EVRY, France, March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Four research teams of I-STEM[*] have joined forces in a collaborative project that has just achieved a first pilot therapy-oriented screen of compounds and RNA interference aiming at reversing the altered phenotypes observed in human embryonic stem cells carrying the mutant gene for myotonic dystrophy type1. This assay inaugurates a series of RD planned in 2009.

VIENNA, Austria and SINGAPORE, March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Mycoplasma biosafety specialist Mycosafe Diagnostics GmbH and virus and prion biosafety company ViruSure GmbH - both based in Vienna, Austria - today announced at BioMedical Asia 2009 that they are to establish a second site in Singapore as part of a joint venture. This move will ensure that both companies are in an ideal position to offer the biosafety expertise and laboratory services so urgently required in the rapidly-expanding biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in Asia.

LONDON, March 19 /PRNewswire/ --

The 2009 Frost Sullivan European Healthcare Document Management Systems (DMS) Product Quality Leadership Award is presented to KIBI Software Solutions for continuous product innovation. Uncompromising quality maintenance, together with exceptional customer support and technological leadership, contribute to KIBI's success.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081117/FSLOGO)

KIBI, an IT solutions provider, has a unit dedicated to meeting healthcare and hospital requirements. In addition to providing electronic medical records (EMR) solutions, the company offers electronic archiving and content management scanning, electronic invoice and procurement management and e-invoicing solutions.

LONDON, March 19 /PRNewswire/ --

The 2009 European Mammography Systems Product Quality Leadership Award is presented to FUJIFILM Corporation in recognition of the exceptional quality of its Computed Radiography (CR) mammography systems. The company's superior quality control, product performance, quality assurance programme and product manufacturing are also commended.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081117/FSLOGO)

LONDON, March 19 /PRNewswire/ --

The 2009 Frost Sullivan European Drug Discovery Product Innovation Award is presented to Xenometrix AG in recognition of its active role in the production of single and multiple endpoint cytotoxicity assays.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081117/FSLOGO )

These test kits, used in the early screening stages of drug discovery, improve the effectiveness of drug discovery and development through lead optimisation. One product line - the IN CYTOTOX PAN I kit - enables researchers to detect 4 main toxicity parameters on a single sample; a feat unmatched by competing life science organisations.

In the days of Columbus, dead men could tell no tales.  Today, dead men can tell us a lot and science has just taken that forensic interrogation to new heights.

A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison is extracting the details of the lives of crew members who remained on the island of Hispaniola after the second voyage of Christopher Columbus to America in 1493-94.

Scientists say they have detected giant twisting waves in the lower atmosphere of the Sun, shedding light on the mystery of the Sun's corona, the region around the Sun, extending more than one million kilometres from its surface, which has a vastly higher temperature than its surface. The findings of this investigation could help us understand more about the turbulent solar weather and its affect on our planet.

The massive solar twists, known as Alfvén waves, were discovered in the lower atmosphere with the Swedish Solar Telescope in the Canary Islands by scientists from Queen's University Belfast, the University of Sheffield and California State University Northridge.

New research on the reporting of medical treatments in the Australian media showed slight improvements in accuracy but the overall quality of health reporting remained poor, says a study of more than 1,200 health news stories published by Australian media outlets.   It found that over the past four years there was only small improvement in quality of coverage of the availability of new treatments, the potential harm of interventions and accurate analysis of any benefits.

If you're Scottish- or Irish-born, you are twice as likely as natives to die an alcohol-related death if you move to England or Wales; surprising because most people assume if they die in Wales it will be from a beer bottle smashed over their head at a Cardiff game rather than the alcohol itself.

But it's not just a risk for natives of the British Isles; the research conducted by the University of Edinburgh and the Office for National Statistics also found that men born in India – but living in England and Wales – had similar rates of alcohol-related death as Scottish- and Irish-born people.

Tobacco isn't exactly famous for its health benefits, though the mental health effect of a Fonseca and a port after a nice steak is well-documented, but now scientists have succeeded in using genetically modified tobacco plants to produce medicines for several autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including diabetes.