Better regulation is urgently needed for genetic tests, particularly those marketed directly to the public, argue researchers in this week’s BMJ.

In the past 18 months, studies have identified dozens of inherited DNA variations associated with common conditions such as heart attacks, diabetes and asthma, write Professor David Melzer and colleagues

In many cases, these findings provide insight on the cause of the disease, but clinical applications are still mostly unclear. Much work is now needed to identify and evaluate each potential clinical application. Yet, although the work of translating discovery into evidence based practice is just beginning, several companies have already marketed tests, many directly to the public.

If you read the medical news lately you may have seen a headline title Skeleton May Show Ancient Brain Surgery. This article was about an 1800 year old skeleton found in Veria, Greece. The skeleton was of a woman of about 25 years of age that suffered severe head trauma and underwent cranial surgery, unfortunately evidence shows that she did not survive.

There is an interesting history of skull surgery, known as trepanation, which comes from the Greek word trypanon, meaning auger or borer. Cranial trepanation has caught the interest of surgeons and archeologist since the 1860's, when it was first realized that ancient humans had scraped or cut holes in the skulls of living persons in France and Peru.

Trepanation is serious enough surgical procedure in this day and age, could this procedure have taken place as a routine operation as long ago as 2000 BC? We do have a historical record of thousands of skulls with evidence of this surgery. Sometimes historical records suggest a reality that we find hard to accept.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark and REDWOOD CITY, California, March 14 /PRNewswire/ --

- Summary: Genmab's Acquisition of PDL BioPharma's Antibody Manufacturing Facility has Closed.

Genmab A/S (OMX: GEN) and PDL BioPharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: PDLI) today announced the closing of the previously announced transaction under which Genmab has acquired PDL's antibody manufacturing facility located in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, USA for USD 240 million in cash. The transaction was first announced on February 21, 2008.

About Genmab A/S

The news keeps coming in, and examples of how real science works (as opposed to make believe creationism or so-called intelligent design) are beginning to get so numerous that it is hard to imagine people capable of reading newspaper articles are still capable of denying evolution. Last month, for instance, a spectacular discovery was published in Nature magazine, a finding that has resolved a long-standing question about the evolution of bats. Darwin listed the problem as one of the great mysteries of evolution he was not able to address in “The Origin of Species”: how did bats originate from terrestrial ancestors? The modern version of the conundrum hinged, until last month, on whether flight or echolocation (the amazing ability of bats to generate a sonar-like pulse to orient themselves and locate preys) came first. For decades biologists have been arguing in favor of either the flight-first or the echolocation-first hypothesis.

FAIRFIELD, New Jersey, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Unigene Laboratories, Inc. (OTCBB: UGNE) announced that it did not issue, authorize or approve the press release titled "Stonegate Report About Unigene Laboratories Inc.", which was released yesterday. Pursuant to the Company's policies and procedures, Unigene does not endorse, confirm, validate or otherwise comment on reports issued by analysts and unrelated third parties. Any opinions, estimates or forecasts regarding Unigene's performance made by analysts or other third parties are theirs alone and do not represent the opinions, estimates, forecasts or predictions of Unigene or its management.

About Unigene

The aim of the ‘Symbiotic Evolutionary Robot Organisms’ project, or ‘Symbrion’, is to understand the principles that govern how robots can form themselves into a single artificial organism. The technique enables them to interact collectively with the physical world, and might ultimately be applied to real-world tasks such as rescuing earthquake victims.

‘Multi-robot organisms’ are made up of large swarms of individual robots, each slightly larger than a sugar cube, which work together to form a single artificial life-form. The organisms are able to share information and energy with one another, and to manage their own hardware and software.

LONDON, March 13 /PRNewswire/ --

The 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pumped an average 32.33 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil in February, an 80,000 b/d increase on January levels, according to a Platts (http://www.platts.com/) survey of OPEC and oil industry officials just released.

However, production from the 12 countries, excluding Iraq, bound by output allocations fell to 29.93 million b/d in February from 29.96 million b/d in January, the survey showed.

North American buildings release more than 2,200 megatons of CO2 into the atmosphere - 35 percent of the continent’s total - according to a new report issued by the trinational Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). The report says rapid market uptake of energy-saving technologies could result in over 1,700 fewer megatons of CO2 emissions by 2030 - a cut nearly equal to the CO2 emitted by the entire US transportation sector in 2000.

Promoting the green design, construction, renovation and operation of advanced energy-saving buildings could cut North American greenhouse gas emissions more deeply and cheaply than any other available measure, the report advises.

LEUVEN, Belgium, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- ThromboGenics NV (Euronext Brussels: THR), a biotechnology company focused on vascular diseases, today announces a business update and its financial results for the twelve month period ending 31 December 2007. During this period, ThromboGenics has raised additional funds to invest in its development pipeline and has continued to make good progress with its clinical programs.

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