The Alliance for MRI welcomes the European Parliament's approval on February 19 of the request by the European Commission to postpone this Directive for a period of 4 years in order to have sufficient time to review the EU Physical Agents Directive 2004/40/EC (EMF).

Pretty soon your gym gear will be more high tech than the groaning treadmill beneath you. Smart textiles and wearable devices can monitor your vital signs as you go about daily life. These clever clothes already exist and look set to find a market niche especially in elite sport and healthcare, say European researchers.

SENIOR - Social Ethical and Privacy Needs in ICT for Older People: A Dialogue Roadmap is a two‐year FP7 project, coordinated by the Centre for Science, Society and Citizenship, which aims to provide a systematic assessment of the social, ethical, and privacy issues involved in these and similar technologies. The project's goal is to produce a dialogue roadmap that may drive European policy in this very sensitive area.

The development of innovative ultrasound imaging equipment within the UMEDS project aims to provide for mobile stroke detection. When linked to advanced telemedicine systems, such diagnostic equipment could offer valuable information to guide prehospital thrombolysis.

CORDIS, the Community Research and Development Service, has launched a new health research web service for the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). It will provide a highly informative portal on this major theme, which comes under the umbrella of the FP7 Cooperation programme.

EU-funded scientists have used a prototype of a Virtual Physiological Human (VPH) to simulate the efficacy of an HIV drug in blocking a key protein used by the virus. The VPH concept involves linking networks of computers from around the world to simulate the inner workings of the human body. With it, scientists can study the effects of a drug and see what is happening at the organ, tissue, cell and molecular levels.

Under the auspices of the OLP project, a complete computer-based system was developed that may significantly contribute to the therapy of specific speech disorders at the articulation level. The system effectively combines automatic speech recognition and distance learning. Based on real-time audio-visual feedback of the subject's speech, therapy can be specially designed and customised to each individual's specific needs.