GENEVA, Switzerland, May 7 /PRNewswire/ --

- Additional Important Effects of Safinamide Noted in Ongoing Analyses of First Phase III Clinical Trial Done in Similar Patient Population (study 016)

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and its partner Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA (SWX: NWRN) announced today the initiation of the SETTLE(1) study. This study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of a dose range of safinamide (50-100 mg once daily) as add-on therapy to a stable dose of levodopa, in mid- to late-stage Parkinson's disease patients with motor fluctuations compared to placebo.

LONDON, May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- A British computer software research company may have solved the growing problem of the Internet slowing down.

The software, called C-THRU is in the final stages of production, at Bubblephone Ltd, based at the University of Sussex Innovation Centre, near Brighton.

Experts predict that demand for Internet bandwidth, already growing at 60% a year, will start to exceed supply from as early as next year because of more people working online and the soaring popularity of bandwidth-hungry websites such as YouTube and services such as the BBC's iPlayer. The volume of traffic generated each month by YouTube is now equivalent to the amount of traffic generated across the entire Internet in all of 2000.

AMSTERDAM, May 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (Euronext: AMT), a leader in the field of human gene therapy, announced today the treatment of the first patient in a preregistration clinical trial with Glybera(TM). This gene therapy product targets lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD), a seriously debilitating and potentially lethal disease.

The randomized controlled trial has been designed to gather additional data on the effects of Glybera on lipid metabolism and the mechanisms underlying the prevention of pancreatitis attacks. The trial is being performed under a Clinical Trial Application approved by Health Canada.

With obesity reaching epidemic numbers, cultural marketing  has long been attempting to tell women that they're beautiful no matter what size they are.   Perception is about to run up against medical health, according to a new study out of Temple University.

In the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology research, Temple researchers studied the body image perceptions of 81 underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese women in the North Philadelphia area and found that as their body mass index (BMI) increased, two-thirds of the women still felt they were at an ideal body size.

Rising shale gas production in the United States and Canada as well as potential natural gas supplies from Iraq could be pivotal in curbing Russia's ability to organize an "energy weapon" against European consumers, according to a new study released today by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. 

The study, "Russia and the Caspian Basin in the World Energy Balance," examines Russia's evolving energy relations with its Caspian neighbors, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the West and considers potential scenarios for Russian and Caspian oil and natural gas strategies.

Methane has 23X the warming impact of carbon dioxide and food production, including livestock, is a huge source of methane, spiking as larger world populations have led to increased production.  

University of Alberta researchers say they have developed a formula to reduce methane gas (basically, farts) in cattle, balancing starch, sugar, cellulose, ash, fat and other elements of feed.  They say this will give beef producers the tools to lessen the methane gas their cattle produce by as much as 25 per cent. 

If proof were needed that the prospect of public speaking can turn an otherwise confident person to jelly, then it is supplied in figures released today by Great Speechwriting. They reviewed the surfing habits of the 50,000 most recent visitors to their sites, all of whom have sought speech-related help and advice, and Lawrence Bernstein, a professional speech writer who runs Great Speechwriting said, "Every day, thousands of anxious people surf to seek a cure for their public speaking nerves and the wedding season witnesses the annual culmination of this predominantly male phobia.

"Perhaps surprisingly, our statistics show that the most worried member of the wedding party is the Father of the Bride.

One year after giving birth, women were less likely to have the most dangerous kind of obesity if they had been given probiotics from the first trimester of pregnancy, found new research that suggests manipulating the balance of bacteria in the gut may help fight obesity.

Research presented Thursday at the European Congress on Obesity says scheduling more physical education time in schools does not mean children will increase their activity levels; those who got lots of timetabled exercise at school compensated by doing less at home while those who got little at school made up for it by being more active at home.

They propose it's not the environment that drives physical activity levels in children, but some form of central control in the brain similar to appetite – an 'activitystat.'

Except appetite is learned by practice too.   People who eat a lot get more hungry than people who don't.

Elsevier, one of the world's leading publishers of scientific, technical, and medical (STM) information products and services, announced today that Michael Hansen, CEO of Elsevier's Health Sciences Division, issued the following statement in light of recent allegations of improper Australia based sponsored journal publication practices between 2000 and 2005:

"Elsevier prides itself on operating its business in the most ethical, honest and transparent manner possible.