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Universal, affordable access to early childhood programs is essential to help young children develop their potential. Equally important are measurement systems to help determine what supports are needed for children. The components of a high quality measurement system exist in Canada but need to be coordinated and applied consistently across the country, write Dr. Clyde Hertzman from the University of British Columbia and Dr.

Apologizing for medical errors is both ethically and professionally responsible and also crucial for improving patient safety and quality of care, write Dr. Noni MacDonald and Dr. Amir Attaran and the CMAJ editorial team http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg11.pdf. They point out that an apology can have significant healing effects for the patient, family and physician. However, Canada lacks apology laws in every jurisdiction and these provinces and territories should be pressed to enact these laws.

DURHAM, NC -- In a six-month comparison of low-carb diets, one that encourages eating carbohydrates with the lowest-possible rating on the glycemic index leads to greater improvement in blood sugar control, according to Duke University Medical Center researchers.

SEATTLE – January 5, 2009: In a pair of related studies released by Seattle Children's Research Institute and published in the January 2009 issue of Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, researchers found that 54 percent of adolescents frequently discuss high-risk activities including sexual behavior, substance abuse or violence using MySpace, the popular social networking Web site (SNS).

COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. (Mon., Jan. 5, 2009) –- This month's issue of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols (www.cshprotocols.org/TOCs/toc1_09.dtl) features two articles detailing experimental methods for the analysis of molecular processes involved in DNA repair and post-translational modification of proteins.

LA JOLLA, Calif., January 5, 2009-- Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have determined the structure of the interactions between proteins that form the heart of the death inducing signaling complex (DISC), which is responsible for triggering apoptosis (programmed cell death).

LA JOLLA, Calif., January 5, 2008—Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have demonstrated important new roles for the protein kinase complex Cdc7/Dbf4 or Cdc7/Drf1 (Ddk) in monitoring damage control during DNA replication and reinitiating replication following DNA repair. Since Ddk is often deregulated in human cancers, this new understanding of its role in DNA damage control could help shape new cancer therapies. The research was published in the December 24 issue of Molecular Cell.

STANFORD, Calif. — Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine and at UC-San Francisco have succeeded in isolating stem cells from human testes. The cells bear a striking resemblance to embryonic stem cells — they can differentiate into each of the three main types of tissues of the body — but the researchers caution against viewing them as one and the same.

According to the study, the testes stem cells have different patterns of gene expression and regulation and they do not proliferate and differentiate as aggressively as human embryonic stem cells.

Babies born to HIV-positive mothers and given the antiretroviral drug nevirapine through the first six weeks of life to prevent infection via breast-feeding are at high risk for developing drug-resistant HIV if they get infected anyway, a team of researchers report. But the investigators highlight the proven superiority of the six-week regimen in preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission in breast-fed infants.

Cancer and cell biology experts at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have identified a new tumor suppressor that may help scientists develop more targeted drug therapies to combat lung cancer.

The study, led by Jorge Moscat, PhD, appears in the January 2009 issue of Molecular and Cellular Biology.

Digitalis-based drugs like digoxin have been used for centuries to treat patients with irregular heart rhythms and heart failure and are still in use today. In the Dec. 16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine now report that this same class of drugs may hold new promise as a treatment for cancer. This finding emerged through a search for existing drugs that might slow or stop cancer progression.

About 11 percent of the 4 million babies born in the U.S. each year have been exposed to alcohol or illicit drugs in the womb, according to a June 2006 report by the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare. If removed from the home by child protection, these children tend to remain in foster care longer, and chances are very low that they will be reunited with their parents.

A new study reveals critical molecular mechanisms associated with the development and progression of human neuroblastoma, the most common cancer in young children. The research, published by Cell Press in the January 6th issue of the journal Cancer Cell, may lead to development of future strategies for treatment of this aggressive and unpredictable cancer.

STANFORD, Calif. — Few things are as tiresome as house hunting and moving. Unfortunately, metastatic cancer cells have the relocation process down pat. Tripping nimbly from one abode to another, these migrating cancer cells often prove far more deadly than the original tumor. Although little has been known about how these rogue cells choose where to put down roots, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have now learned just how nefarious they are.

A new report from the National Research Council, BEYOND FORTRESS AMERICA: STRENGTHENING NATIONAL SECURITY AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY THROUGH GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT, examines national security controls that oversee scientific and technological research, specifically the federal regulations governing which information or goods can be shared with citizens of other countries. These restrictions are designed to prevent the flow of information or technology out of the U.S. and into the hands of foreign competitors or those who may wish to use it for harm.