Clinical trials not yet on horizon

An antibiotic commonly used to treat a variety of serious infections may also help prevent dementia in HIV patients, according to a test-tube study of human brain cells by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine neurologist Jeffrey Rumbaugh, M.D., Ph.D.
Results of the lab study with ceftriaxone are expected to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 58th annual meeting on April 5 in San Diego, Calif.

Rumbaugh adde

A Liverpool scientist has been awarded a Fellowship of nearly £1M by the Medical Research Council (MRC) to carry out research into emerging brain viruses such as Japanese encephalitis.

Dr Tom Solomon, from the University’s Department of Clinical Science, has been honoured with a Senior Clinical Fellowship by the MRC to further his work on virus infections of the brain. Only one or two such Fellowships are awarded annually by the MRC.

The Fellowship will enable Dr Solomon

The use of Anti Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs), Drug Treatment Orders and other measures designed to help women in the sex industry could lead to more prostitutes being jailed now than fifty years ago, a researcher has claimed.

Dr Jo Phoenix, a leading sex crime researcher at the University of Bath, warned that a government strategy which was supposed to help prostitutes onto drink and drug rehabilitation programmes was in fact just a “crackdown” against them.

Speaking

Female harbor seal pups whose blubber falls below average levels may be at higher risk of delayed sexual maturation or death, even if they get enough fat in their diets later on, according to a new study sponsored by The American Physiological Society and presented at Experimental Biology 2006.

The study found that harbor seals pups that were heavier when captured from the wild continued to gain weight and grow regardless of whether the researchers placed them on a high fat or

Preliminary study demonstrates calorie restriction reduces markers of aging

Can eating a low-calorie yet nutritionally balanced diet extend human life? Preliminary research suggests it might, so researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are launching a long-term study to find out.

In an editorial in the April 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Luigi Fontana, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at Washington Unive

The conference programme for eLearning Africa 2006 can be viewed online at www.elearning-africa.com. The first international conference dedicated to information and communication technologies (ICT) for development, education and training in Africa takes place from 24 to 26 May in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The extensive agenda includes the deployment of eLearning in schools, universities, administration and government; the development of digital educational materials; eLearning in med

Reading is a standard day-to-day activity of a modern human being. It includes three components: sensoric (perception of visual stimulus – letters and other characters), motoric (eyes’ movements) and cognitive (attention, memory, and character and word recognition). The reading process requires quick eye movements – saccades, which move the eyes quickly from one text fragment to another. Only the retina’s central part, which contains cones, is capable of recognizing objects (characters). This dicta

The number of older people living in the English countryside is soaring at a much faster rate than the rest of the country, posing numerous urgent challenges to the Government and other bodies.

Researchers from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and other leading experts will highlight the statistics and issues they provoke at a conference in York today, Tuesday April 4.

Figures show that 5.3m of England’s projected 5.5m population growth in the period until 2028 w

Small birth size has been shown to have adverse effects on the offspring in later life, including increased risks of heart disease, stroke, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and other conditions. Now work presented at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Glasgow shows that women with a high testosterone level in pregnancy will produce smaller babies.

A group led by Dr Sven M. Carlsen at the University of Trondheim measured levels of four endogenous hormones at 17 and 33 weeks in 147 pr

Industry board issues ratings without playing games

According to a study led by Associate Professor Kimberly Thompson of the Kids Risk Project at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), 81% of a random sample of Mature-rated video games included content that was not noted on the game box. This is the first independent, quantitative study to characterize content in M-rated games related to violence, blood, sexual themes, substances, profanity, and gambling observed in game play.

A study led by researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute has found that dasatinib provides significant benefit in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients resistant to Gleevec® (imatinib), according to a study presented today during the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

In an update of a phase I study initiated in November 2003, researchers looked at the use of dasatinib in imatinib resistant or intolerant patients with CML in late chr

Results from a Phase III study of a new drug show promise for patients with colorectal cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, according to a study presented today during the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Investigators have shown that panitumumab improves progression-free survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) who had failed standard chemotherapy. In the randomized trial of 463 patients, those who receive

Soymilk proves a popular option for lactose intolerant students

Offering soymilk to elementary school students boosts the number of children who select a calcium-rich beverage in the lunch line and reduces the amount of saturated fat consumed from calcium-rich beverages, according to a study in April’s Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Almost a quarter of students were choosing soymilk over cow’s milk by the end of the four-week study, which was

Results from a new, five-year study show that regular use of popular prescription pain relievers may reduce the risk of breast cancer by up to 71 percent and may offer similar benefit in the prevention of prostate, colon and lung cancers.

The study findings were released today at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C.
Randall E. Harris, M.D., Ph.D.

“We believe this is the first study to show that selective COX-2 i

Peace at any price? More than one parent has forked over cash in a desperate bid to stop their kids’ badgering for the hottest toy or the latest snack. Now researchers at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Stanford’s School of Medicine have found that the more time California third-graders spent in front of the tube or playing video games, the more often they asked an adult to buy them items they saw on the screen.

“It’s called the ’nag factor,’” sai

COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is launching an Open Call for proposals.

COST invites researchers throughout Europe to submit proposals for research networks and use this unique opportunity to exchange knowledge and to embark on new European perspectives.

COST’s main objective is to stimulate new, innovative and interdisciplinary scientific networks in Europe. COST activities (Actions) are carried out by research teams to strengthen the foundations