Drilling for oil is expensive – and only too often unsuccessful: in 80 to 90 per cent of all attempts the drill head ends up in worthless sediment rather than hitting the black jackpot as intended. In this way, with every unsuccessful drilling, companies squander several million euros. Yet there is an alternative: the use of tiny fossilised single-celled organisms can reveal to the expert where prospecting for oil is worth while, a dying art at which only a few specialists worldwide still remain prof

LGC, the UK`s leading independent provider of genetic testing services, has issued its first testing licence for the key DNA variant in the drug metabolising gene CYP2D6 to Orchid BioSciences Inc. LGC holds the exclusive commercialisation rights to the patented diagnosis of this `poor metaboliser` gene variation and, in granting this first licence, will make access to this beneficial technology available to leading companies internationally for the first time.

The gene CYP2D6 controls an enz

This is the first community study which specifically addresses the relationship between childhood abuse and vulnerability to illness with reliable methods. It derives from the collaboration of New Zealand (University of Dunnedin) and Italian (University of Modena) investigators coordinated by Professor Sarah Romans.

There have been many studies documenting adverse psychiatric consequences for people who have experienced childhood and adult sexual and physical abuse. These include posttraum

’Cell-free zones’ recommended

Preliminary results of a University of Rhode Island analysis of the eye-movements of automobile drivers using cell phones found that the drivers have a reduced field of view – tunnel vision. Further studies may have significant implications on the use of cell phones in automobiles.

URI industrial engineering Professor Manbir Sodhi and psychology Professor Jerry Cohen used a head-mounted, eye-tracking device on volunteer drivers and con

The Standard Days Method (TM), a new natural method of family planning, is more than 95% effective at preventing pregnancy, according to an international study conducted by Georgetown University Medical Center’s Institute for Reproductive Health. Results of the study are published in the current issue of Contraception, the journal of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals.

Based on sophisticated computer modeling of reproductive physiology data, the Standard Days Method ident

Probiotics (microbes that protect their host and can prevent disease) can prevent diarrhoea associated with the use of antibiotics, finds a study in this week’s BMJ.

Researchers at the Hammersmith Hospital in London reviewed nine trials carried out to study the benefits of probiotics in the prevention of antibiotic associated diarrhoea. In all nine trials, the probiotics were given in combination with antibiotics and the control groups received placebo and antibiotics.

They found t