A group of six private equity firms has officially launched its 7.5 billion euro (US$9.1 billion) takeover bid for market research firm VNU NV. The Valcon Acquisition BV consortium — comprising AlpInvest Partners, Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group, Hellman & Friedman, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and Thomas H Lee Partners — has offered a month-long acceptance period.

Publishing technology provider Ingenta has announced new digitisation capabilities which enable it to accept hard copy as an entry format to its industry-leading content processing and enhancement services. With Ingenta's unique ability to create fully-functional, interlinked backfiles from hard copy, publishers can now gain from the significant savings represented by a combined service that incorporates content enrichment and hosting.

NetLibrary, the e-content platform of global library cooperative OCLC, Inc., US, has announced that it will feature popular medical textbook, Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, as its April eBook of the Month. The eBook will be provided free and with unlimited access, starting April 1–30 through the home pages of over 13,000 participating libraries.

Scientific journal Stem Cells has announced that it has formally retracted a paper by Sun Jong Kim and eight other South Korean researchers, originally published in 2004. Senior editors of the journal have assessed information derived during a scientific inquiry of fraud conducted by Seoul National University, and have concluded that the paper in question does not "rise to a reasonable standard of credibility."

The Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) has announced that Dr. Frank Davidoff, editor emeritus of the Archives of Internal Medicine, has agreed to serve on the interim editorial board of the journal. CMAJ editor emeritus Dr. Bruce Squires has reportedly assured Dr. Davidoff that a package of governance principles the Canadian Medical Association has agreed upon will ensure the editorial autonomy of the journal.

Tissue Engineering, the official publication of the Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society, has published a report in its March 2006 issue on a novel technique for the repair of damaged heart muscles. This new, cell-based therapeutic strategy is expected to offer advantages over conventional tissue engineering approaches that seed cardiac cells onto biodegradable scaffolds.