With new prenatal tests for Down syndrome on the horizon promising to be safer, more accurate, and available to women earlier in pregnancy, the medical community must come together and engage in dialogue about the impact of existing and expected tests, argues a new leading article published Online First by Archives of Disease in Childhood.

In cancer research, as in most other biomedical sciences, they are playing a key role: living cells, kept in sterile plastic containers with red culture media populating incubators in laboratories around the world. But do researchers always know what is really living in their culture dishes?

A new universal test to predict the risk of someone succumbing to major depression has been developed by UCL (University College London) researchers. The online tool, predictD, could eventually be used by family doctors and local clinics to identify those at risk of depression for whom prevention might be most useful.

In the quest to discover the root of illnesses, patients have to undergo an increasing number of scans and tests that may involve the use of ionising radiation to detect the source and scope of an ailment. However, this practice could also put patients at risk.

Psychologists from the University of Toronto have developed a personality inventory that can predict who will excel in academic and creative domains, even when respondents are trying hard to fake their answers.

It's a technique that has previously been used for oil exploration — now researchers at The University of Nottingham have developed a new, highly sensitive, anti-doping steroid test using hydropyrolysis.

Telefónica I+D, the innovation arm of the Telefónica Group formed to strengthen the Group's competitiveness through technological innovation, has successfully completed tests on the performance and reliability of Nortel [NYSE/TSX: NT] Provider Backbone Bridges and Provider Backbone Transport carrier Ethernet solutions.

When it comes to lab tests, interpreting the clinical importance of an out-of-range result depends on how much experience a physician has, suggests research from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Investigators are presenting their findings at the American Academy of Pediatrics Conference Oct. 26 through Oct. 30 in San Francisco.

Pulse cooximeters have long been used to identify and measure the levels of carbon monoxide (CO) in the blood of patients or firefighters. But new research, presented at CHEST 2007, the 73rd annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), indicates that the device has another use— it can quickly, inexpensively, and noninvasively identify a person who smokes.

Scientists in California are reporting an advance toward rapid testing for pre-natal detection of Down syndrome and other birth defects that involve an abnormal number of chromosomes.

Researchers in Ohio are reporting development of an inexpensive portable test for accurately identifying flammable liquids used in arson — the leading cause of fires and the second leading cause of fire deaths in the United States. Their study is scheduled for the current issue of ACS’ Analytical Chemistry, a semi-monthly journal.

Researchers at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Surrey have developed microchips capable of quickly and cheaply identifying dangerous and drug resistant bacteria in clinical samples, scientists announced today (Wednesday 5 September 2007) at the Society for General Microbiology's 161st Meeting at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which runs from 3-6 September 2007.