A new study finds chemotherapy improves survival and reduces the risk of recurrence in women with stage I ovarian cancer (cancer that has not spread beyond the ovary). But it remains unclear which patients would most benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy and what the optimal treatment regimen would entail. The findings come from an analytical review of data from 13 randomized control trials (RCTs), which will be published in the November 1, 2004 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American

A recent paper in The Political Quarterly provides insights into the extent of declining electoral participation amongst young British voters and discusses the need to examine in further detail whether we are witnessing a profound generational shift in youth politics.

The relatively lower proportion of young citizens casting their votes at general elections has previously been attributed to differences in stages of the political life-cycle. However, unprecedented declines in turno

Government targets to get lone parents into work may be frustrated because lone parents are twice as likely to leave their jobs as other newly employed people, a new study shows.

The number of lone parents entering work increased over the 1990s, but high job exit rates are impeding efforts to reach the Government’s target of 70 per cent employment for lone parents by 2010. According to new research published today (September 23 2004), up to 15 per cent of lone parents move into work

Scientists track male animal over a three-state, 550-mile walk-about

Scientists from the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) may have referred to the wolverine they were tracking as simply “M304,” but “Lance Armstrong” may be more descriptive as the young male embarked on a six-week journey that covered some 550 miles within three western states. The results of the study are published in the latest issue of the journal Northwest Science.
The WCS scientists had e

Mounds built by highly-evolved African termites could inspire new types of building that are self-sufficient, environmentally friendly and cheap to run. The mounds provide a self-regulating living environment that responds to changing internal and external conditions.

A multidisciplinary team of engineers and entomologists* is looking at whether similar principles could be used to design buildings that need few or no mechanical services (e.g. heating and ventilation) and so use less

A new report concludes that wood is one of the most environmentally-sensitive building materials for home construction – it uses less overall energy than other products, causes fewer air and water impacts and does a better job of the carbon “sequestration” that can help address global warming.

The research showed that wood framing used 17 percent less energy than steel construction for a typical house built in Minnesota, and 16 percent less energy than a house using concrete constr

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have discovered that otherwise healthy people who are prone to anger, hostility and mild to moderate depressive symptoms produce higher levels of a substance that promotes cardiovascular disease and stroke.

The substance, C-reactive protein (CRP), has garnered considerable attention for its role in both promoting and predicting cardiovascular disease and stroke in initially healthy people. It is produced by the liver in response to infl

Question of Convergence: Carriers Look for New Ways to Gain Market Share

In the increasingly saturated European telecommunications market, converged devices and services offer network operators and service providers a chance to enter new markets and differentiate themselves from the competition. Troubled telecom carriers are realising that focusing on these emerging areas can help them increase market share and customer loyalty, to cross-sell and offer cost-effective competitive bund

You’ve seen it in horror movies, or even in real-life at the local museum: a painting in which the eyes of the person portrayed seem to follow you around the room, no matter where you go.

People have described the effect as creepy or eerie, and some have thought it supernatural. But now researchers have demonstrated the very natural cause for this visual effect.

All it takes for the effect to work is to have the person in the painting, or photograph, look straight ahead, said

New mothers with fibromyalgia (FM) face multiple barriers to breast-feeding their babies, according to a study published recently in the American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing.

For the study, “Breast-feeding in Chronic Illness–The Voices of Women with Fibromyalgia,” Karen M. Schaefer, D.N.Sc., R.N., assistant professor of nursing at Temple University’s College of Health Professions, analyzed the written stories and tape-recorded interviews of nine mothers with FM, ranging i

New technique that uses gene therapy delivers nerve growth factor into regions of the brain where neurons are degenerating, in order to prevent cell death and reverse cell atrophy.

Investigators at Rush University Medical Center have successfully initiated a new technique that uses gene therapy to deliver nerve growth factor into regions of the brain where neurons are degenerating, in order to prevent cell death and reverse cell atrophy, two hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. If succ

New research indicates that helping others raises quality of life for British Citizens.

When we volunteer our time to do something for others, such as helping out an elderly neighbour or taking part in a local community project, it can be good news for our health, our children’s education and even reduce the local crime rate too.

Recent research funded by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) has revealed that people who live in areas that record high levels of inf

A new study being carried out at the University of Leicester traces the erosion of the traditional concept of Maasai manhood and the emergence of new role for Maasais- reliving their warrior dreams in paid employment, business or trading in livestock.

The romantic notion of the ‘noble savage’ Maasai warrior, replete with traditional ponytails and weapons- a key image for tourism in Kenya – masks a crisis of cultures that has blighted this once proud tribal race, according to a study

When the Ariane 5 ECA qualification flight lifts off in October, one of the ‘passengers’ will be 33.5 litres of water. Onboard will be the experimental Sloshsat-FLEVO satellite, designed to help European scientists find out more about the movement of water in microgravity and its effects on satellites.

Sloshsat-FLEVO is aptly named: slosh for the movement of water, sat for satellite and FLEVO, the project’s acronym: Facility for Liquid Experimentation and Verification in Orbit. Flev

New research into how women view their bodies aims to challenge the as yet untested belief that thin, glamorous, perfect female models in advertising are socially desirable and “sell” products to the consumer more successfully than other body types.

The research, to be carried out by Dr Helga Dittmar, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sussex, with Emma Halliwell, from the University of the West of England, will also look at precisely how – and why – ultra-thin media

One of the simpler ways to curtail the obesity epidemic could be to cut the volume of sweetened soft drinks and fruit drinks Americans are increasingly consuming, authors of new study say.

The study, conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, showed that energy intake from such drinks in the United States increased 135 percent between about 1977 and 2001. Over the same span, energy intake from milk — a far more nutritious beverage — dropped 38 percent.