About 35% of the U.S. adult population uses social media for health and medical purposes in 2009, according to pharmaceutical and healthcare market research company Manhattan Research's Cybercitizen Health™ v9.0. These 80 million Health 2.0 Consumers create or consumer content on health blogs, message boards, chat rooms, health social networks and health communities, and patient testimonials.

Physician smartphone adoption rates will experience significant growth over the next few years. Currently, 64% of U.S. physicians own smartphones, but this will increase to 81% penetration in 2012, according to the latest physician report from pharmaceutical and healthcare company Manhattan Research. "Physicians in 2012: The Outlook for On Demand, Mobile, and Social Digital Media", is part of the company's Taking the Pulse® market research and strategic advisory service.

Since 2005, the number of patients using the Internet to research prescription drug information has doubled to 102.3 million. Similarly, the overall number of eHealth Consumers, those online for any health and medical information, has also grown significantly over the past four years. This market now stands at 157.5 million consumers, or 1.6 times the number of eHealth Consumers in 2005.

Infamous bacteria impacting our lives are Salmonellae, usually found in chicken and eggs. But are they getting too much of a bad rap? EU-funded researchers in Germany may have actually succeeded in putting a positive spin on Salmonellae following the discovery that the bacteria can migrate into solid tumours and destroy them.

A new report released by Capgemini, one of the world's foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, highlights the significant challenges faced by the life sciences industry in the current global market. Capgemini's Vision and Reality Report 2009 provides an in-depth look at the current global market for the life sciences industries including pharmaceutical, medical device, biotech and agribusiness.

Oncologists are more likely than the overall population of U.S. physicians to visit pharmaceutical, biotech, and device corporate and product websites on a regular basis, according to pharmaceutical and healthcare market research company Manhattan Research. In fact, almost seventy percent of oncologists visit product websites monthly or more often.

Which type of flu infects cells deep inside the lungs: pandemic swine or seasonal? EU-funded researchers say pandemic swine flu wins hands down. Published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, the findings of a new study suggest that humans infected with the pandemic strain of swine-origin H1N1 influenza will probably experience more severe symptoms than patients infected with the seasonal strain of H1N1 because of how the swine virus attaches to specific receptors in the body.