The earthquake on April 18, 2008, about 120 miles east of St. Louis, registered 5.2 on the Richter scale and hit at 4:40 a.m. with a strong aftershock occurring at approximately 10:15 a.m. that morning, followed by lesser ones in subsequent days. The initial earthquake was felt in parts of 16 states.

To the surprise of many, originated in the Wabash Valley Fault, not the better-known and more-dreaded New Madrid Fault in Missouri’s boot heel.

The concern of Douglas Wiens, Ph.D., and Michael Wysession, Ph.D., seismologists at Washington University in St. Louis, is that the New Madrid Fault may have seen its day and the Wabash Fault is the new kid on the block.

MILAN, April 25 /PRNewswire/ --

- Positive Tests Results for New Drugs Against Hepatitis C

- Improved Screening for Hepatitis C Reflects Physicians'Optimism

- New Drugs Effective Against Hepatitis B, But Patient Selection Necessary

Scientists presenting at today's sessions of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) reported encouraging findings regarding the potential efficacy of treatment strategies using new drugs designed to combat hepatitis B and C.

PATERSON, New Jersey, April 25 /PRNewswire/ --

Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC is pleased to announce the execution of an Asset Purchase Agreement for Amneal's wholly-owned subsidiary, Amneal Pharmaceuticals of New York, LLC, to acquire the assets, facilities and business of Interpharm. The acquisition includes Interpharm's facilities on Long Island, New York as well as the intellectual property including ANDA's, technology and processes.

Amneal will use its strong leadership and financial position to fully realize the potential of Interpharm's powerful product line, ensure approval of its well defined development pipeline and leverage the unique manufacturing capabilities.

LAS VEGAS, April 25 /PRNewswire/ --

- The Longest African Road Rally This Year -

Vanguard Integrity Professionals CEO & CTO Ronn Bailey announced today that he will be the sole U.S. participant entering this year's most challenging African road rally, the FIA OPTIC 2000 Tunisia Rally 2008. The nine day race, which extends over three countries and 4,123 km of terrain, is the first step of the Rally World Cup. The 2008 Tunisian race starts in Marseilles, France on April 23rd, runs through Libya and Tunisia and finishes in the city of Djerba, Tunisia on May 3rd.

COLLEGEVILLE, Pennsylvania and TARRYTOWN, New York, April 24 /PRNewswire/ --

- Final Decision from European Commission Expected by Mid-2008

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth (NYSE: WYE), and Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PGNX), today announced that the companies have received a positive opinion for RELISTOR(TM) (methylnaltrexone bromide) subcutaneous injection from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), the scientific committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). The companies are seeking the approval of RELISTOR in Europe for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation in advanced-illness patients who are receiving palliative care when response to usual laxative therapy has not been sufficient.

SAN DIEGO, April 24 /PRNewswire/ --

- HspE7 Phase 2 Trial for Cervical Dysplasia to Begin Mid-2008 -

Nventa Biopharmaceuticals Corporation (TSX: NVN) today announced the completion of the safety and tolerability assessment of the fourth and final cohort of patients in its Phase 1 clinical trial of HspE7, its lead therapeutic candidate, in women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Findings from the fourth cohort safety review demonstrated that HspE7 was safe and well tolerated with no serious adverse events being reported.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080303/LAM023LOGO)

SAO PAULO, Brazil, April 24 /PRNewswire/ --

BP announced today that it intends to take a 50 per cent stake in Tropical BioEnergia SA, a joint venture established by Brazilian companies Santelisa Vale and Maeda Group, which is constructing a 435 million liter (115 million gallons) a year ethanol refinery in Edeia, Goias State, Brazil.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080424/SPTH001-a http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080424/SPTH001-b )

The joint venture, in which Santelisa Vale and Maeda Group would each hold 25 per cent, also intends to progress plans to build a second ethanol refinery, investing a total of approximately R$1.66 billion (US$1 billion) in the two refineries.

Monitoring Earth's rising greenhouse gas levels will require a global data collection network 10 times larger than the one currently in place in order to quantify regional progress in emission reductions, according to a new research commentary by University of Colorado and NOAA researchers appearing in the April 25 issue of Science.

The authors, CU-Boulder Research Associate Melinda Marquis and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist Pieter Tans, said with atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations now at 385 parts per million and rising, the need for improved regional greenhouse gas measurements is critical. While the current observation network can measure CO2 fluxes on a continental scale, charting regional emissions where significant mitigation efforts are underway -- like California, New England and European countries -- requires a more densely populated network, they said.

BASINGSTOKE, England, April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Shire plc (LSE: SHP) (NASDAQ: SHPGY), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, announces today that Michael Rosenblatt M.D. will join the Board as a Non-Executive Director with immediate effect.

Dr Rosenblatt is the Dean of Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts. He was previously Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and has served in senior research positions at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He was the founding director of the Carl J. Shapiro Institute for Education and Research at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

There is a good reason most Americans stink at chess - our unfailing optimism. No matter how bad things get with the economy or the environment or (insert your pet cause here) Americans will always believe that, because we have Christina Aguilera, we beat the pants off of everyone else. Russians, for example, don't think that way. Half of Moscow is populated by women hotter than Christina Aguilera and they're all on a Russian dating site hoping to meet an American mechanic who will get them a green card and raise their kid.