Researchers at the University of Toronto have shown that the EBNA1 protein of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) disrupts structures in the nucleus of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cells, thereby interfering with cellular processes that normally prevent cancer development. The study, published October 3rd in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, describes a novel mechanism by which viral proteins contribute to carcinogenesis.

EBV is a common herpesvirus whose latent infection is strongly associated with several types of cancer including NPC, a tumor that is endemic in several parts of the world. With NPC only a few EBV proteins are expressed, including EBNA1.

GENEVA, Switzerland, October 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced today that Genentech Inc. has reported a case of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in a 70-year old patient who had received Raptiva(R) (efalizumab) for more than four years of treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis. Genentech markets Raptiva(R) in the United States.

HORSHAM, Pennsylvania, October 2 /PRNewswire/ --

Astea International Inc. (Nasdaq: ATEA), the leader in service lifecycle management and mobility solutions, today announced that it has signed a partner agreement with Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd, a leading global IT services and solutions provider and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the USD 7 billion global technology, engineering, manufacturing and construction conglomerate Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T). The partnership combines L&T Infotech's deep IT services expertise and system integration experience with Astea's global service management and mobility solutions.

It's baseball playoff time and you know what that means; not just hot dogs and beer but also smelly men who refuse to change their socks lest they spoil their good luck. After all, they got this far with smelly socks, right? And

New research published in Science seeks to explain why people sometimes find and impose order in a chaotic world through superstition, rituals and conspiratorial explanations. The research finds that a quest for structure or understanding leads people to trick themselves into seeing and believing connections that simply don't exist.

A new study has concluded that musicians have IQ scores than non-musicians, supporting other recent research that intensive musical training is associated with an elevated IQ score.

Vanderbilt University psychologists Crystal Gibson, Bradley Folley and Sohee Park have found that professionally trained musicians more effectively use a creative technique called divergent thinking, and also use both the left and the right sides of their frontal cortex more heavily than the average person.

One possible explanation the researchers offer for the musicians' elevated use of both brain hemispheres is that many musicians must be able to use both hands independently to play their instruments.

ATLANTA, October 2 /PRNewswire/ --

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN) today announced results for its fiscal first quarter ended August 31, 2008. For the first quarter, revenues grew 30 percent to US$405.8 million compared to US$311.0 million in the prior year. Excluding a prior period restructuring charge relating to a facility closure, diluted earnings per share grew 31 percent to US$0.71 compared to US$0.54 in the prior year quarter.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010221/ATW031LOGO )

In accordance with GAAP, the prior year quarter included a restructuring charge (see attached reconciliation schedule). For the three months ended August 31, 2007, GAAP diluted earnings per share was US$0.53.

OAK PARK, Michigan, October 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Azure Dynamics Corporation (TSX: AZD, LSE: ADC & OTCQX: AZDDF) - ("Azure" or the "Company"), a leading developer of hybrid electric and electric powertrains for commercial vehicles has granted 172,367 and 66,667 Deferred Share Units ("DSUs") to Director, James J. Padilla and Dennis A. Sharp as of September 30, 2008.

PARIS, October 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Valeo announced today that it has created a joint venture with the Anand Group for the production of lighting systems in India. The new company, called Valeo Lighting Systems India Private Limited, will be majority-owned by Valeo.

Located in Chennai, the joint venture will develop, produce and sell Valeo Lighting Systems products, including headlamps, rear lamps and fog lamps, for automakers serving the fast-growing Indian market.

BRUSSELS, October 2 /PRNewswire/ --

European Industry Leaders Look to Closer Collaboration Between Business And Schools

There was an idea first proposed in 1916 — that plants with rapid reproductive cycles evolve faster - and a team of Yale scientists writing in Science say they have confirmed it using 2008 computing power.

Long involved with the Tree of Life Web Project, which is attempting to reconstruct the “tree” representing the genealogical relationships of all species on Earth, Michael Donoghue, the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Curator of Botany at Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History, has spearheaded the study of flowering plant evolution. In animals, the variation in rate of molecular evolution has been ascribed to differences in generation time, metabolic rate, DNA repair, and body size; in plants, the differences have been more difficult to determine.