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Peter Piot, formerly executive director of UNAIDS, will become director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine next month. Speaking with Asher Mullard, he discusses the changing nature of global health research.
IBM computers and Microsoft software have been mainstays of biomedical studies for years. But, in the past decade, software and technology companies have increasingly been taking a more active role in biological research. Monica Heger profiles four of the movers and shakers who have been leading the charge.
As concerns have emerged in recent years over medications such as Vioxx and now Avandia, the need to improve the surveillance of approved drugs has become increasingly apparent. To ensure the success of the drugs they develop, biomedical researchers should track a wider set of clinical endpoints in drug trials and prepare to distinguish between real and false risks suggested by long-term safety monitoring.
The National Cancer Institute is the most important cancer funding agency in the US. Yet criticism of some of its programs underscores the need for change and modernization of this institute. With the recent appointment of a new NCI director, the time for change has arrived.
Salt has been humanity's great taste enhancer, preservative and all-around go-to food ingredient for 8,000 years. But the ubiquitous white crystal is now thought to have caused an epidemic of heart attacks and strokes. In response, many food manufacturers are devising new ways to curb sodium intake while trying to maintain food's saline-stoked good flavor. Stephen Strauss gets a taste of the leading technological solutions for cutting back on the tabletop seasoning.