Denied disability benefits? Don't waste your chance to appeal Many employers offer group coverage long-term disability insurance as part of their employee compensation packages, providing a source of income for workers who are unable to work as a result of an injury or illness. Long-term disability insurance kicks in when short-term disability benefits expire, often after a period three or six months, depending on the policy. Long-term disability provides benefits equal to a certain percentage of the person's salary, and continue for a fixed number of years or until ...

Trend toward "gender reversal" in marriage affects divorce Traditional gender roles are changing in marriage and divorce. More women than ever are attending college and obtaining advanced degrees. In recent decades, women have outpaced men in earnings growth as well. This has resulted in "gender reversal" where the wife often earns more than the husband. A Pew Research Center study that analyzed demographic and economic trends in marriage between 1970 with 2007 found that the share of households where the wife earned more increased from four percent ...

Tax forms and deadlines for reporting foreign financial assets An inheritance that includes a savings account at a foreign bank may not seem any different from a US Bank checking account. Or if you have married a Norwegian man or woman who is now a U.S. citizen and you have a joint account in Norway that you access when you travel to visit friends and family, you may not think twice. Depending on the amount of assets in a foreign bank account, you may need to disclose the account on one or even several forms. FBAR The Bank Secrecy Act requires that a United ...

In a study that included more than 20,000 patients, there was a significant decrease in the United States in mortality rates over time among children and adolescents initiating end-stage kidney disease treatment with dialysis between 1990 and 2010, according to a study in the May 8 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting. "Individuals with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) face a significantly shortened life expectancy. In no group of ESKD patients is the loss of potential ...

A record-setting blast of gamma rays from a dying star in a distant galaxy has wowed astronomers around the world. The eruption, which is classified as a gamma-ray burst, or GRB, and designated GRB 130427A, produced the highest-energy light ever detected from such an event. "We have waited a long time for a gamma-ray burst this shockingly, eye-wateringly bright," said Julie McEnery, project scientist for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The GRB lasted so long that a record number of telescopes on the ground were ...

These delicate wisps of gas make up an object known as SNR B0519-69.0, or SNR 0519 for short. The thin, blood-red shells are actually the remnants from when an unstable progenitor star exploded violently as a supernova around 600 years ago. There are several types of supernovae, but for SNR 0519 the star that exploded is known to have been a white dwarf star — a Sun-like star in the final stages of its life. SNR 0519 is located over 150 000 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation of Dorado (The Dolphinfish), a constellation that also contains most of our ...

Southern California firefighters were battling a growing, brush-fueled wildfire early Friday that had reached the beach in Ventura County and was pushing toward the upscale city of Malibu, according to NBCnews.com. Dubbed the Springs Fire, this "monster" of a wildfire has been made worse by howling Santa Ana winds and unusually dry vegetation. As of 2 am local time in California on Friday the 3rd, it was within "seven or eight miles" of Malibu, Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Bill Nash said. Weather conditions are not cooperating in the containment of this fire. ...

VIDEO: Model simulations spanning 140 years show that warming from carbon dioxide will change the frequency that regions around the planet receive no rain (brown), moderate rain (tan), and very heavy... Click here for more information. A NASA-led modeling study provides new evidence that global warming may increase the risk for extreme rainfall and drought. The study shows for the first time how rising carbon dioxide concentrations could affect the entire range of rainfall ...

In Guerrero, Oaxaca, Michoacan, Colima, and Jalisco regions (as well as others in the Yucatan Peninsula) of Mexico hundreds of fires were detected by the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite. The location, widespread nature, and number of fires suggest that these fires were deliberately set to manage land. Farmers often use fire to return nutrients to the soil and to clear the ground of unwanted plants. While fire helps enhance crops and grasses for pasture, the fires also produce smoke that degrades air quality. In Mexico, the agricultural burning season usually occurs ...

SAN FRANCISCO, May 3, 2013 – The 2011 Tohoku earthquake is the best recorded and most studied giant earthquake, resulting in a remarkable suite of observations. A special issue of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA) captures the latest progress in understanding what happened when this massive M >9 earthquake struck offshore of Japan and produced a devastating tsunami that claimed almost 20,000 lives and precipitated the world's second worst nuclear power plant disaster. "While not the final word, this special issue synthesizes the latest understanding ...

For years, Paul Shaw, PhD, a researcher at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has used what he learns in fruit flies to look for markers of sleep loss in humans. Shaw reverses the process in a new paper, taking what he finds in humans back to the flies and gaining new insight into humans as a result: identification of a human gene that is more active after sleep deprivation. "I'm calling the approach cross-translational research," says Shaw, associate professor of neurobiology. "Normally we go from model to human, but there's no reason why we can't ...

The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 1:32 pm EDT on May 3, 2013. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. This disrupts the radio signals for as long as the flare is ongoing, and the radio blackout for this flare has already subsided. This flare is classified as an M5.7-class flare. M-class flares are the weakest flares ...

A new kind of cosmic flash may reveal something never seen before: the birth of a black hole. When a massive star exhausts its fuel, it collapses under its own gravity and produces a black hole, an object so dense that not even light can escape its gravitational grip. According to a new analysis by an astrophysicist at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), just before the black hole forms, the dying star may generate a distinct burst of light that will allow astronomers to witness the birth of a new black hole for the first time. Tony Piro, a postdoctoral ...

New Rochelle, May 2, 2013–Tumor repressor genes, which inhibit tumor formation, can be "turned off" due to undesirable molecular changes affecting the chromosomes on which the genes reside. Understanding and being able to control these alterations could lead to new approaches for activating or inactivating genes linked to cancer. A novel, high-throughput screening method used to identify agents that can block one chemical modifier that plays a key role in some forms of cancer is described in ASSAY and Drug Development Technologies, a peer-reviewed journal published from ...

New Rochelle, NY, May 1, 2013—Congestive heart failure affects more than 5.3 million Americans, is increasing in prevalence, and is ultimately fatal, but the duration and quality of life leading up to death can be unpredictable and vary greatly. Patients and caregivers could better plan for this difficult time if they knew what to expect. Five of the most common scenarios for the last 12 months of life in end-stage heart failure are clearly described in the article "Trajectory of Illness for Patients with Congestive Heart Failure," published in Journal of Palliative Medicine, ...

We all know that buying food when we are hungry is a recipe for disaster. When we are hungry, we can be especially sensitive to sights and smells of foods that will satiate, but may lack in nutrient content. What if we could make our meal choices when we are full, and not anticipating the feeling of satiation we all enjoy? Would we make healthier choices? Researchers at the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs (B.E.N. Center) set out to test whether or not preordering lunch would nudge students make healthier entrée choices. Lunch pre-order ...

WASHINGTON, DC – Pediatric leaders and researchers will tackle the complex and often politically charged subject of gun violence during a special symposium on Saturday, May 4, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC. The symposium, "Protecting the Health of Our Children Through Scientific Approaches to Gun Safety and Violence Prevention" will focus on guns and youth, violent media, guns and suicide, the pathway to violence, and community efforts to prevent gun violence. Among the speakers is Dimitri A. Christakis, MD, MPH, FAAP, who ...

WASHINGTON, DC – Pediatricians, economists, social scientists and policy experts will come together on Saturday, May 4, to address one of the greatest threats to child health — poverty. The group will take part in a plenary session titled, "A National Agenda to End Childhood Poverty," at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC. The session will cover a range of issues related to childhood poverty, including its measurement, its impact on child health and potential solutions. Children are the poorest segment of society: 22 percent of ...

WASHINGTON, DC – As parents, physicians and policymakers look for ways to curb childhood obesity, they may need to look no further than a child's own backyard. A new study to be presented Saturday, May 4, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting shows that preschool children are less likely to be obese if they live in a neighborhood that is safe and within walking distance of parks and retail services. "A child's neighborhood is a potentially modifiable risk factor for obesity that we can target in order to stop the increasing prevalence of obesity ...

WASHINGTON, DC – Word on the street has it you should replace your toothbrush after suffering from a cold, the flu or a bout of strep throat. That may not be necessary — at least when it comes to sore throats, according to a study to be presented Saturday, May 4, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC. Some health care professionals advise children to toss their toothbrushes if they have been diagnosed with strep throat. Researchers from University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston wanted to determine if that advice is warranted. ...

WASHINGTON, DC – Pregnant women are advised not to smoke during pregnancy because it can harm the baby's lungs and lead to wheezing and asthma, among other problems. If a woman absolutely can't kick the habit, taking vitamin C during pregnancy may improve her newborn's lung function and prevent wheezing in the first year of life, according to a study to be presented Saturday, May 4, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC. "Vitamin C is a simple, safe and inexpensive treatment that may decrease the impact of smoking during pregnancy ...

WASHINGTON, DC – Teens can get hundreds of text messages a day, but one message they aren't getting is that they shouldn't text and drive. Nearly 43 percent of high school students of driving age who were surveyed in 2011 reported texting while driving at least once in the past 30 days, according to a study to be presented Saturday, May 4, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC. "Texting while driving has become, in the words of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a 'national epidemic,'" said principal investigator Alexandra Bailin, ...

NEW YORK -- May 4, 2013 /Press Release/ –– Toxic waste sites with elevated levels of lead and chromium cause a high number of "healthy years of life lost" in individuals living near 373 sites located in India, Philippines and Indonesia, according to a study by a Mount Sinai researcher published online today in Environmental Health Perspectives. The study leader, Kevin Chatham-Stephens, MD, Pediatric Environmental Health Fellow at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, presented the findings today at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, ...

NEW HYDE PARK, NY – A recent study by pediatricians from the Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York examined to what extent pediatric physicians adhere to American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) clinical guidelines regarding pharmacotherapy in treating young patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The results showed that more than 90 percent of medical specialists who diagnose and manage ADHD in preschoolers do not follow treatment guidelines recently published by the AAP. "It is unclear why so many physicians who specialize in the management ...

Child support in North Carolina Article provided by The Law Office of Matthew T. Marcellino, PLLC Visit us at http://www.mtmlawfirm.com There are few responsibilities in life as great as raising a child. All of the time and effort that parents put in to this responsibility allows the child to reach his or her full potential. If this support disappears, the child could struggle, and face challenges that may be too difficult to overcome. When parents decide to end a relationship, these obligations to support the child still exist. Parties may need the court to ...