From artificial kidneys to robots as nursing staff in hospitals, information technology (IT) is becoming increasingly important in preventive healthcare and the treatment of diseases. But not everything that is technically possible will also be accepted, say researchers from the German Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).

Europeans are more interested in medical and health research than in international news or economic affairs, a new Eurobarometer survey reveals. According to the European Commission, 71% of those polled said they were interested in medical and health research, and 60% expressed an interest in science and technology. In comparison, international news and economic affairs were of interest to 70% and 68% of Europeans respectively.

Recent reports and surveys indicate that Europe may face severe e-skills shortages and mismatches in the coming years. At the same time, e-skills are becoming central to boost innovation, productivity and employability and to respond to global challenges. To this end, the European Commission proposes today a long-term e-skills agenda and a set of action lines at EU level following extensive expert group and stakeholder consultations. These actions will complement and enrich significant efforts already under way in Europe.

The Health-EU Portal started issuing last week a multilingual newsletter, which aims to better inform European citizens on what is going on in the field of health at European and international level. "In 2006 we launched the Public Health Portal to provide high-quality, user-friendly information on health to citizens. Building on this, the Health-EU newsletter will allow readers to receive the latest news and developments on health from a range of sources across Europe in all European languages," Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou remarks in the newsletter's inaugural edition.

Starting in August 2007 the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment is funding Transinsight GmbH's research project GO3R. This project focuses on the development of a knowledge-based search engine for alternative methods to animal experiments. Transinsight is closely collaborating with scientists from the Centre for Documentation and Evaluation of Alternatives to Animal Experiments (ZEBET).

health2.info is a Web 2.0 Health Information and news interchange and publication tool for Health professionals. The objective is to provide information about Healthcare relevant stories that users found around the internet.

health2.info whishes to establish a social web (web 2.0) about Healthcare on different health interests groups (management, technology, public health, medical research, etc.), where there is a lot of knowledgement, news and interesting projects but mostly of them are dispersed all around.

Sensors can monitor production processes, unmask tiny cracks in aircraft hulls, and determine the amount of laundry in a washing machine. In future, they will also be used in the human body and raise the alarm in the event of high pressure in the eye, bladder or brain.

If the pressure in the eye is too high, nerve fibers die, resulting in visual field loss or blindness. Since increased intraocular pressure, also known as glaucoma, is not usually painful, the condition is often diagnosed too late.