HOUSTON, July 8 /PRNewswire/ --

- Private-label distributors Smarthost and groupSPARK deliver choices to the reseller channel by offering hosted services on the Microsoft platform.

Today at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2008, Microsoft Corp announced that private-label distributors Smarthost Sweden AB and groupSPARK Inc, the 2008 Microsoft Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year, are deploying new Microsoft-based services, enabling the reseller channel to expand their portfolio of hosted services and providing greater choices for resellers as they go to market with software plus services. Microsoft is also showcasing its Communications Sector Partner Community and Hosting Solutions Competency to further support its global partner network.

MAIDENHEAD, England, July 8 /PRNewswire/ --

- With Photo

Facts about drink driving

- Nearly 1 in 5 convicted drink-drivers are caught the morning after drinking.

- 51% of people are estimated to drive the morning after a moderate night out completely unaware they are still over the legal drink drive limit(1).

- If you drank 4 pints of beer or 3 large glasses of wine during a night out it could take as long as 12 hours for the alcohol to leave your system*. If you stopped drinking at midnight you could still be over the drink drive limit at 10 am.

- An endorsement for drink driving offence remains on a driving licence for 11 years, so it is 11 years before a convicted driver will have a "clean" licence again

The effective treatment of many forms of cancer continues to pose a major problem. Many tumors fail to respond to standard forms of chemotherapy or become resistant to the medication.

Scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig, the Hannover Medical School (MHH) and Leibniz-Universität (LUH) in Hanover have now discovered a chemical mechanism with which a natural substance - argyrin - destroys tumours.

The basis for this breakthrough was an observation made by the MHH scientist Prof. Nisar Malek: he had been studying the role of a certain protein - a so-called cyclin-kinase inhibitor - in the development of cancer. In the process, Malek noted that mice in which the breakdown of the kinase inhibitor was suppressed by genetic change have a significantly lower risk of suffering from intestinal cancer.

Scientists have recently become interested in the biomechanics of a very unusual activity: skyscraper run-ups.

Competitors in this extreme sport ascend the steps inside the world's tallest buildings, the winners often scaling thousands of steps in just a few minutes. The study of these athletes could shed light on the metabolic profile of athletes and impact on studies of ageing.

"The wide age range of participants, from teenagers to those approaching their centenary, has improved our knowledge of the decline in body performance as we get older," Professor Alberto Minetti from the University of Milan explains. "Industries involved in cardio-fitness could also include the algorithms that we have developed in heart rate monitors, to help athletes maintain their best possible performance throughout races."

Humans often choose partners based on behavioural keys that are displayed during social interactions. The way we behave in different social contexts can reflect personality traits or temperament that may inspire long-term love. Behavioural norms that we perceive as sexually attractive are not culturally or evolutionarily arbitrary.

However, personality-mediated sexual selection is not just the privilege of mankind. László Garamszegiand colleagues at the University of Antwerp and at Eötvös University, Budapest used bird song as a model to investigate whether behavioural traits involved in sexual advertisement can serve as good indicators of personality in wild animals.

PARIS, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) will publish its second quarter 2008 results on July 29, 2008. The press release will be sent at 7:45 AM CET.

Patricia Russo, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, and Hubert de Pesquidoux, Chief Financial Officer, will present the second quarter 2008 results during a live audio webcast and conference call for financial analysts and media, which will be held at 1:00PM CET.

This conference will be available at http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/2q2008/

Dial-in instructions are listed below:

From the USA: (800)-230-10-59

From other countries: +1(651)-291-5254

BAAR, Switzerland, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- In the third quarter of 2008, Manas Petroleum Corp. ("Manas") intends to reach a major milestone in its history with the commencement of drilling activity on licensed land in which it has an interest. South Petroleum, the venture between Manas and Santos Limited ("Santos"), expects to drill a 'shallow' (2000m) exploration well in the Kyrgyz Republic to be followed by a second exploration well in the fourth quarter of 2008 and a 'deep' (over 4000m) well planned for 2009. Manas expects to commence drilling in Albania and Chile in 2009.

LONDON, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Square Enix Ltd., the publisher of Square Enix(R) interactive entertainment products in Europe and other PAL territories, today announces the release of SONG SUMMONER(TM): The Unsung Heroes, on sale at the iTunes(R) Store worldwide (http://www.itunes.com) and available for play in English and Japanese on the iPod nano with video, iPod classic and fifth generation iPod.

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/squareenix/33937/      

A new mathematical model developed by University of Michigan atmospheric and planetary scientist Nilton Renno says that dust devils, water spouts, tornadoes, hurricanes and cyclones are all born of the same mechanism and will intensify as climate change warms the Earth's surface.

Renno hopes the new equation will allow scientists to more accurately calculate the maximum expected intensity of a spiraling storm based on the depth of the troposphere (the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere) and the temperature and humidity of the air in the storm's path.

This equation improves upon current methods, Renno says, because it takes into account the energy feeding the storm system and the full measure of friction slowing it down. Current thermodynamic models make assumptions about these variables, rather than include actual quantities.

Scientists announced today the discovery of reef structures they believe doubles the size of the Southern Atlantic Ocean's largest and richest reef system, the Abrolhos Bank, off the southern coast of Brazil's Bahia state. The newly discovered area is also far more abundant in marine life than the previously known Abrolhos reef system, one of the world's most unique and important reefs.

Researchers from Conservation International (CI), Federal University of Espírito Santo and Federal University of Bahia announced their discovery in a paper presented today at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Fort Lauderdale. "We had some clues from local fishermen that other reefs existed, but not at the scale of what we discovered," says Rodrigo de Moura, Conservation International Brazil marine specialist and co-author of the paper. "It is very exciting and highly unusual to discover a reef structure this large and harboring such an abundance of fish," he adds.