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Boston, MA -- If current levels of smoking and biomass and coal fuel use in homes continues, between 2003 and 2033 there will be an estimated 65 million deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 18 million deaths from lung cancer in China, accounting for 19% and 5% of all deaths in that country during this period.

New Rochelle, NY, October 3, 2008—Novel platform technologies and key advances in genomics are rapidly driving the development of molecular diagnostics, reports Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News (GEN). The payoff for successful molecular diagnostic products can be significant as Kalorama Information predicts that this market currently exceeds $3.2 billion worldwide and will reach $5.4 billion in four years, according to an article in the October 1 issue of GEN.

To understand where fat comes from, you have to start with a skinny mouse. By using such a creature, and observing the growth of fat after injections of different kinds of immature cells, scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Rockefeller University have discovered an important fat precursor cell that may in time explain how changes in the numbers of fat cells might increase and lead to obesity.

Using computer models and live cell experiments, biomedical engineers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have discovered more than 100 human protein fragments that can slow or stop the growth of cells that make up new blood vessels.

Reporting online last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers say the findings could lead to developing treatments to fight diseases that depend on the growth of new blood vessels, including cancer, macular degeneration and rheumatoid arthritis.

Baltimore, MD. – Knowing how an investigator is paid for running a research study surprisingly plays a small role in patients' willingness to take part in clinical trials. However, according to a new Johns Hopkins University study more participants are troubled when they are told that the investigator could profit or lose money depending on the results.

U.S. and European mandates for subsidies of cellulosic ethanol production and use have uncertain environmental consequences according to an international group of scientists which includes researchers from the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.

New Rochelle, NY, October 3, 2008—Novel platform technologies and key advances in genomics are rapidly driving the development of molecular diagnostics, reports Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News (GEN). The payoff for successful molecular diagnostic products can be significant as Kalorama Information predicts that this market currently exceeds $3.2 billion worldwide and will reach $5.4 billion in four years, according to an article in the October 1 issue of GEN.

Batavia, IL and Upton, NY—The world's largest computing grid is ready to tackle mankind's biggest data challenge from the earth's most powerful accelerator. Today, three weeks after the first particle beams were injected into the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid combines the power of more than 140 computer centers from 33 countries to analyze and manage more than 15 million gigabytes of LHC data every year.

Some animal species have developed conspicuous traits produced by melanin pigments (for instance, dark manes in lions, black stripes in some birds and fishes). These traits are used as signals during contests for resources and/or contribute to increase the mating opportunities. However, the efficiency of these traits as signals depends on the fact that they transmit honest information about the quality of the bearer. This would be only assured by the fact that producing or maintaining the signal inevitability implies a cost.

RESTON, Va.—Coinciding with the observance of Nuclear Medicine Week (October 5 to 11) and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October), SNM released today a new fact sheet highlighting recent developments in molecular imaging technologies that are dramatically improving the ways in which breast cancer is diagnosed and treated.

INDIANAPOLIS – Despite performing equally to their male peers in the classroom and the clinic, female medical students consistently report decreased self-confidence and increased anxiety, particularly over issues related to their competency. A new study published in the September 2008 issue of Patient Education and Counseling found that female medical students also appeared less confident to patients.

The latest breakthrough in a 120 year-old debate on the evolution of the bird wing was published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, October 3, by Alexander Vargas and colleagues at Yale University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.

(Boston) – Researchers from Boston Medical Center have recently found that as household energy insecurity increases, the odds of infants and toddlers experiencing food insecurity, negative health, hospitalizations and developmental risks also increases. A household experiences energy insecurity when it lacks consistent access to the amount or the kind of energy needed for a healthy and safe life. These findings appear in the Vol. 122, No. 4, October 2008, issue of the journal Pediatrics.

More money and effort needs to be directed to understanding the causes and treatment of mental disorders to ensure improvements in the health of the community and the one in five people that experience mental illness in any one year.

Experts from AFFIRM – The Australia Foundation for Mental Health Research and the ANU Centre for Mental Health Research (CMHR) said that Mental Health Week, which begins on Sunday, is an opportunity for the community to support research on an illness which impacts many Australians.

German athlete Wojtek Czyz, running with a space-tech enhanced prosthetic leg, set a new world record at the Paralympics 2008 in Beijing, reaching an amazing 6.50 m and beating the previous world record by 27 cm.