PALO ALTO, Calif. and LONDON, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Anacor Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline today announced that they have entered into a worldwide strategic alliance for the discovery, development and commercialization of novel medicines for viral and bacterial diseases. The collaboration provides GlaxoSmithKline access to Anacor's proprietary boron-based chemistry for use against selected targets.

GlaxoSmithKline will participate in the alliance through its Infectious Diseases Centre of Excellence for Drug Discovery (ID CEDD). Under the terms of the agreement, Anacor will grant GlaxoSmithKline options to select product candidates developed under the collaboration that are directed to up to four discovery targets and with the potential for at least eight product options.

the male reproductive tract

This is known as cryptorchidism (hidden gonads) and is thought to be caused by insufficient testosterone production during foetal life. This in turn fails to stimulate secretion of enough calcitonin gene-related peptide needed to trigger testicular descent. For some reason, the incidence of cryptorchidism has increased by 60 per cent over the last 30 years. This may be related to foetal exposure to weak environmental oestrogens.

In many cases, an undescended testicle descends on its own within a few months of birth, so that by the age of 1 year, only 2 per cent of baby boys are affected. After this time, an undescended testis is unlikely to correct itself spontaneously and surgical intervention is needed.

An undescended testis which is left in the abdomen does not develop normally.

Halloween Makeup Dangers by Alexa Jones

It's that time of year. Your kids will paint their faces to look like ghosts and goblins and hit the trick-or-treating route.It's time to get pick your costume and get ready to go trick-or-treating, but you can't have a bunny and a cat without a little makeup. There are two kinds of face paint, oil-based and water-based. When you're talking about children's faces, water-based paint works best because it's easy to take off and gentler on the skin."If you're using oil-based paint, the concern with that is if you leave it on too long, it can be irritating. But in addition it can make, especially teenagers, more prone to breakouts because it is oil-based it can clog the pours and make them more prone to acne breakouts," said dermatologist Dr. Ranjani Katta.While acne breakouts are not a big concern for younger children, there are plenty of other ways that makeup can cause irritation."It's not so much that their skin hasn't developed, but we're concerned about is the young child. The infants and toddlers, that they might more easily get it into their eyes or into their mouths, and they're rubbing their face a lot more and don't realize what they're doing," said Katta.After the kids head out into the neighborhood to gather all that candy, it's time to go home and take off the makeup. The water-based allows you to take it off with just soap and water. But if your child begins to itch their face after you take it off, there are ways to take care of the problem."If it's from irritation from it being left on too long, usually you're okay using some over-the-counter hydro-cortisone cream. You wouldn't want to use that for more than a couple of days, and if it still goes on, you might want to see your dermatologist about it," said Katta.It's important to read the directions before applying the makeup because some products made overseas might not contain ingredients approved by the food and drug administration.

Who is afraid of Disneyfication? A response to Sonja Hegasy

Ahdaf Soueif did not initially welcome the translation of her novel In the Eye of Sun from English to Arabic (the state-owned literary weekly Akhbar al-Adab did attempt a translation – never easy in the case of an 800-page book). In a public lecture, Soueif declared that only she herself would be truly faithful to the text, but that she would rather write a new novel. This is understandable.

If Soueif had been a victim of the parochialism of Egyptian intellectuals she would not have been invited to the Higher Council on Culture’s conference on the Arab novel in 1998, at which she thanked the council Chairman Gaber al-Asfour for acknowledging her work as belonging to the Arab novel. Soueif’s The Map of Love has been translated into Arabic, and her work Zinat al-Hayat has been published by al-Haya’a al-’Amma lil kitab, the official government press.

One Woman's World

I don't care if they come with a padded wagon and a white jacket, I am not going to do it. I will never, never cut the tips of my fingernails straight across so they can be in style with today's fingernail fetish.

I recently noticed that Robin McGraw (wife of the notorious Dr. Phil McGraw) had her fingernails cut straight across at the tips. Wondering if she had gotten caught in the family lawnmower or if, once again, I was running far behind the style wagon of women's fads and fashions, I asked my stylish daughter about Robin's fingernails.

'Like look-alike mannequins, most women try to market themselves by the way they look. Into this outer cesspool of insanity goes the flesh. If anything slides south, they have it pulled further north and stapled... .'

Not to my surprise, she replied softly "It's the style, Mother.