WASHINGTON, December 18 /PRNewswire/ --

Microloans to the poor around the world soared to 133 million last year, up from 13 million just nine years ago, according to a report released today by the Microcredit Summit Campaign, an initiative of RESULTS Educational Fund. The dramatic progress was also evident in the Campaign's focus on loans to the very poor, those living on less than a US$1 a day, which reached 93 million families in 2006, just shy of the Campaign's goal of reaching 100 million poorest. "We know that by today the 100 million poorest will have been reached," Microcredit Summit Campaign Director Sam Daley-Harris said, "but we won't be able to report those results until the 2007 data is collected, verified, and released at the end of 2008."

LONDON, December 18 /PRNewswire/ --

- " CT Screening has Value for Predicting Cardiovascular Risk and Colon Cancer"

Lifescan - the UK's largest provider of private, organ targeted CT screening - welcomes the statement published in the latest Report from COMARE that with reference to radiation exposure "cancer risk has not been demonstrated by epidemiological studies at doses below 100 mSv". The maximum radiation exposure when screening lung, colon and heart using the Lifescan low-dose MDCT protocols is less than 10mSv. This is also significantly under the maximum annual occupational dose of 20 mSv.

In other words this report suggests that low dosage CT scanning is not considered to carry significant risk.

Lifescan does not offer full body screening.

LONDON and NEW YORK, December 18 /PRNewswire/ --

Ecofin Ltd., a multi-billion dollar asset management firm, which invests in global utilities and infrastructure sectors, has gone live with the Execta(TM) Portfolio Management and Execution Management System ("EMS") from Tethys Technology, Inc. Ecofin has implemented Execta simultaneously in London and New York and plans to implement TotalTCA(TM), the pre-trade, real-time and post-trade transaction cost analysis offering from Tethys, in the near future.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland, December 18 /PRNewswire/ --

This morning, the Government of Iceland approved Minister of Industry Ossur Skarphedinsson's proposal to offer exclusive licenses for oil and gas exploration and production in the Dreki Area (the Atlantic, northeast of Iceland, on the Jan Mayen Ridge, between Iceland and the island of Jan Mayen.) The tentative release date is 15 January 2009. International companies have expressed interest in the area.

NEW YORK and AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, December 18 /PRNewswire/ --

- New adventure game set for release in Q2 2008

Playlogic Entertainment, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: PLGC) -- an independent worldwide publisher of entertainment software -- has acquired the hack and slash adventure game "Dimensity" from Bulgarian developer Dagger Games. The latest addition to Playlogic's line up is set for release on PC in the second quarter of 2008. In total Playlogic expects to publish 6 to 8 new titles in Q1 of 2008.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071119/PLAYLOGICLOGO )

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pennsylvania, December 18 /PRNewswire/ --

- The SAP NetWeaver(R)-based application leverages SAP Environment, Health & Safety (SAP EH&S) to strengthen and support organizational compliance procedures and reduce exposure to legal risk and brand damage

Linx/AS LLC (www.linxas.com), a product lifecycle management (PLM) consulting firm and member of SAP's industry value network (IVN) for chemicals, announced the product release of WorkSafe Suite(TM) (www.worksafesuite.com). WorkSafe Suite is comprised of three complementary modules: WorkSafe HAZCON(TM) for hazardous substance control; WorkSafe EVENTS(TM) for incident/accident reporting and investigation; and WorkSafe CLAIMS(TM) for case management.