Scientists at Imperial College London have overcome two significant obstacles on the road to harnessing stem cells to build patches for damaged hearts.

Presenting the findings at a UK Stem Cell Initiative conference 13 December in Coventry, research leader Professor Sian Harding explained how her group have made significant progress in maturing beating heart cells (cardiomyocytes) derived from embryonic stem cells and in developing the physical scaffolding that would be needed to hold the patch in place in the heart in any future clinical application.

BURLINGTON, Massachusetts, December 12 /PRNewswire/ --

InterGen announced today the financial close and funding of credit facilities for its 428 MW natural gas-fired Rijnmond II project in Rotterdam. With an estimated cost of approximately euro 480 million (US$700 million), the Rijnmond II project will complement InterGen's existing 820 MW Rijnmond Energie project which commenced operations in 2004.

InterGen has appointed HSBC Bank plc as Mandated Lead Arranger and Sole Underwriter for the approximately euro 400 million (US$590 million) non-recourse financing that consists of a euro 335 million (US$490 million) long-term senior debt facility as well as working capital, swap and LC facilities.

Domestic violence is an inherent problem in Turkey, and healthcare workers are doing little to combat the prevalence of wife beating, according to research published in the online open access journal, BMC Public Health. A survey of medical personnel reveals that a lack of training and a cultural acceptance of domestic violence may prevent victims from obtaining the support they desperately require.

173 medical staff from the emergency department of a Turkish university hospital responded to a questionnaire about domestic violence. 69.0% of the female and 84.7% of the male respondents declared that they agreed or partially agreed to at least one reason to justify physical violence.

Researcher at Stanford have isolated the multipotent progenitor, the great-grandparent of all the cells of the blood, and say this is the first offspring of the much-studied blood-forming stem cell that resides in the bone marrow and gives rise to all cells of the blood. It's also the cell that's thought to give rise to acute myelogenous leukemia when mutated.

Isolating this cell, which is well known in mice but had yet to be isolated in human blood, fills in an important gap in the human blood cell family tree.

Irving Weissman, MD, director of Stanford's Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, spent his early career identifying each cell in the mouse blood family tree.

Circadian rhythms are the body’s intrinsic time-tracking system, which anticipates environmental changes and adapts to the appropriate time of day. They regulate a host of body functions, from sleep patterns and hormonal control to metabolism and behavior.

About 10 percent to 15 percent of all human genes are regulated by circadian rhythms. Disruption of these rhythms can profoundly influence human health and has been linked to insomnia, depression, heart disease, cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.

University of California, Irvine researchers say they have identified the chemical switch that triggers the genetic mechanism regulating our internal body clock.

An international team has shown how crude oil in oil deposits around the world are naturally broken down by microbes in the reservoir. Their discovery, published in Nature, could revolutionize heavy oil and oil sands production by leading to more energy-efficient, environmentally friendly ways to produce this valuable resource.

Understanding how crude oil biodegrades into methane, or natural gas, opens the door to being able to recover the clean-burning methane directly from deeply buried, or in situ, oil sands deposits, says Steve Larter, University of Calgary petroleum geologist.

XCOR Aerospace, Inc. announced today that it has successfully completed its first series of tests on a new 56-pound thrust rocket engine. The engine, designated XR-3E17, is a direct
descendent of the company's XR-2P1 "Tea Cart" engine developed in 2000.

Although it weighs just half as much as its predecessor, the new engine has nearly four times the thrust of the 15lb thrust original. The regeneratively cooled engine, developed using private investor funding, is made of copper with a lightweight aluminum cooling jacket.

LONDON, December 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the DH announcement to pilot the availability of oral contraception through Patient Group Directions (PGD), David Pruce, Director of Practice and Quality Improvement at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, said:

"The Society supports the Department of Health proposal to pilot supply of the contraceptive pill through PGD, which are written instructions for the supply or administration of medicines to groups of patients without an individualised doctor's prescription."

BAAR, Switzerland, December 12 /PRNewswire/ -- DWM Petroleum AG (100% subsidiary of Manas) (DWM) & Santos International Ventures Pty Ltd. (Santos) have entered into an Option Agreement under which Santos has a unilateral option to elect for the those parties to execute at a later stage, a Farm In Agreement for a 70% interest in DWM's Novobod Tajikistan License and a proposed North Tajik licence. Manas expects the North Tajik Licence to be granted to Somon in the near future.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, December 12 /PRNewswire/ --

Agendia makes its breast cancer prognosis test, MammaPrint(R), available to U.S. patients after receiving two clearances from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its test. The first clearance in February of this year cleared MammaPrint(R) as an In Vitro Diagnostic Multivariate Index Assay (IVDMIA) for use in breast cancer prognosis. In June of this year, Agendia received a second clearance for the test in conjunction with RNARetain(R)(i), an RNA stabilizing solution allowing shipping of tumor biopsies at ambient temperature, greatly facilitating the logistical process of sample handling.