Neurosurgeons from the University of California, San Francisco are reporting significant results of a new brain mapping technique that allows for the safe removal of tumors near language pathways in the brain. The technique minimizes brain exposure and reduces the amount of time a patient must be awake during surgery.

Perhaps even more profound, the study provides new data that refines scientists’ understanding of how language is organized within the human cortex. It identifies new regions involved in speech production, reading and naming. The team used this data to generate a three-dimensional cortical language map that is more detailed and integrates more data than any language map of the brain ever generated.

WILMINGTON, North Carolina, January 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- Strengthens global leadership in drug development

PPD, Inc. (Nasdaq: PPDI) today announced the appointment of Sebastian Pacios, M.D., as senior vice president of clinical operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). In this role, Dr. Pacios will oversee Phase II-IV clinical development for PPD's operations in these geographic regions.

PARIS, January 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- SurgiLance Safety Lancets Selected as Product of Choice

MediPurpose has been awarded its first tender by the Tours University Hospitals of France. MediPurpose will supply its SurgiLance safety lancets to nine hospitals over a two-year period beginning in January 2008 and continuing through December 2009.

MediPurpose was selected over other providers based on criteria that demanded:

-- safe, simple and effective product action -- easy cap removal and immediate blood sampling capability -- sufficient blood volume for required tests -- a well-identified product with effective packaging

Are we running out of helium? Lee Sobotka, professor of chemistry and physics at Washington University in St. Louis, says it is being depleted so rapidly in the world’s largest reserve, outside of Amarillo, Tex., that supplies are expected to be gone there within the next eight years.

The helium we have on earth is not readily renewable, it has been built up over billions of years from the decay of natural uranium and thorium. The decay of these elements proceeds at a super-snail’s pace.

It will impact more than balloons and kids' voices, Sobotka says. “Helium’s use in science is extremely broad but its most important use is as a coolant. Helium is non-renewable and irreplaceable.

A class of chemicals in red wine grapes may significantly reduce the ability of bacteria to cause cavities, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

The findings suggest that specific polyphenols, present in large amounts in fermented seeds and skins cast away after grapes are pressed, interfere with the ability of bacteria to contribute to tooth decay. Beyond cavities, the action of the wine grape-based chemicals may also hold clues for new ways to lessen the ability of bacteria to cause life-threatening, systemic infections.

Bacteria that eat sugar and release cavity-causing acid onto teeth may soon be made dramatically more vulnerable to their own acid. Researchers have identified key genes and proteins that, if interfered with, can take away the ability of a key bacterial species to thrive as its acidic waste builds up in the mouth.

The ability of Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) to survive in acid is one reason that the species is the main driver of tooth decay worldwide. Past research has shown that this ability has several components including a bacterial enzyme called fatty acid biosynthase M (FabM), which when shut down, makes S. mutans almost precisely 10,000 times more vulnerable to acid damage.

An international study investigating the carbon sink capacity of northern terrestrial ecosystems discovered that the duration of the net carbon uptake period (CUP) has on average decreased due to warmer autumn temperatures.

Net carbon uptake of northern ecosystems is decreasing in response to autumnal warming according to findings published in Nature. The carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems is particularly sensitive to climatic changes in autumn and spring. Over the past two decades autumn temperatures in northern latitudes have risen by about 1.1 °C with spring temperatures up by 0.8 °C.

Many northern terrestrial ecosystems currently lose carbon dioxide (CO2) in response to autumn warming, offsetting 90% of the increased carbon dioxide uptake during spring.

HOLMDEL, New Jersey, January 2 /PRNewswire/ --

Sparta Systems, Inc. (Sparta), the maker of TrackWise(R), and the market leader in enterprise quality and compliance management software announce that BioReliance, a leading contract services organization for the biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industries, deployed TrackWise to handle key quality management activities.

HAIFA, Israel, January 2 /PRNewswire/ --

- Company Also Outlines Additional Announcements

Oil Refineries Ltd. (TASE: ORL) (the "Company"), Israel's largest oil refiner, has announced the convening of a Special General Meeting.

Notice is hereby given that, on February 6, 2008, at 10:00 a.m., an Annual General Meeting of the Company's Shareholders shall convene at the Company's offices at 7 Abba Hillel Street, Ramat Gan, Israel, for the purpose of approving the following resolution:

On the Agenda:

Approve the increasing of the compensation of the members of the Company's Board of Directors, excluding the Chairman of the Board, and external directors.

Details Relating to the Resolutions on the Agenda:

SANTA CLARA, California, January 2 /PRNewswire/ --

Marvell announced the TopDog 11n-450, an 802.11n 3x3 WLAN solution with three spatial streams, the industry's first 802.11n chip operating at 450 Megabits-per-second (Mbps). With maximum bandwidth more than eight times faster than 802.11g 54 Mbps versions and 1.5 times faster than current 802.11n 300 Mbps offerings, the new product will enable significant performance enhancements for notebooks and desktop PCs, printers, routers, set top boxes, digital TVs, gaming devices and DVD players and recorders. The TopDog 11n-450 provides 500 percent increased range over 802.11g, as well as 160 percent increased range compared to competing 802.11n solutions.