Maturity, in some respects, brings diminished possibilities. As a fertilized egg cell repeatedly divides to grow into a mature animal, most of the resulting cells become ever more specialized.

But a small number of cells, known as stem cells, remain uncommitted even as they spawn more specialized progeny. The most versatile stem cells, taken from days-old embryos, are able to form any cell type — but studying them in people is controversial.

Even in adults, however, other types of stem cells persist that have a more limited repertoire. Some replace specific cells as they wear out; others help to rebuild damaged tissues. Still other stem cells are suspected by some scientists of starting or maintaining cancers.

Now team of researchers led by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have for the first time identified stem cells that allow the pituitary glands of mice to grow even after birth.

AUBURN HILLS, Michigan, April 28 /PRNewswire/ --

RGIS announced today the Acquisition of PDSRS, a leading company in retail space planning software. PDSRS based in the UK is the developer of StorPlanner, a state of the art store optimization software application. StorPlanner, combined with RGIS's R-Map and Visual Retail applications, will provide a unique tool for every retailer to optimize the use of their store-space. With the addition of the PDSRS tools RGIS is now in a position to offer an unparalleled turn-key solution for store mapping services and an interface between the RGIS store mapping output to all commonly used analytical software applications.

DUBLIN, Ireland and WASHINGTON, April 28 /PRNewswire/ --

- Information on more than 5,000 devices soon to be available in comprehensive database of global mobile handset information

dotMobi, the company behind .mobi -- the first and only Internet address designed specifically for mobile phones -- today unveiled forthcoming updates to the recently launched DeviceAtlas, which is the definitive global source of mobile handset information for mobile content developers.

LEUVEN, Belgium, April 28 /PRNewswire/ --

Terumo Europe N.V., an affiliate of Terumo Corporation, Japan - a global medical technology company, announced today the opening of a branch office in Switzerland. Located in Wettingen, the new office's focus will be the promotion of the company's large range of innovative technologies including vascular interventional systems, blood transfusion systems and perfusion systems for cardiac surgery.

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Most people know that restaurants are inspected regularly, but many assume that regularity means 5-12 times per year rather than the once that is actually the case. That's one finding in an article published in the June 2008 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. It found that the public is generally unaware of the frequency of restaurant inspections and the consequences of poor inspection results.

Foodborne diseases cause an estimated 76 million illnesses in the U.S. each year with about half associated with restaurant meals. More than 70 billion meals per year are purchased in restaurants in the U.S., accounting for 47% of total food expenditure. Therefore, preventing restaurant-associated foodborne disease is an important task of public health departments.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, April 28 /PRNewswire/ --

- New Hub Centralizes Qualcomm's Middle East and North Africa Operations in Supporting Regional Wireless Partners -

Qualcomm Incorporated, a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies and data solutions, today affirmed its commitment to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) markets with the opening of a new branch office in Dubai. The office, located in the Dubai Internet City (DIC) Free Trade Zone, will serve as a hub for Qualcomm's regional business interests and will provide support for device manufacturers, network operators and other industry participants that are driving the area's fast growing mobile broadband market.

TRIPOLI, Libya, April 28 /PRNewswire/ --

- Tamoil Seeking to Expand its Presence in Growing Markets

- Strategic Partners Will be Considered but Only Where Significant Commercial Synergies Prevail

The newly appointed CEO of The Oilinvest Group (Tamoil), Mr. Isam Zanati, today made the following statement.

"There has been a degree of speculation in the media over the last few weeks regarding the future of Oilinvest and the Tamoil brand. As the newly appointed CEO of Oilinvest, I wish to make clear that I consider Tamoil to be the crown jewel of Libya's overseas downstream investments.

Jean Piaget, founder of genetic epistemology and key researcher in child development psychology, showed that kids attribute “life status” to all things that move on their own, like bikes or clouds, and even 10-year-olds have difficulty understanding the nature of a 'living' thing.

Understanding the concept of a living thing is a late developmental achievement, he stated.

New research by Northwestern University psychologist Florencia Anggoro and colleagues Sandra Waxman and Doug Medin proposes that the way in which “alive” and other biological concepts are named within a given language also shapes their understanding and acquisition in children.

The researchers compared children ages 4 to 9 speaking English and Indonesian, a pair of languages with an intriguing difference - in English, but not Indonesian, the term 'animal' is polysemous, or has more than one meaning: one sense includes all animate objects (the animal kingdom) while the other excludes humans (‘don’t eat like an animal!’)

LONDON, April 28 /PRNewswire/ --

Liquidnet Europe Limited won Best Overall Execution Venue at the TradeTech European Awards 2008 this week in Paris, beating out six other finalists for the distinction. The annual Awards identify the best performance and contributions to trading in Europe and showcase "successful innovations" in market technology solutions. The judging panel, consisting of journalists, consultants, traders, and technology providers, awarded Liquidnet Europe in recognition of its ability to offer users "an excellent, reliable, rapid and cost efficient execution."

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MILPITAS, California, April 28 /PRNewswire/ --

- Industry's Only ESD Solution that passes both HDMI(TM) 1.3a Compliance and 20kV ESD Tests

California Micro Devices (Nasdaq: CAMD) today introduced the latest ESD (electrostatic discharge) protection device in the XtremeESD family utilizing the PicoGuard XS(TM) architecture, the CM1234. It features 8 channels of ESD protection that meet + -15kV contact discharge, and + -20kV air discharge per the IEC61000-4-2 standard, while meeting 100 Ohm differential impedance matching requirements of the HDMI(TM) 1.3a and DisplayPort(TM) digital video standards. It is ideal for digital TVs, LCD displays, notebook computers, set top boxes, and HD DVD recorders.

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