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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