Results of a randomised trial from Uganda in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggest that the drug combination of amodiaquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine might offer the optimal treatment for malaria in terms of efficacy and cost-effectiveness in this region. The study also shows that the drug combination of chloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine—the recommended first-line treatment in Uganda—is far less effective than other drug combinations.
Philip Rosenthal (University of
A seminar in this week’s issue of THE LANCET outlines the common but poorly understood condition of insomnia, concluding that awareness and assessment of insomnia by family doctors is a priority.
Estimates suggest that between 5 and 35% of people experience insomnia. Michael J Sateia (Dartmouth Medical School, USA) and colleagues outline how effective management of insomnia begins with recognition and adequate assessment. Family doctors and other health care providers such as
CAD software helps distinguish benign, malignant nodules seen on CT scans
Not all masses are cancer. When a person undergoes a scan to identify a lump or nodule, the radiologist looks at the texture, the borders and the shape to determine if it is malignant or just a benign growth.
Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center are developing computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) methods to make that assessment easier. A computer program reads the same
The world’s leading online service for sci-tech information STN International, whose European partner is FIZ Karlsruhe, has complemented its offer of specialist databases with LISA, a new database for library and information science.
LISA (Library and Information Science Abstracts) produced by Cambridge Scientific Abstracts is is an international abstracting and indexing tool designed for library professionals and other information specialists. It covers a wide variety of subjects
University of Arizona scientists have discovered why Eros, the largest near-Earth asteroid, has so few small craters. When the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission orbited Eros from February 2000 to February 2001, it revealed an asteroid covered with regolith — a loose layer of rocks, gravel and dust — and embedded with numerous large boulders. The spacecraft also found places where the regolith apparently had slumped, or flowed downhill, exposing fresh surface underneat
MiniGRAIL: first spherical gravitational wave antenna in the world
Since last week, Professor Giorgio Frossati of Leiden University’s Institute of Physics can ‘listen’ to gravitational waves. That is, if such a wave happens to come along. Gravitational waves originate from violent clashes between black holes in the universe and from instabilities in neutron stars.
MiniGRAIL is the name of the first spherical gravitational wave antenna in the world. The ball was made at t
Scientists have identified a new, longer species of amyloid â-peptide that has the potential to be a new target for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The research appears as the “Paper of the Week” in the December 3 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology journal.
One of the characteristic features of Alzheimer’s disease is the deposition of amyloid â-peptides in the brain. These amyloid â-peptides ar
Scientists are one step closer to deciphering the molecular signaling process controlling innate immunity with the discovery that a molecule called IRAK1 regulates the expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Because atherosclerosis patients often have elevated IL-10 levels, IRAK1 may be a viable target for developing therapeutics for atherosclerosis. The research appears as the “Paper of the Week” in the December 3 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, an American Society f
Findings are disapointing, but some changes and more time could improve results
A new UCLA study released Nov. 26 reports higher arrest rates among drug offenders diverted to treatment during the first six months of California’s Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act (SACPA), commonly known as Proposition 36. The findings show SACPA clients were 48 percent more likely to be arrested for a drug offense within a year of admission than clients entering treatment through other c
From cadaveric insulin-producing cells
Scientists at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have induced human insulin-producing cells of the pancreas to revert to islet precursor cells. These precursor cells are capable of expansion and appear to naturally and efficiently differentiate into clusters of islet-like cells. This work may help to clarify the natural lifecycle of the beta cell and
For the first time ever, Emory University researchers have broken through the so-called “oxo-wall” to create stable multiple chemical bonds between oxygen and platinum – once thought impossible because oxygen is extremely unstable when combined with certain metals. The breakthrough holds the potential for numerous applications in fuel cells, catalytic converters and emerging ’green’ chemistry.
Chemical bonds between metals and oxygen are known as metal-oxo species, and
Findings may aid diagnosis and indicate new treatment target for many cancers
A new study from Columbia University Medical Center finds that stomach (gastric) cancer originates from bone marrow derived stem cells (BMDC), rather than from stomach stem cells, as previously thought. The study, “Gastric Cancer Originating from Bone Marrow-Derived Cells” is published in the current issue of Science. “This was an unexpected finding, which may lead to a re-evaluation of current assumpt
A team of Danish physicists has taken a crucial step towards an Internet that is faster and more secure than what we know today. The researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen have created an atomic memory that, in time, will be able to break the limits for Internet communication. The team’s breakthrough was published in the prominent journal, Nature, on 25 November 2004.
From Internet to Quantum Internet
The Internet is getting faster
Researchers at the universities of Helsinki and Tampere (Finland) have developed a new virtual microscopy system, which allows users digitize entire microscope glass slide specimens, and then create a virtual slide with the quality and resolution similar to the original glass slide viewed on a microscope. The results are high-resolution digital images viewable through a standard web browser, independent of a microscope.
The slide scanning microscope and an image web server devel
Today, the first ever Conference on Control with Remote Sensing (CwRS) of Area-based Subsidies held in a New Member State takes place in Budapest, Hungary. Marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of the system and the 10th such Conference, it brings together a record number of 300 representatives from government and industry working within information technology, imaging instrumentation and support of farmers. The central issue of the conference is the fundamental reform of the Common A
The University of Leicester is playing a key part in a network of 33 companies and universities, set up to develop pioneering new processes for metal coatings which will offer benefits to a wide range of industries, including automotive and aerospace component manufacturers.
The network uses ionic liquid technology developed at the University of Leicester, exploited through its spin-out company, Scionix Ltd.
Companies and academics from 11 European countries have been brou
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