EurekAlert! - Policy and Ethics

New guidelines for diagnosing, managing and treating Clostridium difficile

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America) A joint panel of experts from the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology and the Infectious Diseases Society of America today released online new clinical practice guidelines for Clostridium difficile infection in adults. The guidelines, to be published in the May issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, update recommendations regarding the epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and infection control and environmental management of this disease.

Sustainable energy: a challenge nearly as great as global warming

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) The Latin American Convention of the Global Sustainable Bioenergy Project which will be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 23-25. This is the third of a series of five conventions aiming to provide guidance on the feasibility of sustainable bioenergy production on a large scale as well as implementation paths and policies that foster this outcome.

ESA and Thales Alenia Space enter negotiations for MTG

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(European Space Agency) The tendering process that will result in the supply of Europe's next series of meteorological satellites, Meteosat Third Generation, has reached an advanced stage as ESA invites Thales Alenia Space to enter formal contract negotiations.

Report: Actions to protect fish in California Bay-Delta 'scientifically justified'

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(National Academy of Sciences) Most of the actions proposed by two federal agencies to reduce water diversions in the California Bay-Delta in order to protect endangered and threatened fish species are "scientifically justified," but the basis for the specific environmental triggers that would indicate when water diversions should be reduced is less well-supported by scientific analyses, says a new report from the National Research Council that was requested by Congress and the US Department of the Interior.

Perils of plastics: Risks to human health and the environment

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(Arizona State University) Rolf Halden, associate professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University and assistant director of Environmental Biotechnology at the Biodesign Institute has undertaken a survey of existing scientific literature concerning the hazards of plastics to human health and to the ecosystems we depend on. His findings, which appear in latest issue of the Annual Review of Public Health, are sobering.

Success against malaria bolsters case for further investment, new report shows

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(World Vision) A paper linking funding increases in the global fight against malaria to a drop in deaths from the disease also shows resources still fall short of those needed for maximum impact against the world's fourth-biggest killer of children, according to a global health policy analyst at international aid agency World Vision. With World Malaria Day just weeks away, World Vision urges donor governments increase funding and the US meets the commitments signed into law under its Global AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria bill.

ACP urges Congress to vote 'yes' on comprehensive health reform legislation

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(American College of Physicians) The American College of Physicians, representing 129,000 internal medicine physician and medical student members, said today that Congress should cast the final votes needed to get comprehensive health care reform enacted into law. Without reform, ACP said, tens of millions of Americans stand to lose access to affordable health care and out-of-control spending will trigger an unprecedented fiscal and budgetary crisis.

March Of Dimes honored with Research!America advocacy award

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(March of Dimes Foundation) The March of Dimes received Research!America's 2010 Advocacy Award for its decades of advocacy for maternal and child health. It was honored for its work to create the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, initiate the PREEMIE and Newborn Screening Saves Lives acts. With its partners, it campaigned to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program. It also supports the National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

GenWay Biotech extends the You Test You program overseas

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(GenWay Biotech) GenWay's You Test You Cancer Assessment program will soon be offered in numerous countries worldwide. The first agreement has been executed for Greece and other European agreements are underway.

Research reveals frequency and cost of copying college homework

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Kansas) Young-Jin Lee, assistant professor of educational technology at KU, and colleagues from MIT spent four years seeing how many copied answers MIT students submitted to an online homework tutoring system.

Global database needed to guarantee identification of victims in mass disasters

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Granada) An expert in forensic anthropology argues that the database should include computer records of citizens such as anthropological data, physiognomic characteristics, medical information, radiographic files, dental records and numbers of different identity documents. Tzipi Kahana believes that radiographic techniques, together with information from this database, are a reliable mechanism for identifying bodies after natural disasters or attacks.

ESHRE Annual Meeting, June 27-30 in Rome

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology) ESHRE's Annual Meeting is the forum where more than 8,000 of the world’s leading experts in reproductive medicine gather to give the first public presentation of their latest research findings. Issues that present policy-makers and ethicists with some of the most challenging problems and difficult decisions currently facing society, will be discussed.

Study probes evolution of fairness and punishment

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(University of California - Davis) A new study co-authored by University of California, Davis, anthropologist Richard McElreath and published in Science magazine suggests that the cooperative nature of each society is at least partly dependent upon historical forces -- such as religious beliefs and the growth of market transactions.

DOE Joint Genome Institute 5th Annual Meeting on March 24-26, 2010

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(DOE/Joint Genome Institute) Researchers from all over the world will be at the Marriott in Walnut Creek for the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute 5th Annual Genomics of Energy and Environment Meeting, which will feature genomics research in the fields of clean energy generation and the environment.

Carnegie Mellon's Granger Morgan to testify Geoengineeringing issues before Congressional Science Committee

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(Carnegie Mellon University) In testimony to the US House Science Committee, Carnegie Mellon's M. Granger Morgan will discuss urgent need to begin research on solar radiation management.

New analysis points to ivory enforcement failures in parts of Africa, Asia

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(World Wildlife Fund) Urgent law enforcement action by governments in Central and West Africa and Southeast Asia is crucial to addressing the illicit ivory trade, according to a new analysis of elephant trade data released today.Detailed regional summaries of the data held in the Elephant Trade Information System, the world's largest database on ivory seizures, highlight the failure of law enforcement in key elephant range states.

USC Information Sciences Institute to be recognized for key role in Internet development

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Southern California) More than 50 pioneers and leaders key to the Internet's ongoing development over the past 40 years will gather Friday, March 19, to recognize the role of the University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute in the Internet's success.

ID physicians call for 10 new antibiotics by 2020

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(Infectious Diseases Society of America) As the deaths and suffering caused by antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections continue to rise around the world, the Infectious Diseases Society of America is urging a global commitment to develop 10 new antibiotics by 2020, known as the 10 x 20 initiative, to address this public health crisis and safeguard patients' health.

New biotech advance to add heart healthy omega-3s to US diet

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(United Soybean Board) A new heart-healthy, essential omega-3 fatty acid is about to improve an American pantry staple: soybean oil. US soybean farmers are applying this scientific advance and other biotechnology to benefit the environment, human health and feed the world.

Scientists urge treaty panel to reject ivory sale by Tanzania, Zambia

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(Princeton University) The fate of many African elephants hinges on a decision to be made this week in Qatar. Countries are meeting as part of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species to decide whether to grant requests to Tanzania and Zambia to lower the protection status of their elephants, allowing them to conduct one-time sales of stockpiled ivory. Such sales, however, according to an international team of 27 scientists and conservationists, could lead to the increased slaughter of elephants.

Porous China-Myanmar border allowing illegal wildlife trade

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(World Wildlife Fund) Porous borders are allowing vendors in Myanmar to offer a door-to-door delivery service for illegal wildlife products such as tiger bone wine to buyers in China, according to TRAFFIC's latest snapshot into wildlife trade in China. The State of Wildlife Trade in China 2008, released this week, is the third in an annual series on emerging trends in China's wildlife trade.

STOP Obesity Alliance surveys show doctors, patients share role in weight loss, but ask, now what?

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(Chandler Chicco Agency) Primary care physicians agree they have a role in addressing obesity, but say they do not have the right weight management resources. Obese or heavier adults take responsibility for weight loss, but adults who need to lose weight may lack information about effective weight loss methods and strategies. These findings and others come from new research commissioned and released today by the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance.

'My Brain Made Me Do It'

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(Prometheus Books) As scientists explore how the brain works, it's likely that new findings will alter our understanding of human nature, particularly free will. Do our decisions arise from purely mechanistic processes? Is our feeling of self-control an illusion created by our brains? What will become of free will and moral responsibility? "My Brain Made Me Do It: The Rise of Neuroscience and the Threat to Moral Responsibility," answers these fascinating questions and more.

Keeping up with the neighbors speeds vaccine use

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health) Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health conducted an analysis of worldwide use of Haemophilus influenza Type b vaccine (Hib) to determine what factors influenced a nation's adoption of the vaccine. The study found that a nation's eligibility for support from the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization and whether a country's neighbors used the vaccine were major influencing factors in addition to price of the vaccine.

Panel: Properly designed pay-for-performance models can support medical professionalism

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 EDT

(American College of Physicians) An expert panel convened by the American College of Physicians says that properly designed pay-for-performance (P4P) programs can strengthen the relationship between physicians and patients and increase the likelihood that physicians will deliver the best possible care. The panel's analysis appears in the March 16 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.