R help - Feb 2005 - have R informed of MySQL table updates

Dear useRs,

I have a script (Python) that every once in a while appends data to a
MySQL table. Meanwhile, I have a running R session, and I want it to be
aware of such table updates. I could write a loop in R to periodically
check whether new data has become available; however, are you aware of
a way to make MySQL/Python talk directly to R? I'm interested in both
GNU/Linux and Windows approaches (if any).

Thank you,
b.