A Johns Hopkins Medicine study finds that a single dose of the oral antibiotic azithromycin taken after trichiasis eye surgery can reduce the frequency with which eyelashes turn back in and abrade the eye. The oral antibiotic treatment is more effective than multiple days of treatment with the topical antibiotic ointment Tetracycline, the current method of treatment after trichiasis surgery.

Trichiasis is the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide. It is a condition in which the

A new study finds that longer courses of a mild form of chemotherapy may help patients with a bone marrow disease only recently considered a form of cancer. Writing in the April 15, 2006 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, researchers say the study found that 45 percent of patients with Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) who relapse did respond to a second course of treatment, but that the quality and duration of the second response was inferior to the initial tre

Study looks at cost-effectiveness of testing heart patients to help decide who needs implanted defibrillators

Next week, the Medicare agency will announce whether it will cover the cost of a $400 heart test that assesses a person’s risk of dying suddenly from a heart condition. Today, a study led by University of Michigan researchers suggests that the test could actually save Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars in the long run.

The researchers used a sophistic

Building a self-reliant moon colony is no longer science fiction, or a gimmick to promote the new James Bond film. It is indeed near-term reality.

After the Apollo landings, the moon returned to its magnificent desolation, and has until recently received very little attention as a target of exploration, let alone settlement. Currently, the Swedish-made SMART-1 is the only spacecraft orbiting the moon. It is scheduled to impact in early 2007, but another Swedish effort is already

Major research is being carried out by academics at Sunderland and Cambridge universities into the experiences of working class students in higher education.

The work, which is part of a £30m research programme, could help universities better understand issues such as progression and retention, as well as create a greater awareness of how to improve provision and support for students from backgrounds where there is little tradition of higher education.

The research will

An experimental investigation by Carol Ryff and associates (University of Wisconsin), published in the March issue of the journal of Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics, underscores the biological consequences of psychological well-being. The article is accompanied by an editorial by Renato Pasquali, Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Bologna.

Increasingly, researchers attend to both positive and negative aspects of mental health. Such distinctions call for clarification of wheth

A review on the neuropsychological aspects of bipolar disorder (alternations of mania and depression) by the group of Eduard Vieta (university of Barcelona) points to impairments in intellectual functioning in this patient population. The review was published in the 2006 March issue of Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics.

More and more epidemiological, genetic and neuroimaging studies show similarities between bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SZ). Cognitive functions are known to

A study published in the 2006 March issue of Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics by a Swedish group of investigators points to the effects of social isolation and low mood on the progression of coronary disease.

Although both depressive symptoms and social isolation in relation to coronary heart disease have been studied previously, few have examined their joint effects on coronary atherosclerosis progression in women.

Among the women enrolled in the Stockholm Female Corona

Coinciding with International Brain Awareness Week (13- 19 March 2006), The George Institute for International Health will launch the second phase of a large-scale study on mild-Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) among non-elite rugby union and league players in Sydney.

The study will provide the evidence upon which guidelines/policies can be developed that manage a player’s return to the sporting field following a concussion. Last year, more than 1200 rugby players from various sch

The classic stereotype of an engineer – a man who is brilliant at and passionate about technology, but not so good at dealing with people – bears little resemblance to actual engineers or their work, according to new research from the University of Edinburgh. These stereotypes hamper the engineering profession’s efforts to recruit women, says Dr Wendy Faulkner who carried out the study.

Dr Faulkner, who interviewed and observed 66 men and women engineers working in a range of industr

The behavior of a massive ice sheet that existed in northern Europe at the end of the last Ice Age has been outlined for the first time, and researchers believe it may provide a sneak preview of how major ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica will act in the face of global warming.

The study, which will be published Friday in the journal Science by researchers from Oregon State University, shows that ice sheets can react quite differently depending on the climatic conditions

Preeclampsia, the development of high blood pressure and protein in the urine during pregnancy and its more severe complications such as eclampsia, can threaten the lives of both mother and child. While there is no therapy to prevent preeclampsia, a link to calcium deficiency has been suggested. In a study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, researchers across the globe, under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO), investigated whether a

Salamanders and the tuatara, a lizard-like animal that has lived on Earth for 225 million years, were the first vertebrates to walk and run on land, according to a recent study by Ohio University researchers.

After studying the creatures at the Toledo Zoo, Stephen Reilly, associate professor of biological sciences, and doctoral student Eric McElroy determined that they use both forms of locomotion, which are energy-saving mechanisms generally believed to be important only in f

Psychological pressures experienced by people who belong to racially or socially stigmatized groups interfere with their ability to exhibit self-control when entering a threatening environment or after being made aware of their stigmatized status

Controlling what you eat, how often you study or whether you engage in addictive or criminal behaviour might be harder if you belong to a group targeted by negative stereotypes or prejudice, according to a University of Toronto study, pub

In a new study forthcoming in the April 2006 issue of The American Naturalist, Peter Nonacs (University of California – Los Angeles), Aviva E. Liebert (Tufts University) and Philip T. Starks (Tufts University) explore a theory of social behavior that seeks to explain why some individuals willingly sacrifice their own reproduction to help raise others’ offspring.

“Transactional Skew” (TS) theory proposes that such cooperation is possible through “shared reproduction,” making i

ESA has received an award for achievement in the public sector, for its Technology Transfer activities, announced at the first annual International Marketplace and Conference for Technology Transfer Professionals (IPTEC) in Cannes last month.

ESA can claim 200 successful examples of technology transfer in the past 16 years, leading to the set up of 30 companies being set up in Europe. The award, presented by the Mayor of Cannes, was received by Pierre Brisson, ESA Head of technolo