LONDON, June 30 /PRNewswire/ --

- Acquisitions increase Cascal's presence in Chile to nearly 500,000 residents

Cascal N.V. (NYSE: HOO) ("the Company"), a leading provider of water and wastewater services in seven countries, today announced that it has acquired 100 percent of the Servicomunal and Servilampa companies located immediately to the north of Santiago, Chile. These two new businesses operate perpetually held, regulated water and wastewater concessions and will be progressively combined with Cascal's existing operations to provide greater efficiencies.

PARIS, June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- In the news release, "Hope for Progeria - Successfully Validated on Mice, a Treatment Could Soon be Tested on Children" issued on 30 Jun 2008 08:00 GMT, by AFM-Association Francaise contre les Myopathies over PR Newswire, we are advised by a representative of the company that the URL at the bottom of the release should read http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nm1786 instead of http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nm.1786 as originally issued inadvertently. Complete, corrected release follows:

We all know that light effects the growth and development of plants but a new paper by Nathalie Hoang et al., published in PLoS Biology examines the effects light has on humans and animals.

In plants, cryptochromes are photoreceptor proteins which absorb and process blue light for functions such as growth, seedling development, and leaf and stem expansion. Cryptochromes are present in humans and animals as well and have been proven to regulate the mechanisms of the circadian clock. But how they work in humans and animals is still somewhat of a mystery.

When plants are exposed to blue light, they experience a reduction in flavin pigments. This reduction activates the cryptochromes and thus allows for growth and seedling development. Hoang et al. sought to study the effect of blue light on fly, animal, and human cryptochromes by exposing them to blue light and measuring the change in the number of oxidized flavins. After a prolonged exposure to blue light, the authors found that the number of flavins did in fact decrease, as they do in plants.

CAMBRIDGE, England, June 30 /PRNewswire/ --

- Energy technology pioneer closes biggest VC round in sector for five years

ARKeX, a worldwide leader in geophysical imaging technology, has successfully raised US$30 million (15.4 million pounds Sterling) in a deal that marks the largest venture capital round in its sector for five years.

The investment was led by Ferd Venture of Oslo, Norway, and included existing investors Energy Ventures of Stavanger, Norway; Scottish Equity Partners of Glasgow, UK; and members of ARKeX senior management. This is the third round of funding raised by ARKeX since 2004 and the largest venture round for a service company supplying the onshore and offshore oil and gas E&P sector since 2003.

"I want to say one word to you. Just one word," spoke Mr. Maguire to young Benjamin in the 1967 film The Graduate. That word was 'plastics' and it became a cultural litany meaning lots of different things but it's never been more true in its original form. Plastics are still the future.

With market analysts predicting an increase from £1.5 billion to £15.5 billion in the value of the organic light emitting display industry by 2014, it is no surprise that scientists and governments alike are keen to advance research into new 'plastics' - in this case the electronic kind.

For a long time, plastic was thought of as an insulating material that could not conduct electricity, but ground-breaking research in the 1970s proved that some plastics could do so. Now, more than thirty years later some of the potential applications of these breakthrough materials – electronic billboards, flexible laptops, high-definition television screens only one centimetre thick – are coming to light.

VEENENDAAL, The Netherlands, June 30 /PRNewswire/ --

- Jos Lamers Brings Years of International Senior Management Experience to His New Role

VEENENDAAL, The Netherlands, June 30 /PRNewswire/ --

Nucletron announced today the appointment of Jos Lamers as its new chief executive officer. The appointment marks the next phase for the company following its successful management buy-out from Delft Instruments in August 2007, which created an independent company fully dedicated to radiation oncology.

BEIJING, June 30 /PRNewswire/ --

OpenV ( http://www.openv.com ), China's largest Chinese-language Internet TV and Video content provider today announced that it has obtained from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television the License for Publishing Online Audio-Visual Programs (Video License). Industry sources widely believe that the issuance of the Video License will accelerate standardization of the online video industry while promoting healthy market growth.

TOKYO, June 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Honda Motor Co., Ltd. will begin collaborative testing of its experimental walking assist device as from July 1, 2008, with Shinseikai Medical Group, Kasumigaseki-Minami Hospital (Kawagoe, Saitama prefecture). The device was created to support walking by the elderly and other people with weakened leg muscles, but who are still able to walk on their own.

BEAVERTON, Oregon, June 30 /PRNewswire/ --

Planar Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLNR), a worldwide leader in specialty display solutions, announced a new image processing software that gives international customers complete management of control room visual information. Fully integrated with the industry's only in-cube processing solution, the new Indisys(TM) Director supports Planar's ongoing strategy to provide customers with turnkey offerings that simplify and enhance the operation of specialty displays in demanding control room environments.

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