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Although a large number of children's hospitals have developed or are developing policies regarding organ donation after cardiac death, there is considerable variation among policies, including the criteria for declaring death, according to a study in the May 13 issue of JAMA.

If two people have the same genetic disease, why would one person go blind in childhood but the other later in life or not at all? For a group of genetic diseases — so-called ciliary diseases that include Bardet-Biedl syndrome, Meckel-Gruber syndrome, and Joubert syndrome — the answer lies in one gene that is already linked to two of these diseases and also seems to increase the risk of progressive blindness in patients with other ciliary diseases. The findings are published online this week at Nature Genetics.

Edmonton—The discovery of a gruesome feeding frenzy that played out 73 million years ago in northwestern Alberta may also lead to the discovery of new dinosaur species in northwestern Alberta.

University of Alberta student Tetsuto Miyashita and Frederico Fanti, a paleontology graduate student from Italy, made the discovery near Grande Prairie, 450 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers are proposing a new system that would warn of an impending pandemic before the first case of disease emerged in a given population by detecting subtle signals in human behavior.

"The goal is a public information and awareness system for pandemic with the same level of credibility, timeliness and visibility as storm-warning icons presented on television screens," said Barrett Caldwell, a Purdue University associate professor of industrial engineering.

Edmonton—The discovery of a gruesome feeding frenzy that played out 73 million years ago in northwestern Alberta may also lead to the discovery of new dinosaur species in northwestern Alberta.

University of Alberta student Tetsuto Miyashita and Frederico Fanti, a paleontology graduate student from Italy, made the discovery near Grande Prairie, 450 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

HOUSTON - (May 13, 2009) – Arthropods and mollusks are Nature's true bluebloods – thanks to hemocyanin, an oxygen-carrying large protein complex, which can even be turned into the enzymatically active chemical phenoloxidase.

Scientists have long known that members of the phenoloxidase family are involved in skin and hair coloring. When they are mutated, they can cause albinism – the loss of coloring in skin and hair. Produced over abundantly, they are associated with the deadly skin cancer melanoma.

Montreal, May 12, 2009 — A new study has sounded the alarm that the majority of Canadian adults are inactive over their lifespan and don't exercise enough during their leisure time. Published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, the study is unique in that it collected information over two decades from the 1981 Canada Fitness Survey, the 1988 Campbell's Survey of Well-Being and from the 2002/4 Physical Activity Longitudinal Study of the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute.

May 12, 2009 — (BRONX, NY) — Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered how a gene crucial in triggering the spread of breast cancer is turned on and off. The findings could help predict whether breast tumors will metastasize and also reveal potential drug targets for preventing metastasis. The study will appear in the May 20th online edition of the Journal of Cell Science.

Human monoclonal antibodies effective against bird and seasonal flu viruses

CHICAGO – May 11, 2009 – Dental implants are frequently used as a replacement for missing teeth in order to restore the patient's tooth function and appearance. Previous research demonstrates that the placement of a dental implant disrupts the host tissue in the area of the implant, so practitioners often focus their treatment planning to carefully maintain the patient's bone and gum tissue surrounding the implant.

Rare traits persist in a population because predators detect common forms of prey more easily. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Ecology found that birds will target salamanders that look like the majority – even reversing their behavior in response to alterations in the ratio of a distinguishing trait.

When we choose to spend $10 more than usual for a bottle of wine, we'll have $10 less to spend on an appetizer, a dessert, or ten songs on iTunes. That's known as the "opportunity cost" of that choice. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research looks at the benefit of drawing consumers' attention to opportunity costs.

Let's say you planned to buy a new car at the end of the year. But then your car conks out and suddenly you need to make a purchase. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research says you'll use different criteria to evaluate vehicles in that situation than you would if you planned to buy a car immediately but then had to postpone the purchase.

Choosing among products can be more difficult if you tend to think more about the process of using an item rather than the outcome of the purchase, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.

"Marketers often try to tempt consumers to buy their products by encouraging them to imagine themselves using the product," write authors Debora Viana Thompson (Georgetown University), Rebecca W. Hamilton (University of Maryland, College Park), and Petia K. Petrova (Dartmouth College). But this "process-oriented" thinking can lead to confusion.

When consumers find themselves in stores with narrow aisles, they react in a surprising way: they seek variety. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, confined spaces might help people diversify their choices.

Authors Jonathan Levav (Columbia University) and Rui (Juliet) Zhu (University of British Columbia, Vancouver) built on prior research on "psychological reactance," behaviors consumers employ to attempt to regain their freedom in situations where they perceive it to be threatened.