Just like humans, liver cells love doughnuts, but these are polystyrene ring “doughnuts”, just a few microns across, and they might give scientists a new way to deliver drugs selectively, potentially eliminating nasty side effects of life-saving treatments such as chemotherapy, according to chemists writing in Chemical Communications.

Mark Bradley and colleagues at the University of Edinburgh, UK, serendipitously made the polymer doughnuts while studying potential drug-carrying microparticles.

While synthesising micro-spheres, the team added a small amount of dioxane to their usual ethanol solvent. To their surprise, the resulting microparticles were regular in size and shape, with a hole through the middle like a doughnut.

BERLIN, June 24 /PRNewswire/ --

- Easier Market Access for Israeli Companies - German Investment Promotion Agency to Hold Seminar in Tel Aviv

Germany is Europe's largest market for medical devices, and recent trends are strengthening this position. Germany's inward investment promotion agency, Invest in Germany, will discuss the advantages of Germany as an investment location at a seminar in Tel Aviv on June 25, 2008.

MANCHESTER, England, June 24 /PRNewswire/ --

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A Bangladesh born girl who overcame racist bullying to become a big success is amongst nine young people to receive national awards at Parliament tomorrow (Wednesday 25th June).

Swansea based Sumi Begum had chairs thrown at her in the classroom when she began high school. But she soon made real friends, learnt to speak English and passed six GCSEs. Along with single mum Michelle Davis from Bury who successfully battled post-natal depression and Hollie Goodwin from Leicester who overcame an eating disorder to fashion a career in the rag trade, Sumi has been declared a "UK Achiever of the Year 2008."

NORTHAMPTON, England, June 24 /PRNewswire/ --

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NORTHAMPTON, England, June 24 /PRNewswire/ --

How Green Is Your Nursery? That was the workshop presented by Eileen Colts-Tegg and Pamela Dori-Bishop at the NDNA Annual Conference & Awards in Manchester.

Focusing on their own experience as leaders in the 'Green Children's Day Nursery Movement', they presented an intimate look into the workings of an organic day nursery, Hedgehog Hill Organic Nursery School; and a nature nursery, Little Dragons (currently undergoing training with the Forest School Training Company Limited) - both located in Northamptonshire.

LONDON, June 24 /PRNewswire/ --

- UK Workers are More Likely Than Other European Workers Surveyed to Marry Co-Workers They Date-

If you are interested in dating co-workers, then a new survey from CareerBuilder.co.uk reveals that Greece, the Netherlands and Spain may be the best places for you to work. Out of the countries surveyed, Greek workers (66 per cent) are the most likely to have engaged in an office romance, followed by workers in the Netherlands (51 per cent), Spain (46 per cent), the UK (40 per cent), Sweden (40 per cent) and the U.S. (40 per cent). Workers in Germany (28 per cent) are the least likely to have dated a co-worker.

Dating Higher Ups

An international team has reached a milestone in the construction of one of the largest ever cameras to detect the mysterious Dark Energy component of the Universe. The pieces of glass for the five unique lenses of the camera have been shipped from the US to France to be shaped and polished into their final form. The largest of the five lenses is one metre in diameter, making it one of the largest in the world.

Each milestone in the completion of this sophisticated camera brings us closer to detecting the mysterious and invisible matter that cosmologists estimate makes up around three quarters of our Universe and is driving its accelerating expansion. Observations suggest that roughly 4% of the Universe is made up from ordinary matter and 22% from Dark Matter; this leaves 74% unaccounted for - the so-called Dark Energy.

The Dark Energy Survey (DES) camera will map 300 million galaxies using the Blanco 4-meter telescope - a large telescope with new advanced optics at Chile’s Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, June 24 /PRNewswire/ --

- New Handset Targeted for Small and Medium Sized Companies

Ascom Wireless Solutions announces today that they broaden their WiFi portfolio by releasing the new handset, the i75 Messenger.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080624/309437

Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080325/297903

The use of WiFi in enterprise environments is growing rapidly due to its ability to provide users with high-speed wireless connection to the corporate network. The introduction of the i75 Messenger expands the Ascom WiFi portfolio with a new handset ideal for a vast majority of users working within hotel, retail and industry, as well as any office environment.

ROME, June 24 /PRNewswire/ --

The Italian Institute for Privacy (www.istitutoitalianoprivacy.it/en/), a public policy think tank focused on improving privacy protection in the digital age urges the European Parliament to enhance protection of personal privacy online for all Europeans.

Today, the Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament will vote on a proposal from the European Commission that aims to strengthen consumer data protection online in the European Union.

"The European Parliament must take greater steps to protect the personal data of Europeans," said Luca Bolognini, the president of the Italian Institute for Privacy. "While the Commission's proposal is a good start, stronger privacy protections are necessary."

A recent Northwestern University study has a surprising results - substantially more men are likely to share their creative work online than women even though both genders engage in creative activities at essentially equal rates.

Even more surprising - the researchers think that's ... unfair.

Overall, almost two-thirds of men reported posting their work online while only half of women reported doing so. When Eszter Hargittai, assistant professor of communication studies at Northwestern University, and Northwestern's Gina Walejko controlled for self-reported digital literacy and Web know-how, however, they found that men and women actually posted their material about equally.