PHILADELPHIA and LONDON, March 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- Osaka's Shizuo Akira Ranks Among The Hottest for Fourth Year; Once Again, United States Accounts for More Than Half of the Top Researchers

Thomson Scientific today announced the results of its annual roundup of the "hottest" researchers and research papers. In the March/April issue of Science Watch (www.sciencewatch.com), Thomson Scientific identifies the top 10 authors who fielded the highest number of Hot Papers in 2006-2007. The annual Science Watch roundup also lists the scientific reports published during 2007 (aside from reviews) that were most cited by year's end.

LONDON, March 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- 20-a-Day Habit to Cost GBP2077 a Year

Smokers with a 20-a-day habit will be paying over GBP2077 a year for their habit after the latest Budget tax rise. Chancellor Alistair Darling's announcement of a 11p per pack rise coincides with the 25th annual No Smoking Day, which takes place today (12 March).

To mark the event, the No Smoking Day charity has released new research showing almost one in five smokers plan to stop today(1). Research indicates the rising cost of smoking is proving a key factor in triggering quit attempts.

ZWOLLE, the Netherlands, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Capital ID, specialist in marketing operations management, today announced it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the 1Q08 Marketing Resource Management Magic Quadrant report(1).

The report says: "Although still immature compared with other, more-established CRM markets -- for example, contact centers, sales force automation (SFA) and campaign management -- MRM is gaining substantial interest among midsize and large companies. During 2007, most vendors continued to grow MRM revenue, win new customers and cross-sell into their installed bases. Vendors increased their investments for product development, marketing and sales distribution."

LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Dry ice cannot be found in nature. It is just not cold enough here on earth. In outer space, on the planet Mars for example, carbon dioxide hardens and turns into ice. But who is going to fly to Mars just to get dry ice? In entertaining weekly episodes our Chemical Reporter answers questions of our Podcast listeners on Chemistry in our everyday life.

Direct subscription via RSS-Feed or iTunes (search for "basf"): http://corporate.basf.com/en/podcast/reporter.xml

Podcast The Chemical Reporter, English edition: http://www.basf.com/podcast

More podcasts:

Podcast Chemistry of Innovations: http://www.basf.com/podcast

HAIFA, Israel, March 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- Conference Call Scheduled for March 20, 2008 at 8:30am EDT

Oil Refineries Ltd. (TASE: ORL) (the "Company"), Israel's largest oil refiner, announced today that it will be releasing its fourth quarter and full year 2007 financial results on Thursday, March 20, 2008.

The Company will be hosting a conference call the same day, Thursday, March 20, at 8:30 am EDT. On the call management will review and discuss the fourth quarter and full year 2007 results and will be available to answer questions.

NEW YORK, March 12 /PRNewswire/ --

Digital distribution industry leader finetunes and Qtrax, the world's first free and legal peer-to-peer (P2P) music service, today announce that they have signed a digital licensing agreement.

For more than four years, finetunes has been a pioneer in creating opportunities for independent labels in the digital music markets. Initially focused on providing digital solutions for the German independent labels, the Hamburg-based company now represents more than 1,000 record labels from around the world.

LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- In this Podcast you will learn about how plant biotechnology can help to make crops more tolerant against climate stress.

Wild sex is a staple of nature films, but there is one sex scene David Attenborough has never narrated: the mating ritual of yeast. That's right: yeast. Sex isn't just limited to lions, birds of paradise, and aphids; single-celled fungi do it too. Although most people don't like to hear the words 'fungus' and 'sex' used in the same sentence, yeast mating is a remarkable phenomenon and worth a closer look.

You can see this amazing scene, played out billions of times every day in wine vats and under oak trees, captured on film. As is the case with most wild mating rituals, filming yeast sex requires great patience - yeast are slow to commit and even when they do, they don't rush things. The beginning of foreplay itself takes several hours, as you can see below:

DERRY, New Hampshire and COLOGNE, Germany, March 12 /PRNewswire/ --

Cedar Point Communications, a worldwide leader in integrated Voice over IP (VoIP) switching technologies for service provider and enterprise telecommunications, and NetCologne, one of the largest regional carriers in Germany, today announced an agreement that marks a major milestone for Cedar Point in Europe.

LONDON, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- NHS Choices (http://www.nhs.uk), the digital 'front door' to the NHS, launches a new guide aimed to help people understand the different stages of coronary heart disease (CHD) - from avoiding CHD right through to living with the condition.

Based on NHS accredited information, the information pathway (http://www.nhs.uk/pathways/coronaryheartdisease/Pages/Landing.aspx) enables users to learn more about CHD in seconds. It provides them with clinically approved guidance to help them either change their lifestyle and lower their risk of getting the disease, or - for those diagnosed with CHD - become an expert on its management. This pathway is the latest addition to the NHS Choices' extensive Health A-Z index.