Researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified a gene in Asian monkeys that may have evolved as a defense against lentiviruses, the group of viruses that includes HIV. The study suggests that AIDS is not a new epidemic.

The gene, called TRIM5-CypA, well characterized elsewhere (AIDS, 2007; PNAS, 2008), is a hybrid of two existing cellular genes, TRIM5 and CypA. The combination produces a single protein capable of blocking infection by viruses closely related to HIV. Surprisingly, this is actually the second time researchers have identified a TRIM5-CypA gene in monkeys. The other hybrid gene, called TRIMCyp, was discovered in 2004 in South American owl monkeys.

NEW YORK, February 29 /PRNewswire/ --

- First European Rare Disease Day highlights impact on people affected by rare diseases

European Rare Disease Day -- The first ever European Rare Disease Day will be launched on Friday 29 February...because it's a rare day that only comes around once every four years, of course.

(See video from Shire plc at: http://media.medialink.com/WebNR.aspx?story=34701)

FARMINGDALE, New Jersey, February 29 /PRNewswire/ --

Dialight Corporation has joined forces with two of North America's leading manufacturers in the transit bus and motor coach market, Hadley and New Flyer, to provide the industry's first complete LED-based interior lighting system.

Dialight LED modules already hold 80% of the North American bus exterior light market, and the new interior LED strip lights build on Dialight's expertise in this sector to provide a cost-effective and reliable alternative to traditional fluorescent interior lighting.

SAO PAULO, Brazil, February 28 /PRNewswire/ --

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) applauds today's remarks by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke favoring a reduction in tariffs on Brazilian ethanol to help take pressure off food prices in the United States as a positive approach that goes far beyond economics. In UNICA's opinion, Bernanke's suggestion favors clean renewable energy, boosts the fight against global warming and defies the distorted logic now in place that taxes biofuels while fossil fuels move unobstructed around the globe, without trade barriers or any other restrictions.

On Feb. 13, 2008, the president signed a $168 billion stimulus package designed to give $300, $600 or $1,200 checks to more than 100 million Americans. It was the second time in seven years that lawmakers agreed to return additional tax money in hopes that people would spend it to stimulate a sluggish economy. A key question: Will those receiving checks spend enough to have the desired effect?

Economic theory says "yes" -- give people money and they will spend it. But Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business, says the actual answer depends on more than simply giving people more money.

Dr. Cynthia Bulik, William R. and Jeanne H. Jordan Distinguished Professor of Eating Disorders at the University of North Carolina, spoke forcefully at yesterday's US Congressional Briefing organized by the Eating Disorders Coalition.

Bulik gave a 20-minute talk that could, if widely available, change the way society - and patients - look at eating disorders.

The research she cites is well-established, but still controversial among clinicians treating the illness.

Brent Christner, LSU professor of biological sciences, in partnership with colleagues in Montana and France, recently found evidence that rain-making bacteria are widely distributed in the atmosphere. These biological particles could factor heavily into the precipitation cycle, affecting climate, agricultural productivity and even global warming.

Christner’s team examined precipitation from global locations and demonstrated that the most active ice nuclei – a substrate that enhances the formation of ice – are biological in origin. This is important because the formation of ice in clouds is required for snow and most rainfall. Dust and soot particles can serve as ice nuclei, but biological ice nuclei are capable of catalyzing freezing at much warmer temperatures.

FARMINGDALE, New Jersey, February 28 /PRNewswire/ --

In the first installation of its kind, Dialight Corporation's new LED-based SafeSite(TM) illumination fixture has been successfully retrofitted on a drilling rig of a major oil and natural gas producer, providing improved safety and decreased maintenance and energy costs.

SafeSite is designed to operate in the harsh and hazardous environments found on drilling rigs, where vibration is the major cause of failure for traditional light sources. The SafeSite fixture has a very robust housing designed to UL Class 1 Div 2 standards, and since the LED light source is a solid-state device it is virtually impervious to shock and vibration, making expensive re-lamping costs a thing of the past.

FARMINGDALE, New Jersey, February 28 /PRNewswire/ --

Dialight Corporation has won a major contract to supply over 70,000 LED-based traffic signal modules for use in Miami-Dade County, Florida. In the largest contract for traffic signals by any U.S. city for over 12 months, Dialight LED signals will be used to replace traditional incandescent traffic signals throughout the county.

FARMINGDALE, New Jersey, February 28 /PRNewswire/ --

Dialight BLP reports that Elster Electricity, Raleigh, N.C., has placed a new order for 200,000 of its PowerPulse(TM) 200-amp disconnect/reconnect load switch for use in their REX2(R) smart electric meters.