LONDON, January 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The availability of anti-obesity drug Orlistat from pharmacies provides accessible and convenient care for patients, said the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB).

David Pruce, RPSGB Director of Policy and Communications said: We fully support the move to make Orlistat available in pharmacies without prescription. Pharmacists' roles are changing and this is great opportunity to make a real impact on improving patients' health.

Pharmacists are highly visible in the community and are ideally placed to tackle the country's growing obesity problem. Community pharmacists can help thousands of people, not only with their weight-loss goals, but with their lifestyle choices too.

LONDON, January 22 /PRNewswire/ -- A spoof rap song, created by members and writers of the American sketch show Saturday Night Live, was voted by London Bloggers as the overall favourite viral video at the first-ever Voscars ceremony (Virgin Mobile Oscars).

The winning video, featuring Justin Timberlake, Molly Simms and Jamie Lynn Sigler, can be seen on YouTube.

Created by Virgin Mobile, the Voscars ceremony was held at the Curzon Cinema in Mayfair. It brought together thirty of the UK's top bloggers, social media commentators and journalists to vote for their top 30 viral marketing campaigns.

Please note that the winner and runner-up video are intended for a mature audience. To view these videos on YouTube, enter the viral name in the search field.

LONDON, January 22 /PRNewswire/ --

- Apps in My Pocket Ltd Launches PocketPhonics for iPhone

A new development in iPod applications is helping children to read.

Phonics, the reading system taught by UK primary schools can now be taught electronically via an iPod Touch or iPhone.

Phonics is a traditional method of teaching children to read and decode words, it was once deemed too boring to be inflicted upon young children, but a recent government review (the Rose report in 2006) led to the revision of the national curriculum to mandate synthetic phonics.

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida has filed a petition with Secretary Salazar of the United States Department of the Interior to provide additional legal protection for the endangered Florida panther to help prevent its extinction.

Only an estimated 90 to 100 Florida panthers remain today, almost all within South Florida. Because of these low numbers, they are considered at extremely high risk of extinction. Although there are provisions to protect the panther provided by the Endangered Species Act (ESA), designation of critical habitat, a key component of the Act, has yet to be undertaken.

Living with a female mouse can extend the reproductive life of a male mouse by as much as 20 percent, according to a study conducted by Ralph Brinster and a team of other researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and reported in the journal Biology of Reproduction. 

They say this significant implications for the maintenance of male fertility in wildlife and even human populations. 

The researchers hypothesize that the females' effect on the environment of the spermatogonial stem cells likely occurs through the male's endocrine and nervous systems, but other systems are likely involved. The change amounts to a reduction of fertility six months earlier in "lonely" mice as opposed to those who have female companionship.

Even though scientists have successfully sequenced the human genome, they still lack a clear picture of exactly how coding and non-coding DNA sequences function together, or how genomes evolve over time. This has been particularly problematic for scientists who use genetic similarities to characterize evolutionary divergence. Historically, the processes of genetic evolution and genome degradation have been difficult to study due to technological limitations and lack of accurate historical records for species.

A new, late-ripening apple named WineCrisp carries the Vf gene for scab resistance but was developed over the past 20 plus years through classical breeding techniques, not genetic engineering - so anti science types can rest easy.   

Being resistant to apple scab is a big plus for growers, said University of Illinois plant geneticist Schuyler Korban, as it significantly reduces the number of chemical fungicide sprays. "Apple scab is the number one disease that growers have to spray for – 15 to 20 times per season – so not having to spray for apple scab lowers the cost for the grower and is better for the environment."

Positive racial role models may have an effect on school performance, according to new research by Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management professor Ray Friedman and co-authors who document what they call the “Obama Effect” - namely that the performance gap between black and white Americans in a series of online tests was dramatically reduced during key moments of the 2008 presidential campaign, when Obama’s accomplishments garnered the most national attention.