Search Results for: Research

BY MONICA DOBIE

AN APPLE a day may keep memory loss at bay, according to a new study from the USA’s University of Massachusetts. Research published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease suggests that consuming apples and apple juice may protect the brain from age-related memory loss such as Alzheimer’s disease and senility.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE FRENCH National Centre for Scientific Research is using a European Union (EU) research project on combining computer power through grids of interlinked hard-drives to find a cure for malaria and dengue fever. Dr Vincent Breton, of the centre’s Corpuscular Physics Laboratory, has used FlexX software developed by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute, to link computers involved in the EU-funded Enabling Grids for E-sciencE project and told them to focus on these diseases.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A RESEARCH project staged by Swedish lorry manufacturer Scania to develop low emission engines could secure a Euro 210 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The motor will be designed to have improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions, which anticipate future increasingly tight European Union (EU) and international emissions legislation, rather than existing or planned laws.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A RESEARCH and development consortium funded by the European Union (EU) is preparing to commercially launch a microwave sensor that can detect faults in moulded polyurethane before it hardens into heels and outer soles. The Microshoe project aimed to reduce the amount of defective parts, which can account for 20% of polyurethane created by shoe manufacturers, increasing costs markedly.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Sydney

RECENT positive advances in the paint and coatings industry symbolise general satisfaction with Malaysia’s business outlook. It might not have the cheapest labour in Asia but the workforce is skilled, productive and highly competitive. Access to infrastructure (especially ports) for exports is also reported to be good.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

DIETERS so stressed about their weight they risk generating a substance that promotes fat production can reduce anxiety by eating more sweets, according to a study from the USA’s University of Cincinnati. Researchers found that eating or drinking sweet snacks may decrease the production of the stress-related hormone glucocorticoid, linked to obesity and decreased disease immunity.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

MORE than 40% of American workers, or 47 million people, are victims of psychological workplace aggression, with customers, clients or patients (in the health sector) the most likely source of attacks, according to a national survey published in the US Handbook of Workplace Violence.…

BY DAVID EIMER, in Beijing

TO be beautiful in China is to be fair-skinned and for cosmetics companies, that’s an opportunity to tap the world’s largest emerging market for whitening creams. According to Chinese government figures, China’s beauty and cosmetics market was worth between 42 and 46 billion Yuan (US$5-5.5 billion) last year and a third of that total was spent on whitening products.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

NEW Harvard School of Public Health research has found that cigarette manufacturers are increasingly targeting teenagers by infusing cigarettes with sweet flavours such as mint, chocolate and boiled sweets to mask the harsh taste of tobacco smoke. Sweet flavours are also being added to chewing tobacco, cigars and cigarette rolling papers.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

PATIENTS in need of an organ transplant may stand a better chance of receiving a new heart, kidney or liver in good time because of a substance found in a tiny hopping bug. Canadian scientists from the Department of Biochemistry at Queens University, in Kingston, Ontario, discovered an antifreeze protein in snow fleas that may increase the shelf life of human organs for transplantation.…