the ministers and ultimately with the 110 leaders who arrive in the Danish capital by the end of the week, to overcome entrenched positions, particularly those held by the two superpowers, which are the world's two biggest greenhouse emitters.

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End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

According to Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, who will be joined in Copenhagen by the Prime Minister on Wednesday, it will involve China playing a new role on the global stage.

"The world is looking to China for leadership, just as the world looks to the US for leadership, and for China to play a constructive role," Senator Wong said.

China and other developing nations were yesterday maintaining the tough stance they had taken in these negotiations from the start. They argue that developed nations owe a "carbon debt" to the developing world for emissions already in the atmosphere and that the existing international negotiating mandate does not require developing countries - even China, the world's largest emitter - to make binding emission-reduction targets that can be internationally checked.

But the US, Australia, the European Union and other developed nations have said a draft agreement from the conference negotiations reflecting that stance is totally unacceptable and no basis for any Copenhagen deal.

US chief negotiator Todd Stern said: "The United States is not going to do a deal without major developing countries stepping up."

Senator Wong said such a result would not deliver the environmental outcome that was the whole point of the Copenhagen talks.

The developed countries point out that 97 per cent of the growth in greenhouse gases between now and 2030 will come from the developing world, with China contributing about half of that. Erwin Jackson of Australian think tank The Climate Institute said leaving one of the world's biggest emitters out of a new treaty would be fatal.

"Without a treaty that fairly covers all major emitters, global action will be undermined and political support would collapse into a meaningless pledge and review system," he said.

Environment ministers are now discussing a new agreement under the Kyoto Protocol for developed countries and an agreement to develop another treaty that would be signed by the US, which has said it will not join Kyoto, and developing nations including India and China. But the plan is far from agreed.

One issue at the heart of the standoff is China's refusal to allow its domestic emission-reduction efforts to be internationally monitored and verified - a stance the US has said is a deal-breaker and which is a primary focus of US-Chinese bilateral talks in Copenhagen.

China's chief climate-change negotiator, Su Wei, was yesterday adamant China would do its own checking. "We have robust monitoring and evaluation within our country and it can be fully trusted - and the actions and measures that we will take we will put in our national report (to the UN)," he said.

India's Environment Minister, Jairan Ramesh, backed China's stance that only emission cuts paid for by developed-country money should be internationally verified, saying India's voluntary domestic action was its own business.

Danish Environment Minister Connie Hedegaard said it was at least positive the US and China were still negotiating. "I can think of no time where the involvement and discussion between China and the United States and the way that they contribute have been more constructive, and that I take as a good sign, although there are differences of opinion definitely," Ms Hedegaard said.

Another standoff is over the developing world's demands that rich nations offer more money to help them reduce emissions and also offer much deeper emission-reduction targets.

UN convention on climate change executive secretary Yvo de Boer said deeper targets could also be in the self-interest of developed countries.

Tony Blair told the BBC

Religion seen an 'oddity' by ministers, Archbishop says

Government schemes de-normalised religion, Dr Williams said

The Archbishop of Canterbury has accused the government of treating religious faith as an "eccentricity" practised by "oddities".

But Rowan Williams told the Daily Telegraph ministers were wrong to think it was no longer relevant to society.

Political leaders should be more open about their beliefs, he added.

Dr Williams also suggested a new "supermarket ombudsman" should be established to protect the interests of Britain's rural economy.

"We need more care in holding together the environmental and conservation agenda with food protection in some areas," he said.

Pope's invitation

Dr Williams told the Telegraph: "The trouble with a lot of government initiatives about faith is that they assume it is a problem, it's an eccentricity, it's practised by oddities, foreigners and minorities.

"The effect is to de-normalise faith, to intensify the perception that faith is not part of our bloodstream. And, you know, in great swathes of the country that's how it is."

He said it would not do "any harm" for political leaders to be more open about their religious beliefs.

He said the three main part leaders "curiously" all have a "very strong moral sense of some spiritual flavour".

Part of establishing their human credentials is saying 'This is where my motivation comes from Rowan Williams

"Part of establishing their human credentials is saying 'This is where my motivation comes from... I'm in politics because this is what I believe'. And that includes religious conviction."

Dr Williams also played down the Pope's invitation for disaffected Anglicans to cross over to Rome.

The Vatican says it was responding to pleas from Anglicans unhappy about the creation of women bishops. The proposal would allow Anglicans to convert while preserving many of their traditions and practices.

Dr Williams said: "A great many Anglo-Catholics have good reason for not being Roman Catholics.

"They don't believe the Pope is infallible. And that's why they're still pressing for a solution in Anglican terms, rather than what many of them see as a theologically rather eccentric option."

In 2007, former prime minister Tony Blair told the BBC that while his faith was "hugely important" to him, he avoided publicly speaking about it for fear of being labelled.

"You talk about it in our system and, frankly, people do think you're a nutter," he said.

The prime minister's ex-spokesman Alastair Campbell famously warned reporters: "We don't do God."

Good communication reduces reliance on drugs

Good communication reduces reliance on drugs

13 November 2009

Victoria Metcalfe, Anchor’s Dementia Team Manager

A specialist, person-centred approach to dementia care can dramatically reduce the use of antipsychotic medication, Anchor Trust’s dementia specialist said this week.

Victoria Metcalfe, Anchor’s Dementia Team Manager said just 12% of residents in Anchor care homes are receiving antipsychotic drugs compared with a sector average of 20% across the UK. The lower use of drugs in Anchor homes is due to a range of relevant, unique and engaging non-pharmaceutical approaches.

Therapy and meaningful occupation are used to reduce stress and improve well being, while extensive training and the involvement of friends and family allows carers to understand the individual’s motivations and the triggers behind certain activities.

‘We adapt our communication approach and focus on the meaning and feelings behind the behaviour, not on the behaviour itself’, said Victoria.

Anchor Trust therefore welcomed the announcement from Care Services Minister Phil Hope of stringent new measures to control the prescription of antipsychotic medication to older people with dementia

one of Shia Islam's most respected theologians

Ahmadinejad's theological foes

By Edward Stourton Analysis, BBC Radio 4

Grand Ayatollah Montazeri is one of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's fiercest critics

It is not often you find an email from a Grand Ayatollah in your inbox - especially not when the Ayatollah in question is a pivotal figure in one of the great dramas currently unfolding on the world stage.

Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri is one of Shia Islam's most respected theologians - he was a moving spirit behind the revolution which gave birth to an Islamic state in Iran 30 years ago, and at one stage he was designated to succeed Ayatollah Khomeini in the role of Iran's Supreme Leader.

The month after this summer's disputed presidential election he issued a fatwa condemning President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government.

The Grand Ayatollah lives in Qom and does not often give interviews, but we thought we would take a punt by submitting some questions via his website.

The current decisions, which are being taken by the minority faction that is in power, are mainly against the interests of the country, and are not in keeping with Islamic principles and values Grand Ayatollah Montazeri Full text: Montazeri's email Who's who in Iran Visiting Iran's ayatollahs at Qom

The answers that came fizzing back make very strong copy indeed.

Montazeri tells Iran's clerics that they "can and must" act to bring about reform. They should, he declares, "be in step with the people" and tell them about their rights. He warns of dire consequences for Iran's religious authorities if they fail; the clerics' popular standing will, he says "become weaker and shakier".

It is to all intents and purposes an exhortation to take on the government.

Crackdown

The Grand Ayatollah's comments reflect a hugely significant shift in the dynamic driving events in post-election Iran. Mr Ahmadinejad does seem to have succeeded in suppressing the demonstrations which filled the streets of Tehran in the immediate aftermath of the vote.

But the popular anger that fired them has not gone away, and some of the most serious opposition to the regime now comes from the most unexpected source; many of the country's mainstream clergy and theologians want him to go.

Thousands of people protested against the result of the June poll

Because state and religion are presented as one and the same in the Islamic Republic, the sins of the state are tarnishing religion's reputation.

The problem has been growing for a while now; opposition journalists say all sorts of social ills, from drug addiction and prostitution to unemployment, are blamed on religion.

But with the election it has acquired a new dimension. Professor Ali Ansari of the Institute of Iranian Studies at St Andrew's University says that people were especially badly shaken by the fact that the violent post-election crackdown was carried out "in the name of Islam".

He cites the case of a minister's daughter who stopped praying because she was so shocked by what she had seen.

To many clergy it looks as if the actions taken by the president of the Islamic Republic are undermining support for the very religion the Republic was meant to serve.

Eccentric behaviour

And the clergy have another, more personal reason to fear the President; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad belongs to a minority sect of Shia Islam with a pronounced strain of anti-clericalism.

FIND OUT MORE... Analysis: Ayatollogy is on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 19 October at 2030 BST, and Sunday 25 October at 2130 BST Or hear it later on the iPlayer Or download the podcast

One of the mainstream teachings of Shia Islam is that the Prophet Mohammed's authority was inherited by a line of spiritual leaders known as Imams, and that in the 10th century the last of them, the 12th Imam, went into what's known as occultation - that is to say he didn't die, but he has been hidden from humanity ever since.

One day, the teaching goes, he will return, ushering in an age of justice and peace and, shortly thereafter, the end of times.

It is very like the Christian doctrine of the Second Coming, and most Shia Muslims understand it in a similar way - as something that will happen in God's good time.

But Mr Ahmadinejad belongs to a minority sect called the Hasteners; they believe that it is the duty of the faithful to prepare the way for the return of the Hidden Imam - or Mahdi - and perhaps even to create propitious conditions.

Professor Ansari says this has led to some eccentric behaviour by the president's entourage.

They have meals where they leave a place at the table in case the Imam appears, they have spent large amounts of money refurbishing a well at a shrine where it is thought the Imam may appear, and, Professor Ansari says, "they've even had fanciful notions of, when they write their cabinet proposals, taking a note and dropped it down the well so the imam can be aware of it".

Many Iranians find this kind of behaviour eccentric, and most orthodox clerics regard it as something akin to heresy. But beyond that it is accompanied by some inflammatory anti-clerical language.

Mehdi Khalaji, a Shia theologian now teaching in the United States, quotes a warning from one of the president's close aides; when the Hidden Imam returns, he said, "the first thing he does is to behead the clerics because... they've been corrupted by money and politics".

Whether clerical discontent with Mr Ahmadinejad will harden into real and effective political opposition is still very much an open question, but it does seem very likely that religion will play a central role in what now happens in Iran - just as it did during the country's last great political upheaval thirty years ago.

Noah

Ancient Mediterranean flood mystery solved

By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News

The team made a reconstruction of the Mediterranean during the "megaflood"

Research has revealed details of the catastrophic Zanclean flood that refilled the Mediterranean Sea more than five million years ago.

The flood occurred when Atlantic waters found their way into the cut-off and desiccated Mediterranean basin.

The researchers say that a 200km channel across the Gibraltar strait was carved out by the floodwaters.

Their findings, published in Nature, show that the resulting flood could have filled the basin within two years.

The team was led by Daniel Garcia-Castellanos from the Research Council of Spain (CSIC).

He explained that he and his colleagues laid the foundations for this study by working on tectonic lakes.

This... may have involved peak rates of sea level rise in the Mediterranean of more than 10m per day Daniel Garcia-Castellanos Research Council of Spain

They developed a model of how the mountain lakes quickly "cease to exist" when erosion produces "outlet rivers" that drain them.

This same principle, Dr Garcia-Castellanos said, could be used to explain the Zanclean flood that reconnected the Mediterranean with the rest of the World's oceans.

"We could for the first time link the amount of water crossing the channel with the amount of erosion causing it to grow over time," he told BBC News.

New approach

Using existing borehole and seismic data, his team showed how the flood would have begun with water spilling over a sill.

The water would have gradually eroded a channel into the strait, eventually triggering a catastrophic flood, Dr Garcia-Castellanos explained.

He and his colleagues created a computer model to estimate the duration of the flood, and found that, when the "incision channel" reached a critical depth, the water flow sped up.

In a period ranging from a few months to two years, the scientists say that 90% of the water was transferred into the basin.

"This extremely abrupt flood may have involved peak rates of sea level rise in the Mediterranean of more than 10m per day," he and his colleagues wrote in the Nature paper.

Previous estimates of the duration of the flood were very variable, said Dr Garcia-Castellanos, because scientists "had to assume the size of the channel" rather than measure it.

Some estimates suggested that the flood continued for as long as 10,000 years.

Rob Govers, a geoscientist from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who was not involved in this study, said that the findings were important.

"I think the authors have been very creative using existing data and making sense of it in a completely new way," he said.

Dr Govers said the next important step would be to measure the volume of breccia, or ancient eroded material, in the strait, to confirm whether there was enough material there to have filled the flood channel.

could offer Parkinson's clue

Worm could offer Parkinson's clue

Scientists will study the C. elegans worm for clues to Parkinson's Disease

Scientists believe that worms could hold the key to why some people develop Parkinson's Disease.

Worms share 50% of their genes with humans, including those involved with inherited Parkinson's.

Dundee University researchers will study a simple worm called C. elegans to try to work out why the condition causes patient's brain cells to die.

The Parkinson's Disease Society has given the university £190,000 to carry out the research.

Eventual cure

There are about 120,000 people with Parkinson's in the UK. In up to 5% of those cases, the disease is believed to be directly inherited.

Parkinson's is a progressive neurological condition affecting movements such as walking, talking and writing. It occurs as a result of a loss of nerve cells in the brain.

Dr Anton Gartner, who is leading the study, said: "Research leading to an eventual cure for Parkinson' s disease is a daunting task and requires a very broad and multidisciplinary approach.

"I am grateful to the Parkinson's society to recognise this and to so generously support our research."

It's fascinating that such a simple animal as a worm can be an excellent model for Parkinson's researchers Dr Kieran Breen Parkinson's Disease Society

Worms will be used in the study as they are one of the simplest organisms with a nervous system.

The way worms' nerve cells communicate with each other is also similar to how it works in humans.

Several genes, including one known as LRRK2, have been linked to the hereditary form of Parkinson's Disease.

Dr Gartner's team want to understand how changes or mutations in this gene lead to the development of Parkinson's - and how drugs could stop the damage that these mutations cause to nerve cells.

Dr Kieran Breen, from the Parkinson's Disease Society, said: "It's fascinating that such a simple animal as a worm can be an excellent model for Parkinson's researchers to study what happens in specific nerve cells.

"We are delighted to be funding this research with Dr Gartner in Dundee. It will help us to understand better what causes nerve cells to die in Parkinson's, and will help us to develop new treatments for the condition."

Benefits earnings limit hits jobless

Benefits earnings limit hits jobless, campaign says

UK unemployment stood at 2.4m in September

The weekly amount unemployed people can earn from part-time work without losing benefits should be raised to £50, a group of charities and unions has said.

The Need Not Greed coalition says the £5 cap on Jobseekers Allowance claims discourages the building of a career.

It says the limit - in place since the 1980s - pushes many people on benefits to take undeclared cash-in-hand work.

The Department for Work and Pensions says it is investing £5bn on grants and training to help people back to work.

It added that by not declaring earnings money intended for the most vulnerable people was being given to "benefit thieves".

System an 'obstacle'

Need not Greed's members include Oxfam, End Child Poverty, the TUC and east London charity Community Links.

Its campaign argues that allowing jobseekers to keep more money from short-term or part-time work would held them build up a CV as they look for permanent employment.

One unnamed trained plumber, from the south coast, told the BBC he is forced to do short-term work cash-in-hand, which he does not declare, because he can not survive without the full Jobseekers Allowance.

He said the current system is an "obstacle" to formally starting up his own business.

"I'd much rather be legitimate but there's no system in place for me to make the transition from being unemployed to going into full-time work," he said.

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show UK unemployment totalled 2.46 million in September.