EurekAlert! - Policy and Ethics

Report calls for new initiative to improve math education for preschoolers

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(National Academy of Sciences) To ensure that all children enter elementary school with the foundation they need for success, a major national initiative is needed to improve early childhood mathematics education, says a new report from the National Research Council.

Bioethicists lead call for public debates on future uses of stem cells

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions) More than 40 scientists, bioethicists, lawyers and science journal editors are calling on their colleagues, policy makers and the public to begin developing guidelines for the research and reproductive use of stem cell-derived eggs and sperm, even though such use may be a decade or more away.

Stanford bioethicist and colleagues call for federal regulation of genetic ancestry testing

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Stanford University Medical Center) The lack of federal regulation in instances of DNA use will be addressed in the Policy Forum section in the July 3 issue of Science by Sandra Soo-Jin Lee, Ph.D., of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, and colleagues from four other universities. The need for a clear set of rules governing genetic ancestry testing is becoming more urgent, Lee said, given the proliferation of private corporations that promise consumers insight into their genetic origins.

IOM comparative effectiveness research priorities report

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(National Academy of Sciences) A new report from the Institute of Medicine recommends 100 health topics that should get priority attention and funding from a new national research effort to identify which health-care services work best.

Zooming in to catch the bad guys

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(American Friends of Tel Aviv University) A new "perfection tool" from Tel Aviv University researchers enhances video to catch criminals and terrorists.

Anti-biotech groups obstruct forest biotechnology

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Oregon State University) The potential of forest biotechnology to help address significant social and environmental issues is being "strangled at birth" by the rigid opposition of some groups and regulations that effectively preclude even the testing of genetically modified trees, scientists argue in a new report.

Improving math education in early childhood

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(National Academy of Sciences) Though many consider teaching math to young children to be unnecessary or inappropriate at this stage in their educational development, research shows that as early as infancy, children start to think about the world in mathematical ways

Recent news reports of sweetener reformulations raise questions about motivations

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Weber Shandwick Worldwide) The misleading "health" halo surrounding highly-publicized marketing campaigns regarding sweetener reformulations is starting to dim. Recent announcements by Starbucks and other brands that they will remove high fructose corn syrup from certain products are being called into question in news articles by several experts and respected journalists. Recent Washington Post and Chicago Tribune articles have poked holes in companies' marketing efforts, and put forth scientifically substantiated facts about sweeteners commonly used in foods.

Police work undermines cardiovascular health, comparison to general population shows

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University at Buffalo) It is well documented that police officers have a higher risk of developing heart disease: The question is why. In the most recent results coming out of one of the few long-term studies being conducted within this tightly knit society, University at Buffalo researchers have determined that underlying the higher incidence of subclinical atherosclerosis -- arterial thickening that precedes a heart attack or stroke -- may be the stress of police work.

The European Association for the Study of the Liver renews publishing partnership with Elsevier

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Elsevier) Elsevier, the leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information, is pleased to announce its renewed publishing partnership with the European Association for the Study of the Liver, the leading European association in the field of liver research. The agreement calls for Elsevier to publish the society's flagship journal, the Journal of Hepatology, for the next five years.

Bad medicine

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Group Health Cooperative Center for Health Studies) Are individuals, families, communities and employers getting their money's worth from US health care? That's the big question in the news today, pushed further into the spotlight by the Obama administration. Charles M. Kilo, M.D., M.P.H, CEO of GreenField Health in Portland, Oregon, and co-author Eric B. Larson, M.D., M.P.H., of Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, Washington, explore this important question in their commentary "Exploring the Harmful Effects of Health Care" in the July 1 JAMA.

HealthGrades study: Top hospitals for women's health/maternity care have lower mortality/morbidity

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(HealthGrades) Wide gaps in quality outcomes for women persist, not only when compared to men, but among hospitals and states, according to a new study released today by HealthGrades, the leading independent health-care ratings organization.

Tunnel vision

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(US Department of Homeland Security - Science and Technology) They're digging tunnels along the US border at a fast and furious pace, but not a single one of them has ever been discovered by US border patrol agents using technology. That's going to change.

Water webs: Connecting spiders, residents in the Southwest

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Arizona State University) If you are a cricket and it is a dry season on the San Pedro River in Arizona, on your nighttime ramblings to eat leaves, you are more likely to be ambushed by thirsty wolf spiders. A potential horror story for any cricket. However, it is also a tale of water limitation that looks beyond how most ecosystem studies are considered.

Stanford researchers publish comprehensive model for medical device development

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(InHealth: The Institute for Health Technology Studies) In an effort to increase understanding of the medical device development process and help companies execute the bench-to-bedside process of product development more effectively, researchers at Stanford University have published the first comprehensive model representing the medical device development process.

Assembling the virtual human

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(University of Nottingham) It could mean the end of animal testing and eventually even clinical patient drug trials. The Virtual Physiological Human is a 21st century pan-European project that's gaining momentum and takes a major step forward this week at the University of Nottingham.

Penn State researchers receive $1.2 million MURI grant

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Penn State) The Center for Network-Centric Cognition and Information Fusion in Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology received a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Award for "Unified research on network-based hard/soft information fusion" from the US Army Research Office.

Ovarian transplantation: First baby is born after a new technique

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology) On June 22, a baby girl was born to a mother who had been menopausal for two years as a result of treatment for sickle cell anemia, after a new, two-step method of ovarian transplant that worked to restore ovarian function quickly. It is the first birth after ovarian autotransplantation in France and the first in the world after treatment for sickle cell anemia.

Water should be a human right

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Public Library of Science) In this month's PLoS Medicine editorial, the editors argue that -- despite recent international objections -- access to clean water should be recognized as a human right. At the March 2009 United Nations meetings, coinciding with the World Water Forum, Canada, Russia and the United States refused to support a declaration that would recognize water as a basic human right. But this flies in the face of considerable evidence that access to water, which is essential for health, is under threat, argue the editors.

GP bodies support guidelines for use of patient records in medical research

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Wellcome Trust) The two leading bodies representing GPs in the UK have backed a call by the Wellcome Trust for clearer guidance for GPs to ensure medical records can be safely used in research.

Race origins and health disparites

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science) To understand health disparities, researchers need to understand how today's racial categories evolved from the negative assumptions made hundreds of years ago to justify slavery.

A new plan for Panama's Coiba National Park and World Heritage site

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) New management plan for Panama's Coiba National Park will ensure that endemic wildlife and Pacific marine corridor will be conserved.

DOD, VA should take stronger steps to combat tobacco use in military, veteran populations

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(National Academy of Sciences) Because tobacco use impairs military readiness, harms the health of soldiers and veterans, and imposes a substantial financial burden on the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, these agencies should implement a comprehensive strategy to achieve the Defense Department's stated goal of a tobacco-free military, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.

Sightseeing helicopter crashes in Hawaii decrease following FAA regulations

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health) An emergency rule intended to reduce the number of deaths and injuries associated with Hawaiian air tours was followed by a 47 percent reduction in sightseeing crashes, according to a new study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. However, the proportion of crashes that resulted in lives lost actually increased after the rule change due to an increase in crashes that resulted from poor visibility.

Taxpayer Alliance applauds bill to broaden access to federal research results

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EDT

(SPARC) Sens. Joseph Lieberman and John Cornyn today introduced the Federal Research Public Access Act, a bill to ensure free, timely, online access to the published results of research funded by 11 US federal agencies. The proposed bill is welcomed by the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, a coalition of research institutions, consumers, patients and others formed to support open public access to publicly funded research.