TURKU, Finland, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- BioCis Pharma Ltd., a privately-held drug development company with its headquarters in Turku, Finland, announced that it has begun a new Phase IIa clinical testing of ProtoCure(TM) emulsion cream, the company's novel topical drug for dermatology. The double-blind, vehicle-controlled study is designed to evaluate the tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy of the topical product in a total of 18 subjects with mild to moderate plaque psoriasis. The subjects will apply ProtoCure(TM) emulsion cream up to four weeks to the skin areas affected by the disease.

LONDON, March 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- Permanent IT Roles in Higher Demand According to Research From The IT Job Board

Permanent IT jobs are in more demand than contract positions, according to research(1) carried out by The IT Job Board, http://www.theitjobboard.co.uk.

When surveyed, 56 percent of respondents believed that there was currently more calling for permanent roles, as opposed to 44 percent for IT contract jobs.

61 percent of those surveyed were in contract work, and when asked why they chose this type of role 40 percent advised that it was down to the higher salaries. 39 percent were in permanent IT jobs, and 44 percent of them stated that it was because of the security this work offers.

BEIJING, March 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- Acquisitions Strengthen iSoftStone's Greater China Offering to Benefit Clients Worldwide

Today iSoftStone Information Service Corporation (iSoftStone), a leading provider of consulting, IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing (BPO), announced that it has entered into agreements to acquire Shenzhen Sidaronghe Co. Ltd. (Sidaronghe) and the Services Outsourcing unit of MDCL-Frontline (MDCL) in separate transactions. The two additions will help iSoftStone to continue expanding its client coverage team in the Greater China region including Hong Kong and Taiwan, and further strengthen delivery capabilities for global MNC clients.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070316/CNF016LOGO )

GREENBELT, Maryland, March 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- Release accelerates workflow, productivity, and establishes new standard for quality

Scaleform(R) Corporation (Scaleform), the groundbreaking force in interactive entertainment middleware and user interface (UI) engines for video games, today announced Scaleform GFx(TM) 3.0, with powerful new features, optimizations and a new premium video module that enables game developers to cut costs and minimize development risk while advancing game quality. Scaleform GFx 3.0 alpha is available for qualified developers and will be featured at the GDC 2009 Expo from March 25-27 in San Francisco, CA. Special introductory pricing is available through March 31, 2009.

LONDON, March 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- Bank Goes Live on Misys Opics Plus to Manage Increased Number of Trades and Strengthen Risk Practices

Bank of Ningbo Co. Ltd (Bank of Ningbo), one of China's leading publicly-listed city commercial banks, has successfully implemented a powerful trade processing solution at its Ningbo head office from Misys, the global application software and services company.

Officials at Ningbo chose to strengthen its operations in late February 2008 as a result of higher volumes of transactions in its capital markets business in recent months, and invested in new technology to reduce the need for traders to manually monitor transactions, develop derivative products and grow its market share.

CARDIFF, Wales, March 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- World's First IP-Focused Laboratory and In-Life LTE Test Solution

Epitiro, the broadband communications authority, today announces the LTE Test Suite, the world's first packet-domain test solution for UMTS long term evolution (LTE) device manufacturers and mobile network operators (MNO). The suite is comprised of LTELabTM and ISP-I TM LTE.

LONDON, March 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- Businesses Should Seize Opportunity to Demonstrate Green Credentials

New research from the Carbon Trust Standard shows that consumers still want to buy green despite the current economic climate, with 62% of consumers saying environmental concerns influence their purchasing decisions 'the same as a year ago' and just over a quarter saying they influence them 'even more' than in 2008.

BRUSSELS, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The 3rd European Space Agency (ESA) Investment Forum will take place near Brussels (Dolce La Hulpe) on the 7th of April 2009. It brings together international investors specialised in seed and early stage funding, looking for hot new ideas, with innovative fledgling high-tech companies, who are seeking funds to get their business up and running.

BERKELEY, California, March 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- World's Leading Neurological Testing Company Purchases Leading UK Firm In The Fast Growing Field of Brainwave-Based Market Research

NeuroFocus, the world's leading company in the rapidly-expanding field of neuromarketing, announced that it has concluded an agreement to purchase Neuroco. The move marks NeuroFocus' next step in its global expansion, following closely on the company's rapid growth in the U.S. and the development of its business in Asia, where it has added major new clients in several key countries including Japan and Korea, among others.

NeuroFocus and Neuroco are both privately held companies. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Neuroco will now become NeuroFocus Europe.

While you're sipping that morning cup and looking for excuses to put off work, here's what's interesting in science around the web today (well, ok, not just today - I haven't done one of these in about a month):

Your tax money pays for the research, so shouldn't you be able to read that research without paying an arm and a leg? Biologist Michael Eisen defends the National Institute Health policy that scientists put copies of their manuscripts in a freely accessible, public repository, as Congress plans to revisit that policy at the behest of for-profit publishers. Eisen argues the policy doesn't hurt publishers, and thus there's no reason to scrap it: