Health News and Scoops

A new national study among 696 physicians revealed that more than one-third of physicians (37%) reported that there was “somewhat of a risk” that the H1N1 swine flu could result in a catastrophic pandemic, the highest level since an April study in which 49% of physicians reported that there was “somewhat of a risk” for a pandemic.

The study was conducted last night by HCD Research using its MediaCurves.com(R) website, and the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion (MCIPO), as part of a series of studies which were conducted during April, May and June to obtain physicians’ perceptions of the H1N1 virus. The studies are being conducted on a weekly basis to measure physicians’ perceptions regarding their personal and professional views on the issue. To view detailed results go to: www.hcdi.net or www.mediacurves.com.

When asked what top three sources they use to obtain information on H1N1 swine flu, physicians listed government agency communications (77%) as their top choice, followed by the news media (71%) and medical associations (55%), similar to previous studies.

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With summer in full swing, women everywhere are pulling out their sunscreen, jumping into their swimsuits and heading to the salon for manicures and pedicures. Starting this month, purchasing that perfect shade of nail lacquer that makes you look great has an added bonus – it can also help women undergoing cancer treatment feel better.

Today, Look Good…Feel Better, a national public service program that helps women cope with appearance-related changes from cancer treatment, announced a partnership with OPI Products Inc. to honor both groups’ 20th anniversaries: OPI launched its nail lacquers 20 years ago, the same year Look Good…Feel Better conducted its first workshop. To mark this milestone, during July and August OPI will contribute a portion of the proceeds of every bottle of its Bubble Bath Nail Lacquer sold, with a minimum contribution of $25,000, to the Personal Care Products Council Foundation to benefit Look Good…Feel Better.

“We saw the celebration of these 20th anniversaries as an ideal opportunity to raise awareness and recognition for Look Good…Feel Better,” said Louanne Roark, executive director of the Personal Care Products Council Foundation and the Look Good…Feel Better program. “We are thrilled to have the support of OPI in this endeavor. The funds raised will help us reach even more women coping with the side effects of cancer treatment.”

The OPI Bubble Bath Nail Lacquer benefiting Look Good…Feel Better will be available in at least 10,000 participating salons and retail locations nationwide beginning this July. Point-of-purchase displays will provide more information about the Look Good…Feel Better program and where to find available workshops.

“We are very excited to support such a worthwhile initiative for Look Good…Feel Better and be a part of this wonderful tradition of caring,” said Suzi Weiss Fischmann, executive vice president and artistic director, OPI Products Inc. “The partnership was a natural fit because OPI shares the common goal of helping women to look and feel beautiful.”

OPI is a member of the Personal Care Products Council and is also a strong supporter of the Personal Care Products Council Foundation, whose dedicated mission is the Look Good…Feel Better program, the centerpiece of the global cosmetic and personal care products industry’s philanthropy.

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Carl Zeiss has developed a unique series of solutions addressing the different methods for brain mapping and soft tissue imaging. “Scientists are right now attacking one of the last secrets of mankind: imaging and reconstruction of the brain,” Dr. Dirk Stenkamp, Member of the Board at Carl Zeiss SMT explains. “We specifically enable the acquisition and analysis of cell images at ultra-high resolution. For that purpose we have developed an extensive range of solutions, based on the sophisticated use of advanced electron and ion-beam microscopes,” Stenkamp adds.

At center stage, with a combination of a special detector system and large framestore, the SIGMA FE-SEM is enabling extremely fast imaging of huge areas of thin sections. ”With this system, which is currently being evaluated by several leading research institutes worldwide, throughput is increased by a factor of 100,” application product specialist Dr. Stewart Bean from Carl Zeiss SMT´s Cambridge facilities says.

Extremely thin sections can be investigated by simultaneous milling and imaging using ZEISS CrossBeam workstations like the NVision 40 or the new AURIGA. This leading-edge FIB/SEM instrument provides high resolution and now also features the possibility of investigating nonconductive samples using a unique local charge compensation method. NVision CrossBeam systems are already successfully in the field for soft tissue analysis at various institutes, including EPFL in Lausanne (Switzerland) and many others.

The ORION Helium-ion microscope offers totally new imaging possibilities. “Biological samples especially profit from the unprecedented depth of focus and the high contrast, that are inherent characteristics of imaging with helium ions,” Mohan Ananth, Product Manager and application specialist at the US headquarters of Carl Zeiss SMT points out.

Whenever resolution below one nanometer is required, the LIBRA 120 PLUS energy filtering TEM from Carl Zeiss SMT provides the highest contrast imaging of soft tissue. LIBRA 120 PLUS especially matches the extreme demands in revealing structural and 3-D information of beam sensitive or frozen hydrated specimens at the nano scale. With the LIBRA 200 FEG energy filtering TEM, resolution in the Angström and even sub-Angström range can be provided.

“We are in dialogue with researchers all over the world in order to meet their demanding requirements – now and in the future and as a part of our company mission. We are proud to be making a contribution to research work that will change our world,” Stenkamp explains.

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