MANCHESTER, England, April 24 /PRNewswire/ --

- Over One Million Children Take Part in E.ON National FA Cup Schools Day

Alan Shearer went back to school today as over a million school children nationwide celebrated E.ON National FA Cup Schools Day 1.

Over a quarter of the country's primary school children, aged between 7 and 11, traded their traditional lessons for a celebration of the history and excitement of the world's greatest domestic cup competition.

Children from around the country decked out their classrooms in Cup flags, mini trophies and football memorabilia as they enjoyed football themed lessons, including 'Football in the picture' English classes, where children were asked to develop a story based on a famous moment in FA Cup history.

DALLAS, April 24 /PRNewswire/ --

Parks Associates and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA(R)) today announced the speakers for the CONNECTIONS(TM) Europe Summit, taking place on May 19, 2008, in cooperation with TM Forum's Management World 2008 in Nice, France.

The CONNECTIONS(TM) Europe Summit in Nice will address the new challenges to service providers in attracting and retaining customers in today's hyper- competitive worldwide market. Research from Parks Associates indicates the number of households worldwide using telco/IPTV services grew from 4.7 million in 2006 to more than 14 million in 2007. Europe -- with more than eight million households -- experienced a 250% growth rate between 2006 and 2007.

Birds, unlike mammals, lack a tissue that is specialized to generate heat. A team of researchers at New York Medical College writes that the same lack of heat-generating tissue may have contributed to the extinction of ... dinosaurs.

Humans, like all mammals, have two kinds of adipose tissue, white fat and brown fat. White fat is used for storing energy-rich fuels, while brown fat generates heat. Hibernating bears have a lot of brown fat, as do human infants, who have much more than adults, relative to their body size. Infants’ brown fat protects them from hypothermia. Clinicians would like to find ways of making adult white fat behave more like brown fat so that we could burn, rather than store, energy.

While most mammals have a key gene called UCP1, which is responsible for the heat-generation function of brown fat, birds do not. The researchers found they could induce a specific type of stem cell in chicken embryos to produce differentiated cells that are structured and behave like brown fat. These chicken cells can even activate a UCP1 gene if presented with one from a mouse.

BASINGSTOKE, England and CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Shire plc (LSE: SHP, NASDAQ: SHPGY), the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, announces the acquisition of arylsulfatase -A (ASA) an Enzyme Replacement Therapy (ERT) in Phase 1-2 clinical trials for Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD) from the Danish company Zymenex A/S (Zymenex).

MLD is a serious, life-limiting disease in which patients experience progressive irreversible neurological damage. MLD is caused by a deficiency in the enzyme ASA which causes an excess concentration of sulphatide in cells and an ensuing breakdown of myelin. There are approximately 2,000 MLD patients in developed world markets(1).

MAINZ, Germany and MUMBAI, India, April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- SCHOTT AG and KAISHA Manufacturers Private Ltd., an Indian company, announce the formation of a joint venture, SCHOTT KAISHA Private Ltd. The new joint venture will manufacture primary pharmaceutical packaging made of glass for the Indian market. The joint enterprise will have operations in Mumbai and Daman.

"With this double-digit million euro investment, SCHOTT continues on its course to growth and quality leadership. Additionally, we are securing our access to a very promising market," says Professor Udo Ungeheuer, Chairman of the Board of Management of SCHOTT AG.

It's been thought that very preterm babies were not developed enough to benefit from 'comfort strategies but research published today in BMC Pediatrics suggests that even babies born between 28 and 31 weeks could benefit from skin-to-skin cuddling with their mother before and during painful procedures, such as a heel lance.

Celeste Johnston of McGill University, Montreal, Canada and colleagues have already shown that skin-to-skin contact, known as kangaroo mother care (KMC) helps babies born at 32 to 36 weeks to recover from pain.

ZURICH, Switzerland, April 24 /PRNewswire/ --

- ESBA105 Penetrates all Segments of the Eye via Topical Eye Drops

ESBATech AG, a leading developer of antibody fragment therapeutics, today announced the initiation of Phase I clinical development of the company's lead product development candidate, ESBA105, in ophthalmology. This Phase I study is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic profile of ESBA105, when delivered topically via eye drops in healthy volunteers. The study is being conducted as a single and repeated dose escalation study in Switzerland. ESBA105 is a single-chain antibody fragment directed against TNFa. It is being developed initially for ophthalmic indications.

VANCOUVER, April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian-based oil and gas exploration company Trans-Orient Petroleum Ltd. (OTCBB: TOPLF) is pleased to announce that it has launched TransOrient.tv, which includes a number of informative video clips taken on a recent geological field trip to its East Coast basin fractured oil-shale project in New Zealand.

To view these short videos please visit: http://www.transorient.tv

Trans-Orient also advises that Mr. Drew Cadenhead, Chief Operating Officer, is scheduled to present to investment representatives, fund managers and private investors attending the Equities Mining and Resource Conference in New York City at 9:40 am, Thursday, April 25th at the Princeton Club of New York.

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