Researchers have developed a new way to test for cocaine use that only needs a fingerprint to determine results. Previous testing methods were limited to finding if cocaine had been handled, but the new technique finds whether the drug has actually been ingested.

The study, led by a team led by the University of Surrey in the UK, utilized an analytical chemistry technique, called mass spectrometry, on the fingerprints of participants who were currently attending drug treatment services. Once data was collected, they compared it to saliva samples to test its accuracy.

Dr. Melanie Bailey, lead author and lecturer in forensics at the University of Surrey, told FoxNews.com that the new test has many benefits over traditional testing, including a fast turnaround time.

"Fingerprints are so quick compared with urine or blood or even saliva. You can put a fingerprint down in a couple of seconds," she said. "And our method of analysis is so quick - it literally takes two minutes to analyze a fingerprint sample."

Bailey said in addition to being time efficient, with this technique the identity of the donor is embedded in the ridge detail of the print, which helps with traceability and makes the test impossibly to falsify.

The test works by finding traces of benzoylecgonine and methylecgonine in fingerprint residue, which are chemicals the body excretes when it metabolizes cocaine. Traditionally, these chemicals are detected in a urine test, which can be unhygienic and less accurate, as well as take more time.

Part of the development of the test included spraying a fingerprint slide with a special solvent called Desorption Electrospray Ionization (DESI) to detect benzoylecgonine and methylecgonine. This is the first time DESI has been used to prove drug use.

Bailey told FoxNews.com she thinks the test has some very exciting possibilities for widespread use by probation services, prisons, courts and other law enforcement agencies, but further research needs to be conducted.

"We would like to get funding to make this technology more portable using miniature mass spectrometers. We are also working on a quantitative method," she said.

Researchers hope this fingerprint drug test has the potential to become the norm in drug testing because of its unique benefits of speed and accuracy. Traditional testing methods like blood and urine testing need trained staff, biological hazard storage and disposal guidelines, and often require off-site analysis.

Study authors say this technology could see the introduction of portable drug tests for law enforcement agencies to use within the next decade.

"It depends on the level of funding the work attracts. It could be as quick as a couple of years if we attract enough resources," Bailey said.

Researchers from the Netherlands Forensic Institute in the Netherlands, the National Physical Laboratory, King's College London and Sheffield Hallam University in the UK were also involved in the test's development.

The findings are published in the journal Analyst.

Including 4 eggs to your diet per week could help reduce risk of developing diabetes, finds a new study.

University of Eastern Finland researchers were surprised to learn that eggs, which are high in cholesterol, could cut the risk developing Type 2 diabetes by nearly 40 per cent, the Daily Express reported.

It may be due to nutrients, that improves the way the body metabolises sugar and help to dampen down inflammation which leads to chronic illness.

After examining the eating habits of 2,332 middle-aged men, who signed up to a study in the l980s, the scientists found that men who ate roughly 4 eggs a week were 38 per cent less likely to fall ill than those who rarely or never ate eggs.

These men also had lower blood sugar levels without any steep rise in cholesterol.

However, they added that consuming over 4 eggs a week did not seem to increase the effect, and they the way an egg was cooked wasn't put in consideration.

The study is published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans may predict a woman's future risk of developing breast cancer, found a new study published Tuesday in Radiology.

Researchers reviewed screening breast MR images from high-risk women 18 years or older with no history of breast cancer and specifically looked for associations between cancer risk and imaging features, including breast density and background parenchymal enhancement (BPE). In MR images, BPE occurs when areas of normal background breast tissue appear white or enhanced. Previous research has suggested a possible link between BPE and cancer risk.

In the study, women who displayed elevated amounts of BPE were nine times more likely to have a breast cancer diagnosis, compared to those with little to no BPE.

Previous studies linked dense breast tissue to an increased likelihood of breast cancer development. In this new study, mammographic density appeared to have no significant relationship to cancer risk.

"To date, it's been difficult to assess the future risk of breast cancer for women, so there is a strong desire in the oncology community to identify ways to better determine this risk," study co-author Dr, Habib Rahbar, a breast imaging expert at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and assistant professor at the University of Washington, said in a press release. "While breast density is loosely associated with the risk of developing breast cancer, it is unclear whether it or other imaging features can improve upon current risk assessment methods."

Women are considered at high risk for breast cancer if they have a family history or genetic mutations associated with the disease. Contrast-enhanced MRI is currently in use as an imaging option to supplement mammography in this group. The American Cancer Society recommends women with a 20 percent or greater risk of developing breast cancer undergo annual screening breast MRIs, in addition to routine annual screening mammography.

Researchers say their study shows that BPE could help physicians better tailor screening and management strategies for individuals' breast cancer risk, such as drug therapy and the need for mastectomies.

"MRI could be used in a broader group of women to determine who most needs supplemental screening based on their BPE levels," Rahbar said in the news release. "This is important as we move into an era of more personalized medicine."

More research is needed with a larger group of patients, researchers noted, and they're planning additional study into the role of BPE as a biomarker for breast cancer risk. BPE may be related to areas of inflammation associated with early stages of the disease, according to the press release.

"Breast cancer needs a supportive environment to grow, and recent research suggests that areas of inflammation are particularly conducive for such growth," Rabhar said in the press release.

Washington: The Ebola virus can persist within the eyeballs for months after a patient recovers from the deadly disease, researchers have found.

A report released this week by the US journal New England Journal of Medicine described a case in which Ebola was present in the eye`s aqueous humor 10 weeks after the virus was cleared from the patient`s blood, Xinhua reported

Aqueous humor is the clear fluid in the front of the eye, between the lens and the cornea.

Despite the presence of Ebola in the eye, the researchers were quick to note that samples from the patient`s tears and conjunctiva, the surface of the eye and eyelids, tested negative for the virus.

It, therefore, indicated that casual contact with Ebola survivors carried no risk.

The patient, identified by US media as 43-year-old Ian Crozier, was diagnosed with Ebola in September, while working in an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone as a doctor for the World Health Organization (WHO).

He was then transported to the US and treated at Emory University Hospital`s serious communicable disease unit for 40 days, including 12 days of mechanical ventilation and 24 days of renal replacement therapy.

After his blood and urine tested negative for the virus, Crozier was discharged home.

A semen sample obtained on the day of discharge, however, tested positive, so he was advised to abstain from sex or to use condoms for at least three months, according to the report.

Shortly after discharge, Crozier found he had new symptoms, including low back pain.

Two months later, he returned to the same hospital with an inflammation called uveitis and increased pressure in his left eye. The resulting swelling led to reduced vision, and, surprisingly, eye colour changed from blue to green.

The doctors obtained an aqueous humor sample, which tested positive for the Ebola virus.

"It felt almost personal that the virus could be in my eye without me knowing it," Crozier told the New York Times.

Several studies of prior outbreaks have shown that Ebola infections often manifest in the eyes, and can impact vision and cause blindness long after a systemic infection has cleared.

Lead author Steven Yeh, an ophthalmologist at the Emory Eye Center, believed that surveillance for the development of eye disease in the post-Ebola period is needed.

"The presence of viable Ebola virus in the eye could mean that other Ebola survivors may also be at risk for the development of uveitis," he said in a statement.

Uveitis is inflammation of the uvea, the middle layer of the eye between the retina and the sclera (white of the eye). It can lead to vision loss.

The findings also pointed to a need for infection control precautions when Ebola survivors underwent invasive procedures involving the eyes, the researchers said.

As for Crozier, he experienced visual recovery following therapy for uveitis. His eye colour also returned to normal, but why it changed colour is still a mystery.

The antioxidant effects of coffee by-products are 500 times greater than those found in vitamin C and could be employed to create functional foods with significant health benefits, a new research has found.

Coffee silverskin (the epidermis of the coffee bean) is usually removed during processing, after the beans have been dried, while the coffee grounds are normally directly discarded.

It has traditionally been assumed that these by-products - coffee grounds and coffee silverskin -- have few practical uses and applications. So they end up in landfills causing considerable knock-on effect on the environment.

The new research demonstrates the powerful antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of the coffee grounds and silverskin, which are highly rich in fibre and phenols.

"They also contain high levels of melanoidins, which are produced during the roasting process and give coffee its brown colour," said lead researcher Jose Angel Rufian Henares, professor at University of Granada in Spain.

"The biological properties of these melanoidins could be harnessed for a range of practical applications, such as preventing harmful pathogens from growing in food products," Rufian Henares said.

However, he also added, "If we are to harness the beneficial prebiotic effects of the coffee by-products, first of all we need to remove the melanoidins, since they interfere with such beneficial prebiotic properties."

The researchers concluded that processed coffee by-products could potentially be recycled as sources of new food ingredients.

This would also greatly diminish the environmental impact of discarded coffee by-products.

The study was published in the academic journal Food Science and Technology.