A recent study conducted over 8,700 middle-aged women and men found that the benefits from physical activity on cholesterol are not the same between the sexes. The data published in the Journal of Lipid Research shows that over a 12-year period, women who increased their physical activity by about 180 metabolic units (that is an additional 30 minutes of moderate exercise or an hour of mild exercise a week) saw significant lowering of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, with a rise in HDL cholesterol. The men in the study saw the effects on HDL and triglycerides, but blood test showed no effect on LDL cholesterol.

Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a highly sensitive test to look for DNA attachments that often are early warning signs of cancer by using tiny crystals called quantum dots. This test, which detects both the presence and the quantity of certain DNA changes, could alert people who are at risk of developing the disease and could tell doctors how well a particular cancer treatment is working.

Under a new approach pioneered by British scientists from Imperial College London and Pfizer, patients who need drug treatment could be given individually tailored prescriptions based on the results of simple urine tests. New research has shown that chemical signatures predicting how a patient will respond to particular drugs can be detected in urine, paving the way for the development of tests to help doctors prescribe more safely and effectively.

UroSens is on the verge of an exciting international breakthrough with a new diagnostic test for bladder cancer. UroSens develops and commercializes point-of-care tests for cancers of the urinogenitary tract for use in the urology clinic or doctor’s surgery. The initial target is bladder cancer, the fifth most common cancer in the UK with the highest recurrence rate of any malignancy. UroSens’ test requires only a sample of urine which is analysed for the presence of a specific protein using a highly sensitive antibody-based detection system.