All animals, plants and bacteria run the risk of being infected by specific viruses. For humans, such viruses include the flu virus, for the tobacco plant this is the tobacco mosaic virus and for the intestinal bacterium E. coli this is the enterobacteria phage lambda.

During the course of evolution, these organisms have developed systems to render viruses harmless. Viruses respond by adapting themselves in such a way that they avoid the defence mechanism, to which the bacteria respond in turn. In short, there is a continuous arms race between bacteria and viruses.

Researchers at Wageningen University, together with colleagues from England and the United States, have unravelled a mechanism with which bacteria can defend themselves for a longer period against threatening viruses.

Boys may be more apt than girls to have childhood asthma, but, when compared to girls, they are also more likely to grow out of it in adolescence and have a decreased incidence of asthma in the post-pubertal years. This indicates that there may be a buried mechanism in asthma development, according to a prospective study that analyzed airway responsiveness (AR) in more than 1,000 children with mild to moderate asthma over a period of about nine years.

"We wanted to investigate what was behind the observed sex differences in asthma rates and AR," says lead researcher, Kelan G. Tantisira, M.D., M.P.H., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. "This is the first study to prospectively examine the natural history of sex differences in asthma in this manner."

If you live in Spain, you may have felt like some weather occurred on a predictable cycle, even a weekly one. And if you are below a certain age, you may even have been planning your seasonal activities around it your whole life.

You aren't alone. Arturo Sanchez-Lorenzo of the University of Barcelona and colleagues from the University of Girona, the University of Valencia and the University of Augsburg have thought the same thing.

Writing in Geophysical Research Letters, they detail their study of Spain during the 1961–2004 period. To minimize the impact of local variables, they used 13 series from stations placed in different climatological and geographical areas.

NAPA, California, August 14 /PRNewswire/ --

- Cash on Hand Totals US$17.8 million at June 30

- Investor Conference Call Scheduled for September 5

Senetek PLC (OTC Bulletin Board: SNKTY), a Life Sciences company engaged in the development of technologies that target the science of healthy aging, today announced financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2008.

Revenue for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 was US$691,000, compared with US$471,000 reported in the second quarter of 2007.

LONDON, August 14 /PRNewswire/ --

Program Planning Professionals (trading as Pcubed), one of the world's leading consultancies helping clients deliver their most complex programs and projects, unveiled its new look website at www.pcubed.com. Featuring a completely re-vamped design and layout, the website also offers expanded content, added site options and enhanced navigation usability.

The website re-design provides Pcubed's online visitors with even greater insight into the Pcubed brand, a critical imperative given the company's rapid expansion into new clients and markets worldwide.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 14 /PRNewswire/ --

- CardCreator Works With Standards Based Card Printers to Create Custom Photo IDs

Ringdale(R), Inc., a technology leader in network enhancing connectivity solutions, today introduced its new identification card production software, Sentinel CardCreator(TM), which works with standards based card printers, such as those from Fargo(R) and Zebra(R), to make professional, custom-made photo IDs in minutes.

AMSTERDAM and PORTLAND, Oregon, August 14 /PRNewswire/ --

- This is a Joint Press Release of Maastricht University, NCF, NWO Physical Sciences and SARA

At the 24th Annual Congress of the game Go, held in Portland, Oregon from August 2-10, the brand-new Dutch supercomputer Huygens defeated a human Go professional in an official match with a 9-stones handicap. It is the first victory of a computer playing Go against a human being. The application 'MoGo Titan', developed by INRIA France and Maastricht University, runs on the national supercomputer which is located at SARA in Amsterdam.

LONDON, August 14 /PRNewswire/ -- ICIS Heren, a world-leading publisher of gas, power and carbon market information, is pleased to announce the expansion of our European Daily Carbon Markets (EDCM) report, which provides in-depth coverage of the European emissions market.

European Daily Carbon Markets provides a daily snapshot of the European emissions arena. The report contains over-the-counter (OTC) price assessments, carbon exchange data, clean dark and spark spreads and key news stories.

LONDON, August 14 /PRNewswire/ --

- Answer the Question on Borders.co.uk for Your Chance to Return to School With a Sleek New Laptop

A phenomenal competition has just launched on borders.co.uk (http://www.borders.co.uk/), offering you the chance to win a cutting edge laptp (http://www.borders.co.uk/win_a_toshiba_laptop) just in time to go Back to School. Borders, in association with Currys, is offering customers the chance to win a brand new Toshiba laptop, jam packed with everything you need - Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor, Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium, 1GB memory, 160GB hard drive and a built-in webcam!

HAIFA, Israel, August 14 /PRNewswire/ --

- All Resolutions Approved, Including Acquisition of 50%-Balance in Carmel Olefins

Oil Refineries Ltd. (TASE: ORL.TA) ("Oil Refineries" or the "Company") has announced the results of the Special General Shareholders Meeting held on August 13, 2008.

The following resolutions were approved:

1. Engagement with the Israel Petrochemical Enterprises Ltd. ("IPE") dated June 24, 2008, in which the controlling shareholder of the Company has a personal interest in a transaction.