A widespread lack of public awareness about stroke prevents the delivery of leading-edge therapies and hampers the efforts of researchers to test the next generation of clot-busting drugs, said Dr. Hal Unwin, associate professor of neurology at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
Last year at Parkland Memorial Hospital – the primary adult teaching hospital for UT Southwestern faculty physicians – only 19 percent of 349 patients diagnosed with the most common form of stroke arrived wi
Scientists have been studying cannabinoids, substances that are chemically related to the ingredients found in marijuana, for more than two decades, hoping to learn more about how the drug produces its effects–both therapeutic and harmful. Marijuana has been reported effective in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, nausea caused by chemotherapy and wasting caused by AIDS. However, like all drugs, it also causes numerous unwanted side effects, including hypothermia, sedation, memory impair
Between June and August 2003, France Telecom tested a unique system for real-time, wireless and continuous transmission of medical data on patients transported by ambulance. The SAMU (emergency medical services) headquarters are constantly updated on changes in the condition of the patient being transported and on transport conditions during the transfer to the destination chosen.
This continuous data transmission is made possible using Orange’s GPRS network for mobile telecommunicatio
While textile flax produced in France is exported all over the world for the production of high-quality linen clothes and sheets, these natural fibres are now being re-discovered by French manufacturers and put to unexpected and exciting uses.
Increasingly, flax is being used by automotive equipment manufacturers as a source of raw material that is environmentally friendly and less dangerous — in the event of a vehicle crashing — when used for interior panels in cars. Hemp fibres are also e
Auto congestion and pollution is an ongoing dilemma for Europe’s cities, but small electric automated CyberCars that run on the existing urban infrastructure promise to make Europe’s crowded capitals cleaner, safer, and easier to manoeuvre.
The development and adoption of vehicles running autonomously without a driver on city streets at low speed (up to 30 km/h at the moment), while avoiding fixed and mobile obstacles, is the goal of IST-project CYBERCAR. This concept of using aut
Experts at the University of Leicester working with a Northampton company have made a breakthrough in developing a computerised system for ear image and ear print identification, for use by police agencies, immigration and intelligence services.
The Forensic Pathology Unit, University of Leicester, in conjunction with K9 Forensic Services Limited, Northampton, England, have developed what they believe to be the first computerised system for ear image and ear print identification. This system
Newborns whose mothers drank alcohol heavily during pregnancy had damage to the nerves in the arms and legs, according to a study by researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, one of the National Institutes of Health. The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers at the University of Chile. The nerve damage was still present when the children were reexamined at one year of age. The study is the first to examine whether exposure to alcoho
Accident victims who suffer a severe head injury are more likely to develop posttraumatic stress disorder if they remain conscious during their ordeal, according to research published in BMC Psychiatry this week. Unconsciousness probably protects people from posttraumatic stress disorder by preventing them from forming memories of their experience.
Current thinking holds that traumatic brain injury alone may be sufficient to protect patients from developing posttraumatic stress disorder, yet
Parents who lose a child have an increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study published in the March 9 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study found that parents whose child died were 50 percent more likely to develop MS than parents who did not lose a child.
The results show that psychological stress may play a role in the development of MS. Researchers have believed that stress plays a role in MS, b
It looks like a tornado
A team consisting of an art student and mechanical engineers at Washington University in St. Louis has made an award-winning movie that captures for the first time the fluid mechanics phenomenon of two things that classically don’t mix, doing just that.
Amy Shen, Ph.D., assistant professor of mechanical engineering, her graduate student William Alexander and Arts & Sciences art major Sarah Roland, have photographed three different oils atop a layer o
An environmental engineer at Washington University in St. Louis with his doctoral student has patented a device for trapping and deactivating microbial particles. The work is promising in the war on terrorism for deactivating airborne bioagents and bioweapons such as the smallpox virus, anthrax and ricin, and also in routine indoor air ventilation applications such as in buildings and aircraft cabins.
Pratim Biswas, Ph.D.,Stifel & Quinette Jens Professor of Environmental Engineering Scienc
Cutting corn down to size
A team of scientists that includes a Washington University in St. Louis biologist, has evaluated and validated a gene-enrichment strategy for genome sequencing and has reported a major advance in sequencing large genomes. The team showed a six-fold reduction of the effective size of the Zea mays (maize or corn) genome while creating a four-fold increase in the gene identification rate when compared to standard whole-genome sequencing methods.
A team
Ghent researchers have developed a new and easy method of detecting cirrhosis of the liver. This major finding helps predict the evolution of chronic liver disease, allowing physicians to start proper treatment early on. Patients suffering from this serious, progressive disease in its cirrhosis stage have a high chance of developing liver cancer. The test developed in Ghent permits frequent, non-invasive analyses to be carried out, through which the critical stages of the disease can be closely monit
Fast Internet connections are all the rage, mostly over DSL and cable modems. But a little-known competitor – a technology that promises speeds up to 200 megabits per second over existing electrical infrastructure – is jostling for a place in this lucrative market.
In January 2003, broadband services – used to transmit voice, data or video signals simultaneously – had either been requested or were already available in around 7 per cent of European Union households. The Yankee Group predicts
The Chandra X-ray Observatory is a space observatory dedicated to X-ray astronomy. Launched on July 23rd, 1999, this X-ray telescope is particularly dedicated to the observation of high-energy sources in the universe. It has also been used to study the following solar system objects: the Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and even the Comet C/1999 S4 LINEAR.
Using Chandra, J.-U. Ness and his colleagues detected an unambiguous X-ray emission from the planet Saturn for the first time. A few years a
To the grand surprise of the investigators, when they removed that apparently normal and unremarkable rock, they found the remains of some three hundred persons. It was a communal grave from the end of the Neolithic, some 5,000 years ago. The bones are in a very good state of conservation, because the rock covering them most probably having protected them from the outside elements.
In Europe there are few archaeological sites containing such a large quantity of bones. Thus, the remains found
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