Temple to cat god found in Egypt

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a 2,000-year-old temple in Alexandria dedicated to a cat goddess.

The temple is the first trace of the royal quarters of the Ptolemaic dynasty to be revealed in Alexandria.

The find confirms the Greek dynasty of Egyptians continued the worship of ancient animal deities.

Many more ruins of the ancient capital of Hellenistic Egypt lie preserved under the modern city, yet to be unearthed, archaeologists say.

The temple, discovered in the Kom el-Dekkah neighbourhood of the city, is believed to belong to Queen Berenike II, wife of Ptolemy III who ruled Egypt in the third century BC, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities has said.

Moon goddess

The Greek-speaking Ptolemaic dynasty ruled Egypt for almost 300 years, after the foundation of the city by Alexander the Great in 305BC until Queen Cleopatra was ousted by the Romans.

The temple is the first part of the royal palace to be unearthed

The temple is 60m (200ft) high and 15m (50ft) wide.

Archaeologists found statues of Bastet, worshipped by the Greek-speaking Egyptians as the moon goddess.

For thousands of years the Egyptian Pharaohs believed Bastet was a lion-headed goddess, a relative of the sun-god Ra and a ferocious protector.

But her influence waned as the Pharaohs declined, and the Hellenistic Egyptians resurrected her as the equivalent of the ancient Greek deity Artemis.

Other artefacts were also discovered in the dig, including pots, a Roman water cistern, and the granite statue of a senior official dating from between 205BC to 222BC.

Modern-day Alexandria was built directly on top of the ancient city, and archaeologists say ruins of whole cities, palaces and ships remain to be discovered.

The Ptolemaic kings of Egypt were descended from Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great's most trusted generals during his conquests of Egypt, Persia and his attack on India.

After Alexander's death, Ptolemy returned to Alexandria to become king and his descendants ruled until the Roman leader Octavian - who later became Emperor Augustus - defeated Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemaic line.

Leading Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass said the temple may have been used as a quarry in later years, as there are a large number of missing blocks.

'Echoes' in bat and dolphin DNA

Scientists have found a striking similarity in the DNA that enables some bats and dolphins to echolocate.

A key gene that gives their ears the ability to detect high-frequency sound has undergone the exact same changes over time in both creatures.

The researchers report their findings in the journal Current Biology.

It may be the first time that identical genetics has been shown to underpin the evolution of similar characteristics in very different organisms.

Nature is full of cases where the path taken by evolution has resulted in the same traits, or phenotypes, developing independently in diverse animal groups.

Examples would include the tusks displayed by elephants and walruses, or the bioluminescence seen in fireflies and jellyfish.

"It's common on a morphological scale but it's assumed not to occur at a DNA level because there are so many different ways to arrive at the same solution," explained Dr Stephen Rossiter of Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences.

"The fact that we're able to link convergence of the DNA with a phenotype I think is unique, and in such a complex phenotype as hearing as well," he told BBC News.

Animal and human

Many bats and toothed whales like dolphins have exceptional hearing, and are able to track down their prey by emitting high-frequency noises and then listening for the echoes that bounce back.

Critical to echolocation are tiny hairs in the inner ear that move in response to sound.

Their keen performance is driven by a particular protein known as prestin, which in turn is encoded by a gene, also known as prestin.

Those bats that echolocate use high-frequency sound to track small prey

Two studies published this week in Current Biology find that this gene in bats and dolphins has picked up the same mutations over time.

"We've found a whole suite of amino acid changes that are common to these two groups that have evolved in parallel, convergently," Dr Rossiter said.

Both research teams also have evidence showing that these changes to prestin were selected for, suggesting that they must be critical for the animals' echolocation for reasons the researchers do not yet fully understand.

"The results imply that there are very limited ways, if not only one way, for a mammal to hear high-frequency sounds," said Professor Jianzhi Zhang of the University of Michigan, US, who led the other study.

This type of research is a beneficiary of the immense and ongoing effort to understand human genetics, which finds interesting targets for biologists from many fields to follow up.

Mutations in the prestin gene in humans have been shown to be associated with the loss of high-frequency hearing. It was this revelation that initiated the study of prestin's role in echolocation.

Diabetes sugar 'can go too low'

Intense treatment to lower blood sugar in patients with diabetes could prove nearly as harmful as allowing glucose levels to remain high, a study says.

Cardiff researchers looked at nearly 50,000 patients with type 2 diabetes and found the lowest glucose levels linked to a heightened risk of death.

Significant differences in death rates between patients on insulin and those taking tablets are also flagged up.

But there could be various explanations for this, experts noted.

Patients taking insulin-based treatments have been urged not to stop taking their medication as a result of the Cardiff University study, which is published in The Lancet.

Changing treatments

Using data from GPs, the team identified 27,965 patients with type 2 diabetes whose treatment had been intensified to include two oral blood glucose lowering agents - metformin and sulphonylurea.

A further 20,005 patients who had been moved on to treatment which included insulin were added to the study.

Patients whose HbA1c levels - the proportion of red blood cells with glucose attached to them - were around 7.5%, ran the lowest risk of dying from any cause.

For both groups this risk went up by more than half if levels dropped to 6.4%, the lowest levels recorded. For those with the highest levels the risk of death increased by nearly 80%.

But the risks appeared to be particularly pronounced among those on the insulin-based regimen than those on the combined treatment.

Irrespective of whether their HbA1c levels were low or high, there were 2,834 deaths in the insulin-taking group between 1986 and 2008, nearly 50% more than in the combined group.

'Don't stop'

The authors acknowledged there could be various factors associated with this, such as these being older patients with more health problems, who perhaps had had diabetes for a longer period of time. They also make reference to a possible link between use of insulin and cancer progression that had been reported in a different study.

"Whether intensification of glucose control with insulin therapy alone further heightens risk of death in patients with diabetes needs further investigation and assessment of the overall risk balance," wrote lead author Dr Craig Currie.

"Low and high mean HbA1c values were associated with increased all-cause mortality and cardiac events. If confirmed, diabetes guidelines might need revision to include a minimum HbA1c value."

Dr Iain Frame, head of research at Diabetes UK, described the study as "potentially important" but stressed it had limitations.

"It is not clear what the causes of death were from the results reported. Furthermore, when it comes to the suggestion made in this research that insulin could increase the risk of death, we must consider important factors such as age, the duration of their diabetes and how the participants managed their condition.

"It is crucial to remember that blood glucose targets should always be agreed by the person with diabetes and their healthcare team according to individual needs and not according to a blanket set of rules."

While people would be able to manage their condition for a period with diet, exercise and even tablets, many would eventually have to move on to insulin, he noted.

"We would advise people with type 2 diabetes who use insulin not to stop taking their medication. However, if they are worried about blood glucose targets, they should discuss this with their healthcare team."

C-sections 'do not affect how long a mum breastfeeds'

Having a Caesarean or instrumental birth does not appear to impact upon how long a mother breastfeeds, British research suggests.

A study of 2,000 mothers who received breastfeeding support also found little association with how soon after birth the baby was put to the breast.

What did have an impact was ethnicity, and the number of previous births, the study in BMC Pediatrics reported.

White mothers were 70% more likely to stop than non-White contemporaries.

The Department of Health recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby's life, but the majority of UK mothers have abandoned it altogether by this point - giving the country one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe.

There have been a series of measures aimed at increasing prevalence, from better support to a ban on any promotion of infant milks.

This latest study, conducted by the University of Manchester and East Lancashire Primary Care Trust, followed more than 2,000 mothers who all received breastfeeding help from the same peer support group, to enable a fair comparison of other factors.

Bucking the trend

On average these supported mothers were giving some breastmilk for 21 weeks, and half of them for more than 27 weeks, markedly higher than the national average. But there were differences between sub-groups.

White women tended to stop a number of weeks before non-white, with mothers of black and Indian ethnic origin breastfeeding the longest, closely followed by Pakistani.

But the relative economic status of the women made no difference, with the poorest as likely to continue or abandon breastfeeding as the wealthiest, nor did it matter whether the mothers were married.

Having an instrumental or Caesarean birth had no statistically significant impact on the duration of breastfeeding, contrary to some suggestions that a "non-natural" birth, possibly as a result of the analgesics used, may hamper feeding.

Also babies who were put to the breast within an hour of being born - as recommended by the World Health Organisation - were not breastfed any longer than those with whom breastfeeding was initiated within 48 hours.

Previous deliveries

The study did however find that the number of babies a mother had previously delivered impacted upon breastfeeding duration, with women having their third or fourth baby more likely to continue than those having their first.

The study's authors noted that while breastfeeding support was clearly important in mitigating a number of obstacles to prolonged feeding, there were other factors at play.

Dr Gabriel Agboado of East Lancashire PCT said: "The results suggest that infant feeding practices associated with maternal ethnicity and previous experience of having children may be more difficult to influence by peer support interventions.

"Peer support programs, particularly those in multi-ethnic settings, will need to identify the needs of their various client groups in order to appropriately support them to breastfeed longer".

Professor Mary Renfrew, who researches infant feeding practices, said: "We know that rates are higher among ethnic minority groups and that previous experience of breastfeeding has an effect on whether the mother does it again, and the study confirms this.

"But what is really exciting about this research is the rates of breastfeeding - both exclusive and mixed - that have been achieved among all groups. They are doing something right in this area, and it does seem to point to peer support, although there may be other factors involved.

"Tailored support is recommended for all mothers, but some places have been much more pro-active on this front than others. When people say you simply cannot get breastfeeding rates up, it's clear there are policies which can have an effect.

Blood pressure harm from smoke 'may explain cot death'

Smoke exposure during pregnancy damages a baby's blood pressure control, which may explain why such babies' risk of cot death is higher, say experts.

Maternal smoking remains one of the biggest risk factors for cot death.

A team at Sweden's Karolinksa Institute found smoke-exposed babies had abnormal surges in blood pressure, even when sleeping undisturbed in their cots.

These surges put extra demand on the heart, making it pump faster and harder, the journal Hypertension says.

The study suggests damage to the circulation may be a factor in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), although it set out to look at the effects of smoking on the newborn rather than cot death per se.

Dr Gary Cohen and his team studied 36 newborn babies - 17 of whom had mothers who smoked during the pregnancy.

When they examined the babies they found the ones that had been exposed to cigarette smoke showed abnormal heart rate and blood pressure responses.

And these abnormal responses got worse throughout their first year of life.

Dramatically different

At one week of age the smoke-exposed babies showed abnormally large blood pressure rises as they were lifted up from lying down.

By the age of one, the same babies appeared to have adapted to this and now showed abnormally low blood pressure responses to the same posture change.

Usually, when a person stands the heart rate increases and the blood vessels tighten, raising blood pressure slightly, to keep up the blood flow to the heart and brain.

Dr Cohen said: "Babies of smokers have evidence of persistent problems in blood pressure regulation that start at birth and get worse over time.

"This study reveals for the first time that early life exposure to tobacco can lead to long-lasting reprogramming of the infant blood pressure control mechanism."

He said this might explain why babies of women who smoke are at increased risk of cot death.

"We have known for some time that there is a cardiovascular element to sudden infant death.

"It's not just breathing, but blood pressure control and heart rate control.

"This is another piece of the jigsaw."

He plans to continue to study the babies as they grow up to see if the damage is lasting and whether it leads to problems, such as high blood pressure, in later life.

Professor George Haycock, scientific adviser for the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID), said: "The hypothesis presented here is highly plausible and agrees with work from other research groups.

"FSID's top piece of advice remains, cut smoking in pregnancy - fathers too, and don't let anyone smoke in the same room as your baby."

Experts say a third of cot deaths could be avoided if mothers-to-be did not smoke.

Janet Fyle, Professional Policy Advisor at the Royal College of Midwives, said: "These findings support what we know; that smoking during pregnancy can harm the developing foetus.

"The RCM would urge pregnant women who smoke to seek advice and support from their midwife about stopping smoking, for the benefit of their own long-term health.

"This would also benefit the health of their child."