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HIV
trials offer hope
March
31, 2006
Thousands
of women in South Africa and elsewhere have volunteered for the world's largest
clinical trials to test the efficacy of a range of anti HIV products that, if
successful, could prevent as much as 2.5 million new infections in the
developing world, over the next five years.
Source:
News24.com
Soil
Health Crisis Threatens Africa's Food Supply
March
31, 2006
Population
pressures combined with limited access to fertilizers threaten the future of
farming in Africa, a new study warns. The report highlights the continent’s
“soil health crisis”, revealing that three-quarters of its farmlands are
severely degraded. The politicians and researchers behind the report stress that
urgent changes are necessary to improve food security in the continent,
particularly in sub-Saharan countries.
Source:
New Scientist.com
Smart
brains 'grow differently'
April
1, 2006
Clever
people outsmart their peers not because they have more grey matter but because
part of their brain develops differently, a Nature study suggests. The US
National Institute of Mental Health used scans to study development of the
cortex, which is responsible for thinking, in 307 children.
Source:
BBC News
Netflix
hopes customers will fall for 'Cowboy'
April
2, 2006
Online
DVD renter Netflix hopes its subscribers will fall in love this week with
"Cowboy del Amor," and many other unsung movies it is quietly buying
at film festivals to release in art house theaters.
Source:
Cnet news.com
Intellectual
Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health
April
3, 2006
The
independent Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public
Health today presents its report to WHO. The report sets out more than 50
recommendations for countries to consider to ensure that poor people in
developing countries have access to essential medical technologies —
especially products to diagnose, prevent and treat the diseases which affect
them most.
Source:
World Health Organization
Lab-grown
Bladders 'a Milestone'
April
3, 2006
The
researchers, from North Carolina's Wake Forest University, have carried out
seven transplants, and in some the organ is working well years later. The
achievement, details of which have been published online by The Lancet, is being
described as a "milestone". The team is now working to grow organs
including hearts using the technique.
Source:
BBC News
Childhood
TV and Gaming is 'Major Public Health Issue'
April
4, 2006
Childhood
exposure to TV and video games should be viewed as a major public health issue
and, like cigarettes, these media should come with a health warning. Research
shows that exposure can increase obesity, tobacco and alcohol use, risky sexual
behaviors, violence and social isolation.
Source:
New Scientist.com
Bush
Administration Wants to Bury More Nuclear Waste at Nevada Dump
April
5, 2006
The
Bush administration wants to bury tens of thousands of tons more nuclear waste
at a dump planned for the Nevada desert, part of a package of new proposals
meant to spur development of the contentious and long-delayed dump.
Source:
Environmental News Network
Egypt
Human Bird Flu Infection Toll Rises to 11
April
6, 2006
Egypt
has found two more people infected with the bird flu virus, bringing the number
of human cases in the country to 11. The deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu
virus has so far killed two Egyptians.
Source:
Reuters News Agency
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