Health news: Can pancakes tame diabetes?
Buckwheat, a traditional ingredient in crackers and pancakes, may help patients manage their diabetes.
In a new trial, the fibre is being given to patients with Type 2 diabetes, the most common form, to help lower their blood sugar levels.
With Type 2 diabetes, the body becomes resistant to insulin, the hormone which helps mop up sugar in the blood so it can be converted into energy.
The new trial, at Manitoba University, Canada, follows earlier research which found that buckwheat can lower glucose levels in animals by up to 19 per cent.
It is thought that the active ingredient, a compound called chiro-inositol, makes the cells in body tissue, such as muscle, more sensitive to insulin so the body handles it better.
In the study, men and women will eat different amount of crackers containing buckwheat each day for seven days.
Shocking way to beat skin cancer
Could skin cancers soon be destroyed by super-fast bursts of electricity? New research on animals shows that electrical pulses lasting less than one second were enough to destroy malignant melanomas - the most dangerous form of the cancer. None had recurred four months later.
Malignant melanoma kills around 1,700 people a year and is the third most common cancer in those aged 15 to 39.
Usually the lesion is surgically removed, but it is time-consuming, painful and almost always leaves a scar. In the latest study, at the Old Dominion University in Virginia in the U.S., the tumours had gone within an average of 47 days in the 17 animals treated. It is thought pulses penetrate every tumour cell, damaging the DNA and disrupting the blood supply that tumours need to live and grow. Further trials are likely.
Leg implant that checks your blood pressure
A gadget implanted in the leg could carry out round-the-clock checks on blood pressure. The implant, no bigger than a grain of rice, monitors readings 30 times a second and transmits the results to a handset worn on the patient's belt. This can then be plugged into a computer to send the results to the doctor.
The device, developed by scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems in Germany, could be more accurate and convenient than current methods.
High blood pressure - also called hypertension - is one of the major risk factors for heart attack and stroke, and affects one in five people in the UK.
Clinical guidelines state the ideal limit for blood pressure is 140mmHg over 85mmHg. But because readings can vary throughout the day, patients often have to undergo ambulatory monitoring.
This involves wearing an inflatable cuff on the arm for 24 hours. The cuff expands every 20 minutes during the day and hourly at night to take a reading. Many patients find this uncomfortable.
The implant, which is placed inside an artery in the groin under local anaesthetic, can be removed by doctors after diagnosis. Measuring 1mm in diameter, it can perform thousands of checks every hour, giving the doctor an accurate indication of a patient's heart attack risk.
Writing on wall for superbugs
Antibacterial wall plaster that kills harmful bugs could be used in hospitals to protect patients from infection. The decorator's plaster, developed in China, has proved effective at destroying several harmful organisms, including the 'superbugs' MRSA and E.coli. Drug-resistant bacteria have emerged as a major public health problem over the past ten years.
Regular handwashing is thought to be one of the most effective hygiene measures - but the experimental plaster could be an additional solution. Developed by scientists at Wuhan University, it has the same building qualities as traditional gypsum plaster, but any bugs that come into contact with it are instantly destroyed. Researchers have not revealed what exactly is in the plaster, but in tests it was more effective than penicillin at killing a range of common bacteria.
Male cyclists have lower bone density in their spines than men who did a greater variety of exercise
Cycling may be a great way to burn calories and tone your legs, but experts are warning it should not be your only form of exercise.
A recent study in the journal Medicine and Science In Sports and Exercise showed that keen male cyclists had significantly lower bone density in their spines than men who did a greater variety of exercise.
Cycling is a low-impact sport which means that while it's great for vulnerable joints, it does not have the weight-bearing impact of activities, such as aerobics, that helps to build strong bones.
While the action of pedalling does help to strengthen bones in the hips to some extent, the spine gets hardly any weight to bear.
The solution is to include other exercise such as aerobics and weight training so cyclists achieve fitness and a strong skeleton.
You can also slow bone loss with a healthy diet including cheese, fish, fresh fruit and vegetables, and the good news is that cyclists tend to have less body fat and more muscle than most other people.
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