D Tuesday, October 6, 2009 METRO 11 Welcome to the place where it is summer all year round. www.sunway.ie 01 2366843 BOOK SUMMER 2010AT 2009 PRICES! Costa Del Sol October Sale Now On Prices are per person based on 2 sharing for 7 nts including flights, accom. & taxes. All offers subject to availability. 2 VeramarApartHotel S/C ..................from 299 2+Balmoral Hotel B/B....................................from 399 2 Lima Hotel B/B..................................................from 429 2 Bajamar Hotel B/B ......................................from 499 4 Marinas De Nerja S/C............................from 579 Quarter take the morning after pill... MORE than one-quarter of Irish women have taken the morning after pill. Research by Bayer Schering Pharma found that 22 per cent of women still use unreliable methods of contraceptive, such as withdrawal before climax. The figures were published by the firm as it launched its new contraceptive pill Qlaira, which delivers oestrogen identical to that occurring naturally in the female body. Many women are wary about the effect the contraceptive pill has on their body, said Dr Caitriona Henchion, medical director of the Irish Family Planning Association. 64 per cent of women have taken a pill break, with 28 per cent of those doing so to give their body a break from the pill. The study also found a loving relationship was regarded as the most important part of having a good sex life with 84 per cent of women agreeing. Foreplay (45 per cent) was considered less important than love at 65 per cent. Education key to partners long life A WOMANS education influences how long she and her partner will live. A study on 1.5million people found a womans level of education was more important than a mans when it came to the chance of him living a long life. But a mans social class and income had the most impact on a womans chances of living longer more than her own job, Swedish experts found. Heating the cells by only a few degrees is enough to send them into shock and kill them. Mean- while, surrounding healthy tissue in which the iron oxide particles are absent is left unharmed. A major part of the research has involved finding ways to target tumours with the nanoparticles. Two approaches have been ex- plored, one using bone marrow stem cells and the other using an- tibodies to ferry the particles to cancer sites. A major advantage of using a biological version of iron filings in the therapy is that they can eas- ily be tracked by a magnetic reso- nance imaging (MRI) scanner. Doctors will be able to map ex- actly where the nanoparticles and the cancer are situated in the body. The wand can then be held over the hidden tumours to destroy them. An average weekly treatment session might take half an hour. Professor Kerry Chester, one of the scientists at the University College London Cancer Institute, said: We know that heat kills cancer cells, but you cant use it systematically without killing the patient. The important thing with this approach is that you can see where the nanoparticles go. You can see them and use them for targeted therapy. The treatment is expected to be ready for testing on cancer pa- tients in three years time. Pa- tients with treatment-defying cancers such as lung and head- and-neck cancer are likely to be the first to receive the therapy. Star Trek wand to zap cancer tumours CANCERS could soon be de- stroyed by simply waving a Star Trek-style magnetic wand over the affected area. The space-age technology, which uses microscopic iron par- ticles to heat up and destroy tu- mours, may be ready for clinical trials in as little as three years. Several teams of UK scientists have been working together on the research, which could bring new hope to patients who are no longer responding to standard therapy. In future, the nanomagnet cancer treatment may even be ad- ministered in GP surgeries or out-patient clinics. Crucially, the scientists believe it will be highly cost-effective. The technique literally cooks cancer cells as if they were in a microwave oven. But instead of microwaves, a rapidly changing magnetic field is generated by the paddle-shaped wand. This heats up thousands of iron oxide nano- particles inside the tumours. By john von radowitz GENE BREAKTHROUGH SCIENTISTS have made a breakthrough in pinpointing a gene linked to more than half of all breast cancers, it was announced yesterday. The gene is also thought to be linked to half of bowel and prostate cancers and a quarter of ovarian and bladder cancers. The discovery was described as a major step forward by cancer charities in establishing how cancer develops. Dr Paul Edwards, of the department of pathology at the University of Cambridge, who discovered the gene with colleagues, said it provided vital information about how some cancers spread. The gene, NRG1, is located on chromosome eight, one of the packages of DNA that house genes within a cell. Experts have noticed that cancerous cells are missing part of chromosome eight the section carrying the NRG1 gene. NRG1 works as a guard, suppressing cancerous tumours bit if it is missing or faulty, tumours are able to grow. As well as breast cancer, the researchers believe the gene is also linked to other cancers. visitors cast shadows as they look at Enrico davids absuction Cardigan a heap of dust from an atomised jet engine Pictures: PA/Reuters A WHALES skull, a heap of dust made up of the remains of a jet engine and a workmans naked backside are among the artworks featuring in a display by this years shortlisted Turner Prize artists. Roger Hiorns, Enrico David, Lucy Skaer and Richard Wright are the artists in the running for the award, worth 25,000 (27, 500) and 5,500 for those shortlisted. Among the exhibits at Tate Britain is a heap of metal dust from an atomised passenger jet engine by Hiorns. Assistant curator, Helen Little, said the engine had been melted down and sprayed through nozzles at high speed, to create fine granules. Bare bottom vs egg man for art prize index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html