THOMSON SCIENTIFIC IDENTIFIES NEW HOT AREAS OF RESEARCH
Thomson Scientific Identifies New Hot Areas of Research:The Effects of Marine Toxins on Human Health and Use of High-Dose Therapy to Treat Bone Marrow Cancer
Philadelphia, PA USA-London UK - Nov. 28, 2005 — Health effects on humans from Florida red tides and related marine toxins, and high-dose therapy treatments of bone marrow cancer are up-and-coming areas of research, according to the Thomson Scientific Essential Science IndicatorsSM (ESI) Special Topics Website. The site provides citation analyses and commentary for research areas that have experienced notable recent advances, or are of special current interest. Thomson Scientific is a business of The Thomson Corporation (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).
Every two months, Thomson Scientific specialists identify emerging and fast-breaking “Research Fronts”—areas of scientific research that gain particular attention and “Hot and Fast-Breaking Papers”—individual papers that achieve a rate of citations that is markedly higher than papers of comparable type and age.
Below are some highlights from the October/November 2005 ESI Special Topics Website content:
Emerging Research Front — Measuring a Red Tide’s Effects
on Humans
Multiple studies have shown that when marine toxins are ingested, most commonly
through eating affected shellfish, they cause illness in humans such as neurotoxic
shellfish poisoning (NSP). In a highly cited paper that leads October’s
Emerging Research Front, co-author Lorraine C. Backer’s research group
addresses in depth the health effects, such as NSP, caused from environmental
exposure to marine toxins, or brevetoxins, associated with red tides, or harmful
algal bloomings. To read the complete interview with this author, visit: www.esi-topics.com/erf/2005/october05-LorraineCBacker.html
Fast-moving Front — The Effects of High-dose Therapy on Myeloma
Identified as a November “Fast-Moving Front,” recent studies on
the effects of high-dose therapy to treat multiple myeloma, a cancer of the
plasma cells, have garnered significant attention from the scientific community.
One such highly cited paper, “Results of high-dose therapy for 1,000
patients with multiple myeloma: durable complete remissions and superior survival
in the absence of chromosome 13 abnormalities” leads this fast-moving
front. Co-author Dr. Bart Barlogie explains the impact of his group’s
research in clinical medicine and, in particular, the importance of “knowing
the enemy.” To read the complete interview with this author, visit: www.esi-topics.com/fmf/2003/may03-BartBarlogie.html
Hot Paper — Predicting Climate Changes to Protect the Economy
“There is an increasing demand for climate predictions at different time
scales,” according to Francisco J. Doblas-Reyes and Tim N. Palmer, co-authors
of “Development of a European multimodel ensemble system for seasonal-to-interannual
prediction.” “Examples of this are monthly forecasts for emergency
plans to reduce the impact of warm or cold spells, seasonal forecasts to cope
with the remote effects caused by El Nino or La Nina events,” and many
more. Reyes and Palmer’s paper—November’s Geosciences “Hot
Paper”—describes a methodology to create skillful forecasts of seasonal
climate and climate-related variables. To read the complete interview with this
author, visit: www.esi-topics.com/fbp/2005/october05-Doblas-Reyes.html
Fast Breaking Paper — “Bringing Order” to the Viral
Universe
“In the past, viruses have been seen as complicated things placed apart
from other organisms by the view that they are not living,” said the authors
of October’s Molecular Biology and Genetics Fast Breaking Paper, “Does
common architecture reveal a viral lineage spanning all three domains of life?”
“Historically, viruses have often been grouped and studied in terms of
disease. These factors make viruses somehow ‘strange’ and contribute
to the difficulty of placing them in an evolutionary context.” The authors,
Roger M. Burnett, Ph.D., Stacy D. Benson, Ph.D., Jaana K.H. Bamford, Ph.D.,
and Dennis H. Bamford, Ph.D., feel their paper has received significant attention
because it promises to bring “order” to the viral universe.
To read the complete interview with these authors, visit: www.esi-topics.com/fbp/2005/october05-RogerMBurnett.html
For more information on the Research Fronts Methodology, visit
www.esi-topics.com/RFmethodology.html
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