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Phico Therapeutics secures funding to tackle superbug

Phico Therapeutics Ltd, a Cambridge-based company that has developed a unique anti-bacterial technology to treat the hospital superbug, MRSA, has raised £550,000 with the help of Oxfordshire Investment Opportunity Network, Europe’s leading technology business angel network.

6 Sep 2004

Scientists investigate the ability of heart muscle to repair itself

The scientists will investigate the ability of heart muscle to repair itself – after being damaged by a heart attack, for example – and to regain function.

6 Sep 2004

Study looks at the patient-practitioner relationship in complementary and alternative therapies

Why do patients opt for complementary and alternative therapies when they are ill? Is the relationship and communication between a patient and a practitioner as important in the treatment as the complementary treatments prescribed?

6 Sep 2004

Sight of a friendly face can reduce stress in sheep

This discovery, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, could point to the reason that many of us carry pictures of loved ones in our wallets or handbags.

6 Sep 2004

Increasingly the Internet's potential is being harnessed to transform healthcare delivery at the patient level

To date, the Internet has been used principally as a tool for commerce and as a cost-effective communication medium by the European healthcare industry. Increasingly however, the Internet's potential is being harnessed to transform healthcare delivery at the patient level.

6 Sep 2004

New Kerry television ad attacking George Bush on Medicare

The Kerry-Edwards campaign Saturday unveiled a new television ad attacking George Bush on the biggest hike in Medicare’s history.

5 Sep 2004

Hair growing stem cells may one day provide treatments for human hair conditions

Researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at The Rockefeller University have isolated stem cells from the skin of a mouse, and showed, for the first time, that an individual stem cell can renew itself in the laboratory and then be used in grafts to produce skin, hair and oil glands.

5 Sep 2004

Bone marrow produces cells that permanently heal wounds

Bone marrow produces cells that not only help fight infection but also permanently heal wounds, according to research at the University of Washington. Previously, researchers had not known that bone marrow contributed to the development of new skin in wounds.

5 Sep 2004

Regulatory agency alerts consumers about poor quality of some traditional chinese medicines

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued advice to consumers and the herbal sector about the poor quality of some traditional chinese medicines (TCMs) on the UK market.

5 Sep 2004

New life-saving, man overboard boating device wins award

Massey University design graduate Leon Oliver’s ‘Sentinel’ is designed to protect a crew member who has fallen overboard at sea. The user can climb into a raft, which has been remotely deployed from the vessel by the victim using an electronic watch. The watch is also designed to activate an onboard alarm to alert the crew to the accident.

5 Sep 2004

New multilingual chronic obstructive pulmonary disease website

The European Respiratory Society has launched a new multilingual website specifically targeted at patients with chronic bronchitis, emphysema or other “chronic obstructive pulmonary disease” (COPD), group of conditions in which the patient has an expiratory airflow obstruction that causes air to become trapped in the lung and limit the ability to exhale.

5 Sep 2004

Generic tritherapy can be used as a basic treatment for AIDS

A clinical trial, conducted in Cameroon by IRD researchers working with other organizations and supported by the ANRS, has demonstrated that one of the most common combinations currently deployed in Africa, using nevirapine, stavudine and lamivudine, satisfies these criteria.

5 Sep 2004

46% of respondents to online poll desire to work fewer hours for childcare reasons

Forty-six percent of respondents to the latest online poll conducted by LifeCare, Inc. indicated that they like their current job but desire to work fewer hours for childcare reasons, while 22 percent would like to quit work altogether for childcare-related reasons.

5 Sep 2004

More than 100 million doses of influenza vaccine available this year in the United States

Despite an Aug. 26 announcement that some doses of influenza vaccine to the United States have been delayed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the effects of the delay will be minimal - and physicians do not need to order more doses.

5 Sep 2004

CT scans may be delivering as much radiation as a low-dose atomic bomb

Those full-body CT scans advertised at some health care centers may be delivering as much radiation as a low-dose atomic bomb, according to a new study. And that means people who get them could be raising their cancer risk, researchers from Columbia University report in the journal Radiology (Vol. 232, No. 3:735-738).

5 Sep 2004

Nicotine patches and gum less effective for women than men

Research at Texas A&M University reveals that one of the most widely used forms of treatment - nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), or nicotine chewing gum and 'the patch' - may be less effective for women than men.

5 Sep 2004

Conference – Childhood leukaemia: incidence, causal mechanisms and prevention

The advances in treating childhood leukaemia over the last forty years have been one of cancer’s outstanding success stories – but the fall in mortality has diverted attention from a rise in incidence, a London conference will hear today (Monday 6 September).

5 Sep 2004

Research may significant consequences in leading drug researchers to develop new and more effective means to block influenza and other viruses

Combating viruses is often a frustrating business. Find a way to destroy them - and before you know it, they’ve found a way to defend themselves and neutralize the anti-viral treatment.

5 Sep 2004

Air conditioning coil reduces over all sickness by 20%

Air conditioning coil reduces over all sickness by 20%, reduces respiratory symptoms by 40% and has resulted in a 99% reduction of microbial and endotoxin concentrations on irradiated surfaces within the ventilation system.

5 Sep 2004

Yellow glasses save vision

Blue light destroys certain structural elements in the eye, as was revealed by the Russian research team. The mechanism of this effect was studied, and protective measures were offered.

5 Sep 2004