TOP 100 SCIENCE SITES
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| NASA to try to free stuck Mars rover Spirit LOS ANGELES (AP) -- For NASA's stuck Mars rover, the Spirit may be willing, but the wheels could prove too weak. The space agency on Thursday outlined a rescue plan to try to free the rover Spirit, which has been bogged in a sand trap on the red planet for half a year. The risky operation is expected to last several months.... hosted.ap.org |
Rare crocs found hiding in plain sight in Cambodia BANGKOK (AP) -- Conservationists searching for one of the world's most endangered crocodile species say they have found dozens of the reptiles lounging in plain sight - at a wildlife rescue center in Cambodia.... hosted.ap.org |
Sea urchins 'bulldozing' Tasmanian reef A combination of overfishing and climate change are triggering catastrophic overgrazing of reefs by sea urchins in eastern Tasmania, say researchers. abc.net.au |
Scientists develop cheap, rapid test to tackle bug deadlier than MRSA • Rival £25 kit copies DNA, but reliability is in doubt• Hospitals spending 'small fortune' testing patientsScientists believe they may have made a big advance in tackling a virulent bug that kills more people than the feared MRSA bug.Clostridium difficile is the underlying cause of more than 40% of the near 6,000 deaths a year in England and Wales with which the infection is associated.But now researchers in London say they have developed a fast, cheap and trustworthy test for the bacterium. The ingredients cost about 50p per test and can deliver results in about 45 minutes.The team developing the test are, however, being forced to seek commercial partners after failing to persuade the NHS to fund further work.The furore surrounding deaths at Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire, linked to C difficile in 2005, forced massive tightening up on hygiene, the isolation of infectious patients, their treatment by specific antibiotics, and monitoring on wards, but there is still a problem over the expense, speed and reliability of tests to establish beyond doubt that patients have the infection.The most reliable tests at present can take up to four days to identify the precise toxin produced by C difficile – although some more expensive commercial kits already on the market offer a verdict within a few hours. Hospitals are spending a small fortune on testing thousands of patients for sums between £8 and £25 a time.A team at Barts and London School of Medicine and Dentistry has won funding mainly from the charity Bowel and Cancer Research to do the work so far on the test and hopes to overturn official resistance to screening patients without symptoms.Big London hospitals already test about 9,000 patients a year, but the researchers think many patients have the bug before entering hospital and hope to use the test on all patients admitted to the colorectal unit at Royal London Hospital, London .Stephen Bustin, professor of molecular science at the Barts and London School of Medicine and Dentistry, said: "Because the test is so quick, it won't delay admissions. It will also give us a clearer idea of how much C difficile is out there ."It is one of the great killers in our hospitals. It's nonsense that the death rate should continue at the current levels when there is no need."He says the bug is more difficult than MRSA to eradicate by better hospital hygiene and that successful treatment requires rapid medical intervention."One of the biggest difficulties is reliable detection of the C difficile bacterium," Bustin said. "There is an urgent need for a diagnostic test which combines speed with sensitivity and low costs."The most reliable tests at present involve growing the bacterium from a stool sample which can take two days. Confirmation of toxin takes another 48 hours.The more easy-to-use rapid tests, costing up to £25 a time, involve a technique that makes copies of tiny pieces of DNA, but a scientific review in the Lancet last year cast doubt on their reliability.The new tests developed by Bustin's team use a similar method but have drastically reduced the costs. "To date we have developed three individual assays that can detect single copies of C difficile," said Bustin. These assays take less than 45 minutes, and reagent cost is around 50p per assay. The assays detect both the bacterium and the DNA that is responsible for its virulence."He added: "We have applied the assays to patient stool samples and have been able to detect the presence of C difficile in a number of patients where conventional assays reported a negative result."He recognised national infection rates were now falling, but suggested more sensitive tests may send numbers up again.The Health Protection Agency said: "Studies have suggested different tests have better efficacy rates depending on the strain. The most effective way to reduce cases of this infection is to practice good infection control, use antibiotics judiciously, and to test as soon as the patient shows symptoms."MRSA and superbugsInfectious diseasesHealthJames Meikleguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Scots power Scotland looks to profit from green energy era news.bbc.co.uk |