Individual genetic differences in drug metabolism in pain medication can lead to severe toxicity or therapeutic failure.

The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as an “unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage.” The current analgesic strategies for treating chronic pain and cancer pain are based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 1990 analgesic ladder, in

A range of measures to help prevent Europe’s best scientists abandoning their careers in Europe in favour of more lucrative opportunities in the US and elsewhere were proposed today by the European Commission.

Based on a thorough analysis of career prospects in the EU, the Communication “Researchers in the European Research Area: one profession, multiple careers” identifies factors that impact on the development of careers in R&D, namely training, recruitment methods, employment condi

Bigger and brighter isn’t better, at least not when trying to view moving objects.

That is the counter-intuitive result of a study performed by a team of Vanderbilt psychologists which sheds new light on one of the most sophisticated processes performed by the brain: identifying and tracking moving objects.

“The bigger an object, the easier it is to see. But it is actually harder for people to determine the motion of objects larger than a tennis ball held at arms length than

Results of a Johns Hopkins study suggest that natural chemicals released in the body as a result of chronic inflammation may underpin the failure of low-fat, so-called heart healthy diets to actually reduce cholesterol and heart disease risk in some people.

According to the study’s results, published in the July 15 issue of Circulation, measuring circulating blood levels of C-reactive protein — a marker of inflammation already linked to increased risk of heart disease — may pre

Brain scientists will have to rethink the current theory of how the visual processing region of the brain is organized to analyze basic information about the geometry of the environment, according to Duke neurobiologists. In a new study reported in the June 26, 2003, Nature, they studied the visual-processing region — called the visual cortex — of ferrets, as the animals’ brains responded to complex patterns.

The results, they said, indicated that clusters of neurons in that region

Yale researchers have, for the first time, identified two types of reading disability: a primarily inherent type with higher cognitive ability (poor readers who compensate for disability), and a more environmentally influenced type with lower cognitive skills and attendance at more disadvantaged schools (persistently poor readers).

The findings, published in the July 1 issue of Biological Psychiatry, show that compensated poor readers were able to overcome some of the disability, impr

From 16 to 31 July, 32 international student teams of researchers will gather in Bordeaux, France, to fly their experiments in zero-gravity on board a specially adapted Airbus A-300.

This year’s Student Parabolic Flight Campaign, organised by ESA’s Education Office, will see experiments performed in a variety scientific areas including physics, human biology, material science and robotics, some using objects as diverse as jelly and moths.

Four flights in two

People are becoming more tolerant of the use of cannabis, but there are still clear limits to what is acceptable in the area of illegal drug-taking, according to new research funded by the ESRC.

Views about cannabis have shifted considerably over the past two decades, with 41 per cent of Britons now supporting its legalisation – up from just 12 per cent in 1983. However, very few (eight per cent) endorse the view that adults should be free to take any drugs they wish, says the report into

Sexual jokes, suggestive glances, and other forms of gender and sexual harassment may be funny to writers, producers and viewers of workplace-based situation comedies, but Penn State researcher Beth Montemurro says they are far from a laughing matter.

Montemurro, assistant professor of sociology, studied five such programs on the NBC television network – Veronica’s Closet, News Radio, Working, Just Shoot Me and Suddenly Susan – during 1997 and 1998 to see just how prevalent gender and sexua

Hypochondriasis, or excessive worry over one’s health, is a psychiatric disorder that can affect every aspect of a person’s life — especially interpersonal relationships. University of Iowa researchers are finding ways to study the condition and how it affects relationships, including patient-doctor interaction.

Hypochondriasis involves preoccupation with a fear of having or developing a serious illness, despite lack of physical evidence of illness. It affects 4 to 9 percent of f

Parents whose kids are allergic to peanuts may be relieved to know that it’s possible their children could outgrow their allergy over time.

In a study of 80 children ages 4 to 14 with well-documented peanut allergies, researchers at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and Arkansas Children’s Hospital found that some children completely lost their potentially serious or life-threatening allergy to peanuts, and that among those who did, there was a low risk of allergy recurr

U-M researchers report more effective method for separating viable sperm

A new technique to find the viable sperm in the semen of men with low sperm motility could lead to a new approach for infertility treatment, according to University of Michigan Health System researchers.

In a study published online and in the July/August issue of Reproductive BioMedicine Online (http://www.rbmonline.com), UMHS researchers used a microscopic chip divided into two channels to encourage vi

Working from their university labs in two different corners of the world, U.S. and Australian researchers have created what they call a new class of creative beings, “the semi-living artist” – a picture-drawing robot in Perth, Australia whose movements are controlled by the brain signals of cultured rat cells in Atlanta.

Gripping three colored markers positioned above a white canvas, the robotic drawing arm operates based on the neural activity of a few thousand rat neurons placed in a spec

When you nod your head to signal approval or shake your head to show disapproval, it’s not just sending a message to others – you may also be influencing yourself.

A new study showed that these simple movements influenced people’s agreement with an editorial they heard while nodding or shaking their head. Researchers found that other body movements – such as writing with a non-dominant hand – can also influence attitudes, even about important issues such as self-esteem.

And

Not looks or money but rather life-long fidelity is what most people seek in an ideal mate, according to a Cornell University behavioral study that also confirmed the “likes-attract” theory: We tend to look for the same characteristics in others that we see in ourselves.

The study began when Cornell University students in an animal-behavior class conducted a scientific survey of 978 heterosexual residents of Ithaca, N.Y., ages 18-24. Hoping to learn whether likes attract, students asked the

The University of Bradford has conducted a study that reveals that mobile phone use can improve the short-term memory of men – but not women.

Dr Jim Smythe and Professor Brenda Costall of the University’’s School of Life Sciences carried out an experiment on both the long and short-term memory of people that were briefly exposed to electromagnetic fields (EMF) emitted from mobile telephones.

Thirty-three male and twenty-nine female students volunteered to be randomly assigne