Search Results for: Germany

BY KEITH NUTHALL

INNOVATIVE recommendations are being developed for fruit and vegetable producers by a Euro 13.8 million European Union (EU) research project to increase consumption of their products. The ISAFRUIT scheme wants more Europeans to eat their recommended minimum five portions of fresh fruits and vegetables.…

By Monica Dobie

A European Union (EU)-funded research project called SonoDrugs is developing tiny, image-guided medicine capsules conveying doses through blood vessels to the centre of an infection or disease, after which the drugs are activated by ultrasound pulses. This new technology is initially being developed for cardiovascular disease and cancer by the Euro 15.9 million project, which includes Dutch electronics giant Philips; Nanobiotix, of France; and Lipoid, of Germany; as well as academics from the University of Cyprus, University of Gent (Belgium), University of Helsinki, University of London, University of Tours (France), University Victor Segalen Bordeaux (France), University of Technology Eindhoven (the Netherlands), and the University of Udine (Italy).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN INTERNATIONAL Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has been launched in Bonn, Germany, with the support of 76 countries, including its host nation, Spain, Italy, France and Sweden. Britain and the United States have yet to become signatories. IRENA will promote green energy, providing, said a communiqué: "…practical advice and support for both industrialised and developing countries."…

BY MONICA DOBIE

IT is one of nursing’s unlikelier medical developments, but those often pampered pedigree dogs that make an exhibition of themselves at Crufts may actually be a lynchpin to fighting genetic diseases in humans.

Veterinary clinics from 12 European countries will collect 10,000 DNA samples from a large cohort of dogs either healthy or suffering from a range of 18 defined diseases of relevance to human health such as cancer, heart disease and epilepsy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

SCIENTISTS in Britain, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Slovenia are mapping the genetic code of superbug Clostridium (or C) difficile to develop effective antibiotics or even a vaccine. The bug is often present in hospitals where it is hard to destroy through disinfection and infections are hard to treat.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE RUSSIAN food retail sector could provide a beacon of hope in a tough wider global food market in 2009. Major retailers posted high growth figures for 2008, and though all dipped in the last quarter, solid growth is anticipated this year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EURO 100,000 European food Safety Authority (EFSA) grant has been awarded to a consortium of European Union (EU) science consortia to investigate the impact of the so-called bee ‘colony collapse disorder’ on honey production.

Since 2003, there have been reports of serious losses of bees from beehives in Europe, with the cause being unknown, although possible factors include starvation, viruses, mites, pesticide exposure and climate change.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

IRELAND’S Electricity Supply Board and National Microelectronics Applications Centre Ltd want partners for a Euro 1.39 million research project developing power grid fault monitoring systems. This is being coordinated by Europe’s Eureka research network and potential partners include Britain’s Electricity North West and Germany’s Tyco Electronic.…

BY ERIC LYMAN

THE OIL and gas industry worldwide will closely follow a technical debate to be staged throughout 2009 over whether or not to include carbon capture and storage technologies in the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The issue was tabled at December’s 14th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-14) in Poznan, Poland, and may not be resolved until January 2010.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has clarified European Union (EU) rules saying how unusual new ‘novel’ food products must be screened to make sure they are safe for consumers. Judges have made two important rulings about the EU’s novel food regulation, which insists on particularly tough tests for foods deemed unusual.…