Tech

Men who buy fake internet drugs for erection problems can face significant risks from potentially hazardous contents and bypassing healthcare systems could leave associated problems like diabetes and high blood pressure undiagnosed. That's the warning just published online by IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.

Medical and pharmaceutical experts from the UK, Sweden and USA carried out a detailed review of the growing problem of counterfeit drugs. Estimates suggest that up to 90 per cent of these illegal preparations are now sold on the internet.

A team of chemists from the University of Valencia (UV) has confirmed that the substance used to hermetically seal an amphora found among remains at Lixus, in Morocco, was pine resin. The scientists also studied the metallic fragments inside the 2,000-year-old vessel, which could be fragments of material used for iron-working.

Current evidence suggests that using Doppler ultrasound in high-risk pregnancies to monitor a fetus' health may reduce caesarean sections and the number of babies who die, according to a new Cochrane Systematic Review.

Intensive home-based nursing in HIV/AIDS patients significantly improves self-reported knowledge of HIV, awareness of medications, and self-reported adherence to medication programmes, according to a new Cochrane Systematic Review. One home-based care trial included in the review also significantly impacted on HIV stigma, worry, and physical functioning. It did not, however, help improve depressive symptoms, mood, general health, and overall functioning.

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.

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.