A study published  this month in Clinical Immunology, the official journal of the Clinical Immunology Society (CIS), describes a new method that facilitates the induction of a specific type of immune suppressive cells, called 'regulatory T cells' for therapeutic use. These immune suppressive cells show great potential for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and improving transplantation outcomes.

Wouldn't it be great to know if your three-year-old has the potential to be a soccer star or a top marathon runner? One genetic testing company is offering to tell you just that, so that all of you obsessive, controlling parents can get your toddlers in the proper training program right from the start.

I'm sure most of you are probably cringing at the thought of using genetics to decide what sort of future you're going to push your kid into before she can even brush her own teeth. But even if you are a parent who sees nothing wrong using a little prior information to get a head start on your kid's bright athletic career, DON'T DO IT! Leaving ethical arguments aside, there are good reasons to stay away from these tests: they are not good predictors of athletic performance.

Biologists at The University of Nottingham and University College Dublin have announced a major breakthrough in our understanding of the sex life of a microscopic fungus which is a major cause of death in immune deficient patients and also a cause of severe asthma.

The discovery of a sexual cycle in the fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus is highly significant in understanding the biology and evolution of the species and will shed new light on its ability to adapt to new environments and its resistance to antifungal drugs. It is hoped the results of this research will lead to new ways of controlling this deadly disease and improved treatments for patients infected with it.

A super-efficient system that has the potential to power, heat and cool homes across the UK is being developed at Newcastle University.

It works by burning vegetable oil to power a generator and provide electricity for the home. The waste heat from this process is then used to provide heating and hot water and is also converted to cool a fridge.

At each step, the waste heat that is produced from engine gases and cooling is used elsewhere to recover the maximum amount of energy from the system.

Earth's present day greenhouse scourge, carbon dioxide, may have played a vital role in helping ancient Earth to escape from complete glaciation, say scientists in a paper published online today.

In their review for Nature Geoscience, UK scientists claim that the Earth never froze over completely during the Cryogenian Period, about 840 to 635 million years ago.

This is contrary to the Snowball Earth hypothesis, which envisages a fully frozen Earth that was locked in ice for many millions of years as a result of a runaway chain reaction that caused the planet to cool.

Keeping tropical rain forests intact is a better way to combat climate change than replacing them with biofuel plantations, according to a new study published in Conservation Biology.

The study reveals that it would take at least 75 years for the carbon emissions saved through the use of biofuels to compensate for the carbon lost through forest conversion. And if the original habitat was carbon-rich peatland, the carbon balance would take more than 600 years. On the other hand, planting biofuels on degraded Imperata grasslands instead of tropical rain forests would lead to a net removal of carbon in 10 years, the authors found.

LONDON, December 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The official opening of the world's first purpose built ePassport research and production facility took place on 26th November. The dedicated, state of the art manufacturing plant has been built on a brown-field site by De La Rue Identity Systems in the Republic of Malta. The new 2,600 square metres building lies adjacent to De La Rue Currency's banknote printing facility which is the largest commercial banknote factory in the world. The opening of the ePassport factory by Prime Minister Dr. Lawrence Gonzi, seals over thirty years of first-class manufacturing operations for De La Rue in Malta.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081201/330603 )

HONOLULU, December 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Food Pantry, Ltd a Hawaii based retailer operating 100+ stores in diverse retail formats targeting the traveling public, announced selecting ARC Retail Business Intelligence 5.8 (http://www.arc-bi.com/), a retail performance management solution from Manthan Systems (http://www.manthansystems.com/), for optimizing their business decisions and identifying opportunities to improve profitability. The deployment is expected to start in December 2008 and expected to be complete in a quick time of 18 weeks.

BOLZANO, Italy, December 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Health Robotics and Devon International Group (DIG) today announced their plans to kick-off the launch of the i.v.STATION(TM) Robot with a prototype demonstration at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Meeting in Orlando, Florida [Booth 1307], and the simultaneous start of 12 i.v.STATION(TM) Beta Installations for market validation and testing around the world.