Low maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy may affect primary tooth calcification, leading to enamel defects, which are a risk factor for early-childhood tooth decay.

Investigators from the University of Manitoba (Winnipeg and Victoria) presented the results of a study they conducted to determine the vitamin D status of pregnant women, the incidence of enamel defects and early-childhood tooth decay among their infants, and the relationship with pre-natal vitamin D levels.

Researchers in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Gabon, Germany, Japan, Rwanda, the United Kingdom, and the United States have found that simian foamy virus (SFV) is widespread among wild chimpanzees throughout equatorial Africa.

Recent studies have shown that humans who hunt wild primates, including chimpanzees, can acquire SFV infections. Since the long-term consequences of these cross-species infections are not known, it is important to determine to what extent wild primates are infected with simian foamy viruses.

In this study, researchers tested this question for wild chimpanzees by using novel non-invasive methods. Analyzing over 700 fecal samples from 25 chimpanzee communities across sub-Saharan Africa, the researchers obtained viral sequences from a large proportion of these communities, showing a range of infection rates from 44% to 100%.

Continuing from the prior article... “The Sun Ain’t Yeller”, cries the heliochromologist.  Undaunted by tradition, dogma, or tens of thousands of erroneous magazine and textbook images of our Sun, heliochromology, a colorful heterodox, is winning the day because the Sun is what it is, color and all, regardless of other’s puerile incognizance. 

The answer is not a vague, subjective one, but an objective one, as sure as red apples are red.  Heliochromology is our path to enlightenment that will bring resolve to this color conundrum -- a subtle polemic that has been dormant to all of astronomy for hundreds, nay thousands, nay nay, tens of thousands of years, perhaps since mankind first discovered the Sun and its daily color metamorphosis. 

We know not who the sagacious sapien may have been who indubitably made the first astronomical discovery of all time – the Sun.

ScienceDebate2008 has come up with 14 questions they would like to see answered by the US presidential candidates. This group has been pushing for a science policy-focused debate among presidential candidates. That debate is looking more and more unlikely, but in an effort to keep some of the election focus on science, this group is now urging the candidates to answer a set of questions on science policy (abbreviated below - go read the questions in full at the ScienceDebate2008 site):

1. What policies will you support to ensure that America remains the world leader in innovation?

2. What is your position on the following measures that have been proposed to address global climate change—a cap-and-trade system, a carbon tax, increased fuel-economy standards, or research?

3. What policies would you support to meet demand for energy while ensuring an economically and environmentally sustainable future?

4. What role do you think the federal government should play in preparing K-12 students for the science and technology driven 21st Century?

5. What is your view of how science and technology can best be used to ensure national security and where should we put our focus?

6. In an era of constant and rapid international travel, what steps should the United States take to protect our population from global pandemics or deliberate biological attacks?

CALGARY, Canada, July 4 /PRNewswire/ --

- Shallow Water Offshore Exploration Campaign at Ngosso and Iroko License Areas

Addax Petroleum Corporation (TSX: AXC and LSE: AXC) ("Addax Petroleum" or the "Corporation") announces the initial results of its Cameroon exploration campaign where the Corporation has recently completed drilling its first exploration wells in the Ngosso and Iroko license areas. As part of the campaign, Addax Petroleum drilled two wells plus a sidetrack at Ngosso and one well at Iroko.

Since 1969 a U.S. patent has been registered on the process of turning alcohol into powder.

This year, products, such as gelatin shots and margaritas, based from alcohol powder are set to be released by Pulver Spirits and BPNC Distillery.

Though alcohol powder is regulated the same as other alcoholic beverages in the U.S., it is only sold as a food flavoring. However, in other countries such as the Netherlands, lack of regulations make obtaining powdered alcohol within reach to minors.

BASINGSTOKE, England and PHILADELPHIA, July 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Shire Limited (LSE:SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, will announce second quarter 2008 earnings on Thursday 31 July 2008

Results press release will be issued at: 12:00 BST / 07:00 EDT Investor meeting and conference call time: 14:30 BST / 09:30 EDT

Investor & Analyst meeting and conference call:

Angus Russell, Chief Executive Officer, Graham Hetherington, Chief Financial Officer, Mike Cola, President, Specialty Pharmaceuticals and Sylvie Grégoire, President, Human Genetic Therapies will host the investor and analyst meeting and conference call at 14:30 BST/9:30 EDT.

The meeting will take place at Holborn Bars, 138-142 Holborn, London EC1 2NQ.

LUSTENAU, Austria and KRISTANSAND, Norway, July 4 /PRNewswire/ --

- IDENTEC SOLUTIONS Award-Winning Tracking Technology has Been Selected to Proactively Protect Employee Lives With one of the World's Leading Energy Suppliers

NASA's sun-focused STEREO spacecraft unexpectedly detected particles from the edge of the solar system last year, allowing University of California, Berkeley, scientists to map for the first time the energized particles in the region where the hot solar wind slams into the cold interstellar medium.

Mapping the region by means of neutral, or uncharged, atoms instead of light "heralds a new kind of astronomy using neutral atoms," said Robert Lin, UC Berkeley professor of physics and lead for the suprathermal electron sensor aboard STEREO. "You can't get a global picture of this region, one of the last unexplored regions of the heliosphere, any other way because it is too tenuous to be seen by normal optical telescopes."

The heliosphere is a volume over which the effects of the solar wind extend, stretching from the sun to more than twice the distance of Pluto. Beyond its edge, called the heliopause, lies the relative quiet of interstellar space, at about 100 astronomical units (AU) - 100 times the Earth-sun distance.

NEW YORK, July 4 /PRNewswire/ --

Matilda Cuomo, former first lady of the state of New York and chair of the Committee to Establish the Italian AP Program, Margaret Cuomo, M.D., a member of the committee, Louis Tallarini, president of the Columbus Citizens Foundation, and Salvatore Zizza, president of the National Italian American Foundation, today announced the incorporation of the Italian Language Foundation, Inc., a non-profit entity that will promote and help underwrite the AP Italian Language and Culture Program.