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The first comprehensive "inventory" of sea and land animals around a group of Antarctic islands reveals a region that is rich in biodiversity and has more species than the Galapagos. The study provides an important benchmark to monitor how they will respond to future environmental change.

Scientists at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) have uncovered new properties of imidazolium salts (IMSs), which suggest that they could play a vital role in disease prevention and treatment.

The report on the redox properties of IMSs was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

In a separate study published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, IBN researchers reported the first use of these salts to convert carbohydrates into versatile chemical compounds for biofuel production.

NYU Langone Medical Center released today the findings of a study on the New York University/Bellevue Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program (Bellevue/NYU PC Program), published in the November 2008 issue of Academic Medicine. This 23 year assessment of an extraordinary educational approach to residency training outcomes documents a unique educational approach, which has resulted in high personal and career satisfaction of residents and lower burnout rates – close to one third of that of their peers.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A new study from Mayo Clinic finds the use of the drug therapy etanercept ineffective in treating alcoholic hepatitis, an acute inflammation of the liver caused by excessive consumption of alcohol. The results of the study are published in the December issue of Gastroenterology (http://www.gastrojournal.org/).

Boston, MA—Researchers from Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Center have found that exposure to pseudoephedrine, a decongestant found in many cough-and-cold and allergy medications, has been common among U.S. children, especially those under the age of two years who are at the highest risk for toxicity and for whom safe dosing recommendations are lacking. These findings appear in the December issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Mercury levels in fish are prompting widespread consumption advisories and uncertainty among consumers over which species are safe to eat. Now researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a model that will help scientists and regulators around the country predict which areas are likely to have fish with high mercury levels – a breakthrough that should help officials address public uncertainty by developing health advisories for specific water bodies and fish species.

BOSTON (December 1, 2008) —Tufts researchers and colleagues report that place of birth plays a role in the occurrence of asthma in a United States black population. The researchers found that within one inner-city population, blacks born in the United States were more likely to have asthma than blacks who were born outside of the United States.

(PHILADELPHIA) An enzyme that is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer cells may hold the key to successfully treating the disease with targeted immunotherapy, researchers from Thomas Jefferson University reported at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Southern Surgical Association.

One of the defining characteristics of cancer cells is that they systematically prevent programmed cell death (apoptosis), with which the body guards itself against the proliferation of defective cells. In order to do this, they express so-called apoptosis inhibitors (IAPs) among other proteins.

Diets and beauty products which claim to have anti-oxidant properties are unlikely to prevent ageing, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust. Researchers at the Institute of Healthy Ageing at UCL (University College London) say this is because a key fifty year old theory about the causes of ageing is wrong.

Eating a meal in a restaurant is one of those trivial, everyday activities we take for granted in the developed world. For Canadian aid worker Louisette Pouliot, however, the simple act of grabbing a quick bite at an outdoor eatery in Ouagadougou, the capital of the African nation of Burkina Faso, had profound implications for her life and health.

Arlington, VA—Infectious disease experts warn that new drugs are urgently needed to treat six drug-resistant bacteria that cause most hospital infections and increasingly escape the effects of antibiotics.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – In less than two years, there may not be enough surgeons in U.S. hospitals to treat the critically injured or chronically ill.

A new study suggests that the number of available general surgeons, who often perform life-saving operations on patients in emergency rooms, will not keep up with public demand. As the population continues to grow, there will be a shortage of 1,300 general surgeons in 2010. That shortage will worsen each decade, reaching a deficit of 6,000 by 2050.

What we eat can say a lot about us –where we live, how we live and eventually even when we lived. From the analysis of the intestinal contents of the 5,200-year-old Iceman from the Eastern Alps, Professor James Dickson from the University of Glasgow in the UK and his team have shed some light on the mummy's lifestyle and some of the events leading up to his death. By identifying six different mosses in his alimentary tract, they suggest that the Iceman may have travelled, injured himself and dressed his wounds.

A physicist from The University of Nottingham and a mathematical modeller from The University of Southampton are joining forces in the hope of answering a biological mystery — how do our bodies reject some of the drugs that are sent to cure us?

The £92,300 study is funded by the Medical Research Council through its 'Discipline Hopping' Awards scheme which aims to provoke new collaborations between the physical and life sciences.