UC Davis researchers have dated the earliest step in the formation of the solar system -- when microscopic interstellar dust coalesced into mountain-sized chunks of rock -- to 4,568 million years ago, within a range of about 2,080,000 years.

UC Davis postdoctoral researcher Frederic Moynier, Qing-zhu Yin, assistant professor of geology, and graduate student Benjamin Jacobsen established the dates by analyzing a particular type of meteorite, called a carbonaceous chondrite, which represents the oldest material left over from the formation of the solar system.

The physics and timing of this first stage of planet formation are not well understood, Yin said. So, putting time constraints on the process should help guide the physical models that could be used to explain it.

Heart attacks among cigarette smokers may have less to do with tobacco than genetics. A common defect in a gene controlling cholesterol metabolism boosts smokers’ risk of an early heart attack, according to a new study in Annals of Noninvasive Electrocardiology. The findings also show that smokers without the defect normally have heart attacks no sooner than their non-smoking peers.

Although the link between smoking and heart disease was established decades ago, the reasons for that link were unclear. More recent studies suggest smoking interferes with cholesterol metabolism, lowering smokers’ levels of high-density lipoprotein, the good cholesterol that protects against heart-attack risk.

MINNEAPOLIS, December 19 /PRNewswire/ --

Nonin Medical, Inc., a leading innovator of physiological monitoring solutions, received the 2007 Industry Best Practices Award for Product Differentiation Innovation from Frost & Sullivan. Frost & Sullivan recognizes outstanding industry achievements and the Awards are recognized worldwide by the media, the investment community and end-user markets. The global growth consulting company honored Nonin for its pioneering vision that has transformed the vital sign monitoring industry and brought powerful, portable and easy-to-use pulse oximetry technology to more people and applications worldwide.

JEFFERSON, North Carolina, December 19 /PRNewswire/ --

Next Safety, Inc., a leader in developing pulmonary drug delivery devices, today announced verification of a significant breakthrough in pulmonary science that provides high efficacy delivery of drugs to the lungs.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070615/CLF038LOGO )

Advanced optical characterization techniques performed by a third party laboratory showed that 99.8% of the droplets delivered by Next Safety's pulmonary drug delivery devices were between one and three microns in diameter, and the droplets separated sufficiently in space and time to be absorbed into the alveoli of the lungs.

A research team led by Dr. Pierre Moffatt of the Shriners Hospital for Children in Montreal and McGill University’s Department of Human Genetics has uncovered the molecular mechanism by which the protein osteocrin controls bone growth – a discovery that may have important implications for people suffering from bone diseases affecting skeletal growth. The study can be read in the December 14 edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Osteocrin is a small protein produced by the body’s bone-forming cells, or osteoblasts. In this study, mice that were genetically engineered to over-express osteocrin developed hunchbacks and elongated bones. This led Dr.

TORONTO, December 19 /PRNewswire/ -- GuestLogix Inc. (TSX-V: GXI), the leading provider of on-board retail technology and solutions to the airline industry, today announced that Germany's leading no-frills airline, Germanwings of Cologne/Bonn Germany, will be using GuestLogix' Mobile Virtual Store(TM) to process on-board cash, credit and debit card purchases on flights to over 66 destinations in Europe. The deal was secured by GuestLogix' global business partner LSG Sky Chefs, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG (Xetra: WKN 823212).

NEW YORK, December 19 /PRNewswire/ --

-- Record strength concrete poured in New York

-- Dramatic 40% reduction in greenhouse gases

One of the biggest breakthroughs in construction technology --- the innovative iCRETE(TM) system, offering record strength concrete and dramatic environmental benefits is being used to build the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero in New York City. Both the 1,776 foot-tower, as well as the 186-foot inner safety core supporting the superstructure, will be built with iCRETE.

GREENWICH, Conn., HOUSTON and LONDON, December 19 /PRNewswire/ --

A new brain imaging study by researchers in the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania shows that cigarette cravings in smokers who are deprived of nicotine are linked with increased activation in specific regions of the brain.

Using a novel method of measuring brain blood flow developed by John Detre, MD, associate professor of Neurology at Penn, this study is the first to show how abstinence from nicotine produces brain activation patterns that relate to urges to smoke. The findings were published in the December 19, 2007 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience and make an important contribution to understanding smoking urges, a key risk factor for relapse, at the brain level.

Twelve healthy subjects in their 60s and 70s showed a different pattern of brain activations during thirst and satiation than did 10 healthy subjects in their 20s who drank the same amounts and underwent imaging with positron-emission tomography (PET). Dysfunction in activated neural regions could help explain why older adults show the dangerous tendency toward reduced drinking in response to dehydration.

San Antonio and Australian researchers reported the PET study of thirst in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online Early Edition.

The team has conducted a series of studies to catalog brain activations to basic physiologic necessities such as thirst, body temperature regulation, air hunger and pain relief.