A sticky substance secreted from glands on the back of two little-known species of burrowing Australian frog has been used to repair torn cartilage in the knees of sheep, New Scientist said.
The frog glue is being developed by Australian researchers as an adhesive to treat hard-to-repair human knee injuries as well as a range of other medical applications.
The frogs--of the Notaden genus--live 1 meter underground in dried mud for nine months of the year, emerging only during torrential rain. On these occasions they are vulnerable to insect attacks and so secrete the glue to jam the jaws of biting insects like ants, sticking them to their skin, which they eat later.
The frog glue hardens in seconds and sticks well even in the frog's moist habitat. The frog glue could plug an unmet need for strong and flexible medical adhesives, researchers believe. Available synthetic glues such as cyanoacrylates--the main ingredient in Superglue--are strong, but can be toxic and brittle.
Biological glues, such as those based on fibrin--the sticky component of blood - are too weak to fix parts of the body that have to withstand strong forces, such as an injured meniscal cartilage, found in the knee.
Meniscal cartilage acts as the knee's shock absorber. It is often damaged during sports such as skiing, and deteriorates in the elderly. Although meniscal tear surgery is one of the most common orthopaedic procedures, less than 10% can be repaired with current techniques, which involve suturing.

Regular doses of aspirin are often recommended for men at risk of heart disease

Researchers believe that aspirin can help men with prostate cancer live longer, Scotsman.com said.
The headache pill and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have already been shown to lower the risk of a number of cancers, including prostate.
But the latest research indicates that they can delay the spread of prostate cancer in men who have the disease and improve their survival chances.
Scientists at the Fox Chase Cancer Centre in Philadelphia studied 1,206 men who had undergone radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer.
They compared the long-term progress of 232 men who had used NSAIDs regularly before treatment, with 974 who had not. A marked difference between the two groups was seen over an average period of four and a half years.
Dr. Khanh Nguyen, who led the study, said: "Pre-treatment NSAID use was associated with significant delays in distant metastases (cancer spread), decreased rates of second cancers, and improvement in overall survival. Our data suggests a potential benefit of NSAID in managing prostate cancer."
NSAID use remained associated with increased survival even after taking into account variables such as age and radiation dose.
The research did not look into whether taking aspirin-like drugs after diagnosis and treatment improved outcomes, but the findings suggest it might.
Previous US research indicated that regular use of aspirin, ibuprofen and other NSAIDs might protect against prostate cancer. Men aged 60 and older who took NSAIDs daily reduced their risk of getting the disease by as much as 60 per cent.
The protection was lower for younger men, and higher for those who were older.
Regular doses of aspirin are often recommended for men at risk of heart disease because the drug helps prevent clotting. However, care must be taken long-term because it can lead to stomach ulcers.
Prostate cancer has overtaken lung cancer as the most common men's cancer in the UK--claiming 10,000 lives a year..

There may be a good reason why some people have a knack for picking up foreign languages. A new study suggests subtle differences in parts of the brain that regulate short-term memory may make some people better bilinguals than others, WebMD Medical News said.
Researchers found fluent bilinguals had more activity in the regions of the brain that control the type of short-term memory used to remember a series of letters, words, or numbers like a telephone number than people who had a harder time picking up a second language.
Previous studies have shown that this type of memory, known as phonological working memory or PWM, is involved in language learning and temporarily storing unfamiliar sounds while other regions of the brain are involved in putting language into long-term memory.
In the study researchers analyzed brain activation in two groups of bilingual adults. English was the first language of all participants, but one group was considered "equal bilingual" and were nearly equally fluent in both English and Chinese. The other group was less adept at their second language.
Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), researchers scanned the brains of the participants as they performed a task that required them to remember a number of unfamiliar French words.
The results showed that both groups performed the task equally well, but the equal bilinguals showed more activation in the region involved in short-term memory.
Researchers also found that another region of the brain was deactivated in the less adept bilinguals, which meant they had to devote more resources in the brain to complete the task.
Researchers say the results suggest that better bilinguals were able to more effectively activate their short-term memory, which may make it easier for them to acquire foreign languages.

Scientists have showed off an 11th century skull, which they claim is the earliest evidence of cranial surgery in England, BBC Online said.
The skull, found by English Heritage at the abandoned ancient village of Wharram Percy in North Yorkshire, shows the scars of a near-fatal blow by a blunt weapon.
But thanks to a 'life-saving' procedure performed at the time, the 40-year-old victim survived and made a good recovery.
Scientists say the man who underwent the surgery was a peasant who lived between 960 and 1100AD.
New analysis of his skull shows that he underwent a form of surgery known as trepanning.
The procedure involved lifting a rectangular area of the scalp and carefully scraping away at the skull beneath to remove bone fragments and to relieve pressure on the brain.
Wharram's peasant seemingly lived on for many years, eventually dying of other causes, according to the scientists.
Simon Mays, skeletal biologist at English Heritage's Centre for Archaeology, said, "The peasant was probably involved in the medieval equivalent of a pub fight, or could have been the victim of a robbery or family feud.
"This skull is the best evidence we have that such surgery to treat skull fractures was being performed in England at the time."

Quiet country life can turn into a pressure cooker of stress at harvest time as farmers push themselves to their limits, psychport.com said.
Each autumn, farmers face high stress and an increased risk of injury during their rush to get their crops in before the weather turns.
``When you hit the season, you go full tilt. They're under a lot of pressure to get a lot done in a short period of time,'' Porter County extension agent Eric Biddinger said.
Farmers often work 15-hour days during harvest, and they can be financially ruined if anything goes wrong. ``A farmer doesn't get a regular paycheck. Their payday is right now. Anything can happen,'' Biddinger said.
Concerns beyond their control--weather, mechanical breakdowns, an early frost - all add to the stress loaded on farmers. Even good luck can backfire because although dry weather makes harvest easier, it also means fewer breaks from their labors.
But if it bothers them, most farmers keep it to themselves.
``There is this macho attitude of farmers being strong and hard working,'' said Gail Deboy, agricultural safety specialist for Purdue University in West Lafayette.
She said it's important for farmers to recognize the signs of stress-related mental health issues and seek treatment.
``I'm sure it's more difficult for them to admit they're having a problem, but that just worsens their chances for recovery,'' Deboy said.