Switzerland - Providing heroin addicts methadone or buprenorphine as a treatment for their addiction has led to a decline in the number of new heroin users in Zurich, according to a paper by Carlos Nordt and Rudolf Stohler from the Psychiatric University Hospital, Zurich, published in The Lancet.
The latest textile technologies go along with fabric integrated sensors, or computers, to measure e.g. the functioning of a patient's cardiovascular system.
Hospitals and fertility clinics across Europe are to be warned that safeguards must be implemented to prevent impostors gaining access to IVF treatment.
Many companies are competing to develop the ideal transcatheter heart valve and catheter-based valve replacement procedures, which are revolutionizing valve replacement for larger patients.
USA - A satellite symposium will be provided at the 53rd ACSM Annual meeting in Denver, Colorado (30 May) by VIASYS Healthcare Inc. and the American College of Sports & Medicine.
Italy - A remotely-controlled catheter device guided by magnetic fields provides a safe and practical method for delivering radio frequency ablation treatment in the hearts of patients with atrial fibrillation, according to a new study (Pub: Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 4/4/06).
While today prenatal diagnostics provides a wide range of possibilities, prenatal therapy is still rather limited.
Sweden - The Swedish Brain Foundation has received a donation of SEK 250 thousand (approximately e27,593) to support advanced research and development, from GE Healthcare, based in Uppsala.
USA - Engineers are developing a tiny wireless device - the size of a rice grain - to be implanted in tumours to indicate the precise radiation dose received and to locate the exact position of tumours during treatment.
The case for structured training, board certification and revalidation*
Russia - Leonid Roshal, 71, paediatrician and head of the Moscow Scientific Research Institute for Emergency Children's Surgery and Traumatology, has received the Reader's Digest European of the Year Award 2005 for his tireless and dedicated work helping children who have been injured in disasters and conflicts around the world.
USA - Scientists are confident that the virus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is no longer circulating in humans, or other animals, according to Professor Kathryn Holmes, a microbiology expert at the University of Colorado, USA.
The function of cell membrane is to maintain the stability of a cell's interior by regulating the amounts and types of molecules entering or leaving the cell.
Spain - New research suggests that sleep apnoea is a new risk factor for death from stroke.
TB causes three million deaths annually, ranking it higher than any other infectious disease. And TB has resurged in Europe. In August, the British Thoracic Society, British Lung Foundation and TB Alert highlighted its increase in over the last 15 years in the UK alone.
Sildenafil, an active agent used in the impotence drug Viagra, has been administered to seven young mountaineers on an Everest expedition, to test its effect on the lungs. Seven other men on the expedition are receiving a placebo.
The earlier a cardiac infarction is detected the better the patient's chances of survival. However, because tests for cardiac infarction check for protein molecules that are released from heart muscle during cell necrosis, and these enter the blood very slowly, it can take three hours to gain a reliable result.
Denmark - Regular drinkers significantly increase their risk of rectal cancer, but that risk is reduced if wine makes up a third or more of weekly consumption, according to research carried out by Professor Morten Grønbaek, at the Centre for Alcohol Research, National Institute of Public Health, Copenhagen, published in the journal GUT.
France - Less than 50% of those affected by bowel cancer survive beyond five years after diagnosis. However, new research* surprisingly suggests that a high calorie diet may increase chances of survival for longer.
Injury to the brain and spinal cord cause permanent damage because, unlike bone and skin tissues, they lose the ability to repair themselves soon after birth.
Implants presently in use consist of a smooth or textured silicone shell filled with a silicone gel or saline solution. The latter has one decisive drawback - the breast may cool considerably in winter. Smooth silicone implants may also shift or turn.
The most expensive behavioural healthcare diagnosis, for sufferers and their insurers, is bipolar disorder, according to a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry (160:1286-1290, July 2003).
A newly invented 'Polypill', composed of currently available drugs, may act as a 'vaccine' against heart disease, according to new research published in the British Medical Journal (28 June. BMJ 2003;326:1419).
The European Health Telematics Association's (EHTEL) white paper and action plan for 2002-2003 states that without the creation of reimbursement processes and a regulatory framework for healthcare telematics the market for such devices will never grow.
Lufthansa - the first airline company to offer high-speed broadband internet connection for data transmission - has used the trial phase of its new in-flight internet service, Lufthansa FlyNet, to test telemedicine potential on board.