23 July 2010, No. 955
CONTENTS
UK SCIENCE POLICY
UK APPOINTMENTS
HIGHER EDUCATION
COMMERCIAL
HEALTH POLICY
RESEARCH ETHICS
ASIA
AUSTRALASIA
EUROPE
EUROPEAN UNION
NORTH AMERICA
SOUTH AMERICA
INTERNATIONAL
UK SCIENCE POLICY
1 UK government warned over 'catastrophic' cuts
The UK's seven Research Councils presented plans this week for how they would tackle three scenarios: a budget freeze, cuts of 10 per cent, or 20 per cent over four years. The majority of Research Councils have suggested that the cross-Council 'Grand Challenge' programmes will remain a priority, but warned that the most severe budget cuts would be very damaging.
Nature 466 22 July 2010 p.420-421
See also: Research Europe 303 22 July 2010 p.18
THE 1957 22 July 2010 p.10
2 Prime Minister hints at medical research cuts
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, recently acknowledged that research into degenerative diseases is very important, but warned that medical research would undergo the same review - and face the same possibility of cuts - as other areas of public spending.
Research Europe 303 22 July 2010 p.18
3 Open the lab doors to the light
Considering the research community's reaction to the 'Climategate' affair, an editorial and series of articles discuss the need for greater openness in research, the importance of acknowledging the limits of peer review and the ethics of "judging a paper by its authors".
THE 1957 22 July 2010 p.5, 34-37, 38-39
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4 Nobelist Paul Nurse to pilot Royal Society, London superlab
An article presents an interview with Paul Nurse, who is to head up the new UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation (UKCMRI) alongside his presidency of the Royal Society. Nurse comments on his vision for UKCMRI and provides his views on UK science budget cuts and translational medicine.
Science 329 23 July 2010 p.380-381
See also: THE 1957 22 July 2010 p.13
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5 Pilot wail: clarification please
The Research Excellence Framework pilot exercise on the assessment of impact has flushed out a number of issues for consideration: the difficulty in gathering the data; lack of clarity in understanding what is meant by impact; the time taken for research to make an impact; and the difficulty of assessing it. However, the chairs of two panels, Medicine and English, have said they were encouraged by how easy it was to reach consensus on the impact case studies.
THE 1957 22 July 2010 p.20
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6 Pharmaceutical groups set up rival generics initiative
ViiV Healthcare - a joint venture between GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Shionogu of Japan - has agreed to offer royalty-free patent rights for all its current and experimental antiretroviral medications to generic drug manufacturers. The move, which is intended to improve access to HIV medicines for people living in developing countries, is seen as a snub to the rival 'patent pool', which has been established with funding from Unitaid.
Financial Times 22 July 2010 p.5
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7 FSA loses its role in food labelling
Andrew Lansley, the health secretary has revealed the Government's plans for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to focus more on food safety. The Department of Health and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will take responsibility for nutrition and labelling policies in England.
Independent 21 July 2010 p.17
See also: Financial Times 21 July 2010 p.2
Guardian 21 July 2010 p.8
8 NICE approved 80% of drugs it evaluated in past decade
An analysis of decisions made by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) over the last decade suggests that less than 20 per cent of drugs have been turned down because they were not deemed cost-effective.
BMJ 341 24 July 2010 p.168
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9 Tie funding to research integrity
An opinion piece proposes that, in an attempt to address research misconduct, the assessment for US federal funding should include consideration of plans for, and performance in, responsible institutional behaviour. An accompanying article outlines the findings of a recent survey of National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers, which suggested that informal means of intervention into wrongdoing were more common than expected and could be effective.
Nature 466 22 July 2010 p.436-437, 438-440
10 Prepublication data release, latency and genome commons
A policy forum article discusses how pre-publication data sharing practices have evolved in the field of genomics, with the gradual introduction of 'latency' mechanisms that balance the need to provide access to data with the need to recognise the contributions of the data generators. It considers how this model might be applied more broadly to other scientific fields.
Science 329 23 July 2010 p.393-394
11 Plan for non-embryo stem cell technique suffers setback
A new method that allowed scientists to make so-called 'embryonic' stem cells without using embryos has been called into question by data derived from two independent US studies. Results from both studies demonstrated that the induced pluripotent stem cells did not behave precisely like the stem cells found in early human embryos, which are able to develop into any type of specialised human cells.
Independent 20 July 2010 p.14
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12 Replicating success
An article discusses growing suspicions that academic misconduct and fraud is widespread among Chinese academics, driven in part by the poor peer review system and incentives that reward the number, rather than quality, of publications.
Economist 396 24 July 2010 p.51
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13 Moving Australia's health-care system into the 21st century
An article discusses proposed reforms to the Australian healthcare system which were announced by Nicola Roxon, Australia's Minister for Health and Ageing, in March 2010. With various benefits and drawbacks highlighted, the forthcoming general election will decide whether these reforms are taken forward.
The Lancet 376 24 July 2010 p.219-220
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14 Israel prepares to teach Europe to innovate
The presidency of the Eureka partnership, a network of countries that promotes close-to-market research, will be taken over by Israel this year. Israel's priorities for the presidency are: to increase Eureka's position in the European Research Area; to provide greater innovation support to industry; and to introduce new schemes to attract investors.
Research Europe 303 22 July 2010 p.4
15 Russia's government pins hopes on universities not academy
Following a recent report showing that Russia's share of global scientific activities is declining, an article discusses the country's attempt to restructure higher education and invest more in research at universities. While the emphasis on universities is a shift away from Soviet Russia's focus on the Russian Academy of Science, there are concerns that the increased public investment is only guaranteed for three or five years and that progress may be slow.
Research Europe 303 22 July 2010 p.8
16 Doctors in eastern Europe prepare to walk out over pay
An article discusses the "chronic underfunding" of healthcare systems in eastern Europe and the subsequent movement of healthcare professionals to work abroad. In countries such as the Czech Republic, where newly graduated doctors earn only €650 per month, compared with the average monthly wage of €900, entire departments of underpaid and undervalued staff have resigned in protest.
The Lancet 376 24 July 2010 p.221-222
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17 EU states favour R&D during recession, says OECD
An article comments on statistics in the OECD report 'Main Science and Technology Indicators 2010' that analyse the R&D spend as a proportion of GDP of European countries during the recession. The report shows that most countries increased their spending on R&D, while the UK was among only a handful of countries where investment in R&D declined during this time.
Research Europe 303 22 July 2010 p.6, 18
18 Brussels attempts to pick technology winners
A new expert group has been set up to advise the European Commission how to tap into technologies that are "likely to have a significant impact on society and industry", such as biotechnology and nano-electronics. The group, which includes David Willetts, UK minister for universities and science, as well as other high-level EU representatives from government and business, will report back to the European Parliament and Council in 2011.
Research Europe 303 22 July 2010 p.3
19 MEPs move to limit animal testing
A proposal to limit animal testing has been adopted by the agriculture committee of the European Parliament. National authorities will be required to assess the implications of animal welfare in scientific experiments, take into account the level of pain inflicted on the animal, and consider alternative testing methods wherever possible.
Research Europe 303 22 July 2010 p.3
20 ITER cash-drain
The European Commission has suggested that the ITER fusion reactor's €1.4 billion shortfall could be partially made up by taking €460 million from the Seventh Framework Programme budget in 2012 and 2013, with the rest coming from other European Union budgets.
Nature 466 22 July 2010 p.418
See also: Research Europe 303 22 July 2010 p.1
21 Commission urged to promote use of structural funds for science
The European Parliament and the European Court of Auditors have both published reports urging the European Commission to allow structural funds to be used for the building and running costs of large research infrastructures.
Research Europe 303 22 July 2010 p.5
22 Innovation vs research
An opinion piece by Colin Macilwain analyses the strategy for the eighth Framework Programme, in which innovation is likely to dominate, and debates the 'grand challenges' that will be central to the Framework's design. The author argues that political leaders have become too interested in innovation, and that a Framework that aims to promote excellent research and build stronger scientific facilities and universities would be more effective in establishing a competitive European Research Area for the future.
Research Europe 303 22 July 2010 p.7
23 Keep it simple, says Commission
The European Commission has published a guide for researchers to help them influence policy-makers in a more effective way. 'Communicating Research for Evidence-Based Policymaking' advises researchers to provide short and simple briefs to politicians and recommends that social science and humanities researchers should "tone down the jargon".
Research Europe 303 22 July 2010 p.3
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24 Obama's promise on 'high-quality' scientific integrity rules comes to nothing
Researchers in the United States are growing impatient after President Obama's pledge to develop rules that "guarantee scientific integrity throughout the executive branch" has not come to fruition, a year after the proposed deadline. Scientists believe such rules are important to restore integrity in the government's decision-making, with some believing that "federal agency science is still manipulated for political reasons".
Research Europe 303 22 July 2010 p.20
25 Animal rights 'terror' law challenged
A federal judge has dismissed the first prosecution made under the 2008 Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act for being too vague. An article, and accompanying editorial, discuss concerns that the law has not been an effective deterrent to animal extremism, as a result of the wording of the legislation and issues relating to freedom of speech.
Nature 466 22 July 2010 p.424, 414
26 Audit picks a bone with US relics office
'Nature' has obtained a draft audit report on the government agency responsible for administering the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) 1990 - the legislation which allows tribes to reclaim remains held by museums. The report reveals several issues with the NAGPRA office, concluding that it has had problems satisfying tribes, has poor record-keeping and has not always given "a fair hearing to scientists' claims".
Nature 466 22 July 2010 p.422
27 NSF misfires on plan to revamp minority programs
A US National Science Foundation (NSF) plan to combine three tailored initiatives to encourage students from minority backgrounds into careers in science and engineering has been met with hostility from the community. The US Congress is also unhappy with the proposals and has requested that the three programmes be kept separate for 2011.
Science 329 23 July 2010 p.376
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28 Argentina smooths the path for returnees
Argentina's Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation has made an agreement with the National Immigration Department that aims to speed up immigration procedures for scientists. The hope is that this will attract foreign researchers and encourage the repatriation of Argentinian scientists.
Nature 466 22 July 2010 p.519
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29 AIDS activists demand that funders meet their pledges
Participants at the 18th International AIDS Conference, held in Vienna this week, have called on governments to increase funding to ensure better access to preventive interventions and treatments for HIV and AIDS. The G8 had previously set 2010 as the deadline for universal access to antiretrovirals - a target that is still not close to being achieved.
BMJ 341 24 July 2010 p.167, 172-173
See also: Observer 18 July 2010 p.16
Guardian 19 July 2010 p.7
Times 21 July 2010 p.15
Independent 21 July 2010 p.16
Economist 396 24 July 2010 p.72-73
30 At last, vaginal gel scores victory against HIV
Researchers in South Africa have announced the first unequivocal evidence that a vaginal microbicide gel offers a significant protective effect against the transmission of HIV.
Science 329 23 July 2010 p.374-375
See also: Financial Times 20 July 2010 p.6
Guardian 20 July 2010 p.1-2
Independent 20 July 2010 p.16
Times 20 July 2010 p.32
New Scientist 207 24 July 2010 p.5
31 Malaria control beyond 2010
Following publication by WHO of updated guidance for the treatment of malaria, an analysis article considers the remaining challenges to achieving universal malaria control. Key issues going forward are: the need for better diagnostic testing before treatment; limiting the spread of drug resistance; and building local capacity to manage malaria control - all of which will depend on adequate investment and global financing.
BMJ 341 24 July 2010 p.182-183, 161-162
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