The day before the NationaLease Spring Maintenance Managers Meeting, the 3rd Annual Tech Challenge was held with a long day of hands-on competition at the Aim NationaLease Elmhurst, IL facility. Nine regional winners participated and the three Top Techs were announced at the Spring Maintenance Managers Meeting Awards Dinner on May 16th. The winners, who will represent NationaLease at the TMC's Annual SuperTech Competition to be held in the fall, are: - Top Tech: Bob Mrzyglod, Aim NationaLease (For the second year in a row) - 1st runner up: Rick Davis, Hogan Truck Leasing, ...

There's a myth out there that getting credit for upgrading or replacing fleet vehicles and equipment is extremely difficult. That may be true for those with considerable business difficulties, but not for secure companies. That's the main point that Neal Weeks, AmeriQuest's Vice President of Syndication & Operations, makes in this week's blog. The posting suggests four important steps to take before you actually embark on a search for credit finding: 1. Make an honest assessment of your company's financial status - If your creditworthiness is minimal, there are ...

Business owners install ATMs at their retail locations to increase store traffic and provide customers with a convenient and quick bank withdrawal. But when money is involved, the risk of theft is ever present. Retail owners want to deter potential burglars from tampering with or stealing their ATM and to rest assured that if a burglar strikes, their ATM will be easily and securely recovered. Citywide ATM, a nationwide seller, distributor and processor of ATMs, contacted Buckeye Shapeform to design and finish a modified enclosure and chassis with a flawless appearance ...

Vivian Van Dijk, Editor-in-Chief and President of EYES IN Magazine, (Periodic Publication), introduces another captivating issue of her critically acclaimed EYES IN Magazine. Issue 20 features a variety creators including Artist Vincent Castiglia, innovative Designer Daan Roosegaarde, Photographic Artists The Cherkashins, Musician Adrianna Freeman, Health Creator, Spartan Race Founder Joe de Sena and Photographer David Yarrow. Snippets of these interviews include: Art: Embodying Innovative Art through Blood, Vincent Castiglia "My experiences have furnished my ...

Men's Health Network (MHN) and the ManKind Project USA (MKP USA) are partnering during June, Men's Health Month, to encourage men and boys everywhere to live healthy lifestyles. "We are proud to partner with the ManKind Project USA to celebrate the health of men in June," said Ana Fadich, MHN Vice President. "Failure of men and boys to talk about their health translates into leading shorter and less healthy lives. We invite all men to take advantage of the many health screenings and other health directed activities, which are taking place in June in their ...

Sound Physicians, a leading hospitalist organization focused on driving improvements in quality, satisfaction and financial performance of inpatient healthcare delivery, announced today an agreement to provide hospitalist services at Community Memorial Healthcenter in South Hill, Va. Community Memorial Healthcenter is a 260-bed hospital delivering acute care, long-term care, home health and hospice services to Southern Virginia and parts of North Carolina. Sound Physicians will provide comprehensive hospitalist services at Community Memorial Healthcenter, which is the ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — In an age when evidence-based care is increasingly important, how trustworthy are current clinical practice guidelines? Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center looked at 169 cancer clinical practice guidelines for lung, breast, prostate and colorectal cancers and found that none of the guidelines fully met standards set in 2011 by the Institute of Medicine. Of eight criteria, the guidelines on average met fewer than three. "None of the current guidelines we looked at meet all of the standards, but some of these are really ...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Two studies from the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington highlight the negative impact workplace and financial stress can have on health behaviors. The lead author urges workplace wellness and smoking cessation programs to consider such impacts as the economy sputters along. A study published online in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research found that men and women who smoked daily reported that their smoking increased when conflict from work affected their home life. Women also reported the inverse: increased smoking when home ...

Menlo Park, Calif. — The first complete chemical analysis of feathers from Archaeopteryx, a famous fossil linking dinosaurs and birds, reveals that the feathers were patterned—light in color, with a dark edge and tip—rather than all black, as previously thought. The findings came from X-ray experiments at the Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, where scientists were able to find chemical traces of the original dinobird and its pigments in the rock that entombed it 150 million years ago. "This is a big leap forward in our understanding ...

A novel genetic mutation was first identified in 2010 as causing hearing loss in humans. Researchers have now discovered that this mutation induces malfunction of an inhibitor of an enzyme commonly found in our body that destroys proteins. Published today in the American Journal of Pathology, this inhibitor is known scientifically as SERPINB6. Dr Justin Tan of the University of Melbourne and lead author of the study said individuals who lack both copies of this good gene were reported to lose their hearing from 20 years of age. "This is unusual because most people show ...

Legislation to restrict consumption of large sugar-sweetened beverages in food service establishments would affect 7.5% of Americans on a given day, and a greater percentage among those who are overweight, including 13.6% of overweight teenagers, according to researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Challenging criticism that the restriction is discriminatory against the poor, the study finds low-income individuals would not be disproportionately affected. The proposed restrictions were approved by the New York City Board of Health. They are ...

Brazilian paleontologists Taissa Rodrigues, of the Federal University of Espirito Santo, and Alexander W. A. Kellner, of the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, have just presented the most extensive review yet available of toothed pterosaurs from the Cretaceous of England. The study features detailed taxonomic information, diagnoses and photographs of 30 species and was published in the open access journal ZooKeys. Pterosaurs from the Cretaceous of England were first described by British naturalists Richard Owen and Harry Seeley in the 19th century, ...

The Swiss are justly famed for their craftsmanship when creating extremely precise pieces of technology. Now a Swiss team from the Geneva Observatory has achieved extraordinary precision using a comparatively small 1.2-metre telescope for an observing programme stretching over many years. They have discovered a new class of variable stars by measuring minute variations in stellar brightness. The new results are based on regular measurements of the brightness of more than three thousand stars in the open star cluster NGC 3766 [1] over a period of seven years. They reveal ...

SALT LAKE CITY, June 12, 2013 – Using hands-free devices to talk, text or send e-mail while driving is distracting and risky, contrary to what many people believe, says a new University of Utah study issued today by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. "Our research shows that hands-free is not risk-free," says University of Utah psychology Professor David Strayer, lead author of the study, which he conducted for the foundation arm of the nonprofit AAA, formerly known as the American Automobile Association. "These new, speech-based technologies in the car can overload ...

New data from the University of Washington's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute indicates increases in heroin availability, abuse and deaths across the state, particularly among young adults ages 18-29. These increases are concerning because of the high risks of overdose and contracting infectious diseases associated with heroin use. Police drug evidence testing, particularly in 2011 and 2012, points to dramatic increases in heroin. The largest increases were outside of metropolitan areas; the number of pieces of police evidence positive for heroin totaled 842 in 2007 and ...

Madrid, Spain, 12 June 2013: The launch of the European Rheumatology Research Foundation (ERRF) was today announced at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism. The European Rheumatology Research Foundation (ERRF) is an independent, non-profit body devoted to promoting research in rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs). The ERRF supports high-quality, peer-reviewed research by raising funds from commercial and non-commercial donors. The ERRF aims to support basic and applied research in order to reduce the burden of disease for ...

Madrid, Spain, 12 June 2013: New PSUMMIT 2* data first presented at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, further demonstrate the efficacy of ustekinumab in Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA). Anti-TNF naïve and anti-TNF-experienced patients randomised to one of two ustekinumab doses (45mg or 90mg) demonstrated significant and sustained improvements in the signs and symptoms of PsA, with favourable safety profiles. PsA is a chronic inflammatory arthritis associated with psoriasis which significantly impacts health-related quality of life ...

Madrid, Spain, 12 June 2013: A new study presented today at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, shows that one in eight patients at risk of developing a serious adverse drug event (ADE) is taking over-the-counter (OTC) non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), often to treat a musculoskeletal complaint. Of these high risk OTC NSAID users, over one-third had taken the medication for more than 7 days, and 3% had exceeded the maximum recommended daily dosage. Patients were considered at high risk of a serious ADE from OTC ...

Madrid, Spain, 12 June 2013: A new study presented today at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, shows that treatment with brodalumab demonstrates significant clinical response and an acceptable safety profile in subjects with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). PsA is a chronic inflammatory arthritis associated with psoriasis which significantly impacts health-related quality of life in patients, and increases risk of co-morbid cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases.2 Psoriasis occurs in 2-3% of the population, with PsA occurring in ...

Madrid, Spain, 12 June 2013: A new study presented at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, shows that rapid evaluation for Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) by Color Doppler Ultrasound (CDUS) followed by immediate initiation of treatment (if required) significantly reduces permanent vision loss. Of the patients evaluated by the ''fast track'' principle from March 2010 to December 2012, 11.1% had transient visual manifestations, and none went on to suffer from permanent visual loss. GCA is a condition in which medium and large-size arteries, ...

Madrid, Spain, 12 June 2013: A new study presented today at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism shows that tocilizumab is efficacious and leads to a sustained clinically meaningful improvement in children with polyarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (pcJIA). Tocilizumab is a humanized recombinant antibody, which blocks the receptors where interleukin-6 (IL-6) attaches to the surface of cells. When IL-6 is unable to attach to these cells, they are prevented from driving inflammation. Elevated serum and joint fluid IL-6 levels ...

Madrid, Spain, 12 June 2013: Data from AMPLE presented at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, demonstrate comparable efficacy and similar safety profiles between subcutaneous abatacept (ABA) and adalimumab (ADA). AMPLE, the first two-year head-to-head biologics trial, was comprised of 646 biologic-naïve patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) equally randomised to either ABA or ADA, with a stable dose of methotrexate (MTX). 79.2% (252 of 318) ABA patients and 74.7% (245 of 328) ADA patients completed the trial. RA is a ...

Madrid, Spain, 12 June 2013: New data presented today at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism show that apremilast administered to patients with psoriatic arthritis continues to demonstrate meaningful clinical responses beyond 24 weeks. For patients who completed 52 weeks of the study, up to 65% achieved ACR20* response rates. Also, apremilast continued to be well tolerated with an acceptable longer-term safety profile. Apremilast is a novel, oral small-molecule inhibitor of phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4). It works as an anti-inflammatory ...

Madrid, Spain, 12 June 2013: A new study presented at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism, demonstrates the efficacy of the ARASHI method at evaluating radiographic (X-ray) joint damage in RA. The study validated the use of ARASHI to assess joint damage in RA, and clarified the pattern of progression of damage during two-year TNF-blocking therapies. In addition to concluding the success of the scoring method, the data also showed that hip and knee joints with pre-existing damage were predisposed to continue destruction, even during ...

Madrid, Spain, 12 June 2013: Results of the first study involving RA patients in the development of an internet-based physical activity intervention were presented at EULAR 2013, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism. These data show that seven categories are crucial for the adoption and maintenance of PA: personal incentives, personal mastering, information adapted to the Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) condition, peer support, professional coaching, physical environment and resources, and societal support/financial assistance. RA is a chronic autoimmune ...