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The ATS and the European Respiratory Society have issued official standards for the quantitative assessment of lung structure.

"This is the first concise state-of-the-art review of stereological methods for lung morphometry that formulates practical guidelines for the use of advanced imaging techniques," said ATS past president, John Heffner, M.D. "The proposed standards ensure that the three dimensional window into the lung offered by advanced imaging techniques will provide the sharp and clear view necessary for the discovery of new respiratory cures."

Consumers perceive non-profit organizations as being "warm," but not particularly competent, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Quebec City, February 17, 2010–The southern limit of permanently frozen ground, or permafrost, is now 130 kilometers further north than it was 50 years ago in the James Bay region, according to two researchers from the Department of Biology at Université Laval. In a recent issue of the scientific journal Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, Serge Payette and Simon Thibault suggest that, if the trend continues, permafrost in the region will completely disappear in the near future.

CHICAGO—February 17, 2010—While many people who are adopted by members of another race still identify as black or mixed race, many lack the community and cultural connections with others who share those same identities. New research in the journal Family Process suggests that adopted children of mixed race need early and ongoing experiences within the cultural communities of their origin, and with other multiracial adopted persons, to help them to build healthy cultural identities.

An Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-developed method to safely and reliably mark termites and other insects over vast acreage so their movements can be tracked is just as effective as the previous method—and more affordable.

That's according to recently published research by ARS entomologist James Hagler, at the agency's U.S. Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center in Maricopa, Ariz., and his collaborators at the University of Arizona.

Initial results of a study conducted at 100 centers worldwide indicate that belatacept, a first-in-class costimulation blocker can prevent the immune system rejecting new organs. The results also suggest that it may provide similar patient and graft survival to cyclosporine but with fewer side effects and superior kidney function after 12 months. The study, published today in the American Journal of Transplantation, provides the first findings to come from BENEFIT (Belatacept Evaluation of Nephroprotection and Efficacy as First-line Immunosuppression Trial).

Researchers at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and University of Stockholm have created a computer modelling of the structural malfunctioning of the ApoE4 protein when it enters into contact with the Amyloid beta molecule, the main cause of Alzheimer's disease. The research, published in PLoS Computational Biology, supports experimental evidence that links ApoE4 with this pathology and opens up new exploration possibilities in understanding and fighting against the disease.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — In the dominoes that make up human cells, researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have traced another step of the process that stops cells from becoming cancerous.

It starts with the enzyme telomerase, which affects the caps, or telomeres, at the end of a chromosome. Telomeres shorten over time. But telomerase prevents this from happening, making the cell immortal. If cancer is triggered in the cell, the presence of telomerase leads to the growth of the cancer.

A new aptitude test, aimed at increasing diversity and fairness in selecting school leaver applicants to UK medical and dental schools, still has inherent gender and socioeconomic bias, although it is less subject to bias than A level results alone, finds a study published on bmj.com today.

Research published in the February edition of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology sought to assess the overall efficacy of split-course palliative chest radiotherapy (RT) for symptom relief in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Additionally, researchers investigated the impact the regimen's two-week break has on survival outcomes.

Research published in February's edition of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology investigates the utilization of surgery and the subsequent need for radiotherapy (RT) when treating stage I small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Traditionally, SCLC treatment regimes include chemotherapy and radiotherapy for limited stage disease; however, the study concludes that in selected patients with early stage disease a lobectomy (removal of lung) had an excellent overall survival without additional treatment.

Current and former patients treated with the high-fat ketogenic diet to control multiple, daily and severe seizures can be reassured by the news that not only is the diet effective, but it also appears to have no long-lasting side effects, say scientists at Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

A study report supporting their conclusion, and believed to be one of the first analyses of the long-term safety and efficacy of the diet, appears online in the February edition of the journal Epilepsia.

This release is available in http://chinese..org/zh/emb_releases/2010-02/jaaj-uom021210.php">Chinese.

Creation of a genetic risk score comprised of multiple genetic markers associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) was not associated with significant improvement in CVD risk prediction in a study that included more than 19,000 women, according to a study in the February 17 issue of JAMA.

Weighing both magnitude of survival benefit and expense, researchers found that the drug erlotinib, which was found to improve overall survival by 2 months in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, is marginally cost-effective. The results of their economic analysis using clinical trial data were reported in a new study published online February 16 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Using several scientific methods, including analyzing DNA from royal mummies, research findings suggest that malaria and bone abnormalities appear to have contributed to the death of Egyptian pharaoh King Tutankhamun, with other results appearing to identify members of the royal family, including King Tut's father and mother, according to a study in the February 17 issue of JAMA.