MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - May 20, 2014) - NovX21 Inc. (TSX VENTURE:NOV) is pleased to announce that European and North American suppliers of catalytic converters met in recent months have expressed their interest in NovX21's technology by sending material to the Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures plant. This supply, which will be processed at our existing plant, shows that suppliers of catalytic converters are seeking to meet new environmental standards through the use of green technology. Treatment of these catalysts using NovX21's innovative process will allow providers to appreciate our technology's performance and the purity of the PGM-rich metal powder produced.

The next step in this collaboration would be the signature of long-term supply agreements for NovX21's new plant.

The Saint-Augustin plant upgrade has been completed and reflects the improvements needed for the new plant. St-Augustin is now using equipment specifically designed to provide significant improvements to our process, allowing us to reduce capital and operating costs and operating time. Several components designed by our engineers, as well as the data on these adjustments, enhance our intellectual property and remain trade secrets. The equipment has been designed and manufactured in Quebec by various contractors.

About NovX21

NovX21 operates an industrial prototype plant for the recovery of Platinum Group Elements (Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium, or PGMs). The plant is located near Quebec City in St-Augustin-de-Desmaures. Its patented process yields more than 97% recoveries of PGMs, and is not only much less capital extensive but also operates much more rapidly than conventional plants, thus dramatically lowering the amount of time that its customers' capital is tied up as work-in-process inventory. NovX21's mission is to sustainably recover precious metals by recycling end-of-life PGM containing components while meeting global "green" standards for the automobile industry.

NovX21 also holds the mineral rights to six mining properties and has focused its exploration activities on the Menarik property in the James Bay area, in the Province of Quebec, the site of a major chromite deposit with occurrences of gold, nickel, copper and PGMs. The use of NovX21's patented; proprietary processes for such deposits may lead to a breakthrough in low-cost primary metallurgy in the near future.

Sylvain Boulanger, P.Eng.President & CEOinfo@novx21.com(514) 282-2110Nicole Blanchard, Managing PartnerSun International Communicationsnicole.blanchard@isuncomm.com(450) 973-6600

PR Newswire

BOSTON, Sept. 15, 2014

BOSTON, Sept. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Adults who consume a high-protein diet may be at a lower risk for developing high blood pressure (HBP). The study, published in the American Journal of Hypertension, by researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), found participants consuming the highest amount of protein (an average of 100 g protein/day) had a 40 percent lower risk of having high blood pressure compared to the lowest intake level.

One of three U.S. adults has hypertension and 78.6 million are clinically obese, a risk factor for the development of hypertension. Because of the strain that it puts on blood vessel walls, HBP is one of the most common risk factors of stroke and an accelerator of multiple forms of heart disease, especially when paired with excess body weight.

The researchers analyzed protein intakes of healthy participants from the Framingham Offspring Study and followed them for development of high blood pressure over an 11-year period. They found that adults who consumed more protein, whether from animal or plant sources, had statistically significantly lower systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure levels after four years of follow-up. In general, these beneficial effects were evident for both overweight (BMI ≥25 kg/m2) and normal weight (BMI <25 kg/m2) individuals. In addition, they found that consuming more dietary protein was also associated with lower long-term risks for HBP. When the diet was characterized by higher intakes of fiber as well, higher protein intakes led to 40–60 percent reductions in risk of HBP.

"These results provide no evidence to suggest that individuals concerned about the development of HBP should avoid dietary protein. Rather, protein intake may play a role in the long-term prevention of HBP," explained corresponding author Lynn Moore, associate professor of medicine at BUSM. "This growing body of research on the vascular benefits of protein, including this study, suggest we need to revisit optimal protein intake for optimal heart health," she added.

This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study (NHLBI/NIH Contract N01-HC-25195), the Boston University School of Medicine, and a grant from the American Egg Board/US Department of Agriculture.

Contact: Gina DiGraviogina.digravio@bmc.oeg617-638-8480Boston University Medical Center

SOURCE Boston University School of Medicine

PR Newswire

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 19, 2014

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A revolutionary new treatment for severe emphysema, which could potentially help millions of patients suffering from a debilitating disease, has been featured recently on national media channels across the US. Leading pulmonologists and premier medical centers have been reaching out to media outlets to share their enthusiasm about RePneu endobronchial coil therapy - a new treatment for emphysema patients. The stories have highlighted physicians and patients taking part in an FDA-approved clinical study to evaluate endobronchial nitinol coil implants in patients with severe emphysema. NBC News, CBS News and Fox News all have run prime-time segments in Los Angeles, Houston, Raleigh and New York. RePneu Coil treatment was also recently featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal's Health section. Local networks across the country, from North Dakota to Florida, have picked up and re-broadcast the segments, generating a flood of calls to treating centers from patients interested in participating in the RENEW Study.

The first national media spotlight on the RENEW Study featured Dr. Frank Sciurba from UPMC in Pittsburgh (PA), followed by a spot on WGN-Chicago and a radio interview featuring Dr. Ravi Kalhan of Northwestern University. "This could potentially be a game-changer in the way we manage emphysema." said Dr. Sciurba.

The RENEW Study is a 315-patient, multi-center trial comparing outcomes in patients who receive the RePneu Coil treatment to patients who receive routine medical care alone. There are currently 24 hospitals across the U.S. enrolling patients in the RENEW Study, as well as a few centers in Europe and Canada.

The RePneu Coil is a minimally invasive device intended to improve exercise capacity, lung function, and quality of life for emphysema patients. The implants are designed to compress diseased tissue, restore elastic recoil in the lung, and re-tension the diseased airway network, relieving breathlessness and allowing patients to perform more activities of daily living.

Dr. Gerard Criner, Director of the Temple Lung Center, was featured with one of his patients on NBC News in Philadelphia (PA). Dr. Criner stated that the coils "have the potential to be huge" and explained that, when the Coil "compresses the lung tissue, it actually re-tensions the lung. It increases the recoil of the lung to expand the small airways." NBC News also ran news stories on the Coil and the RENEW Study in Los Angeles (CA), with Dr. Joseph Cicenia of the Cleveland Clinic, and in Charleston (SC), with Dr. Charlie Strange of MUSC.

Although the RePneu Coil is undergoing clinical evaluation in the United States and is not yet approved for commercial use by the FDA, it has a CE Mark and has been used in Europe for the treatment of emphysema since 2008. The Coil treatment has proven to be effective for a broad range of emphysema patients and adoption of the technique in routine clinical practice is rapidly expanding throughout major emphysema treatment centers across Europe. A key advantage of the Coil is its simple mechanical design which is highly adaptive and has proven effective in treating patients with heterogeneous as well as homogeneous emphysema, and in upper and lower lobes. The RePneu Coil works independently of collateral ventilation, a common condition in emphysema patients which disqualifies patients from treatment with other types of implants.

Fox Evening News featured Dr. Tim Connolly from Pulmonary Critical Care, Houston (TX) highlighting his experience treating patients with the RePneu Coils. "To be able to impact a change like that is humbling but it's fantastic. It's why we get up in the morning. That's what it's all about," said Dr. Connolly.

The Coil treatment also was featured on the front page of the Health section of the Wall Street Journal, with Dr. Atul Mehta of the Cleveland Clinic stating that the Coil has the potential "to help a significant number of patients have an improved quality of life, and potentially improve survival in a non-invasive manner."

"PneumRx is dedicated to improving the lives of emphysema patients, and we are gratified by the broad market acceptance of the RePneu Coil in Europe as well as the significant interest the RENEW Study has generated in the medical community here at home, " said Erin McGurk, President and CEO of PneumRx. "Hearing and reading news stories about the improvements that patients have experienced after the Coil treatment is truly moving and rewarding. We look forward to completing the RENEW Study and pursuing market approval in the U.S. so that the Coil treatment will be more readily available to the large numbers of people suffering from this terrible disease."

About PneumRx, Inc.

PneumRx, Inc. is a rapidly growing medical device company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative products to treat emphysema using minimally-invasive techniques. It is a privately held company located in Mountain View, California.

About the RENEW Study

The Lung Volume Reduction Coil Treatment in Patients with Emphysema (RENEW) Study is an FDA-approved, IDE multi-center, randomized, controlled pivotal trial. 315 subjects will be treated in the RENEW Study at up to 30 US sites, plus 6 sites in Canada, France, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands. For more about the RENEW Study, please visit www.pneumrx.com or www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=RENEW&Search=Search

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120514/SF06703LOGO

SOURCE PneumRx, Inc.