 The half bottle of Springbank was distilled in 1900 |
One of the world's rarest half bottles of whisky is expected to fetch up to £6,000 when it is auctioned in Glasgow next week.
The bottle of Springbank was distilled by J & A Mitchell & Co Ltd in 1900 and drawn in 1927.
Other rare brands going under the hammer include Macallan, Dalmore, Talisker, Bowmore and Highland Park.
The rare whisky sale at McTear's Auctioneers is scheduled to go ahead on 3 February.
US President Barack Obama: "I am proposing simple, common sense reforms"
US stock markets have tumbled for a second consecutive day, on concern over President Obama's plan to revamp the US banking industry.
The Dow Jones plunged by 216 points, or 2%, to close at 10172.98, while the technology heavy Nasdaq fell by 2.6%, or 60 points, to finish at 2205.29.
The broader S&P 500 Index also sank by more than 2% to end at 1091.76.
Financial shares in both the US and Europe led the fall. Barclays dropped by 4%, while JPMorgan fell 3.4%.
Mr Obama - who said he was "ready for a fight" with banks - plans to limit their size and restrict risky trading.
"Never again will the American taxpayer be held hostage by banks that are too big to fail," Mr Obama said.
Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei also closed at a three-week low.
Politicians in the UK were quick to sign up to Mr Obama's proposals.
The Treasury said it would consider the US bank reform plans "very carefully," while City Minister Lord Myners said the US proposals were "very much in accordance with the direction we have been setting".
The government has recently focused mainly on tackling bankers' large bonuses - a source of public outcry - with a one-off "super-tax" and other measures.
Meanwhile, the Financial Services Bill is making its way through Parliament, aiming to give the Financial Services Authority more powers to regulate banking behaviour.
It would also force banks to hold more money in reserve, as well as creating a new Council for Financial Stability, which is intended to consist of Treasury, Bank of England and FSA officials.
But none of the planned legislation goes as far as what the US president has now proposed.
'Profound fear'
Shadow chancellor George Osborne said that the Conservatives would impose an identical dismantling of UK banks to what Mr Obama proposed if elected.
But he said he would want to see international agreement before implementing any change in the UK.
BBC business editor Robert Peston said Mr Osborne's comments would "generate profound fear in the boardrooms of Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland".
"Banking reforms do not come bigger than those proposed by President Obama," he added.
Other nations also backed the proposals. "I think this is a very, very good step forward," said French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.
Limiting risk taking
"While the financial system is far stronger today than it was one year ago, it is still operating under the exact same rules that led to its near collapse," Mr Obama said.
His proposals may mean that some of the biggest US banks have to be broken up.
What this means for foreign banks working in the US is still unclear.
They also include a ban on retail banks using their own money in investments - known as proprietary trading. Instead, banks would be limited to investing their customers' funds.
The moves follow popular anger at financial institutions, who have been paying large bonuses to staff even as they accepted government bail-outs to keep them going.
Scientists have discovered two genes that appear responsible for one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer.
Glioblastoma multiforme rapidly invades the normal brain, producing inoperable tumours, but scientists have not understood why it is so aggressive.
The latest study, by a Columbia University team, published in Nature, pinpoints two genes.
The researchers say that the findings raise hopes of developing a treatment for the cancer.
 |  It means we are no longer wasting time developing drugs against minor actors in brain cancer - we can now attack the major players  Dr Antonio Iavarone Columbia University |
The genes - C/EPB and Stat3 - are active in about 60% of glioblastoma patients.
They appear to work in tandem to turn on many other genes that make brain cells cancerous.
Patients in the study whose tumours showed evidence of both genes being active died within 140 weeks of diagnosis.
In contrast, half of patients without activity from these genes were alive after that time.
Master controls
Lead researcher Dr Antonio Iavarone described the two genes as the disease's master control knobs.
He said: "When simultaneously activated, they work together to turn on hundreds of other genes that transform brain cells into highly aggressive, migratory cells.
"The finding means that suppressing both genes simultaneously, using a combination of drugs, may be a powerful therapeutic approach for these patients, for whom no satisfactory treatment exists."
When the researchers silenced both genes in human glioblastoma cells, it completely blocked their ability to form tumours when injected in a mouse.
The Columbia team is now attempting to develop drugs they hope will achieve the same effect.
Using state-of-the-art techniques, they effectively mapped out the comprehensive and highly complex network of molecular interactions driving the behaviour of glioblastoma cells.
Dr Iavarone said: "The identification of C/EPB and Stat3 came as a complete surprise to us, since these genes had never been implicated before in brain cancer
"From a therapeutic perspective, it means we are no longer wasting time developing drugs against minor actors in brain cancer - we can now attack the major players."
Nell Barrie, science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "This research is exciting, as it sheds light on the key changes that drive cells in the brain to become glioblastoma cells.
"By finding out exactly how healthy cells turn into cancer cells, scientists hope to find clues for preventing or reversing the process.
"The technique used in this study should help scientists to understand these changes in other types of cancer, leading to new and more personalised treatment approaches in the future."
