Syngene, a world-leading manufacturer of image analysis solutions, is pleased to announce its G:BOX EF gel documentation system is being used by scientists in a prestigious plant breeding centre at Aberystwyth University in Wales to help map the DNA and RNA from commercially important forage crops.

Molecular biologists at the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University are using a G:BOX EF imaging system to accurately analyse agarose gels containing red and white clover DNA and RNA stained with GelRed™ Nucleic Acid Gel Stain. The information from the gels is being used to map clover genes and is in the long term, helping scientists at the IBERS to produce new varieties that can tolerate environmental stresses and are more nutritious feed stocks.

Mrs Charlotte Jones, Laboratory Manager at IBERS said: “Clovers are very important as they are primarily used in high quality animal feed but are also a good source of pollen for bees to make honey from. To analyse specific genes from the new varieties we breed, we visualise small amounts of DNA and RNA stained with GelRed™. We prefer to use GelRed because it is safer than Ethidium bromide but not as sensitive.”

Mrs Jones added: “We purchased a G:BOX EF because the system is easy to programme and the camera detects the GelRed bands well, allowing us to see 5-20 nanogram amounts. The GeneTools software is great, as we can set up our own results folders and the printer also reproduces precise pictures of all the different coloured images from the screen. In short, the system is perfect for our research.”

Laura Sullivan, Syngene’s Divisional Manager commented: “We are delighted the G:BOX EF is suited to the precise gene mapping tasks being carried out at the IBERS. Their endorsement of the imager’s superior performance shows scientists who demand accurate results without compromising staff safety, that they can realise this challenging objective by using a G:BOX EF gel documentation system.”

For further information, contact:

Jayne Arthur, Syngene, Beacon House, Nuffield Road, Cambridge, CB4 1TF, UK.

Tel: +44(0) 1223-727123 Fax +44 (0) 1223-727101

Email: jayne.arthur@syngene.com Web site: www.syngene.com

Mrs Charlotte Jones, Laboratory Manager, Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Penglais, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3DA, Wales.

Tel: +44 (0) 1970 823183  Fax: +44 (0)1970 622350

Email:  cgj@aber.co.uk Web site: www.aber.co.uk

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Think you would never buy PVC windows….. think again!

The evolution of the PVC window has been a slow process. Since the early eighties plastic windows have dominated the replacement window market by offering a combination of high security with practically no maintenance.

Over the past few years however, things have started to change. Steve Thorogood Managing Director of Admiral Homespace the award winning Cambridgeshire based double glazing company has commented on the apparent fashion shift in window installation.

‘People seem to be all plasticked out these days….especially the more discerning home improver. We have as many people telling us that they definitely do not want plastic frames as those that like them. A couple of years ago there was virtually nothing else on offer but things are now changing fast’, says Steve.

Admiral windows division has moved fast to capitalise on the demand from affluent home owners for ‘different replacement windows and doors’. Having introduced a hand made timber range and aluminium frames there was still something missing in the product offer. The company found that although many clients preferred wood, they could not always afford the hefty price tag that comes with such a labour intensive window or door.

Hence the introduction of the Evolution Window System

The Evolution Window has a maintenance free core that is cleverly covered with white wood-grained foil that looks just like a timber frame painted with micro-porous paint.

The mullions and transoms are mechanically jointed and shadow grooved by hand just as with timber frames. This eliminates the ugly welds that so many people reject on plastic window frames.

In fact the Evolution Window is the first PVC window in the United Kingdom to extend this jointing to the outer frame as well. This window is called Storm and can be specified with old fashioned wrought iron handles and lots of hand finished detailing to a client’s personal taste.

The debate on Wood versus PVC for replacement windows just got a lot more interesting…..

Admiral Homespace can be contacted on 01480 456789 or by visiting www.admiralhomespace.com.

Based near Cambridge, the company cover Bedfordshire, Suffolk, Northants and Herts for domestic installations of replacement windows and doors.

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Apiculture, which is the study of bees and their products is no longer relegated to the status of folk medicine.  Since both beekeeping and harvesting of products are carried out under technically advanced conditions, apitherapy has reached the stage of scientific medicine.  The general interest in bee products for the treatment and prevention of various ailments on the part of medical practitioners and laymen alike attests to the validity of bee products such as Royal Jelly as health aids.

Royal Jelly has been shown to be effective for a wide range of ailments

Studies indicate the effectiveness of royal jelly for the following:

• for tiredness and overwork, asthenia, anxiety states, insomnia and anorexia
• bronchial asthma
• liver diseases (hepatitis)
• pancreatitis
• general exhaustion diseases
• arthritis, gout, atherosclerosis
• kidney diseases
• stomach ulcers
• ovarian insufficiency
• reversing the ageing process
• stimulating and regenerating the nervous system
• for accelerating the healing and consolidation of fractured bones
• skin disorders.

Since its action seems to be systemic rather than one which affects a specific biological function, royal jelly has been highly recommended for a large variety of purposes.

Nearly all the scientific investigators have agreed that Royal Jelly is a valuable addition to the diet.

Royal Jelly capsules are an easy to take option

• Royal Jelly capsules from Alpine-health.co.uk are an easy way in which you can take it every day.

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CPD course provider FTA Ltd and international accounting body ACCA announce the release of new CPD material free to members and other interested professionals.

According to Joanna Smith, business development director at FTA Ltd, the new CPD material “is designed to appeal to those who work in finance or advise on the purchase or sale of companies.”

“For those who work in the law this is a chance to look over the fence at some of the biggest issues your clients worry about.”

“For other professionals, such as those who work in accountancy, banking or finance, this is a chance to reflect on issues you might advise on once in a while.”

The material consists of a short self study article together with an interactive multi-choice quiz and is designed to take approximately one hour.

“Depending on the CPD requirements of their own membership body, the time professionals spend studying this material should qualify for CPD points – all for free!”

Because of wide potential interest in the CPD material, FTA Ltd and ACCA have decided to make the training module available to interested professionals at no charge.  ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the world’s largest international professional membership body for accountants. FTA Ltd is a specialist CPD course provider.

The free CPD module can be found on ACCA’s website at http://www.accaglobal.com/members/publications/accounting_business/CPD/debtfree and on FTA’s website at free_CPD_for_law_and_accountancy.

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PFI is a leading UK supplier of contract furniture to corporates, hotels, conference centres, and hospitals. Their product range is contemporary in style, and they supply high quality products direct from some of the very best furniture manufacturers within Europe.

PFI have recently redesigned their Contract Furniture website to enable interior designers and architects to specify and buy the entire range of co-ordinated office, hotel, or healthcare furniture that their clients require to refurbish public and private rooms to the latest standards.

View the Contract Furniture catalogues

Hotel furniture

Healthcare furniture

Corporate furniture

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The healing powers of honey have been known, tried and tested by man for thousands of years. Early written evidence has been found in Ancient Egyptian texts.

World-renowned physicist Albert Einstein once said:  “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination, no more men!”

Slovenian bees are defying the global decline in bee colonies

A team of scientists has found that the number of bee colonies in central Europe has shrunk over the years, and the number of beekeepers in Europe has declined since 1985. The findings, presented in the Journal of Apicultural Research, add weight to an escalating problem. The results are part of the EU-funded ALARM (‘Assessing large-scale environmental risks with tested methods’)

The widespread Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is having an alarming effect on the most common European species, the Western Honey Bee, and this is causing great concern, but there is one species – native to Slovenia – the Carniolan bee which is resistant and continues to thrive.

Bringing to you natural honey-based products from Slovenia

Bee keeping and honey production has been an important and traditional part of the economy in Slovenia for centuries and continues to be so today.

Alpine-health.co.uk in partnership with MEDEX (founded in 1954) have combined traditional manufacture with modern technology to bring a full range of remedies and dietary supplements to the natural health market, including Royal Jelly and Bee Venom cream.

• Visit: www.alpine-health.co.uk
• Top 100: natural health products

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With 2010 being the coldest winter in many parts of the UK for 30 years, garden birds have been finding the long spell of harsh weather particularly difficult to cope with.

As a result, the scale of winter mortality among the common songbirds that we delight in seeing as visitors to our gardens is going to be greater than usual.

There is great concern that those likely to have suffered most will be the very small species such as Tits, Wrens and Robins.

Nest boxes provide secure nesting sites

This year it will be particularly important for us to assist the birds to rebuild their populations by providing them with safe and secure nesting sites. All of us with garden space should put one or more next boxes on a tree or fence to do our bit to help our native bird population.

Not only can we enjoy the sight of the busy parents preparing their home in the very early spring, as they fly back and forth lining the box with moss, leaves and other essential furnishings – we can later delight in the flurry of activity as they make frequent flights in and out bringing food to their new family.

The culmination being the joy in seeing the new generation making their first flight and knowing that we have helped to keep these beautiful joyous songbirds as a part of our environment.

Add a splash of colour in your garden

For a bird box that will not only delight the birds but also provide a welcome splash of colour in your garden, why not look at the Funky Bird Box range, available only at www.funkybirdbox.co.uk.

As profiled in Top 100: bird boxes.

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Oliver Hare International, the interior designer firm in London is going from strength to strength after its relocation last year to the prestigious Chelsea Harbour design centre.

The firm specialises in redesigning residential and commercial interiors in London and the Home Counties and is celebrating winning a number of prestigious new contracts for refurbishing top private homes, hotels and clubs in the city.

A high flying design team

The high flying design team at  Oliver Hare is run by Oz Lancaster, an experienced interior designer with an established reputation for creating elegant and timeless interiors that are modern classic and comfortable.

• See profile of interior designer Oz Lancaster

Integrated residential architectural design services

Oliver Hare’s residential architectural design services commence with architectual drawings, total remodelling of interiors including, kitchens, bathrooms, associated building works, plumbing, heating and electrics in order to provide a blank canvas for their customers’ final interiors scheme.

• Oliver Hare: the interior design process

Their services include managing specialised aspects of building interior design, including:

Air Conditioning
Audio Visual Installations
Bathrooms/Wet Rooms
Brickwork/Blockwork
Brickwork Repointing
Concrete Repairs
Damp Proofing
Drainage
Door Replacement
Electrical
Floor Coverings
Fitted Furniture
Joinery First and Second Fix
Kitchen Installations/Bespoke Design
Lighting Design
Painting and Decorating
Plastering
Plumbing and Heating
Security Alarms/CCTV
Structual Steel Work
Tiling Floor/Wall
Window Renewal
Window Shutters

Design and manufacture of bespoke furniture

A key strength of Oliver Hare International is its background in the design and manufacture of bespoke furniture for all our residential or commercial projects. The skilled workforce has many years’ experience and the company’s philosophy is that only the very best is good enough.

All types of furniture – modern, classical and traditional with a modern twist – are carefully crafted including all types of dining tables, cabinets and occasional pieces. Upholstered pieces such as sofas, armchairs, ottomans, chaise lounge and headboards are their speciality. Pieces can be fixed or freestanding and Oliver Hare even caters for antique restoration including frame repairs, hand tied springs with stuffed and stitched interiors.

All of Oliver Hare’s furniture is finished to meticulous standards.  Joinery pieces are available in a wide selection of woods from sustainable sources and completed pieces are polished by hand. Upholstery can be completed in any kind of cover you can imagine, including top quality leather from around the world and brand name designer soft covers.

Their portfolio of upholstered interior designer furniture has been specified for hotels, restaurants, casinos and all types of luxury homes including city apartments, townhouses, country houses and super yachts.

Illustrated above are reception chairs designed and manufactured by Oliver Hare for Rockliffe Hall Spa and Resort. This state of the art hotel opened in November 2009.  The chairs are finished in white gold gilding and covered in fabric, Jab Anstoetz Black Sea.

Close relationships with leading fabric designers

Oliver Hare’s location at Chelsea Harbour facilitates their close collaboration with leading fabric designers Jab Anstoetz, known globally for their stunning range of traditional and contemporary fabrics, coordinating trimmings and tie-backs, as well as wall coverings, carpets and rugs. Jab Anstoetz are Oliver Hare’s preferred fabric suppliers to any commercial or residential interior design projects.

For inspirational interiors, visit the Oliver Hare international website

To see why Oliver Hare International have gained a reputation as one of London’s top interior designers, why not visit their website:

• www.oliverhare.com

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Synbiosis, a world-leading manufacturer of automated microbiological systems, is delighted to introduce ProcUV, its new UV imaging accessory for the ProtoCOL 2 system.

Instant imaging saves time and improves accuracy

ProcUV permits instant imaging of fluorescent colonies and plaques so they can be automatically counted or analysed by ProtoCOL 2, thus saving time and improving accuracy of results.

Based on advanced fluorescent imaging technology, the compact ProcUV accessory, which can be simply connected to the ProtoCOL 2 system, consists of a cabinet with a sliding, auto-locking door to prevent accidental UV exposure.

The cabinet contains a high resolution camera and internal UV and white lighting and is also equipped with specialised interchangeable filters, to allow microbiologists to view fluorescing bacteria, such as Pseudomonas fluorescens, fluorescent plaques and bacteria expressing Green Fluorescent Proteins.

Simple to set up and use in seconds

ProcUV is simple to set up as its automatic exposure time settings ensure users can capture colony images at the touch of a button. The high-quality images can then be directly transferred into the ProtoCOL 2 in seconds, where the ProtoCOL 2 counts and analyses results automatically, to save microbiologists countless hours of repetitive work.

Martin Smith of Synbiosis stated: “Fluorescent colonies and plaques are the most difficult ones to count, as they require specific UV lighting conditions to be able to see them. This means that a powerful imaging system equipped with specialised filters to enable the camera to image each fluorescing colony is required.”

Martin Smith added: “We have risen to this challenge and by utilising the decades of imaging expertise we have in-house, we have come up with the perfect cost-effective solution in the ProcUV. For any microbiology laboratory wanting to extend the capability of their ProtoCOL 2 system to perform different types of fluorescent colony and plaque analyses, the ProcUV is ideal.”

For further information, contact:

• Jayne Arthur, Synbiosis, Beacon House, Nuffield Road, Cambridge, CB4 1TF, UK.
• Tel: +44(0) 1223-727125 Fax +44 (0) 1223-727101
• Email: jayne.arthur@synbiosis.com
• Website: www.synbiosis.com

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The Ideal Flat Roofing Solution has arrived!

For years flat roofing has been replaced with unattractive and far from permanent solutions such as felt and shingles. Finally the flat roof has evolved thanks to a lifetime covering from RubberBond.

If you have a flat roof comprising of bitumen and felt it will eventually leak…it is just a question of when!

At Admiral Homespace we call our EPDM Rubberbond roofing system LIFETIME ROOFING because that’s a most accurate description. The product has been proven in use for over Forty Years and carries a comprehensive 20 year guarantee.

It looks a lot smarter than piles of moss…and you can even walk on it !

Over 40 Years Proven Life Expectancy

The first synthetic rubber EPDM roofs were laid in the United States in the 1960s and are still protecting these roofs today.

Well known buildings rely on their EPDM rubber roofing such as Honda factories, Microsoft, Staples, Barclaycard, The Play House Theatre, schools, shopping centres, railway stations, hospitals and hundreds of thousands more commercial and residential properties.

Weather Resistant Rubber Roofing

Rubberbond flat roofing is not affected by extremes of temperature. Installations are in varied climates – from the glaring sun of the Middle East to the freezing cold of Siberia and Alaska.

Rubberbond is not degraded by ultra violet or ozone as again witnessed by the many installations in hotter climates such as the Middle East

RubberBond  roofing repels all moisture and does not suffer with age from cracking or crazing.

Ecologically Friendly

Extremely ECO friendly materials all applied with little energy. Both Governments and ecologically aware agencies recommend EPDM rubber as best value sustainable ecologically sound roofing, particularly as no torches or gases are used in installation.

RubberBond flat roofing installation in East Anglia

Admiral Homespace is a multiple award winning home improvement business based near Cambridge. We cover Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Bucks for Roofing, Replacement Windows, Conservatories and home conversion works.

Visit our web page on flat roof installation.

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