VIENNA, Austria, January 17 /PRNewswire/ --

- From January 31 to February 1, Vienna Will Become a Hub for Environmental Technology and Renewable Energies

Speaking on the urgent need for an energy revolution, US economist Jeremy Rifkin said during his Vienna visit last year that he hoped the EU and Austria would play a pioneering role. Now, the internationally renowned futurologist is returning as the keynote speaker of envietech 2008, the first European congress for environmental technology and renewable energies. The conference will take place at the Austria Center Vienna under the patronage of the Austrian Ministry for the Environment from January 31 to February 1, 2008.

LONDON, January 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Responding to today's publication of the second report into Prescribing Costs in Primary Care, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) supports the continued effort by healthcare professionals to reduce inappropriate prescribing.

RPSGB Director of Practice and Quality Improvement, David Pruce, says:

"What this report addresses is the unnecessary waste of medication and the associated cost to the NHS."

"Pharmacists already play an important role in helping to manage prescribing costs. Pharmaceutical advisers employed by Primary Care Trusts advise GPs about good prescribing practice and give GPs vital feedback about their prescribing compared with the national and local average."

ARNHEM, The Netherlands and KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, January 17 /PRNewswire/ --

- Partnership to Offer Leading Data Quality Solutions to Asian Customers

Human Inference, leading supplier of data quality software and DKSH Datacare Technologies Sdn Bhd agreed to a mutual exclusive partnership agreement for the Emerging APAC region.

DKSH (Think Asia, Think DKSH) is the leading Market Expansion Services Group in and for Asia. It enables and supports companies in expanding their businesses in existing markets and launching into new ones. Founded in 1865, DKSH employs over 21,500 people with annual revenue of 6.73 billion US Dollars in 2006.

HONG KONG, January 17 /PRNewswire/ --

With over 10,000 gift and houseware trade professionals expected to attend, the 8th Asia Expo-London is the definitive Asian sourcing event, right at the beginning of the year.

To meet for the increasing sourcing requirements of local and international buyers, the show days of the London Expo have been extended to add a further day to a 4-day show, opening from Tuesday 29 January -- Friday 1 February, 2008. The 8th Asia Expo London, a "UFI -- Approved Event" since 2003, will present the broadest selection of distinctive, diverse and directional Asian products from the gift, housewares, premiums and toy industries, direct from Asia.

BASINGSTOKE, England, January 17 /PRNewswire/ --

- Non-Calcium Phosphate Binder for the Management of Hyperphosphataemia Now Available in 24 Countries

- NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES

Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY, TSX: SHQ) announces that with the launch today in Spain of FOSRENOL (lanthanum carbonate), a non-calcium phosphate binder, Shire is celebrating the completion of the launch roll-out in the major European markets. FOSRENOL is the first of the company's medicines developed in-house from research molecule to market.

A gigantic palm that flowers itself to death and exists as part of an entirely unique genus has been discovered in Madagascar. The mystery palm has a huge trunk which towers over 18m high and fan leaves which are 5m in diameter - among the largest known in flowering plants. This is the most massive palm ever to be found in Madagascar. It's so large it can be seen on Google Earth.

“We are blessed to have each other to depend on. If you have to go through something bad like cancer, you’re glad to have a friend to go through it with,” said one of two brothers from Savannah, Georgia recovering from robotic prostate cancer surgery.

The two siblings flew to The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York to have lifesaving surgery on the same day this week. Dr. David B. Samadi, M.D., Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery in the Department of Urology at Mount Sinai successfully performed the robotic prostate cancer surgeries on the siblings one after another on Monday, January 14th, 2008.

CARLSBAD, California, January 17 /PRNewswire/ --

Ablation Frontiers, Inc., a privately-held medical device company, announced today a successful series of catheter ablations using the company's Tip-Versatile Ablation Catheter(TM) (T-VAC). Dr. Vince Paul of the St. Peter's Hospital in Chertsey, United Kingdom is one of three leading European sites that have been evaluating this new multi-electrode linear ablation catheter since November 2007. He performed four ablation procedures for atrial flutter, a potentially dangerous irregular heart rhythm.