PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Alliance Benefit Group Receives Industry Award

ABG was named the winner of the Retail Retirement Income Communications Award sponsored by Investment News.

2010-10-28
PEORIA, IL, October 28, 2010 (Press-News.org) Alliance Benefit Group, LLC (ABG) received an Excellence in Communications award at the recent annual meeting for the Retirement Income Industry Association (RIIA). The RIIA annually selects what they deem as the communications materials, advertising and marketing initiatives that stand out across the retirement income industry.

ABG was named the winner of the Retail Retirement Income Communications Award sponsored by Investment News in the category of New Media. ABG earned the award for its submission of "Introducing a Smarter Way to Manage Your 401(k) Plan", a campaign to promote use of its SmartPlan Retirement Planning System.

"The winners demonstrate excellence and innovation in communications that make a real impact on consumers looking to our industry for guidance in creating a secure retirement," said RIIA member Clarence Edlund.

ABG's SmartPlan is an interactive video-based solution that guides plan participants through a complete plan enrollment or update process. It can also assist plan participants with determining retirement needs and goals and serve as a conduit for important plan information. This system, developed by vWise, Inc., has proven to increase plan participation and fulfill fiduciary duties, all while reducing the need for print communications and on-site meetings.

John Blossom, CEO of ABG of Illinois, said the award reflects ABG's belief in the system and where the industry is headed.

"SmartPlan is truly revolutionary in its scope and approach." said Blossom. "As part of our commitment to working closely with plan sponsors and participants to help them achieve their financial goals, we look to provide tools to promote positive outcomes for retirement plans. The interactive SmartPlan system provides an effective and cost efficient means to accomplish this."

Contact: John Blossom, CEO Alliance Benefit Group of Illinois, 800-242-2356

The Retirement Income Industry Association (www.riia-usa.org) is a not-for-profit organization that was founded by leading financial services companies, advisors and academics who wanted a focused approach to retirement income. Established in 2006, the RIIA's mission is to bring the industry together to create a forum for sharing the freshest outlooks, the most modern thinking, the latest research and education, and the newest advances in product development within the realm of retirement income.

Alliance Benefit Group, LLC (www.abgnational.com) is a national network of independently-owned retirement plan consulting, investment advisory, health and welfare consulting and benefits administration firms. Collectively, ABG serves retirement plans with a total of more than $12 billion of assets and nearly 400,000 plan participants.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

3D From Your Camera: Eos Systems Announces PhotoModeler 2010

3D From Your Camera: Eos Systems Announces PhotoModeler 2010
2010-10-28
Eos Systems today announced the release of PhotoModeler 2010 and PhotoModeler Scanner 2010. PhotoModeler, a Windows application, is used to create 3D models and measurements from photographs using ordinary digital cameras. PhotoModeler Scanner software adds the capability of creating dense point clouds like a laser or 3D scanner but eliminates the need for expensive and cumbersome equipment. The flexibility in using the ubiquitous digital camera offers sophisticated 3D capabilities for technical professionals and home users alike. Both ends of this user spectrum ...

New guideline from ASH and ASCO recommends caution regarding ESA use in cancer patients

2010-10-27
(WASHINGTON, October 25, 2010) – An updated joint guideline by the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) advises physicians about the appropriate use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs), a class of drugs that stimulate the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells, to treat cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced anemia. While the guideline cautions that ESAs are associated with shorter survival and increased risk of thromboembolism — blood clots — and tumor progression, it also recognizes their major benefit ...

New class of biomolecules triggered in response to respiratory virus infection

New class of biomolecules triggered in response to respiratory virus infection
2010-10-27
For the first time, scientists have discovered that a poorly understood class of RNA produced in a mammal's cells during a respiratory virus attack may affect the outcome of the infection. Their findings are reported today in mBio, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. RNA (ribonucleic acid) contains information transcribed from the cell's instruction manual, its DNA. The best known of these RNAs translate sections of DNA code into building blocks for proteins. Most studies of how animals' cells respond to virus infection typically look at protein-coding ...

Landmark study finds high resting heart associated with shorter life expectancy

2010-10-27
Montreal −If you are a person who already has stable heart disease, how fast your heart beats at rest can predict your risk of dying, not only from heart disease but all other causes, Dr. Eva Lonn told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. "The higher the heart rate, the higher the risk of death from cardiovascular and all causes, even after adjusting for all risk factors that could confound our results," says Dr. Lonn, a cardiologist and professor at McMaster University. ...

Severe sepsis associated with development of cognitive and functional disability in older patients

2010-10-27
Older adults who survived severe sepsis were more likely to develop substantial cognitive impairment and functional disability, according to a study in the October 27 issue of JAMA. Hundreds of thousands of patients endure severe sepsis each year in the United States, according to background information in the article. "Although severe sepsis is the most common non-cardiac cause of critical illness, the long-term impact of severe sepsis on cognitive and physical functioning is unknown," the authors write. Theodore J. Iwashyna, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Michigan ...

Patients who survive sepsis are more than 3 times as likely to have cognitive problems

2010-10-27
Ann Arbor, Mich. — Older adults who survive severe sepsis are at higher risk for long-term cognitive impairment and physical limitations than those hospitalized for other reasons, according to researchers from the University of Michigan Health System. Research to be published Oct. 27 in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that 60 percent of hospitalizations for severe sepsis were associated with worsened cognitive and physical function among surviving older adults. The odds of acquiring moderate to severe cognitive impairment were 3.3 times higher ...

Colorectal cancer patients with gene mutation show better response to cancer agent

2010-10-27
Even though the cancer-treatment agent cetuximab is not considered effective treatment for KRAS (a gene)-mutated metastatic colorectal tumors, new research indicates that patients with colorectal cancer not responding to chemotherapy and a certain variation of this gene who were treated with cetuximab had longer overall and progression-free survival than patients with other KRAS-mutations, according to a study in the October 27 issue of JAMA. "Recent retrospective correlative analyses of metastatic colorectal cancer trials indicate that patients with KRAS-mutated tumors ...

2 clinical trials demonstrate effective weight loss strategies for obese and overweight adults

2010-10-27
Lifestyle interventions, including physical activity and structured weight loss programs, can result in significant weight loss for overweight, obese and severely obese adults, according to two reports that were posted online October 9 by JAMA. The studies and accompanying editorials were made available early online to coincide with the presentation of these papers at the 28th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Obesity Society. The articles appear in the October 27 print issue of JAMA. According to background information in the papers, obesity is among the most significant ...

Genetic variations linked with worse outcomes with use of antiplatelet drug for cardiac procedures

2010-10-27
An analysis of data from previously published studies indicates that use of the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel for patients who have common genetic variants of a certain gene and are undergoing a procedure such as coronary stent placement have an associated increased risk for major adverse cardiovascular events, particularly development of blood clots in stents, according to a study in the October 27 issue of JAMA. Clopidogrel, one of the most commonly prescribed medications, has been shown to reduce cardiovascular events in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention ...

Better transparency needed on medical journals' competing interests

2010-10-27
Journals need to develop policies to handle the inevitable competing interests that arise when they publish papers that may bring them reprint revenue or increase their impact factors. This is the conclusion of a research article by Andreas Lundh and colleagues from the Nordic Cochrane Centre published in this weeks PLoS Medicine. An accompanying perspective by Harvey Marcovitch, ex-chair of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and an editorial from the PLoS Medicine Editors discusses this issue further, concluding that journals should apply the same degree of transparency ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Engineers uncover why tiny particles form clusters in turbulent air

GLP-1RA drugs dramatically reduce death and cardiovascular risk in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis linked to increased risk of vision-threatening eye disease, study finds

Reprogramming obesity: New drug from Italian biotech aims to treat the underlying causes of obesity

Type 2 diabetes may accelerate development of multiple chronic diseases, particularly in the early stages, UK Biobank study suggests

Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows

Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer

SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events

Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design

New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients

Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?

Soccer headers and brain health: Study finds changes within folds of the brain

Decoding plants’ language of light

UNC Greensboro study finds ticks carrying Lyme disease moving into western NC

New implant restores blood pressure balance after spinal cord injury

New York City's medical specialist advantage may be an illusion, new NYU Tandon research shows

Could a local anesthetic that doesn’t impair motor function be within reach?

1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5

In the wild, chimpanzees likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day

Warming of 2°C intensifies Arctic carbon sink but weakens Alpine sink, study finds

Bronze and Iron Age cultures in the Middle East were committed to wine production

Indian adolescents are mostly starting their periods at an earlier age than 25 years ago

Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP

Rates of alcohol-induced deaths among the general population nearly doubled from 1999 to 2024

PLOS One study: In adolescent lab animals exposed to cocaine, High-Intensity Interval Training boosts aversion to the drug

Scientists identify four ways our bodies respond to COVID-19 vaccines

Stronger together: A new fusion protein boosts cancer immunotherapy

Hidden brain waves as triggers for post-seizure wandering

Music training can help the brain focus

Researcher develop the first hydride ion prototype battery

[Press-News.org] Alliance Benefit Group Receives Industry Award
ABG was named the winner of the Retail Retirement Income Communications Award sponsored by Investment News.