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News | Archive (31 March 2010)
Experts call to end secrecy surrounding approval of new drugs
— 11:10 GMT | HealthChanges are urgently needed to end the secrecy surrounding approval of new drugs in Europe, argue experts on bmj.com today…
Radon in residential buildings: A risk factor for lung cancer
— 11:07 GMT | HealthAbout 1900 deaths from lung cancer per year in Germany are due to radon within residential buildings. This was the conclusion reached in the current edition of Deutsches Aerzteblatt International by Klaus Schmid of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and his coauthors (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107(11): 181-6)…
Misinformation about antibiotics can travel to large audience via Twitter
— 11:04 GMT | HealthMisunderstandings about proper use of antibiotics have the potential to spread widely through social networks such as Twitter, according to a report in the April issue of AJIC: American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC). Researchers from Columbia University and MixedInk (New York, NY) studied the health information content of Twitter updates mentioning antibiotics to determine how people are sharing information and assess the proliferation of misinformation. The investigation explored evidence of misunderstanding or misuse of antibiotics…
'Evil twin' threatens world's oceans, scientists warn
— 11:01 GMT | EnvironmentThe rise in human emissions of carbon dioxide is driving fundamental and dangerous changes in the chemistry and ecosystems of the world's oceans, international marine scientists warned today…
Will genetics ever have the promised impact on medical practice?
— 10:58 GMT | HealthSince the discovery of gene sequencing in the late 1970s, it was predicted that genetics would revolutionise medicine and provide answers to the causes of many of our common killers. But has genetic research delivered its promise? Experts debate the issue on bmj.com today…
The consequences of brain contusion
— 10:55 GMT | HealthIt has been thought that the loss of physical and psychological function after traumatic brain injury is closely related to injuries in brain structures. However, in the current edition of Deutsches Aerzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107[12]: 199-205), Rainer Scheid and D. Yves von Cramon conclude that this is not the case…
Targeted agent blocked growth of deadly brain cancer in preclinical studies
— 10:52 GMT | HealthA drug already in clinical trials to treat a variety of tumours shows a remarkable ability to shut down growth of glioblastoma in both laboratory cells and in animals, say researchers from Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Centre and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). In their experiments, the agent put a brake on growth of laboratory cancer cell lines, and no mice with glioblastoma in their brain died as a result of their tumour while on therapy…
Researchers look at reducing yield loss for crops under stress
— 10:49 GMT | BiologyPeople feel it, animals feel it, and yes, plants sense it too. It's stress. Plant researchers are taking a long look at stress in order to improve crop productivity, especially when faced with issues of climate change…
Researchers discover why atoms in solids show a preference for certain structures
— 10:46 GMT | PhysicsThe process involved here sounds unwieldy, but is, in fact, quite simple: a material has a 6-fold rotation symmetry if the arrangement of its atoms remains unchanged when it is rotated by 60 degrees - one sixth of a circle. The atoms in metals often order themselves in this way. However, more complicated structures with 5-fold, 8-fold or 10-fold rotation symmetry also exist. 'It is surprising that materials with 7-fold, 9-fold or 11-fold symmetry have not yet been observed in nature,' says Clemens Bechinger, fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research and Professor at the University of Stuttgart: 'This is all the more astonishing in view of the fact that patterns with any rotation symmetry can be drawn without difficulty on paper.' The question is, therefore, whether such materials have simply been overlooked up to now or whether nature has an aversion to certain symmetries…
Even highly qualified women in academic medicine paid less than equally qualified men
— 10:43 GMT | HealthWomen conducting research in the life sciences continue to receive lower levels of compensation than their male counterparts, even at the upper levels of academic and professional accomplishment, according to a study conducted by the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital. In their report in the April issue of Academic Medicine, the research team also finds differences in the roles female faculty members take as they advance in their careers…
Astronomers find suspected medium-size black hole in Omega Centauri
NWF urges protection for polar bears