Why are some species of plants and animals favored by natural selection?   According to a UC Riverside-led research team, the answer lies in the rate of metabolism of a species – how fast a species consumes energy, per unit mass, per unit time.  The researchers studied 3006 species, the largest number of species ever analyzed in a single study. The species list encompasses much of the range of biological diversity on Earth – from bacteria to elephants, and algae to sapling trees. 

To the researchers' surprise, they found the mean metabolic rate of the species at rest fell on a narrow range of values – 0.3 to 9 Watts per kilogram. 

CALGARY, Canada, November 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (TSX: ONC, NASDAQ: ONCY) announced today that it has achieved positive interim results in its U.K. combination REOLYSIN(R) and docetaxel clinical trial for patients with advanced cancers.

Prof. Hardev Pandha of the Royal Surrey Hospital, U.K., presented the results at the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer (iSBTC) annual meeting on November 1, 2008. The meeting was held in San Diego, California from October 31 - November 2, 2008.

Fourteen patients have been treated to date in the dose escalation portion of the trial and eleven patients are evaluable for response. The detailed results are summarized in the following table:

UTRECHT, Netherlands, November 3 /PRNewswire/ --

- Sara Lee to Source 26,500 Tons of Sustainable Coffee in 2009 - Tenfold Increase in Five Years, 30% Increase Compared to This Calendar Year

Sara Lee further increases its commitment to sustainable coffee as the company will buy 26,500 tons of certified coffee beans in 2009. That is approximately 30% more than in 2008 and a tenfold increase since the company formalised its sustainable sourcing commitment five years ago. Sara Lee is the world's third largest coffee roaster and sells its coffee blends under flagship brands such as Douwe Egberts, Senseo, Merrild, Maison du Café and Marcilla.

CALGARY, Canada, November 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (TSX: ONC, NASDAQ: ONCY) announced today that it has achieved positive interim results in its Phase I and Phase II U.K. combination REOLYSIN(R) and paclitaxel/carboplatin clinical trials for patients with advanced cancers. The principal investigator for the trial is Dr. Kevin Harrington of The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.

The results were presented at the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer (iSBTC) annual meeting on November 1, 2008. The meeting was held in San Diego, California from October 31 - November 2, 2008.

MUNICH and GRASBRUNN, Germany, November 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Berlin-based, independent consumer association Stiftung Warentest relies on the payment platform provided by Wirecard AG, one of the leading international providers of electronic payment and risk management solutions. With immediate effect, the Munich-based technology group will handle the entire processing of credit card payments at http://www.test.de.

Not all enzymes that are assumed to require an RNA component in order to function do actually contain RNA, according to a study  that focused on the enzyme RNase P.   Contrary to accepted scientific theory, the project team from Vienna has long believed that certain forms of RNase P do not contain any RNA. They say they have now succeeded in proving their point through a series of experiments and the results are published today in the journal CELL.

Although ribozymes are not quite living fossils, these enzymes, which function only in the presence of RNA, hail from a long gone age when biochemical processes were still controlled by RNA molecules. It was only later that proteins came onto the molecular scene.

Harvesting energy from the sun makes terrific sense until you factor in the economics of solar technology efficiency and the environmental impact of manufacturing panels and adding new power lines.  But solar power is clearly the path to future energy independence once the obstacles have been overcome.  

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute say they have made progress overcoming two of the major efficiency hurdles;  the amount of sunlight captured by solar panels and the inability of solar panels to absorb the entire solar spectrum from nearly any angle.

A new University of Colorado at Boulder study indicates that not only do human hands harbor far higher numbers of bacteria species than previously believed, women have far more kinds of microbes on their palms than men.  The results help understand human bacteria and should help establish a "healthy baseline" to detect microbial community differences on individuals that are associated with a wide variety of human diseases, said CU-Boulder ecology and evolutionary biology assistant professor Noah Fierer, lead study author.

University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers have discovered a gene that helps control the secretion of acid in the stomach—information that could one day aid scientists in creating more efficient treatment options for conditions such as acid reflux or peptic ulcers.

This data is published in the Nov. 3 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

UC professor Manoocher Soleimani, MD, and colleagues found that when transporter Slc26a9—the gene responsible for the production of chloride in the stomach—is eliminated from the mouse model's system, acid secretion in the stomach stops.

Gastric acid, comprised mainly of hydrochloric acid (HCL), is the main secretion in the stomach and helps the body to break down and digest food. 

In August 2005, The Lancet published an editorial entitled 'The End of Homeopathy', prompted by a review comparing clinical trials of homeopathy with trials of conventional medicine. The conclusion that homeopathic medicines are just placebo was based on 6 clinical trials of conventional medicine and 8 studies of homeopathy but did not reveal the identity of those trials. The review was criticized by some for its opacity as it gave no indication of which trials were analyzed and the various assumptions made about the data.