The Ecological Intelligent Design strategy of Michael Braungart, an ecological chemist, and Bill McDonough, an architect and designer, applies to both products and buildings. It is touted as a way to achieve better environmental management by simple distinctions instead of big "systems".

EID defines three product types: consumables, service products or durables and unsaleables:

• "Consumables are products that when eaten, used or thrown away literally turn back into dirt and therefore are food for other living organisms."
• "Durables, including cars and television sets, are called service products because what we want as customers is the service the product provides – food, entertainment, or transportation. To eliminate the concept of waste, service products would not be sold, but effectively leased to the user." This approach is also championed in natural capitalism and other sustainable development methods. See service economy for a generic treatment of this strategy of eliminating commodity and product status and treating everything delivered as a set of services.
• "Unsaleables are toxic products that no one should buy, or in many cases, that users do not realize they are buying. These must cease to be produced and sold and those already on the market should be stored in warehouses until we can figure out a safe and non-toxic way to dispose of them." This includes both the toxic products during production, and after final use that are subject to waste disposal.

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Clinical Chemistry current issue

[Editorials] Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers in the Evaluation of Alzheimer Disease
Verbeek, M. M., Olde Rikkert, M. G.M. Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0000

[Editorials] Rapid and Effective Screening for Lysosomal Storage Disease: How Close Are We?
Millington, D. S. Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0000

[Editorials] Requesting and Interpreting Urine Albumin Measurements in the Primary Health Care Setting
McQueen, M. J., Don-Wauchope, A. C. Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0000

[Editorials] Multiple Thiopurine S-Methyltransferase Variation Detection: A Step toward Personalized Medicine
Tsui, N. B. Y. Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0000

[Mini-Review] Utility of Kallikrein-Related Peptidases (KLKs) as Cancer Biomarkers
Emami, N., Diamandis, E. P. Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0000
Background: The human kallikrein-related peptidase (KLK) family consists of 15 highly conserved serine proteases, which are encoded by the largest uninterrupted cluster of protease genes in the human genome. To date, several members of the family have been reported as potential cancer biomarkers. Although primarily known for their biomarker value in prostate, ovarian, and breast cancers, more recent data suggest analogous roles of KLKs in several other cancers, including gastrointestinal, head and neck, lung, and brain malignancies. Among the proposed KLK cancer biomarkers, prostate-specific antigen (also known as KLK3) is the most widely recognized member in urologic oncology. Content: Despite substantial progress in the understanding of the biomarker utility of individual KLKs, the current challenge lies in devising biomarker panels to increase the accuracy of prognosis, prediction of therapy, and diagnosis. To date, multiparametric KLK panels have been proposed for prostate, ovarian, and lung cancers. In addition to their biomarker utility, emerging evidence has revealed a number of critical functional roles for KLKs in the pathogenesis of cancer and their potential use as therapeutic targets. Summary: KLKs have biomarker utility in many cancer types but individually lack sufficient specificity or sensitivity to be used in clinical practice; however, groups of KLKs and other candidate biomarkers may offer improved performance.
[Mini-Review] High-Abundance Polypeptides of the Human Plasma Proteome Comprising the Top 4 Logs of Polypeptide Abundance
Hortin, G. L., Sviridov, D., Anderson, N. L. Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0000
Background: Plasma contains thousands of proteins, but a small number of these proteins comprise the majority of protein molecules and mass. Content: We surveyed proteomic studies to identify candidates for high-abundance polypeptide chains. We searched the literature for information on the plasma concentrations of the most abundant components in healthy adults and for the molecular mass of the mature polypeptide chains in plasma. Because proteomic studies usually dissociate proteins into polypeptide chains or detect short peptide segments of proteins, we summarized data on individual peptide chains for proteins containing multiple subunits or polypeptides. We collected data on about 150 of the most abundant polypeptides in plasma. The abundant polypeptides span approximately the top 4 logs of concentration in plasma, from 650 to 0.06 µmol/L on a molar basis or from about 50 000 to 1 mg/L mass abundance. Conclusions: Data on the concentrations of the high-abundance peptide chains in plasma assist in understanding the composition of plasma and potential approaches for clinical laboratory or proteomic analysis of plasma proteins. Development of more extensive databases regarding the plasma concentrations of proteins in health and diseases would promote diagnostic and proteomic advances.

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