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The authors argue that there have been few systematic attempts to determine the effectiveness of community engagement in research.

Most research into genomics and other related biotechnologies is concerned with the priorities of industrialized nations, and yet a limited number of projects have shown that these technologies could help improve health in developing countries. To encourage the successful application of biotechnology to global health, we carried out a study in which we asked an international group of eminent scientists with expertise in global health issues to identify the top ten biotechnologies for improving health in developing countries. The results offer concrete guidance to those in a position to influence the direction of research and development, and challenge common assumptions about the relevance and affordability of biotechnology for developing countries.

Quantum dots (QDs), an important class of emerging nanomaterial, are widely anticipated to find application in many consumer and clinical products in the near future. Premarket regulatory scrutiny is, thus, an issue gaining considerable attention. Previous review papers have focused primarily on the toxicity of QDs. From the point of view of product regulation, however, parameters that determine exposure (e.g., dosage, transformation, transportation, and persistence) are just as important as inherent toxicity. We have structured our review paper according to regulatory risk assessment practices, in order to improve the utility of existing knowledge in a regulatory context. Herein, we summarize the state of academic knowledge on QDs pertaining not only to toxicity, but also their physicochemical properties, and their biological and environmental fate. We conclude this review with recommendations on how to tailor future research efforts to address the specific needs of regulators.

In the third article of a five-part series providing a global perspective on integrating mental health, Victoria Ngo and colleagues discuss the benefits and requirements of collaborative care models, where non-communicable disease and mental health care are integrated and provided in the primary care setting. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

The SARS epidemic showed how easy it is for infectious diseases to spread round the world. Ethical as well as clinical issues need to be resolved to improve the response to the next epidemicThe outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the Toronto area earlier this year forced medical and government workers to make hard choices, often with limited information and short deadlines. Healthcare providers were on the firing line, and were the people most affected by the disease. Decision makers had to balance individual freedoms against the common good, fear for personal safety against the duty to treat sick people, and economic losses against the need to contain the spread of a deadly disease. Such decisions have to be guided by both scientific knowledge and ethical considerations. The SARS outbreak showed that Canadian society was not fully prepared to deal with the ethical issues. Evaluating ethical issuesWe formed a working group to identify the key ethical issues and values most important for an analysis of ethical dimensions of the SARS epidemic. The final list of issues and values was agreed by a consensus process and found to have face validity and credibility. We then developed a framework for looking at the ethical implications of the SARS outbreak, identifying 10 key ethical values relevant to SARS (box), and five major ethical issues faced by decision makers.We examined the underlying ethical values for the five major issues and drew lessons from how each was tackled. The following case studies illustrate the issues and are an amalgam of our experiences.

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