Useful in developing countries

A hand-held vacuum aspiration device works as well as a more expensive electrical one for ending second-trimester pregnancies, according to results of a study by Johns Hopkins obstetricians published in the October issue of the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics.

“Now that we know the low-tech device is safe and effective, it can be taught to doctors in developing nations to help reduce the prevalence of unsafe abortions and compl

IBISCA’s push to understand insect habitats in the tropical forest

Of the 10 million plus species thought to exist on this planet, a mere 2 million are known to science. Others dwell in inaccessible locations–deep sea vents or hard-to-reach tropical treetops. To collect the best information available to date on tropical forest insects and their habitats, thirty researchers will use state-of-the-art canopy access techniques to sample nine 400m2 patches of Panamanian rainforest fr

Nearly half the British population – 46% -claim to have changed their minds about the war with Iraq, new research by academics at Cardiff University has shown.

While 83% said they “supported allied forces” during the war, only 44% now say they support the decision to go to war with Iraq.

Researchers in the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, conducted a detailed nationwide survey of more than 1,000 adults, to explore the shifting nature of public opinion towards the

New findings suggest altered kidney regulation of COX-2 occurs at very early stage in obesity-related diabetic nephropathy

In human diabetic patients, an excessive vasoconstrictive and pro-aggregatory thromboxane (TXA2) renal synthesis, along with a decrease in vasodilatory and anti-aggregatory prostaglandin (PGE2) synthesis, has been found to influence kidney function. Prostaglandins and thromboxane are formed by the enzymatic oxidation of arachidonic acid catalyzed by the cyclooxyge

Monitoring patients once they have left hospital is a vital part of follow-up care, but many small clinics and hospitals find it difficult to provide.

EUREKA’s MADISON project has developed a new computer package which will give small institutions the technical means to improve follow-up of outpatients by accessing the servers of larger hospitals. Using the new software, they can access and use the data held in the larger institutions to better follow patients’ medical and nutritional care

New research on the sun’s contribution to global warming is reported in this month’s Astronomy & Geophysics. By looking at solar activity over the last 11,000 years, British Antarctic Survey (BAS) astrophysicist, Mark Clilverd, predicts that the sun’s contribution to warming the Earth will reduce slightly over the next 100 years.

This is a different picture to the last century when solar flares, sunspots and geomagnetic storms, increased in number. This rise is simultaneous with emissions of