Scientists are developing a new antimalarial drug with a novel mechanism of action which shows promise for clearing a Plasmodium (malaria parasite) infection after a single dose, according to an article published in the journal Science. Scientists say the antimalarial candidate, called spiroindolone NITD609 has a novel compound and will most likely be the next generation for drug resistant malaria. The authors write that spiroindolone NITD609 is effective against both Plasmodium (P.) falciparum and P. vivax - two malaria parasite strains…

Mr John Moloney T.D., Minister for Disability and Mental Health noted the publication of the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP) Annual Report for 2009. The Report details the initiatives by the NOSP, HSE staff and many community and voluntary groups around the country who are working in the area of suicide prevention and are bringing forward ideas and initiatives to tackle this very serious problem. The Annual Report also contains the latest data on suicide from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and data on self harm from the National Suicide Research Foundation…

Farmers across the East Midlands are being reminded to wear safety straps when driving their tractors, especially during the busy harvest period. Not wearing a lap strap or seat restraint puts farmers at greater risk of being thrown from the cab and crushed between the tractor and the ground. They are also putting themselves at risk of serious injury from being thrown around inside the cab. Over the past ten years almost one in four (24 per cent) fatal accidents in agriculture have involved workplace transport, some of these involving tractors overturning…

Installers, designers, maintenance firms and manufacturers of electric gates, are being urged to seriously consider new safety advice issued by the Health and Safety Executive today, following the recent deaths of two children involving these gates. The safety alert points out that limiting the closing forces of gates alone will not provide sufficient protection to meet the relevant standards, and installers must fit additional safeguards to gates in public areas…

A new study, to be presented at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s annual conference 5-6 September 2010, shows that treating minor ailments such as coughs, colds and indigestion in community pharmacies rather than GP surgeries is a very cost effective use of NHS resources. Around 57 million GP consultations take place every year for minor ailments at an estimated cost of £2 million1…

A new study suggests that patients can play an important part in reducing medicines wastage by ensuring unused medicines are removed from their repeat prescriptions. Unwanted medicines returned to community pharmacies by patients are estimated to cost the NHS at least £100 million a year. The study, to be presented at the Royal Pharmaceutical annual conference on 5-6 September, examined the number of medicine packs returned after public education campaigns in Guernsey and Alderney…

New models, reinforced by in vivo experimentation, show why 5-10% of bone fractures don’t heal properly, and how these cases may be treated to restart the healing process. Results of the model, published September 2 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology, may benefit the ageing population in which the occurrence of bone fractures is expected to rise substantially in the near future. In 5 to 10% of bone fracture cases, the healing process does not succeed in repairing the bone, which leads to the formation of delayed unions or even non-unions - fractures that fail to heal…

New research based on a study at Bradford Teaching Hospitals, shows that hospital inpatients are, on average, likely to miss out on almost 10% of their medication doses. The study, will be presented at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s annual conference 5-6th September. Overall, 9.7% of prescribed medicines were omitted. However, this could be explained by a variety of reasons, including ‘nil by mouth’ policies after surgery, specific advice from a health professional to withhold doses and very often, patients themselves refusing to take medication…

Under a recently signed agreement, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and the Ukraine’s International Radioecology Laboratory (IRL) will collaborate on radiation ecology research, including projects in the region impacted by the catastrophic accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant 24 years ago. Researchers at IRL use the area around Chernobyl as an extensive laboratory for studying the effects of radioactive contamination and methods of decontamination…

Award presentation at the 23rd Congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology in Amsterdam, The Netherlands The European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) is pleased to announce Moussa B. H. Youdim as the recipient of the 2010 ECNP Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his innovative and lasting contribution to the area of neurodegenerative diseases and neuropsychiatric drug development. The ECNP Lifetime Achievement Award is presented biennially and recognises significant and lasting impact on the field of neuropsychopharmacology…