Modern economies require increasing levels of mobility and entrepreneurship which is translated in a strong demand for a robust and secure social environment. Biometrics are considered as a key to tackling this problem and they are now found on every political agenda. Since in our strongly networked society physical identity is increasingly being replaced or supplemented by its digital equivalent, the need for more and better means of identification is constantly increasing. Biometric technologies seem to offer a solution for stronger identification. TheScientificWorldJOURNAL is pleased to announce a forthcoming special issue on this topic, for which authors are invited to submit their work on a range of related topics.

TSW: NNP boasts one of the most auspicious group of brain researchers in publishing. The prestigious Editorial Board look forward to welcoming your article submissions.

Recent articles include:
Presynaptic CRF1 Receptors Mediate the Ethanol Enhancement of GABAergic Transmission in the Mouse Central Amygdala (Open Access) by Zhiguo Nie, Eric P Zorrilla, Samuel G Madamba, Kenner C Rice, Marissa Roberto & George Robert Siggins

Electric Fields and Inflammation: May the Force be with You (Open Access) by Simon B Brown & Ian Dransfield

Cytokines and Myelination in the Central Nervous System (Open Access) by Thomas Schmitz & Li-Jin Chew

Detection of Heteromers Formed by Cannabinoid CB1, Dopamine D2, and Adenosine A2A G-Protein-Coupled Receptors by Combining Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation and Bioluminescence Energy Transfer (Open Access) by Gemma Navarro, Paulina Carriba, Jorge Gandía, Francisco Ciruela, Vicent Casadó, Antoni Cortés, Josefa Mallol, Enric I Canela, Carmen Lluis & Rafael Franco

Septins: New Microtubule Interacting Partners (Open Access) by Rosalind V Silverman-Gavrila & Lorelei B Silverman-Gavrila

Conditioned Place Preference Induced by Licit Drugs: Establishment, Extinction, and Reinstatement by Yu Liu, Bernard Le Foll, Yanli Liu, Xi Wang & Lin Lu

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Raphael J. Witorsch, Ph.D., as Principal Editor for TheScientificWorldJOURNAL’s Terrestrial Environmental Toxicology domain. Dr. Witorsch is an experienced expert on the health effects of a variety of chemical exposures, among these endocrine disruptors, trichloroethylene, polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, ethylene oxide, formaldehyde, environmental tobacco smoke, alcohol, Red Dye No. 3, silicones, oral contraceptives, arsenic-based wood preservatives, statins, anabolic steroids, and steroids in utero. Dr. Witorsch has had considerable experience in determining whether associations between xenobiotic exposures and adverse health effects are causally related. Much of his current interest in endocrine disruption focuses on environmental chemicals interacting with the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Glucocorticoids (such as hydrocortisone) are critical for survival during stress and many other physiological functions including reproduction.

The Special Issue on Cardiac Development is completed with an insightful editorial and introduction by Robert E. Poelmann and Adriana C. Gittenberger-de Groot of the Department of Anatomy and Embryology at Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands.

The outstanding reviews examine development of the cardiovascular system in depth and are freely available on Open Access. For the full table of contents please click here

Links are embedded in the PDF of ‘Cardiac Development’.

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Rudolph E. Tanzi, Ph.D. as Principal Editor for TheScientificWorldJOURNAL’s
Aging domain. Dr. Tanzi has been investigating the molecular genetics of human neurodegenerative disease since 1980 when he participated in the pioneering study at Massachusetts General Hospital that led to location of the Huntington's disease gene, the first disease gene to be localized solely by genetic linkage analysis. Since 1982, Dr. Tanzi has focused his studies on Alzheimer's disease (AD), working on the isolation of several genes that play a key role.

We are delighted that Dr. Richard J.C. Brown of the UK’s National Physical Laboratory has been appointed as Principal Editor for both the Analytical Chemistry and the Environmental Chemistry domains. Dr. Brown has just authored an article on The use and abuse of limits of detection in environmental analytical chemistry which is available on Open Access together with an earlier germane article on Double Anonymity and the Peer Review Process. He is also the author with Dr. Dan J.L. Brett of a research article Electrochemical Study of Biotin-Modified Self-Assembled Monolayers: Recommendations for Robust Preparation. TSWJ and Dr. Brown would welcome new submissions in this area.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Micheal S. Allen Ph.D. as Principal Editor for TheScientificWorldJOURNAL’s . Dr. Allen has worked on a variety of fish/fisheries issues in lake, reservoir, river, and marine environments. His approach utilizes a combination of field collections and population modeling to predict how fish populations respond to fishing regulations and variation in habitat quantity and quality. He is also a great mentor to many students entering the field and we are sure his editorial abilities are enhanced by his recognizing the need for authors to present their findings in a edifying way. An overview of his ongoing research and teaching can be found at: http://fishweb.ifas.ufl.edu/Allen/Allen.htm.

Dr. Allen fills some pretty big waders vacated by the domain’s founding editor Dr. Karl Havens, who remains as one of TheScientificWorldJOURNAL’s pioneering editors and authors. His belief in TSWJ and its mission gave us the opportunity to publish many of his articles including one of the first Hurricane Effects on a Shallow Lake Ecosystem and Its Response to a Controlled Manipulation of Water Level which is now Open Access. We thank Karl for all his hard work and for helping TSWJ find a worthy successor.

Did you miss these seminal papers published onFrontiers in Addiction Research

We have just received from Thomson Scientific the raw data of citations to articles published in TSWJ. As recent editorials and papers have argued, the data are often seriously flawed but initial analysis shows that the average number of times cited articles were cited in the next 2 calendar years are:

2006: 2.59 (range 1-12)
2007: 2.52 (range 1-15)

There is outrage and great sympathy for the families and victims of those who have ingested milk products seemingly intentionally adulterated with melamine. The nephrotoxic effects are discussed in an expert commentary Nephrotoxicity of Mala Fide Melamine: Modern Era Milk Scandal and compelling editorial Acute Renal Failure from Adulteration of Milk with Melamine published in TheScientificWorldJournal. Readers may join the debate by posting comments on each of these insightful observations.

ECSP2: Oslo, Norway, 4-6 September, 2008
The Open Access movement in the age of the Internet has generated major interest in Scientific, Technical & Medical (STM) Publishing worldwide. There are many more choices for authors to make about how, where and what they should publish, and what rights they should retain. What is the best way to communicate your results?

The 2nd European Conference on Scientific Publishing in Biomedicine & Medicine (ECSP2 ) addresses the major issues for a research audience. Its principal aim is to broaden researchers’ understanding and knowledge of the rapid changes in the scientific communication and publishing environment and its direct impact on the research community.

TheScientificWorldJOURNAL is an Open Access compliant publisher and offers authors Open Access at extremely competitive rates. Authors retain copyright.