LONDON, January 30 /PRNewswire/ -- ICIS pricing (http://www.icis.com/pricing), the global market pricing and intelligence service for the oil and chemical industries, and Chemease (http://www.chemease.com), a subsidiary of CBI China, China's domestic commodity market information leader, have joined forces to launch weekly English language pricing reports covering the Chinese market.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), scientists have discovered that cocaine-related images trigger the emotional centers of the brains of patients addicted to drugs, even when the subjects are unaware they’ve seen anything - and the regions of the brain activated by drug images overlapped substantially with those activated by sexual ones.

A team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, led by Dr. Anna Rose Childress and Dr. Charles O’Brien, showed cocaine patients photos of drug-related cues like crack pipes and chunks of cocaine. The images flashed by in just 33 milliseconds - so quickly that the patients were not consciously aware of seeing them.

SHANGHAI, China, January 30 /PRNewswire/ --

For most people, the name “E. coli” is synonymous with food poisoning and product recalls, but a professor in Texas A&M University’s chemical engineering department envisions the bacteria as a future source of energy, helping to power our cars, homes and more.

By genetically modifying the bacteria, Thomas Wood, a professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, has “tweaked” a strain of E. coli so that it produces substantial amounts of hydrogen. Specifically, Wood’s strain produces 140 times more hydrogen than is created in a naturally occurring process, according to an article in “Microbial Biotechnology,” detailing his research.

After using a previous equation to pair parenting styles with a parenting method book, I thought it might be fun to use a similar format to pair political ideas with a candidate.

The following equation is as non-partisan as I could possibly make it, and does more to measure and define your personal opinion than to choose candidates in the abstract. The crux, of course, is nailing down politicians' beliefs enough to accurately chart their numbers (though letting your bias, beliefs and opinions peek through this equation is as telling as the eventual result, itself).

First, order the following traits or political issues according to how central they are to the candidate’s message, or at least how important you think they should be in their central message ; 1 through 7 with 1 being most important and 7 least.

BRASILIA, Brazil, January 30 /PRNewswire/ --

Brasil Telecom Participacoes S.A. (BOVESPA: BRTP3/BRTP4; NYSE: BRP) registered recurring EBITDA of R$980.1 million in the 4Q07, 18.1% higher than the 4Q06. Brasil Telecom's consolidated quarterly EBITDA totaled R$ 902.3 million, accompanied by a consolidated EBITDA margin of 31.4%, versus R$ 947.1 million and 34.6%, respectively, in the 4Q06. Consolidated net revenue totaled R$2,876.1 million in the 4Q07, 4.9% up on the 4Q06, and Brasil Telecom recorded 4Q07 net income of R$ 205.6 million, equivalent to R$ 0.5673 per share.

Building upon several years of research into the gecko's uncanny ability to climb sheer walls, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley writing in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface have developed an adhesive that is the first to master the easy attach and easy release of the reptile's padded feet. The material could prove useful for a range of products, from climbing equipment to medical devices.

Unlike duct tape or glue, the new material is crafted from millions of tiny, hard, plastic fibers that establish grip; a mere square two centimeters on a side can support 400 grams (close to a pound).

GAITHERSBURG, Maryland, January 30 /PRNewswire/ --

- The Model 1173 simplifies IP Camera deployment and lowers installation costs by extending streaming video up to 6000 feet/1830 meters over existing copper infrastructure

Patton Electronics -- the leader in business and carrier-class network access, connectivity, and Voice-over-IP equipment -- unveils the world's first IP Camera Extender, the Patton Model 1173, at IIPSEC 2008 in Coventry, UK this week.

BUFFALO GROVE, Illinois, January 29 /PRNewswire/ --

- Net Revenue of US$31.0 million; Net Income of US$5.3 million for the Quarter

Eagle Test Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: EGLT), a provider of automated test equipment solutions for high-performance analog, mixed-signal and radio frequency (RF) semiconductors, announced financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2007.

Operating Results

LONDON, January 29 /PRNewswire/ --

Polarion Software, creators of fully integrated application lifecycle management solutions and services based on Subversion, will launch two workshop series in the United Kingdom: How to Ramp Up to Subversion Fast and Application Lifecycle Management with Subversion.