1.   At least one research firm, Yankee Group, says the anthrax scares will cause a spike in consumer and business adoption of e-bill presentment and payment.

2.   According to Barry Shiller, CSAA manager of public and government affairs, a confluence of unusual and commonplace factors is causing the spike in prices.

3.   High-voltage spikes are usually caused by lightning.

4.   Noel insisted that the spikes were caused neither by gaming from power bidders, nor jitters because of unfamiliarity with the new deregulation system.

5.   Susan Hefle, an allergy expert at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said there is no evidence that genetically modified foods have caused any spike in allergies.

6.   The confluence of events that caused the spike in gasoline prices could happen again in the near future, analysts said.

7.   The flashing pattern causes a spike in brain activity, which appears like a heartbeat on a cardiac monitor.

8.   They concede, though, that high demand could cause price spikes this summer, as it did last summer, and that this year could be worse.

9.   Yergin said that the oil price spike has been caused by increasing demand from the recovering economies as well as the thriving US market.

10.   Friday was a triple witching day, when the expiration of stock options and futures contracts generally cause a spike upward in volume.