Researchers from the NHS in Cornwall, the Peninsula Medical School, the Agency for Health Technology Assessment in Warsaw and the University of Birmingham have analysed 12 studies relating to cardiac rehabilitation and found no difference in health outcomes for patients who receive cardiac rehabilitation in a clinical setting or at home. The research paper is published in BMJ Online/bmj.com at 00:01am on Wednesday 20th January 2010.
Tech
Deep within the Kairei Indian hydrothermal vent field, two-and-one-half miles below the central Indian Ocean, scientists have discovered a gastropod mollusk, whose armor could improve load-bearing and protective materials in everything from aircraft hulls to sports equipment.
The centuries old game of curling is being put under the scrutiny of 21st century technology in a bid to help Canada's best curlers throw their way to gold at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.
University of Alberta researchers, Pierre Baudin and Rob Krepps, are analyzing the technical aspects of the game to determine the best way to deliver a curling stone. The research goal is to ensure optimum performance from Canada's curlers at the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic games.
Acknowledging that the idea of rationing health care, particularly at the end of life, may incite too much vitriol to get much rational consideration, a Johns Hopkins emeritus professor of neurology called for the start of a discussion anyway, with an opinion piece featured in this month's issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics.
Arnhem, January 2010 – The final step in the multidisciplinary approach of genderreassignment therapy in female-to-male transsexuals consists of the construction of a neophallus to allow the patient to void while standing and to have sexual experience after he is accustomed to his new voiding abilities. The main limiting factor is that there is no good substitute for the unique erectile tissue of the penis. The largest retrospective study by Hoebeke et al. evaluates the outcome in 129 female-to-male transsexuals after implantation of a hydraulic erectile prosthesis.
Irvine, Calif., Jan. 19, 2010 – Dispelling the notion that urban "green" spaces help counteract greenhouse gas emissions, new research has found – in Southern California at least – that total emissions would be lower if lawns did not exist.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In the battle against bacteria, researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a powerful new weapon – an enhanced photocatalytic disinfection process that uses visible light to destroy harmful bacteria and viruses, even in the dark.
Based upon a new catalyst, the disinfection process can be used to purify drinking water, sanitize surgical instruments and remove unwanted fingerprints from delicate electrical and optical components.
Chronically ill older adults who are closely supported by a nurse-physician primary care team are twice as likely to rate their health care as high-quality than those who receive usual care, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
A collaborative research project has brought the world a step closer to producing a new material on which future nanotechnology could be based. Researchers across Europe, including the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL), have demonstrated how an incredible material, graphene, could hold the key to the future of high-speed electronics, such as micro-chips and touchscreen technology.
New data show cardiac respiratory stress test can quickly detect significant coronary artery disease
Atlanta, GA. January 19, 2010 – Testing a patient's cardiac respiratory stress response (RSR) can quickly and accurately detect the presence of significant coronary artery disease (S-CAD), according to new research published in the current issue of Cardiovascular Revascularization Medicine. The results found patients with S-CAD had a significantly lower RSR compared to patients without (6.7% vs. 17.4%, respectively) suggesting RSR is a strong indicator for the disease.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF in Freiburg is developing improved chemical sensors that are not prohibitively expensive. One particularly important area of application involves the regular measurement of ozone content in air and other media. This gas is a powerful oxidizing agent and can cause a wide range of symptoms in humans, including lacrimation, irritation of the mucous membranes in the mouth, throat, and bronchial tubes, headaches, coughing and even deterioration in lung function.
8 out of 10 people in charge of caring for a relative suffer from anxiety and stress, regardless of their socio-demographic variables. Families, and particularly daughters, assume the "informal care" of dependent elderly people in most of the cases. This follows an investigation carried out by Ruth M ª Calero Pérez and directed by professor José Mª Roa Venegas at the Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology at the University of Granada.
Reliable measurements of the air-sea flux of carbon dioxide – an important greenhouse gas – are needed for a better understanding of the impact of ocean-atmosphere interactions on climate. A new method developed by researchers at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) working in collaboration with colleagues at the Bjerknes Center for Climate Research (Bergen, Norway) promises to make this task considerably easier.