Education & Health

Observed on the last day of February

New rare disease alliance champions patients

by Malcolm Curtis

February 24, 2010 | 11:03

A new Swiss advocacy group is serving as an umbrella organization for dozens of associations dedicated to combatting rare diseases that afflict an estimated 500,000 residents in Switzerland. Loredana D’Amato Sizonenko, a Geneva doctor who helped found ProRaris, tells Swisster its aim is to empower patients and doctors in the difficult fight against maladies that strike as few as one in 2,000 people.

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Education & Health
	Campaign launched to attack sex stereotypes in young kids
	February 16, 2010 \| 11:35	by Michèle Laird

In response to the observation that girls and boys are still locked in stereotypes regarding the other sex and on the premise that better understanding leads to better relationships, several campaigns...Full story

Education & Health
	Aargau scientists uncover goji berry threat
	February 10, 2010 \| 16:26	by Marcus Berry

Scientists in canton Aargau discover that seven out of eight products containing in-vogue health food, the goji berry, are suspect. Dried fruit and other products cultivated in China and Tibet from the...Full story

Lifestyle
	Anglo-Swiss duo breathe new life into neglected Ticino spa
	February 9, 2010 \| 07:48	by Catherine Richards

An ambitious project to redevelop the thermal spa of Acquarossa in Ticino's Valle di Blenio is unveiled at a press conference in the canton. Plans include a spa, four-star hotel with 120 rooms and a therapy...Full story

Education & Health
	Infections can cause cancer, warns campaign
	February 5, 2010 \| 09:48	by Michèle Laird

One in every five cancers is caused by infection. To alert public opinion to this little-known fact, a massive campaign by the International Union against Cancer (UICC) on the theme of prevention updates...Full story

Education & Health
	Mintaka Foundation gains cash for anti-HIV trial
	February 4, 2010 \| 17:32	by Malcolm Curtis

A research group attached to the University of Geneva receives 4.5 million francs from the UK’s Wellcome Trust to pursue a safety trial for a ‘microbicide’ that promises to protect women and children...Full story

Lifestyle
	Globegarden breaks new ground in bilingual childcare
	February 2, 2010 \| 13:00	by Michèle Laird

Globegarden, a network of bilingual nursery/kindergartens that caters to the needs of working parents is the new concept in early childhood care that a group of young business women have started in Zurich....Full story

Tips for stress management revealed by experts
A panel discussion organized by Business Professional Women (BPW) of Lausanne allows elite performers, including Veuve Clicquot 2009 Business Woman Award laureate Babette Keller, to expose tips and tricks...

Full storyJanuary 22, 2010 | 11:35by Michèle Laird

EPFL plans new scientific conference centre
The Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne (EPFL) announces ambitious plans to build a 190-million-franc scientific conference centre and student housing complex on the northwest part of its campus,...

Full storyJanuary 19, 2010 | 11:25by Malcolm Curtis

Sting joins Swiss company’s hearing loss initiative
UK rock musician Sting becomes the latest in a host of celebrities to lend their support to the Hear the World non-profit initiative launched by Swiss hearing aid company Phonak. The former leader of super...

Full storyJanuary 19, 2010 | 10:29by Marcus Berry

Educational conference focuses on role of creativity
An annual educational conference organized by the International School of Geneva is focusing on the often overlooked role of creativity in determining scholastic aptitude. Swisster talks to one of the...

Full storyJanuary 15, 2010 | 11:28by Malcolm Curtis

Tabata timing technique offers real exercise gains
First observed some 14 years ago, a Japanese doctor’s exercise discovery is now beginning to make waves around the world. While science has proven that high-intensity interval training is a more efficient...

Full storyJanuary 6, 2010 | 08:33by Marcus Berry

Pharma giant to sell Geneva firm's wrinkle-remover
Anteis, a Swiss biomedical company begun in Geneva less than seven years ago, lands a deal with French pharma giant Sanofi-Aventis to market its injectable wrinkle-remover products around the world. Unlike...

Full storyJanuary 6, 2010 | 08:17by Malcolm Curtis

Bern warns public against harmful fitness products
The national agency for therapeutic products, warns against ordering and using supplements sold on bodybuilder and fitness websites. “Hazardous testosterones” and muscle growth boosters contain “harmful...

Full storyJanuary 4, 2010 | 10:13by Marcus Berry

Lead by example with alcohol, expert warns parents
Parents can be tempted to succumb to a 12-year-old’s request to give them a glass of champagne over the Christmas holiday. However an American addiction specialist living in Western Switzerland says...

Full storyDecember 22, 2009 | 11:24by Jeremy Allen

Student anger jolts Bologna reform at Swiss universities
As universities experience student unrest over the application of the Bologna reform, Swisster speaks with representatives from both sides of the fence to find out what it’s all about. Dominique Arlettaz,...

Full storyDecember 8, 2009 | 10:05by Michèle Laird

Tapping therapy offers help for expats
A healing method practised in Switzerland called EFT can allegedly help solve psychological and physical problems ranging from phobias, low self-esteem and depression to back pain and asthma. Involving...

Full storyNovember 27, 2009 | 09:27by Marianne Burkhardt

Three Swiss deaths dramatize swine flu impact
A third person in Switzerland dies from swine flu just as a vaccination campaign is getting under way to protect residents against the H1N1 virus, which has killed more than 6,200 people worldwide. The...

Full storyNovember 19, 2009 | 15:23by Malcolm Curtis

Workshops offer child language learning tips
Marriages between partners of different nationalities are common in Switzerland but when it comes to deciding what languages their children should learn, parents need to come up with a strategy and stick...

Full storyNovember 19, 2009 | 10:35by Jeremy Allen

Gates lavishes funding on health partnerships
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provides two organizations in the Geneva area with massive funding to fight malaria, the world’s most ‘expensive’ neglected disease. Swisster investigates "product...

Full storyNovember 18, 2009 | 08:20by Michèle Laird