An international study investigating the carbon sink capacity of northern terrestrial ecosystems discovered that the duration of the net carbon uptake period (CUP) has on average decreased due to warmer autumn temperatures.

Net carbon uptake of northern ecosystems is decreasing in response to autumnal warming according to findings published in Nature. The carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems is particularly sensitive to climatic changes in autumn and spring. Over the past two decades autumn temperatures in northern latitudes have risen by about 1.1 °C with spring temperatures up by 0.8 °C.

Many northern terrestrial ecosystems currently lose carbon dioxide (CO2) in response to autumn warming, offsetting 90% of the increased carbon dioxide uptake during spring.

HOLMDEL, New Jersey, January 2 /PRNewswire/ --

Sparta Systems, Inc. (Sparta), the maker of TrackWise(R), and the market leader in enterprise quality and compliance management software announce that BioReliance, a leading contract services organization for the biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industries, deployed TrackWise to handle key quality management activities.

HAIFA, Israel, January 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- Company Also Outlines Additional Announcements

Oil Refineries Ltd. (TASE: ORL) (the "Company"), Israel's largest oil refiner, has announced the convening of a Special General Meeting.

Notice is hereby given that, on February 6, 2008, at 10:00 a.m., an Annual General Meeting of the Company's Shareholders shall convene at the Company's offices at 7 Abba Hillel Street, Ramat Gan, Israel, for the purpose of approving the following resolution:

On the Agenda:

Approve the increasing of the compensation of the members of the Company's Board of Directors, excluding the Chairman of the Board, and external directors.

Details Relating to the Resolutions on the Agenda:

SANTA CLARA, California, January 2 /PRNewswire/ --

Marvell announced the TopDog 11n-450, an 802.11n 3x3 WLAN solution with three spatial streams, the industry's first 802.11n chip operating at 450 Megabits-per-second (Mbps). With maximum bandwidth more than eight times faster than 802.11g 54 Mbps versions and 1.5 times faster than current 802.11n 300 Mbps offerings, the new product will enable significant performance enhancements for notebooks and desktop PCs, printers, routers, set top boxes, digital TVs, gaming devices and DVD players and recorders. The TopDog 11n-450 provides 500 percent increased range over 802.11g, as well as 160 percent increased range compared to competing 802.11n solutions.

DENVER, January 2 /PRNewswire/ --

Medical Simulation Corporation announces the launch of the Edwards SAPIEN Transcatheter Heart Valve (THV) Training Program in Europe. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE: EW), the world leader in the science of heart valves, received CE Mark approval for European commercial sales of its Edwards SAPIEN transcatheter aortic heart valve with the RetroFlex transfemoral delivery system in September, 2007, and CE Mark for the Edwards SAPIEN valve with the Ascendra transapical delivery system in December, 2007.

OCEANSIDE, California, January 2 /PRNewswire/ --

Foamex Asia Co. Ltd. announced today that it has changed its name to "FOAMTEC INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD." The name change is being made in connection with the buy-out of Foamex International Inc.'s interest in the Company by Hua Kee Company Limited ("Hua Kee"). Hua Kee is the current and original partner in the joint venture. Following the buy-out, the company will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hua Kee.

A married couple who sailed from England to America around 1630 may be the ancestors of hundreds of people alive today who are at risk for a hereditary form of colon cancer.

Researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at The University of Utah have discovered a founder mutation—a mutation that has been traced from many individuals in the present-day population back to a common ancestor—which may contribute to a significant percentage of colon cancer cases in the United States.

An article reporting the finding was published today in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Just as additives help gasoline burn cleaner, a research report published in the January 2008 print issue of The FASEB Journal shows that the food industry could take a similar approach toward reducing health risks associated with fatty foods.

These “meal additives” would be based on work of Israeli researchers who discovered that consuming polyphenols (natural compounds in red wine, fruits, and vegetables) simultaneously with high-fat foods may reduce health risks associated with these foods.

“We suggest a new hypothesis to explain polyphenols,” said Joseph Kanner, senior author of the report. “For the first time, these compounds were demonstrated to prevent significantly the appearance of toxic food derivative compounds in human plasma.”

The January 2008 issue of BioScience includes an article by biologist Edward O. Wilson that argues for a new perspective on the evolution of advanced social organization in some ants, bees, and wasps (Hymenoptera).

Wilson’s article surveys recent evidence that the high level of social organization called “eusociality,” found in some Hymenoptera (and rarely in other species), is a result of natural selection on nascent colonies of species possessing features that predispose them to colonial life. Wilson concludes that these features, principally progressive provisioning of larvae and behavioral flexibility that leads to division of labor, allow some species to evolve colonies that are maintained and defended because of their proximity to food sources.

That's the suggestion from a new UCLA study that tracked levels of cortisol, a key stress hormone, among 30 Los Angeles married couples involved in one of our age's trickiest juggling acts — raising kids when both parents work full time.

"At least as far as women are concerned, being happily married appears to bolster physiological recovery from work," said Darby E. Saxbe, the study's lead author and a UCLA graduate student in clinical psychology. "After a tough day at the office, cortisol levels dropped further among happily married women than less happily married ones.