Technology improves treatment options for drug users

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Melbourne, Australia, — 19 January 2009 — Australia's leading scientific journal in the substance use area, the Drug and Alcohol Review – published by Wiley-Blackwell, has released a special issue on the use of new technologies in the treatment of drug problems. The issue highlights the use of mobile phones, Internet and computers to treat drug use problems.

South African policy on adolescents' rights to access condoms is causing confusion

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In 2007, South Africa's new Children's Act came into effect, granting children 12 years and older a host of rights relating to reproductive health, including the right to access condoms. But current policies allow individual schools to decide whether or not to give out condoms—policies that two researchers, writing in this week's PLoS Medicine, say could damage the health of the country's youth.

Stop traffic crashes: Switch on the lights

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Street lighting provides a simple, low cost means of stemming the global epidemic of road traffic death and injury. Low income countries should consider installing more lights, and high income countries should think carefully before turning any off to reduce carbon emissions, is the advice from a new Cochrane Review.

Predicting politics: Professors model prediction markets

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Political prediction markets -- in which participants buy and sell "contracts" based on who they think will win an election -- accurately predicted Barack Obama's 2008 victory. Now Northwestern University researchers have determined that these markets behave similar to financial markets, except when traders' partisan feelings get in the way.

That was the case in the 2000 presidential election, where the researchers found that partisan feeling was so strong that it influenced trading.

Obama and the opportunity to eliminate nuclear weapons

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The abolition of nuclear devices is the ultimate medical issue and U.S. President Barack Obama needs the help of physicians around the world to do this, writes renowned author Dr. Helen Caldicott in a January 20 editorial in CMAJ http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg151.pdf.

Universal infant hepatitis B immunization recommended

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All countries should offer universal infant immunization for hepatitis B, write Dr. Christopher Mackie from McMaster University and coauthors in a public health analysis in CMAJ http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg196.pdf.

Epidemiological studies suggest that roughly one-third of chronic hepatitis B infections are acquired during infancy and early childhood.

Survey: Scientists agree human-induced global warming is real

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While the harsh winter pounding many areas of North America and Europe seemingly contradicts the fact that global warming continues unabated, a new survey finds consensus among scientists about the reality of climate change and its likely cause.

A group of 3,146 earth scientists surveyed around the world overwhelmingly agree that in the past 200-plus years, mean global temperatures have been rising, and that human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures.

Researchers: Molecular forklifts overcome obstacle to 'smart dust'

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Algae is a livid green giveaway of nutrient pollution in a lake. Scientists would love to reproduce that action in tiny particles that would turn different colors if exposed to biological weapons, food spoilage or signs of poor health in the blood.

Now, University of Florida engineering researchers have tapped the working parts of cells to clear a major hurdle to creating such "smart dust." The feat, which signifies a new approach to technology known as the "lab on a chip," is to be reported Sunday in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Seasonal variation in blood pressure

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A French study reported in the 12th January issue of Archives of Internal Medicine has found a strong correlation between blood pressure and outdoor temperature in a large sample of the elderly.(1) As a result, the investigators advise that, during periods of extreme temperatures, careful monitoring of blood pressure and antihypertensive treatment "could contribute to reducing the consequences of blood pressure variations in the elderly".

Why you can't hurry love

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Scientists have developed a mathematical model of the mating game to help explain why courtship is often protracted. The study, by researchers at UCL (University College London), University of Warwick and LSE (London School of Economics and Political Science), shows that extended courtship enables a male to signal his suitability to a female and enables the female to screen out the male if he is unsuitable as a mate.