In the UK, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has licensed a number of tightly-controlled research projects into mitochondrial diseases.

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The best-known example is Salesforce.com, which is licensed according to the number of users on a subscription basis.

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The number of licensed PAs, meanwhile, has doubled in the past decade, to 86, 500, and is likely to grow another 30% by 2020, according to the American Academy of Physician Assistants.

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But a council spokesman said the areas earmarked for CIZs were selected based on a number of statistics, including crime and anti-social behaviour figures, hospital admissions and the number of licensed premises.

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The population of the United States has more than doubled since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, but the number of licensed drinking establishments has shrunk by as much as two-thirds.

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The company notes that a number of companies have licensed its imaging patents, including the one in question.

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The only way Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) could ever top that number is if it licensed Mac OS to third-party PC manufacturers.

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The two looked at the number of chiropractors who had become licensed in the state and then compared how many were still practicing 10 years later.

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While the British Food Minister David Heath believes the horsemeat in Tesco's beefburgers originates from "a third-party country", figures from the Irish Department for Agriculture reveal a six-fold increase in the number of horses slaughtered at government-licensed abattoirs since the recession took hold.

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