UTRECHT, the Netherlands, July 17 /PRNewswire/ --

- Societas Europaea (SE) Reflects European Ambitions of Equens

UTRECHT, the Netherlands, July 17 /PRNewswire/ --

Today, Equens - one of the largest payment processors in Europe - was transformed into a Societas Europaea and became Equens SE. This legal form is in line with Equens' ambitions and positioning as a truly European player within the European payments market. The new company is the result of the legal mergers of Equens Nederland B.V. and the German Equens Deutschland AG into the holding Equens N.V., followed by the conversion into a Societas Europaea.

FRIMLEY, England, July 17 /PRNewswire/ --

- New Report Highlights Dangerous Responses to Stress Among Employees

UK workers are most likely to turn to alcohol, smoking and comfort eating to help them deal with the stress of their occupations, according to a new 'Stroke in Business' report* from The Stroke Association, in association with Siemens. The report highlights the high levels of stress felt in many industries and the often unhealthy ways in which workers respond, potentially leading to serious health problems including increased risk of stroke. The 'Stroke in Business report' calls for UK employers to do more to encourage staff to use exercise to "de-stress".

Some bacterial cells can swim, morph into new forms and even become dangerously virulent - all without initial involvement of DNA. Yale University researchers writing in Science describe how bacteria accomplish this amazing feat - and in doing so provide a glimpse of what the earliest forms of life on Earth may have looked like.

To initiate many important functions, bacteria sometimes depend entirely upon ancient forms of RNA, once viewed simply as the chemical intermediary between DNA's instruction manual and the creation of proteins, said Ronald Breaker, the Henry Ford II Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale and senior author of the study.

CHARENTON-LE-PONT, France, July 17 /PRNewswire/ --

- First-Half 2008 Revenue Up

- 5.4% Like-for-Like

- 9.6% at Constant Exchange Rates

Essilor International, the world leader in ophthalmic optics, today announced consolidated revenue of EUR1,520.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2008, representing a reported 2.9% increase on first half 2007.

Like-for-like growth was 5.4%, in line with trend rates, while growth excluding the currency effect was maintained at a strong 9.6%, lifted by the Company's sustained acquisitions drive (4.2%). This robust performance in a challenging economic environment demonstrates the solid strength of the Company's growth model, built around innovation and acquisitions-led expansion.

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (Euronext: AMT), a leader in the field of human gene therapy, announced today the appointment of Mrs. Janneke de Wal, M.D., as Director Global Marketing and Sales. She will report to Anthony J. Gringeri, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer. She will also serve on the company's management team.

Mrs. De Wal has over 20 years of experience in marketing, sales and product development, including the introduction of orphan drug products. Her experience encompasses a wide range of international positions in midsize pharmaceutical and large biotech companies. Mrs. De Wal will be building the in-house marketing and sales force, initially for AMT's lead product Glybera(R).

University of Alberta scientists contend they have the answer to mass extinction of animals and plants 93 million years ago. The answer, research has uncovered, has been found at the bottom of the sea floor where lava fountains erupted, altering the chemistry of the sea and possibly of the atmosphere.

Earth and Atmospheric Science researchers Steven Turgeon and Robert Creaser found specific isotope levels of the element osmium, an indicator of volcanism in seawater, in black shale—rocks containing high amounts of organic matter—drilled off the coast of South America and in the mountains of central Italy.

New evidence that the brain regions responsible for vision are capable of adapting in adults offers new hope for those with an untreated condition commonly known as lazy eye. Also called amblyopia, the condition is the most prevalent cause of visual impairment in a single eye, affecting about six million people in the United States alone.

"If not detected early enough—before seven to twelve years of age—the condition has been considered untreatable because the brain wasn't thought to be plastic enough," said Benjamin Thompson of McGill University in Canada. "The main message here is to show that there really is plasticity in the adult visual system. There is real momentum now to find a treatment for adult amblyopia."

Every moment we live, cells in our bodies are dying. One type of cell death activates an immune response while another type doesn't. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis have figured out how some dying cells signal the immune system. They say the finding eventually could have important implications in the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer.

In the July 18 issue of the journal Immunity, the researchers report a molecule, called high mobility group box-1 protein (HMGB1), which cells release when they die, seems to determine whether the immune system is alerted. But what happens to HMGB1 after it's made and whether the immune system ever gets the signal depends on how the cell dies.

Researchers at Queensland University of Technology have had good results with a trial vaccine for chlamydia, a disease which is decimating koala populations in the wild.

Chlamydia in koalas was a significant cause of infertility, urinary tract infections, and inflammation in the lining of the eye that often led to blindness.

Professors Peter Timms and Ken Beagley from Queensland University of Technology's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI) said the vaccinated koalas, which are at Brisbane's Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, were mounting a good response to the vaccine.