WIESBADEN, Germany, April 21 /PRNewswire/ --

- Parasites on their way north: Increasing risks for man and dog

Has climate change already altered the geographical spread of blood-sucking parasites and therefore the risk of parasite-transmitted diseases? A question relevant for humans and -- even more so -- their domestic animals. Ticks, for example, pose a special threat to dogs. Dogs naturally spend a lot of time in zones of highest risk: grassland and forests. The tiny arachnids can transmit infectious diseases such as Lyme borreliosis. Dogs in warmer regions, such as the Mediterranean area, which stay outside at night are additionally exposed to sand flies looking for a blood meal -- potential transmitters of leishmaniosis.

NOVATO, California, April 21 /PRNewswire/ --

- Patient Dosing Underway in Company's First Clinical Program

Raptor Pharmaceuticals Corp. ("Raptor" or the "Company") (OTC Bulletin Board: RPTP), today announced that its clinical development subsidiary, Bennu Pharmaceuticals Inc. ("Bennu"), has initiated the Company's first clinical-stage program after dosing the first cohort in a Phase IIa study of oral 4-methylpyrazole ("4-MP") in subjects with ALDH2 deficiency, or ethanol intolerance, as the initial development stage of its Convivia(TM) program. Convivia(TM) is Bennu's proprietary, oral formulation of 4-MP designed to reduce peak systemic acetaldehyde levels in ALDH2 deficient persons following alcohol consumption.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Diamyd Medical AB (publ) has decided on, and successfully executed, a direct placement of in total 991,000 series B shares. The shares have been placed with a limited group of professional investors at a price of 73 SEK per share. The issue raises 72.3 MSEK in total for the Company before issue costs. For each issued and paid new share one warrant is received free of charge, which gives the right to subscribe for a series B share at a price of 100 SEK during April 2009. Full use of the issued warrants will generate an additional 99.1 MSEK in proceeds to the Company.

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HELSINKI, April 21 /PRNewswire/ --

- Mobidiag Releases First Microarray Based Rapid Test for Bacterial Detection

The Finnish biotechnology company Mobidiag announced today the Prove-it(TM) Bacteria test that sets a world record by being able to detect 50 dangerous bacteria simultaneously - including the widespread "superbug" MRSA. This is an important milestone in the battle against infectious diseases, most importantly life-threatening sepsis.

KEIGHLEY, England, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 1,500 major retailers have partnered with a new website to help UK shoppers offset one million tons of carbon by 2012, free of cost to consumers.

New consumer community portal froggybank.co.uk will buy carbon credits over the next four years in its Million Ton Carbon Offset Campaign.

Some of the retailers that partner with the site include Currys, Comet, Marks and Spencer, Tesco, John Lewis and Dell.

Shoppers simply log onto froggybank before buying from big name stores as normal. The website passes on 100% of the referral commission it receives back to its members as cashback. They can choose to keep this money or donate some of it to carbon offset or charity of their choice.

Using a multidisciplinary mix of geometry, biological research and techniques developed to solve problems on supercomputers, scientists at the University of California, San Diego have shown for the first time how a genome is organized in three-dimensional space.

Researchers led by Cornelis Murre, a professor of biology at UC San Diego, and Steve Cutchin, senior scientist for visualization services at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), used the gene encoding the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus — responsible for generating diverse kinds of antibodies — to demonstrate the structure of the genome.

The observations, the researchers say, permit an insight into the structure of the human genome, which until now has remained elusive.

Looking on the bright side can lead to irresponsible financial behavior, says Elizabeth Cowley from the University of Sydney. In a series of studies, Cowley examined repeated gambling in the face of loss. She finds that people often engage in too much positive thinking, selectively focusing on one win among hundreds of losses when they think back on the overall experience.

“When we want to justify engaging in an activity which could potentially be irresponsible – like gambling – we may need to distort our memory of the past to rationalize the decision,” Cowley explains. “People who have frequently spent more money than planned on gambling edit their memories of the past in order to justify gambling again.”

NEW YORK, April 21 /PRNewswire/ --

- Vedant Sampath Brings Software Development and Product Management Expertise

Operative, a global advertising resource management (ARM) platform provider, today announced the appointment of Vedant Sampath as Chief Technology Officer. In his new role, Vedant will lead the company's overall technology direction and drive Operative's rapid growth and industry leadership. A 20-year veteran of the software technology industry, Vedant joins Operative from Oracle Corporation where he served as Vice President of Software Development.

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A genetic variation protects some people with heart failure, enabling them to live longer than expected, according to a research team led by investigators at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore and the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The researchers found that the genetic variation acts just like beta-blockers, a class of drugs used to treat chronic heart failure.

In the study, the researchers found that black heart failure patients with the genetic variation had a natural protection against death and the need for a heart transplant that is the same as the protection provided by beta-blocker therapy.