Europe
At present, only two drugs are currently approved for use in the United States for the treatment of alcohol dependence: the opiate antagonist naltrexone and the alcohol-aversive agent disulfiram. A third medication called acamprosate, used in Europe and elsewhere to prevent relapse in alcoholics, is currently under review for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. A new ''proof-of-concept clinical trial'' examines a potential fourth medication -- topiramate -- which can act contemporaneously on more than one neuromodulator of dopamine function. Results indicate that topiramate can reduce consumption and craving in alcohol-dependent patients who are not yet abstinent.
Heat waves in Chicago, Paris, and elsewhere in North America and Europe will become more intense, more frequent and longer lasting in the 21st century, according to a new modeling study by two scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo. In the United States, heat waves will become most severe in the West and South. The findings appear in the August 13 issue of the journal Science.
Europeans who enjoy the Mediterranean's warm climate should thank Antarctica for their good fortune. Climate modelling by Australian scientists reveals that Antarctica's icy sea currents allow the balmy Gulf Stream to dictate warm weather conditions over much of the North Atlantic.
Women may be able to lower their risk of endometriosis by eating more fresh fruit and green vegetables. But, eating red meat and ham appears to increase their risk, according to a study published in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction.
Fertility tourists could be heading for eastern European countries in the wake of EU enlargement as data revealed today show that parts of the East match the West in terms of the availability and efficacy of assisted reproduction techniques, but cost less.
A mysterious 17th century solar funk that some have linked to Europe's Little Ice Age and to global climate change, becomes even more of an enigma as a result of new observations by University of California, Berkeley, astronomers. For 70 years, from 1645 until 1714, early astronomers reported almost no sunspot activity. The number of sunspots - cooler areas on the sun that appear dark against the brighter surroundings - dropped a thousandfold, according to some estimates. Though activity on the sun ebbs and flows today in an 11-year cycle, it has not been that quiet since.
New studies show that figs and figs extracts may be effective at inhibiting the survival and growth of harmful microbes in food. For years, trees throughout Europe and the Mediterranean have been cultivated and fig extracts have been used to fight various ailments such as constipation, bronchitis, mouth disorders and wounds. Externally, they are found in the latex used in ridding patients of warts.
In a major study conducted at
20 centers in the United States and Europe, a bioartificial liver reduced mortality
significantly among patients suffering from acute liver failure, the
dramatic loss of liver function that can cause death in days or even hours.
This is the first large-scale, prospective, randomized, multi-center trial
examining the effectiveness of any artificial liver support. Currently,
standard treatment consists of intensive, supportive care intended to keep
patients alive long enough that the liver might recover spontaneously or a
donor organ will become available for transplantation.
During the coming evenings, everybody under clear skies will be able to enjoy a beautiful view in the twilight. Right after sunset, planet Venus is visible as a brilliant point of light above the western horizon - and two other planets, Mars and Saturn, are seen to the left of Venus as somewhat less bright objects. More to the south and higher in the sky, planet Jupiter is also prominent.
In the evenings of April 22 and 23, the thin crescent of the Moon will be located near Venus and Mars, further adding to the splendor of this sight (the drawing shows the configuration in the evening of Friday, April 23).
UK plans for Grid computing changed gear this week. The pioneering European DataGrid (EDG) project came to a successful conclusion at the end of March, and on 1 April a new project, known as Enabling Grids for E-Science in Europe (EGEE), begins. The UK is a major player in both projects, providing key staff and developing crucial areas of the technology. While EDG tested the concept of large-scale Grid computing, EGEE aims to create a permanent, reliable Grid infrastructure across Europe.
Researchers studying the environmental consequences of acid rain have reached an important milestone, adding evidence for a theory that has been the focus of much scientific debate. Publishing in the December, 2003 issue of the Soil Science Society of America Journal, a team at the University of Maine reported that a modest addition of acid in a paired watershed experiment resulted in a decrease of crucial nutrients in forest soils.
A new study shows, for the first time, that the deep-ocean circulation system of the north Atlantic, which controls ice-age cycles of cold and warm periods in the Northern Hemisphere, is integrally coupled to salinity levels in the Caribbean Sea. This research reinforces concerns that global warming, by melting the glacial ice of Greenland, could quickly and profoundly change salinity and temperatures in the north Atlantic Ocean. One consequence might be much colder weather in northern Europe and Britain and perhaps even in eastern Canada and the U.S. northeast.
Europe's Rosetta cometary probe has been successfully launched into an orbit around the Sun, which will allow it to reach the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 after three flybys of the Earth and one of Mars. During this 10-year journey, the probe will pass close to at least one asteroid. Rosetta is the first probe ever designed to enter orbit around a comet's nucleus and release a lander onto its surface. For over a year it will conduct a thorough study of this remnant of the primitive nebula which gave birth to our Solar System about 5 billion years ago.
Around 7pm CET on 28 January 2004, the European Space Agency's Envisat spacecraft completed its ten thousandth orbit of the Earth ? travelling a distance of 450 million kilometres since launch, equivalent to taking a trip to Mars. Envisat orbits our planet every hundred minutes, moving at a velocity of more than seven kilometres per second. This lorry-sized spacecraft is the most complex environmental satellite ever launched, with ten different instruments mounted on its hull to study Earth's land, oceans and atmosphere. These instruments were developed and built by scientists and industrial teams from all across Europe.
How did early humans who migrated from Africa survive in the colder climates of Europe, Asia and the New World? According to a new study, it may be the same reason some people today are more prone to obesity, Alzheimer's disease and the effects of aging. A research team in California reports that key mutations in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of human cells may have helped our migrating ancestors adapt to more northerly climates, and ultimately link people with this ancestral history to specific diseases.
