Science Education & Policy

DUBLIN, Ireland, December 20 /PRNewswire/ --
- PopCap.com Helps Reduce Holiday Stress
As if offering up family-friendly, stress-busting games wasn't enough, PopCap Games are going further to help beat Christmas stress by giving customers 50% off all games at http://www.popcap.com until January 3rd 2008. (i)
PopCap joined forces with the Stress Management Society (UK) in 2007 to prove their games' stress relieving properties. Neil Shah, Director, The Stress Management Society (http://www.stress.org.uk) says: "A study conducted by The Stress Management Society showed that playing puzzle games…

Global warming and other human-caused ecological changes are outpacing the ability of species to adapt, resulting in greater threats of disease, reduced diversity in plant and animal communities, and an overall loss of natural heritage, according to research presented in the Jan. 3, 2008, edition of Molecular Ecology.
The Special Issue includes 38 peer-reviewed articles and is dedicated to research presented at the conference – “Evolutionary Change in Human-altered Environments” – sponsored by the UCLA Institute of the Environment.
“Evolutionary change caused by human activities touches…

MONTREAL, December 20 /PRNewswire/ --
- Introduces a Simpler Process Better Aligned with Industry Practices for 2008
Sipro Lab Telecom, the administrator of the G.729 Patent Pool which represents the essential IPR and has contributed to this popular communications standard developed by the G.729 Consortium members: France Telecom, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, and Universite de Sherbrooke, announced today that the patent royalty pricing options available to end-product manufacturers will be modified as of January 1st, 2008.
The main motivation…

LONDON and CAMBRIDGE, England, December 20 /PRNewswire/ --
- ATRIPLA is a Landmark Achievement of Two Co-operating Companies
ATRIPLA (600 mg efavirenz / 200 mg emtricitabine / 245 mg tenofovir disoproxil as fumarate), launched today in the UK, is the first and only complete HIV treatment in one pill once-daily for virologically suppressed adults, and represents a new era in HIV therapy for these patients. (1,2) In a unique collaboration, two companies - Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences - have come together to develop a single treatment to improve the lives of people with HIV. ATRIPLA…

Tufts University researchers have updated their Food Guide Pyramid for Older Adults to correspond with the USDA food pyramid, now known as MyPyramid. The Tufts version is specifically designed for older adults and has changed in appearance and content.
The Modified MyPyramid for Older Adults continues to emphasize nutrient-dense food choices and the importance of fluid balance, but has added additional guidance about forms of foods that could best meet the unique needs of older adults and about the importance of regular physical activity.
“Adults over the age of 70 have unique dietary needs…

Mathematicians from the University of Exeter say they have solved the mystery of traffic jams by developing a model to show how major delays occur on our roads, with no apparent cause.
Many traffic jams leave drivers baffled as they finally reach the end of a delay only to find no visible cause for their delay. Now, a team of mathematicians state they have found the answer and published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society.
The team developed a mathematical model to show the impact of unexpected events. Their model revealed that slowing down below a critical speed…

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pennsylvania, December 19 /PRNewswire/ --
- High levels of Type III von Willebrand Disease, a serious, hereditary bleeding disorder, found in region
CSL Behring today announced that Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME) has granted rights to the company to distribute Haemate(R) P on an exclusive basis throughout Iran, beginning immediately. Haemate P is indicated for the treatment of von Willebrand Disease, a serious, hereditary, and sometimes life-threatening condition caused by a deficiency or abnormality of the von Willebrand factor, a protein in the…

CARY, North Carolina, December 19 /PRNewswire/ --
- SciQuest Continues Rapid Worldwide Growth and Market Leadership among Research-Intensive Industries with 100th Customer Signing
SciQuest, Inc., the global leader in helping academic and research-centric organizations realize the potential of strategic procurement, today announced that the University of Oxford has selected SciQuest's eprocurement solution, citing the company's market leadership in higher education and seamless integration with Oracle as key factors in their decision. Several hundred people -- including academics,…

A Virginia Commonwealth University Life Sciences Survey is the first poll to reflect the discovery reported internationally in November that human skin cells can be used to create stem cells or their near equivalents.
When asked about the implications of this development, more than six in 10, or 63 percent, say that both embryonic and non-embryonic stem cell research is still needed, 22 percent say this development means embryonic stem cell research is no longer necessary. Thirty-eight percent of Americans report hearing about this research.
Three-quarters of the U.S. public supports stem…

WASHINGTON, December 18 /PRNewswire/ --
Microloans to the poor around the world soared to 133 million last year, up from 13 million just nine years ago, according to a report released today by the Microcredit Summit Campaign, an initiative of RESULTS Educational Fund. The dramatic progress was also evident in the Campaign's focus on loans to the very poor, those living on less than a US$1 a day, which reached 93 million families in 2006, just shy of the Campaign's goal of reaching 100 million poorest. "We know that by today the 100 million poorest will have been reached," Microcredit Summit…