LONDON, July 16 /PRNewswire/ --

- Educational Service Uses Avoco's Secure2trust and Secure2email to Protect Student Academic Forms From Cyber-Predators and Other Threats

The Christian Center for Learning Development is an educational service based in North Carolina, USA, specialising in the development of student inquiry skills though a program of strong mentoring. The center requires the use of academic forms which contain specific and personal details of students. The center has an obligation to guarantee the confidentiality of these forms as they contain student authored material and personal information.

A genetic variation which evolved to protect people of African descent against malaria has now been shown to increase their susceptibility to HIV infection by up to 40 per cent, according to new research published today in Cell Host & Microbe. The work analyzed data from a 25-year study of thousands of Americans of different ethnic backgrounds.

Conversely, the same variation also appears to prolong survival of those infected with HIV by approximately two years.

The discovery marks the first genetic risk factor for HIV found only in people of African descent, and sheds light on the differences in genetic makeup that play a crucial role in susceptibility to HIV and AIDS.

Mars once hosted vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life, according to two new studies based on data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) and other instruments on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

"The big surprise from these new results is how pervasive and long-lasting Mars' water was, and how diverse the wet environments were," says Scott Murchie, CRISM's principal investigator at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Md.

LONDON, July 16 /PRNewswire/ -- A London pizza restaurant has launched the UK's first range of pizzas designed specifically for pregnant women.

The Pregnancy Pizzas were devised by owner Charmaine Wasif for the ECO restaurant in Chiswick, West London.

Charmaine launched the pizzas after receiving requests from pregnant women craving bizarre toppings which normal pizza restaurants refused to cater for.

"Within one week three pregnant women came into the restaurant asking if I wouldn't mind putting toppings on their pizza which aren't on our usual menu.

"My view is the customer is always right, and although I haven't had kids myself I knew that pregnant women sometimes like something out of the ordinary to eat."

ROBBINSVILLE, New Jersey, July 16 /PRNewswire/ --

The key to good health is to be physically active. The key to being active is ... to be born that way?

The well-documented importance of exercise in maintaining fitness has created the idea that individuals can manage their health by increasing their activity. But what if the inclination to engage in physical activity is itself significantly affected by factors that are predetermined? Two new studies suggest that the inclination to exercise may be strongly affected by genetics.

Controlled experiments into the effects of genetics on human activity have yet to be attempted, but recent studies on mice – the standard test species for mammalian genetics – have found genetic influences.

SAN JOSE, California, July 16 /PRNewswire/ --

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) announced today the availability of a new family of AVR(R) 8-bit microcontrollers for LIN Automotive networking applications. The ATtiny167 is the first device and is optimized to LIN slave applications. It will be qualified to AECQ-100 grade 0 and sustain ambient temperatures of up to 150 degrees Celsius. Combined with a LIN transceiver such as ATA662x or ATA666x it brings a complete solution for sensors in a gearbox, exhaust gas system, pumps or turbo.

LONDON, July 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadband is the only household utility bill to buck the trend of rising household bills in the wake of the credit crunch, according to broadband comparison site Top 10 Broadband ( http://www.top10-broadband.co.uk ).

"Broadband bills have plummeted by over 60% in the past 18 months while gas and electricity have risen by 15% and are set to rise further by the end of the year" says Jessica McArdle, a spokesperson for Top 10 Broadband.

PALO ALTO, California and MIDDLESEX, England, July 16 /PRNewswire/ --

- Leading UK and US integrator offers NexentaStor ZFS based storage solutions

Nexenta Systems, Inc., developer of NexentaStor(TM), the leading open storage solution based upon the revolutionary file system ZFS, has announced a partnership with Broadberry Data Systems, a leading manufacturer of high-end custom NAS and SAN storage servers with offices in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Broadberry and Nexenta are partnering to deliver complete enterprise class storage solutions.

NOVATO, California, July 16 /PRNewswire/ --

- Raptor to Support Phase 2a Clinical Trial at UCSD

Raptor Pharmaceuticals Corp. ("Raptor" or the "Company") (OTC Bulletin Board: RPTP), today announced the execution of a collaboration agreement (the "Agreement") with the University of California, San Diego ("UCSD") to include a Phase 2a clinical trial to evaluate a delayed-release preparation of cysteamine bitartrate ("Cysteamine") in adolescents diagnosed with Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis ("NASH"). NASH is a progressive form of liver disease that accounts for approximately 10% of newly diagnosed cases of chronic liver disease, and ranks as one of the leading causes of cirrhosis of the liver in the U.S.