Blood levels of resistin, a hormone produced by fat cells, can independently predict an individual's risk of heart failure, cardiologists at Emory University School of Medicine have found.

Their findings were presented Nov. 12 at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions conference in New Orleans.

"This is one of the strongest predictors of new-onset heart failure we've been able to find, and it holds up even when you control for other biomarkers and risk factors including high blood pressure and diabetes," says Javed Butler, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine and director of heart failure research at Emory University School of Medicine.

Evidence that global warming is causing the worldwide declines of amphibians may not be as conclusive as previously thought, according to biologists whose findings contradict two widely held views and could help reveal what is killing the frogs and toads - and aid in their conservation.

Studies suggest that more than 32 percent of amphibian species are threatened and more than 43 percent face a steep decline in numbers.

"We are currently in the midst of a sixth mass extinction event," said Peter Hudson, the Willaman professor of biology at Penn State and co-author of the research study. "And amphibians are bearing the brunt of the problem."

Scientists from the universities of Leicester and Cambridge and from the British Geological Survey have published new research in the journal Geology this month shedding new light on a 500-million year old mystery.

The 500 million year-old fossils of the Burgess Shale in Canada, discovered over a century ago, still provide one of the most remarkable insights into the dawn of animal life. The beautiful silvery fossils show the true nature of the life of that time, just after the "Cambrian explosion" of animal life. 

There's a perception that people who immigrate to the US from China, or whose parents did, the so-called "Chinese-Americans", are all wildly successful and well educated. And they are, unless they are the least educated. They are also confronted by a "glass ceiling," unable to realize full occupational stature and success to match their efforts, according to a new study from the University of Maryland.

The returns on Chinese Americans' investment in education and "sweat equity" are "generally lower than those in the general and non-Hispanic White population," says the report, "A Chinese American Portrait." It adds that, on average, Chinese American professionals in the legal and medical fields earn as much as 44 percent less than their White counterparts.

Indoor and outdoor pollutants can rapidly harm the heart in ways different than outdoor air pollution alone, according to a new study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2008.

The Cardiovascular Sub-study of the Detroit Exposure and Aerosol Research Study (DEARS) is the first study to show that two different aspects of exposure — community wide and personal — have differing adverse health outcomes on the heart and blood vessels.

Dishonesty may be more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously thought. A team of Australian ecologists has discovered that some male fiddler crabs “lie” about their fighting ability by growing claws that look strong and powerful but are in fact weak and puny.

Yes, the authors say, the study is the first direct evidence that crabs “bluff” about their fighting ability and they detail it in Functional Ecology.