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Intelligence and security: Role of intelligence within machinery of government

Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington, DC (January 18, 2010) — Coinciding with the centenary celebrations of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, aka MI6) and the Security Service (MI5), a special issue of Public Policy and Administration published this week by SAGE explores the relationship between intelligence, security, and government and public administration.

Treating panic disorder on the web

An online treatment system for patients suffering with panic disorder and anxiety problems combine biofeedback therapy with web technologies and allows patients and medical professionals to communicate effectively, according to research published in the International Journal of Business Intelligence and Data Mining.

Vincent Tseng and Bai-En Shie of the National Cheng Kung University are working with psychiatrist Fong-Lin Jang of the Chi-Mei Medical Center, in Tainan, Taiwan, to develop a system they say will have a "pivotal impact" on the healthcare industry.

Call for AIDS denialists to be held accountable

Despite irrefutable proof that HIV treatments have proven benefits, AIDS denialists continue to deny their value. In a paper just published online in Springer's journal AIDS and Behavior, Professor Myron Essex and Dr. Pride Chigwedere, from the Harvard School of Public Health AIDS Initiative in the US, provide additional proof that withholding HIV treatments with proven benefits led to the death of 330,000 people in South Africa as the result of AIDS denialist policies.

Should obese, smoking and alcohol-consuming women receive assisted reproduction treatment?

The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) has published a position statement on the impact of the life style factors obesity, smoking and alcohol consumption on natural and medically assisted reproduction.

Characteristics of young age gastric cancer patients

Two percent to fifteen percent of patients with gastric cancer (GC) are younger than 45 years of age and there has been an increase in the relative proportion of young age GC compared with older age GC, especially in young females. The question of whether young age GC is different from that of older patients has been raised but remains unresolved.

Predictors of ulcerative colitis severity

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic disease involving the large intestine which causes inflammation along with local and systemic symptoms. It affects individuals worldwide, with a higher prevalence in Canada. The course of this disease has long been unpredictable, with remission possible in some patients and frequent recurrence in others. Previous studies have followed populations with this condition to determine its natural history, but few have looked at predictors of disease severity.

In vitro pregnancy rates improve with new device that mimics motions in the body

The University of MichiganNews Service412 MaynardAnn Arbor, MI 48109-1399

Jan. 18, 2009Contact: Nicole Casal Moore, (734) 647-1838 or (734) 647-7087, ncmoore@umich.edu

EDITORS: Watch and link to a video about this research at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnNS_yUFTDg

Images are available at: http://umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2010/Jan10/oviduct

Breakthrough breast cancer therapy reduces mastectomies, saves breast

OKLAHOMA CITY – A new treatment developed and tested by University of Oklahoma researchers not only killed large breast cancer tumors, but reduced the need for mastectomies by almost 90 percent. The latest results appear in an upcoming issue of the Annals of Surgical Oncology.

Building on this success, researchers at the OU Health Sciences Center, plan to start the next phase of clinical trials this year to test the therapy on even larger tumors.

Study suggests theory for insect colonies as 'superorganisms'

New A team of researchers including scientists from the University of Florida has shown insect colonies follow some of the same biological "rules" as individuals, a finding that suggests insect societies operate like a single "superorganism" in terms of their physiology and life cycle.

For more than a century, biologists have marveled at the highly cooperative nature of ants, bees and other social insects that work together to determine the survival and growth of a colony.

Use of mail-order pharmacies use could improve patients' medication adherence

Buying medicine by mail may encourage patients to stick to their doctor-prescribed medication regimen, new research suggests.

In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers from UCLA and Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., found that patients with diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol who ordered their medications by mail were more likely to take them as prescribed by their physicians than patients who obtained medications from a local pharmacy.

Zebrafish behavior monitoring system could boost drug discovery: UBC-Harvard research

Researchers from the University of British Columbia and Harvard University have co-developed a system that captures on video and barcodes the behavioral responses of zebrafish to chemical compounds on a large scale. The approach could dramatically speed up the discovery of new psychiatric drugs.

The discovery in the 1950s of drugs that act in the nervous system has been important both for the understanding of neurobiology and the treatment of neurological diseases. Since then, very few new drugs have been developed.

Promising candidates for malaria vaccine revealed

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers have uncovered a group of proteins that could form the basis of an effective vaccine against malaria.

Presently there is no malaria vaccine available, and these new findings support the development of a vaccine against the blood-stage of malaria.

Childhood harms can lead to lung cancer

Adverse events in childhood have been linked to an increase in the likelihood of developing lung cancer in later life. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Public Health describe how the link is partly explained by raised rates of cigarette smoking in victims of childhood trauma, but note that other factors may also be to blame.

Drowsiness, staring and other mental lapses may signal Alzheimer's disease

ST. PAUL, Minn. –Older people who have "mental lapses," or times when their thinking seems disorganized or illogical or when they stare into space, may be more likely to have Alzheimer's disease than people who do not have these lapses, according to a study published in the January 19, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Model estimates risks and benefits of bariatric surgery for severely obese

A computerized model suggests that most morbidly obese individuals would likely live longer if they had gastric bypass surgery, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. However, the best decision for individual patients varies based on factors such as age, increasing body mass index and the effectiveness of surgery.