The first phase of a two-year healthy schools and communities project between partners in Kent and Pas-de-Calais started in September 2005. The official Kent launch will take place in Dover on 27 January 2006.

Titled Bien-être, the British partners in this European Development Fund (ERDF) Interreg IIIa project are the Kent and Medway NHS Health and Europe Centre based at the European Institute of Social Services at the University of Kent; East Kent Coastal Teaching Primary Care Tru

Heavy use of marijuana may put adolescents who are genetically predisposed to schizophrenia at greater risk of developing the brain disorder, according to research presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Using a sophisticated brain imaging technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), researchers at Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York, studied the brains of groups of adolescents: healthy, non-drug users; heavy marijuana smok

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have just launched a web-based 3-D digital atlas browser and database of the brain of a popular laboratory mouse (see http://www.bnl.gov/CTN/mouse/).

“Neuroscientists around the world can now download these extremely accurate anatomical templates and use them to map other data — such as which parts of the brain are metabolically active and where particular genes are expressed — and for making qua

Changes in bird song could be used as an early warning system to detect man-made ecological disturbances, new research published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology has found. Although much previous research has focused on bird song and vocal mimicry, this is the first study to analyse the role played by habitat loss and fragmentation on song-matching.

Ecologists recorded and analysed the songs of more than 200 Dupont’s larks, Chersophilus duponti, in Spain and

Research published by University of Leicester researchers in the top journal “Circulation” identifies a gene that affects blood pressure levels in the general population. The results have come to light in the GRAPHIC study, funded by the British Heart Foundation. Over 450 families in Leicestershire took part in the study.

High blood pressure affects around three in ten adults in the UK and is one of the main causes of strokes and heart attacks. Risk factors for high blood pressure inc

Researchers are using a new cell transplantation technique to restore the cells that produce insulin in patients with type 1 diabetes. The method is minimally invasive, with few complications. The study was presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

“We used ultrasound guidance to inject donor cells into the portal vein of diabetic patients, which is accessed through the skin,” said co-author Saravanan Krishnamoorthy, M.D., radiolo

May provide target for treatment, study shows

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientists have identified a molecule that stimulates the aggressive growth of prostate cancer. The molecule, Ack1, a member of the growth-promoting tyrosine kinase gene family, stimulates tumor formation in part by signaling prostate cells to rid themselves of a tumor-suppressor protein. Normally, this suppressor protein would inhibit rapid cell growth by signaling the cell to destroy itse

Requests agency to issue proposed regulation to assure quality of genetic tests

The Genetics and Public Policy Center this week called on Mark McClellan, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), to end years of delay in assuring the safety and accuracy of genetic testing by issuing a proposed rule to create a genetic testing specialty under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) of 1988. The delay has meant that scientific and technolog

Forsyth Study Also Provides Insight to Possible Complications from Serotonin Blocking Drugs

Researchers at The Forsyth Institute have discovered that the transport mechanisms for serotonin — the chemical substance involved in transmitting signals between neurons, and which has a role in anxiety and mood disorders — play a key role in determining where organs are positioned in the body during embryonic development. Transporters bring serotonin into cells. The research team, led by

Young women asking for the morning-after pill at pharmacies will be offered fast-tracked screening for Chlamydia, the UK’s most common sexually transmitted infection, in a University of Manchester study.

It is thought that up to one in ten young people under 25 have Chlamydia, a sexually transmitted infection that often has no symptoms and can lead to infertility, although it is very easily treated with just one dose of four tablets in the majority of cases.

With 18,000 wo

Researchers have a relatively good understanding of “where” and “when” the brain edits incoming information; the question is “how” does this happen. It may be that researchers at the University of Bergen have found the answer.

Cognitive neuroscience research has revealed many different aspects of the brain’s functional capacity. It has not been possible to assemble the results of the different methods used to map the brain’s activity as yet, to give researchers a complete pict

Preliminary results from the STAR-D project, one of the nation’s largest studies of depression, show that chronic depressive episodes are common and are associated with poorer physical health, lower quality of life, socioeconomic disadvantage and minority status.

Findings of this study highlight the common occurrence of chronic episodes of major depression and the range of factors that contribute to them in both psychiatric and primary care settings.

The analysis, whi

A large-scale, 12-year study has found that laser ablation with magnetic resonance (MR) guidance is as effective as traditional surgery in the treatment of liver tumors in some patients. The study was presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

In the largest study of its type with the longest follow-up, 839 patients at the University of Frankfurt in Germany received MR-guided laser-induced thermotherapy (LITT) for the treatment of liver tumor

New research says ’maybe’ – but it could mean tough choices

New research into the cost of using the breast cancer drug Herceptin warns that healthcare authorities and the organisations advising them should not rush to prescribe it for early breast cancer without working out extremely carefully the budget implications and cost-effectiveness of the drug.

In a Belgian study published (Wednesday 30 November) in Annals of Oncology[1], health economist Mattias Ney

The bronchial tubes of a patient with severe asthma can become scarred due to repeated episodes of allergic inflammation in the airways. The scarring results in blocked airways, excessive production of mucus, and shortness of breath.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have discovered that when a single gene – IKK beta – is selectively inactivated in the membrane-lining cells of the bronchial tubes of mice that later inhale allergens, suc

Putting antibacterial coatings on hip and knee implants and biomedical devices such as catheters could cut infection rates following surgery and significantly reduce health care costs and improve quality of life for patients, researchers at the University of South Australia have found.

A significant number of hip and knee implants are prone to infection after surgery and in many cases are not amenable to treatment with antibiotics, according to Hans Griesser, Professor of Surfac