READING, England, October 13 /PRNewswire/ --

- Verizon Business Designated as a Key Partner in the Delivery of Integrated Communications Solutions for the European Market

Verizon Business announced today it has achieved Multinational Certification from Cisco for Europe, having met the equipment maker's rigorous standards for networking competency, service, support and customer satisfaction. The certification enables Verizon Business to deliver integrated solutions in collaboration with Cisco to its customers across Europe, and follows receipt of individual certifications in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

MADRID, October 13 /PRNewswire/ -- ONDAS Media S.A., the Satellite Radio company for Europe, has today announced that it has entered into a commercial agreement with BMW Group to install satellite radio receivers in its vehicles in Europe. In the future, this will allow BMW's customers to receive the programming diversity, continuous coverage and superior sound quality of ONDAS Media's Satellite Radio throughout Europe.

The deal where both parties have agreed to aim for receivers in BMW vehicles starting in 2012, follows ONDAS Media's announcement earlier this year that it is also to supply and install satellite radio receivers in Nissan and Infiniti vehicles.

By mopping up excess neurotrophic factor from neuronal synapses, astrocytes may finely tune synaptic transmission to affect processes such as learning and memory, say Bergami et al.

The major cellular events of learning and memory are long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), both of which affect neurons' ability to communicate with one another. Neurons that have undergone LTP display a stronger electrical response to the same level of a stimulus, whereas neurons that have gone through LTD display a weaker response. These changes are thought to result from modifications of the neuronal synapses, such as alterations in the density of postsynaptic receptors, or downstream signaling events.

The transportation of antibodies from a mother to her newborn child is vital for the development of that child's nascent immune system.

Those antibodies, donated by transfer across the placenta before birth or via breast milk after birth, help shape a baby's response to foreign pathogens and may influence the later occurrence of autoimmune diseases.

Images from biologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have revealed for the first time the complicated process by which these antibodies are shuttled from mother's milk, through her baby's gut, and into the bloodstream, and offer new insight into the mammalian immune system.

Chicken soup isn't just good for the common cold and, apparently, our souls, that popular home remedy so ubiquitous it is sometimes known as "Grandma's Penicillin" may also have a new role alongside medication and other medical measures in fighting high blood pressure, scientists in Japan are reporting. Their research is in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Ai Saiga and colleagues cite previous studies indicating that chicken breast contains collagen proteins with effects similar to ACE inhibitors, mainstay medications for treating high blood pressure. But chicken breast contains such small amounts of the proteins that it could not be used to develop food and medical products for high blood pressure. Chicken legs and feet, often discarded as waste products in the U.S. but key soup ingredients elsewhere, appear to be a better source.

Heavy industry takes a lot of blame for greenhouse gas emissions but at least one segment may be able to do something to give a little back. Steelworks around the world emitting large quantities of carbon dioxide but scientists report that a byproduct of steel production could be used to absorb that greenhouse gas and help control global warming. The study is in Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.

Professor Mourad Kharoune and colleagues point out that production of one ton of steel releases up to one ton of CO2. With global steel production standing at 1.34 billion tons in 2007, that adds up to a substantial contribution of carbon dioxide.

Kharoune suggests a new method to sequester, or capture, carbon dioxide so that it does not contribute to global warming – using steel slags, which are complex mixtures of compounds produced during the separation of the molten steel from impurities.

SAN MATEO, California, October 13 /PRNewswire/ --

- Technology Leader Mines Hard-to-Find Data from the Web

FirstRain(R), the leading provider of search-driven research, today announced the launch of its UK operations. This milestone makes an innovative fundamental data stream available to U.K. firms for the first time.

"FirstRain feeds us fundamental information on industries and companies that is not generally available on sell-side research," said Luis Benoliel, analyst at First State Investments. "This helps us reduce the risk of missing important industry data points."

Scientists have found a new possible explanation for why people who eat more fruit and vegetables may gain protection against the spread of cancers; a fragment released from pectin, found in all fruits and vegetables, that binds to and may inhibit galectin 3 (Gal3), a protein that plays a role in all stages of cancer progression.

Population studies such as EPIC, the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer, identified a strong link between eating lots of fibre and a lower risk of cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. But exactly how fibre exerts a protective effect is unknown.

Pectin is better known for its jam-setting qualities and as being a component of dietary fibre. The present study supports a more exciting and subtle role.

If there’s one halfway healthy thing that most people do, it’s take a multivitamin pill. My word, taking a little pill with decent amounts of the essential micronutrients and minerals keeps you from getting scurvy, right?

Right. Most people don’t eat sufficient fruits and vegetables. Most people don’t get enough vitamin C over the course of a week to keep them from getting low-grade scurvy, unless you’re one of the smart few who toss back an orange juice shot in the morning.

(Just for the record, I imbibe espresso shooters in the morning. I’m not getting up on my high elliptical strider and being healthier-than-thou.

Scientists have discovered that a bone infection is caused by a newly described species of bacteria that is related to the tuberculosis pathogen. The discovery may help improve the diagnosis and treatment of similar infections, according to an article published in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.

Some rare genetic diseases can make patients susceptible to infections with Mycobacterium species, the bacteria that amongst other diseases, cause tuberculosis and leprosy. These patients often suffer from recurring mycobacterial infections throughout their whole lives. Because of this, researchers are trying to identify unusual species that cause disease in order to improve treatment strategies.