(Research Triangle Park, N.C.) Mustard Tree Instruments®, continuing to lead the way in developing innovative solutions to evolving pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing challenges, announced today that CEO Todd Blonshine will be presenting on quality control issues at Pittcon 2012 in Orlando, Fla. on Sunday, March 11. Blonshine will be the first speaker participating in the High-Throughput Chemical Analysis session track beginning at 1:00 p.m., discussing an emerging multi-variant approach to obtaining immediate, unambiguous results from drug product samples using a combination of machine vision and Raman spectroscopy. Read the rest of this entry →

(Cary, N.C.) A new goal-setting toolkit for personal and professional success is now available at no charge from international strategic business consultant and noted expert on how to start and manage a profitable business, Lea Strickland, MBA/CMA/CFM/CBM/GMC. A national columnist and author of the recently released “10-Minute Success: Goals” digital book on Amazon.com, Strickland has created the toolkit to assist individuals with setting a baseline for succeeding in their personal and professional lives. Read the rest of this entry →

(Research Triangle Park, N.C.) ChannelAdvisor, a global e-commerce software provider that helps retailers sell more across online channels, today announced that key executives from Amazon and Google will join the line up for the 2012 Catalyst Conference, NewCommerce, a top networking event that gives attendees access to the VIPs of e-commerce. Amazon Senior Vice President of Seller Services Sebastian Gunningham and Google General Manager for Enterprise Search Matt Eichner, will speak at the three-day conference. Read the rest of this entry →

(Morrisville, N.C.) TearScience, Inc., a privately-held medical device company, today announced that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for its next generation product of its LipiFlow® Thermal Pulsation System , a medical device that treats evaporative dry eye by liquefying and evacuating obstructions in meibomian glands located in the eyelids. The second generation product includes a more robust graphical user interface and provides the ability for physicians to treat both of a patient’s eyes simultaneously. Read the rest of this entry →

(Durham, N.C.) Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE), a market leader in silicon carbide (SiC) power devices, has introduced a series of packaged diodes that deliver the industry’s highest blocking voltage available in SiC Schottky technology. Cree’s 1700V Z-Rec® Schottky diodes virtually eliminate the reverse recovery losses suffered in silicon PiN diode alternatives, enabling ultra-efficient, smaller and lighter systems—all with improved reliability. These newly released packaged products extend the performance improvements and system cost savings enabled by Z-Rec technology at 1700V to lower-power applications designed with discrete components. Read the rest of this entry →

(Research Triangle Park, N.C.) Precision BioSciences, Inc., a leader in the field of genome engineering, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has issued a Notice of Allowance for U.S. Patent Application 13/246,380 (“the ‘380 Application”). The allowed claims relate to an array of genome engineering methods, including the use of certain engineered meganucleases in plant cells. These methods encompass a key facet of Precision’s DNE genome engineering technology. Read the rest of this entry →

(Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) The world can no longer afford to ignore the environmental cost of economic growth and must redefine the very concept of national wealth, a UN panel of heads of state and environment ministers said Monday. The panel called for a stronger interface between science and policy to, in part, define what scientists refer to as planetary boundaries beyond which human activity could wreck the planet. The panel challenged leaders to recognise that “current global development is unsustainable.” Read the rest of this entry →

Editor’s Note: The following is a summary of February 1 testimony by Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf; a link to the full testimony can be found here.

(Washington, D.C.) The federal budget deficit—although starting to shrink—remains very large by historical standards. How much and how quickly the deficit declines will depend in part on how well the economy does over the next few years. Probably more critical, though, will be the fiscal policy choices made by lawmakers as they face the substantial changes to tax and spending policies that are slated to take effect within the next year under current law. The pace of the economic recovery has been slow since the recession ended in June 2009, and CBO expects that, under current laws governing taxes and spending, the economy will continue to grow at a sluggish pace over the next two years. That pace of growth partly reflects the dampening effect on economic activity from the higher tax rates and curbs on spending scheduled to occur this year and especially next. Although CBO projects that growth will pick up after 2013, the agency expects that the economy’s output will remain below its potential until 2018 and that the unemployment rate will remain above 7 percent until 2015. Read the rest of this entry →

(Durham, N.C.) OIN today announced a remarkable increase in the size of its community of licensees during 2011 as licensees seized the opportunity to benefit from the value of the growing OIN community and the freedom of action enabled by OIN’s royalty free licensing program. During 2011, OIN’s community grew to over 400 corporate licensees, a more than 60% year over year increase. OIN licensees, which include founding members and associate members, benefit from the leverage provided by a patent portfolio dedicated to the protection of Linux and access to enabling technologies through OIN and shared intellectual property resources. Read the rest of this entry →

(Research Triangle Park, N.C.) Tranzyme Pharma (Nasdaq:TZYM) today announced that it received an additional net $9.3 million in term loan proceeds through an amendment and restatement of its existing debt financing facility with Oxford Finance LLC and Horizon Technology Finance Corporation (Nasdaq:HRZN). Read the rest of this entry →

(Cary, N.C. & Columbia, S.C.) The Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence (CCME) is pleased to announce its support of American Heart Month, a national observance annually held in February to raise awareness of the risk factors and prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). In the United States, one in three adults lives with some form CVD, which includes heart disease and stroke. In North Carolina, CVD causes 31 percent of all deaths every year according to “The Burden of Cardiovascular Disease in North Carolina–July 2010 Update.” Heart disease and stroke are the second and fourth leading causes of death for men and women in the state. In South Carolina, CVD is the leading cause of death according to the Healthy People Living in Healthy Communities 2009 Report, the annual report of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Read the rest of this entry →

(Research Triangle Park, N.C.) BlueStripe Software, a leader in application transaction management solutions, put the finishing touches on a profitable year, achieving revenues in 2011 that were 700% of the 2010 numbers. BlueStripe more than doubled its customer base, including new customers Bank of America, Russell Investments, Principal Financial, Cigna, Bechtel, and Jackson-Hewitt. Read the rest of this entry →