News Release

ACS News Service Weekly PressPac -- Nov. 1, 2006

Peer-Reviewed Publication

American Chemical Society

PressPac -- Nov. 1, 2006

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Credit: American Chemical Society.

Here is the latest American Chemical Society (ACS) News Service Weekly press package (PressPac) with reports selected from 35 major peer-reviewed journals and Chemical & Engineering News.

In This Edition:

  • Study questions squeaky-clean reputation of service industries in climate change
  • Preventing costly missteps in drug development
  • Unlocking the secrets of slowly digestible starch
  • Lighting the way toward understanding nitric oxide's role inside living cells
  • Dealing with research misconduct
  • Journalists' Resources: Landmarks, news sources, and more

The information in this press package is intended for your personal use in news gathering and reporting and should not be distributed to others. Anyone using advance ACS News Service Weekly Press Package information for stocks or securities dealing may be guilty of insider trading under the federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

To download manuscripts and images, please click on the links provided with each item. Please cite the individual journal, or the American Chemical Society, as the source of this information.


ARTICLE #1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Study questions squeaky-clean reputation of service industries in climate change
Environmental Science & Technology

Service industries like banking, health care, and telecommunications may have a squeaky-clean reputation when it comes to industrial pollution, but they are responsible for amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that actually are comparable to those of traditional manufacturing industries, a new study has found.

The University of Minnesota's Sangwon Suh analyzed 44 GHGs among about 500 product and service groups throughout the United States economy, which is undergoing a rapid transformation from traditional industrial manufacturing to services. The study is scheduled for publication in the November 1 issue of the ACS's Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.

Suh found that service industries directly produce less than 5 percent of GHG emissions by the U. S. industries. However, these service industries are heavy consumers of electricity, natural gas, transportation, and manufactured goods that involve GHG emissions. Consumption of services is responsible for over one-third of all GHG emissions in the United States--without even counting utilities and transportation services, the study found.

The findings, Suh said, mean that a shift to a services-based economy will not automatically reduce absolute emissions of GHGs given the dependence of services on GHG producing industries.

ARTICLE #1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Are Services Better for Climate Change?"

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http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/esthag/asap/pdf/es0609351.pdf

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CONTACT:
Sangwon Suh, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota
Saint Paul, MN
Phone: 612-624-5307
Fax: 612-625-6286
Email: sangwon@umn.edu


ARTICLE #2 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Preventing costly missteps in drug development
Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling

The script for one of the most dreaded scenarios in new drug development reads like this: Company A sinks several hundred million dollars into putting a new drug onto pharmacy shelves. Only then do serious side effects appear, and force withdrawal of that drug from the market.

Researchers in India now are reporting development of a new and more accurate method for predicting toxicity in the very early stages of drug development. Nagasuma R. Chandra and colleagues describe the computer technique in the November/December issue of the ACS's bi-monthly Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling. They also report on its use in predicting with high accuracy one form of toxicity - a heart rhythm disorder that forced withdrawal of the popular antihistamine terfenadine (Seldane).

The technique identifies patterns in the substructure of a drug's molecular structure that can raise red flags over hidden toxicity. "Such screening saves a lot of time, effort, and money and helps in better planning and focusing of the available resources for drug discovery," they write.

ARTICLE #2 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE "Substructure-Based Support Vector Machine Classifiers for Prediction of Adverse Effects in Diverse Classes of Drugs"

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http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/jcisd8/asap/pdf/ci060128l.pdf

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CONTACT:
Nagasuma Chandra, Ph.D.
Indian Institute of Science
Bangalore, India
Phone: 91-80-23601409
Fax: 91-80-2300551
Email: nchandra@serc.iisc.ernet.in

V. Sridhar, Ph.D.
Satyam Computers Limited, Applied Research group
Indian Institute of Science campus
Bangalore, India
E-mail: sridhar@satyam.com


ARTICLE #3 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Unlocking the secrets of slowly digestible starch
Biomacromolecules

Scientists have begun to unlock the secrets of starches - knowledge that could pave the way for a new generation of more healthful carbohydrates that do not cause spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels. Those are among the consequences of eating rapidly digestible starch (RDS), perhaps best known in a diet-conscious world as starch in foods such as potatoes and crackers that have a high glycemic index (GI).

GI is a measure of how quickly the body converts starch into glucose, which triggers release of insulin in the body. Long-term consumption of high-glycemic foods has been linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity, Bruce R. Hamaker and colleagues note.

In two reports scheduled for the November 13 issue of the ACS bi-monthly journal Biomacromolecules, they describe the first studies on the structural basis for the slow digestion property of certain starches in raw cereal grains. These slowly digestible starches (SDS) have a specific internal structure that delays digestion and conversion into glucose. The research is a fundamental advance toward eventually improving food quality with higher amounts of SDS, the scientists indicate.

ARTICLE #3a FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Structural Basis for the Slow Digestion Property of Native Cereal Starches"

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http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/bomaf6/asap/html/bm060343a.html

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http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/bomaf6/asap/pdf/bm060343a.pdf

ARTICLE #3b FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE "Slow Digestion Property of Native Cereal Starches"

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http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/bomaf6/asap/pdf/bm060342i.pdf

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CONTACT:
Bruce R. Hamaker, Ph.D.
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana
Phone: 765-494-5668
Fax: 765-494-7953
Email: hamakerb@purdue.edu


ARTICLE #4 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lighting the way toward understanding NO's role inside living cells
Accounts of Chemical Research

Eavesdropping on the behavior of nitric oxide (NO) in parts of the body ranging from the penis to the brain is important to solving the mysteries of how this small molecule plays such a big role in conditions ranging from male sexual function to communication among nerves.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Stephen J. Lippard and Mi Hee Lim, are describing the chemical strategy they used to discover a way to monitor NO as it forms and works inside living cells. Their report is scheduled for the November 21 issue of the monthly ACS journal, Accounts of Chemical Research.

Catching glimpses of NO at work has eluded scientists since the 1990s, when researchers began uncovering NO's far-ranging roles in regulating blood pressure, immunity, bone mass and other body functions. Lippard and Lim previously developed a bright fluorescent sensor that illuminates in the presence of NO. Visible under the fluorescent microscope, the sensor will help scientists see where and when NO is produced in cells, and perhaps uncover the chemical signals that trigger production.

The research demonstrates that the sensor technology is an "appropriate and practical" way of detecting NO in living cells, the researchers state. "We anticipate significant advances in this new area in the near future," they add.

ARTICLE #4 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE "Metal-Based Turn-On Fluorescent Probes for Sensing Nitric Oxide"

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http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/achre4/asap/pdf/ar950149t.pdf

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http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/achre4/asap/html/ar950149t.html

CONTACT:
Stephen J. Lippard, Ph.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Phone: 617-253-1892
Fax: 617-258-8150
Email: lippard@mit.edu


ARTICLE #5 EMBARGOED FOR 9:00 A.M. EASTERN TIME NOV. 6
Dealing with research misconduct
Chemical & Engineering News

How do federal agencies that fund scientific research handle fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism allegations? Although the federal government has a standardized definition of research misconduct, individual agencies have developed their own policies to handle misconduct cases, according to an article in the Nov. 6 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, the ACS' weekly newsmagazine.

Written by associate editor Susan R. Morrissey, the article describes the approaches used by four major science funding agencies -- the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U. S. Department of Defense (DOD), and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Morrissey explains that those agencies have ultimate oversight authority in misconduct cases under a government-wide policy developed by the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy.

Under that policy, however, universities and other research organizations that receive federal grants have primary responsibility to prevent and investigate misconduct and take appropriate disciplinary action. The article explains the differences in agency processes and procedures. While other agencies assign misconduct cases to their Office of the Inspector General (an independent oversight body within the agency), for instance, NIH sends its misconduct cases to the Office of Research Integrity in NIH's parent agency, the U. S. Department of Health & Human Services.

ARTICLE #5 EMBARGOED FOR 9:00 A.M. EASTERN TIME NOV. 6
"Dealing With Research Misconduct"

FOR FULL TEXT, CONTACT:
Michael Bernstein
ACS News Service
Email: m_bernstein@acs.org
Phone: 202-872-6042
Fax: 202-872-4370


Journalists' Resource: National Historic Chemical Landmarks

America came of age as a nation in the late 1700s--the same time chemistry came of age as a science. Since then, chemists played key roles in expanding the frontiers of knowledge, advancing medicine and industry, and creating products from aspirin to zippers. The ACS's National Historic Chemical Landmarks program tells those stories. The most recent unfolded Oct. 25, when ACS designated Procter & Gamble's development of Tide® --"the washing miracle" synthetic detergent -- a National Historic Chemical Landmark in a special ceremony in Cincinnati, Ohio. Visit the Landmarks web site (http://acswebcontent.acs.org/landmarks/) with valuable resources for feature stories and background.

National Meeting Resources A treasure trove of news sources, background material, and story ideas is available from the ACS's latest National Meeting. Reporters can search and view abstracts of 10,000 scientific presentations, 600 non-technical summaries of those presentations and browse press releases online.

INDEX OF PRESS RELEASES
http://oasys.acs.org/acs/232nm/newsservice/tableofcontents.cgi?action=final

VIEW NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARIES
http://oasys.acs.org/acs/232nm/newsservice/viewpressrelease.cgi

GENERAL ACS NATIONAL MEETING INFORMATION
http://chemistry.org/meetings/sanfrancisco2006

ABSTRACTS FROM THE TECHNICAL PROGRAM
http://oasys2.confex.com/acs/232nm/techprogram/


ACS News Service Weblog
Science, September & San Francisco

Visit the ACS News Service's National Meeting Weblog (http://acsnewsservice.typepad.com/sf_meeting/) for reports from scientific sessions and other events at the ACS National Meeting in San Francisco.

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ACS NEWS SERVICE
Weekly PressPac - ALL CONTENT IS FOR IMMEDIATE USE EXCEPT ARTICLE #5 (EMBARGOED FOR 9 A.M., EASTERN TIME, NOV. 6, 2006)

PressPac Archive: http://www.chemistry.org/news/presspac.html

The American Chemical Society (ACS) News Service PressPac is your access point for discoveries in fields ranging from astronomy to zoology, which are reported in the 35 peer-reviewed journals of the American Chemical Society. With more than 158,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society. Chemistry is the science that transforms lives, and these news alerts are from the leading edge of that science at ACS headquarters.

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