The Dealmaking column is a survey of recent transactions, including strategic alliances, mergers & acquisitions, and financings, in the life sciences industries. Deals are listed by the following industry sectors: in vitro diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and research/analytical instrumentation and reagents. All transactions are excerpted from Elsevier's Strategic Transactions database, providing comprehensive transaction coverage from 1991 to the present.

Brief summaries of recent advances in device research and clinical trials, including new studies that assess the economic impact of coronary CT scans.

Cardiovascular investigators are now asking new questions, including how can treatment be targeted to those most likely to benefit, and when does aggressive treatment become too much? At the 2006 American Heart Association (AHA) meeting, these questions were at the top of everyone's list, and several highly anticipated studies attempted to provide some answers.