At a time when the Government is aiming to increase the number of students in higher education (HE), a new book offers an analysis of the impact of higher tuition fees for students from low-income families and looks at how HE is organised in terms of progression for students from “alternative” entry routes.
Closing the Equity Gap: the impact of widening participation strategies in the UK and the USA – published by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) and edited by
Most people in the UK believe lone parents with children should be first in line for government subsidies for childcare and wages, according to research published today by the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr). However, the public also supports measures to encourage single mothers with school age children to take jobs by placing conditions on their benefits.
The chapter on public attitudes by Peter Taylor-Gooby, Professor of Social Policy at the University of Kent, is pa
Studies recently carried out at the University Hospital of the University of Navarra show that cardiac resynchronisation therapy using pacemakers and defibrillators improves the survival and quality of life of patients suffering from heart insufficiency and disorders of the blood-flow system.
Cardiac resynchronisation
One of the advances for heart insufficiency developed over the past few years has been the incorporation of biventricular pacemakers and defibrillator
As part of the “Solartex” joint research project, which is funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs using funds from the state foundation of Baden-Württemberg and which will run until 2006, nine partners from industry and research (including the Hohenstein Institute for Clothing Physiology, BPI), are looking into the potential for integrating solar cells in clothing to power small mobile devices. So far, two demonstration models have been presented which are able to generate and store energy: t
High-risk breast cancer patients do not appear to have a higher risk of relapse than the general breast cancer population during the first two years after diagnosis, unless their cancer has spread to more than 10 axillary lymph nodes, Italian researchers reported today at the 2nd ESMO Scientific & Educational Conference (ESEC) in Budapest, Hungary.
Dr. Marina Cazzaniga from Treviglio Hospital, Italy, and colleagues in the NORA study, have been studying 3,500 patients being treated for breast
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), held a Water Access workshop between 9 and 12 May. The aim of the event, bringing together specialists from Africa and France, was to set up a network of African Centres of Excellence in Water Science and Technology. It was supported by the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD). An action plan is to be put forward to decision makers anxious to meet the many challenges that face efforts to provide access to water resources a
Educating parents and physicians could reduce overuse of antibiotics
The most frequent reason pediatricians prescribe antibiotics to young children is for an ear infection (acute otitis media). With increased concerns about high rates of antibiotic use and resistance, recent guidelines suggest consideration of “watchful waiting” for some ear infections to see if they resolve without antibiotics. Previous studies have shown that many ear infections do resolve on their own.
More kids at risk for injury than previously thought
Children 14 and younger should not sit in the front passenger seat of cars equipped with air bags, according to a new study by an emergency medicine researcher at Oregon Health & Science University’s Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.Current federally mandated warning labels in cars only indicate a risk of air bag injuries for children 12 and younger.
The study, “Effects of Child Age and Body Size on Serious
Current high school start times deprive adolescents of sleep and force students to perform academically in the early morning, a time of day when they are at their worst, according to a study in the June issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Results from high school senior sleep/wake diaries kept for the study also showed that adolescents lost as much as two hours of sleep per night during the school week, but weekend sleep times during the school year were similar to those in summer.
New Ebola, Marburg Vaccines effective in animal models
Scientists from the Public Health Agency of Canada – with assistance from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases – have developed vaccines against the Ebola and Marburg viruses that have been shown to be effective in non-human primates.
In a study published in this month’s Nature Medicine, Canadian researchers Dr. Heinz Feldmann and Dr. Steven Jones of PHAC’s National Microbiology Laboratory
Fairbanks, Alaska-Continued arctic warming may be causing a decrease in the number and size of Arctic lakes. The issue is the subject of a paper published in the June 3 issue of the journal “Science.” The paper, titled, “Disappearing Arctic Lakes” is the result of a comparison of satellite data taken of Siberia in the early 1970s to data from 1997-2004. Researchers, including Larry Hinzman with the Water and Environmental Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, tracked changes of
According to a study published in the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) journal Gastroenterology, women with a high dietary intake of vitamin B6 over several years have a decreased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Women who consume moderate to large amounts of alcohol in addition to vitamin B6 have more than a 70 percent reduced risk of developing CRC.
“Consuming a diet high in vitamin B6 may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer in women, more specifically those who
A University of Alberta research team has discovered important new information they hope will lead to more effective treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)–a deadly form of high blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries caused by uncontrolled cell growth. Therapies are currently limited for a disease that can lead to heart failure and death within a few years.
The researchers have shown that Survivin, a protein almost exclusively expressed in cancer, is also heavily
Biological assays on computer study molecular basis of cellular behavior
Scientists at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory have constructed a computer simulation that allows them to study the relationship between biochemical fluctuations within a single cell and the cell’s behavior as it interacts with other cells and its environment.
The simulation, called AgentCell, has possible applications in cancer research, drug development and combating b
New York University chemists have employed a computer simulation whose results have enhanced scientific understanding of the DNA transcription process. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, appears in the June 7 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Previous research has indicated that chromatin–a chromosome’s substance consisting of histone proteins and DNA–exhibits salt-dependent conformations. Specifically, chains of nucleosomes
New radiofrequency device
The prestigious North American scientific publication, Physical Review Letters, has recently published an article about a radiofrequency device that was designed by a team of researchers at the Public University of Navarra, together with teams from the University of Seville and the Barcelona Universidad Autónoma.
The article is entitled, “Babinet Principle Applied to the Design of Metasurfaces and Metamaterials”.
The article is a r
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