Medieval Afghanistan, Iran and the one-time Soviet Central Asian states were frontiers in flux as the Islamic Caliphate spread beyond the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh through 10th centuries. As such, different groups, such as the new Arab ruling class, the native landed gentry and local farmers, jockeyed for power, position and economic advantage over an approximately 300-year period as the Sasanian Empire collapsed and the Caliphate took its place. University of Cincinnati historian Robert Haug, assistant professor, will present his research on how social, cultural ...

Side effects are a major reason that drugs are taken off the market and a major reason why patients stop taking their medications, but scientists are now reporting the development of a new way to predict those adverse reactions ahead of time. The report on the method, which could save patients from severe side effects and save drug companies time and money, appears in ACS' Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling. Yoshihiro Yamanishi and colleagues explain that drug side effects are a major health problem — the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. — which by ...

What were the most notable advances in the chemical world in 2012? Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society — the world's largest scientific society — considers this question in a package of cover stories on the year past in chemistry. It also provides a reality check on discoveries that seemed promising a decade ago. In "Research Year in Review," which focuses on 11 key developments, C&EN cites several advances in integrating man and machine in efforts to combine electronics with living tissue, developments that the ...

LSS Life Safety Services (LSS), a leader in passive fire protection inspection services, announced today that Kathy Clements has joined them as their new Controller. Kathy will lead LSS Life Safety Services' accounting department, as well as direct the financial plans of the business. Kathy brings with her valuable accounting, budgeting, and management experience. Her years as the President of a local Direct Mail Marketing company will allow her to further enhance the mission of LSS Life Safety Services by providing the LSS team with yet another strong member of the ...

DURHAM, N.C. – Patients who received an implantable heart defibrillator in everyday practice had survival benefits on par with those who received the same devices in carefully controlled clinical trials, according to a new study that highlights the value of defibrillators in typical medical settings. Led by the Duke Clinical Research Institute and published Jan. 2, 2013, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study used data from a large national Medicare registry to assess the survival of patients receiving defibrillators, which are commonly used to ...

CHICAGO – In an analysis of nearly 100 studies that included approximately 3 million adults, relative to normal weight, overall obesity (combining all grades) and higher levels of obesity were both associated with a significantly higher all-cause risk of death, while overweight was associated with significantly lower all-cause mortality, according to a study in the January 2 issue of JAMA. "Estimates of the relative mortality risks associated with normal weight, overweight, and obesity may help to inform decision making in the clinical setting," according to background ...

CHICAGO – In a study examining possible factors regarding the associations between fructose consumption and weight gain, brain magnetic resonance imaging of study participants indicated that ingestion of glucose but not fructose reduced cerebral blood flow and activity in brain regions that regulate appetite, and ingestion of glucose but not fructose produced increased ratings of satiety and fullness, according to a preliminary study published in the January 2 issue of JAMA. "Increases in fructose consumption have paralleled the increasing prevalence of obesity, and ...

CHICAGO – In a study that included nearly 30,000 women from Nordic countries who had filled a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) prescription during pregnancy, researchers found no significant association between use of these medications during pregnancy and risk of stillbirth, neonatal death, or postneonatal death, after accounting for factors including maternal psychiatric disease, according to a study in the January 2 issue of JAMA. "Depression during pregnancy is common with prevalences ranging between 7 percent and 19 percent in economically developed ...

Babies only hours old are able to differentiate between sounds from their native language and a foreign language, scientists have discovered. The study indicates that babies begin absorbing language while still in the womb, earlier than previously thought. Sensory and brain mechanisms for hearing are developed at 30 weeks of gestational age, and the new study shows that unborn babies are listening to their mothers talk during the last 10 weeks of pregnancy and at birth can demonstrate what they've heard. "The mother has first dibs on influencing the child's brain," ...

SAN FRANCISCO – January 2, 2013 – A new study finds that certain changes in blood vessels in the eye's retina can be an early warning that a person is at increased risk for glaucoma, an eye disease that slowly robs people of their peripheral vision. Using diagnostic photos and other data from the Australian Blue Mountains Eye Study, the researchers showed that patients who had abnormally narrow retinal arteries when the study began were also those who were most likely to have glaucoma at its 10-year end point. If confirmed by future research, this finding could give ophthalmologists ...

Laura Floeck, President of the High Spirits Horse Ranch announced today the official opening of the High Spirits Horse Ranch in Roseburg Oregon. Floeck said today the facility is open and operational for limited horse boarding services, including full care pasture boarding and full care indoor stall boarding. New amenities are being planned and constructed presently to provide an array of training and management tools for various equine disiplines, Floeck said she expects most of these upgrades to be completed by Spring 2013. The High Spirits Horse Ranch is structured ...

The original release date of "When Darkness Calls", the new CD offering from Reverence, was in May 2012, however the exciting new promotions label at http://www.AllHardRock.com has brought this celebrated album to new heights. Entering 2013 with performance dates set and foreign shores chomping at the bit for more, Reverence now issues their CD with bonus features and added promotion. The Metal-Archives writes, "Imagine, if you will, a 1980's power metal base with touches of mid-period Metallica and a dash of Mercyful Fate. Reverence excels at creating ...

The Yosemite/Mariposa County Tourism Bureau (YMCTB) invites travelers to Mariposa County and Yosemite National Park to enter its 2012 Yosemite FunFoto Contest. The rules are simple: • Travel to Mariposa County along one of the following highways: o Highway 120 from Stockton/Manteca o Highway 132 from Modesto o Highway 140 from Merced o Highway 49 from Sonora o Highway 41 from Fresno • Once inside Mariposa County, take your best shot: It can be scenery, people, historical landmarks or anything showing the fun and experience of visiting Mariposa County, but it ...

LSS Life Safety Services (LSS), a leader in passive fire protection inspection services, announced today that Kathy Clements has joined them as their new Controller. Kathy will lead LSS Life Safety Services' accounting department, as well as direct the financial plans of the business. Kathy brings with her valuable accounting, budgeting, and management experience. Her years as the President of a local Direct Mail Marketing company will allow her to further enhance the mission of LSS Life Safety Services by providing the LSS team with yet another strong member of the ...

Inlanta Mortgage is pleased to announce 2012 was its best year for new hires, with a total of 77 new employees over the course of the year. In just the past month, Inlanta has added three sales and eight support staff. The Madison, Wis. office added Loan Officer Lupe Montes and the Augusta, Maine office hired Loan Officer Martha St. Pierre. Loan Officer Stephen Speer joined the Oak Brook, Ill. office and the Bloomington, Ill. office welcome Marketing Assistant Hillary Denham. The corporate office in Brookfield also saw a number of new hires this month. In the funding ...

Joyce Luhrs, president of the Leonia, New Jersey based marketing, public relations, grants and management solutions firm Luhrs & Associates, was named vice president on the board of trustees of the Hispanic Business Council Scholarship Foundation of NJ, Inc. (HBCSF). The HBCSF, a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization located in Teaneck, New Jersey, has a mission to advance the educational aspirations of Hispanic students throughout the state by providing scholarships for an undergraduate degree so that they may become professionals, leaders and valued citizens of the community. "In ...

A Hertfordshire based specialist plumbing supplier has published industry guidance directed at the National Health Service and other medical organisations, which offers practical and concise advice and information on appropriate medical-grade plumbing equipment used for hand-washing and hygiene best practices. Leading online plumbing supplier 'NotJustTaps' has identified that while a wide variety of organisations have a requirement for medical grade plumbing facilities - such as GP surgeries and hospitals to dental practices and opticians - they all share a consistent ...

Each year, the Institute of Transportation sponsors an awards program to honor outstanding achievement in transportation industry and distinguished service to IT. The awards bestow recognition upon the recipients and increase the public's awareness of the role and responsibilities of the transportation professional. Mr. Milton Collier created and designed RateMyShipment.com a Transportation Management System (TMS). RateMyShipment.com is designed to let customers compare side-by-side the Best Rates from some of the best carriers in the USA. The system is design to save ...

Dr Ge is so confident that small businesses will find the benefits of ezPaycheck that Halfpricesoft.com offers a free trial. For 30 days users can try all the features free of charge before they decide buy it at http://www.halfpricesoft.com/payroll_software_download.asp. "Small businesses and non-profits shouldn't be spending hour after hour setting up and learning to use payroll software," said Halfpricesoft.com founder Dr. Ge. "We designed ezPaycheck to be powerful, yet simple, so anyone can use it, and ezPaycheck 2012 is the most easy-to-use version ...

Sing your heart out with the only professional, grand opera company based in northern New Jersey. The New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera's Artistic Director and Metropolitan Opera luminary Lucine Amara announces auditions to perform with the Verismo Opera Chorus will be held on January 16 and January 23, 2013. During the company's 23rd season, Love, Comedy, Obsession and Murder, choristers will perform in the company's spring productions of Ruggiero Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci and Giacomo Puccini's Gianni Schicchi on Sunday, April 21 at 3:00 p.m. and Pietro Mascagni's ...

In 2007 writer Jeff Giles closed shop on his Jefitoblog site. The website had amassed a loyal following and several cohorts across the Internet including his partner-in-Mellowmas-torture Jason Hare. Giles' big plan was to gather up such individuals, provide a place to allow their individual personalities to roam, and then let them loose. That plan came together in 2008 with the introduction of pop culture website Popdose.com, and at the start of its fifth anniversary the site is growing stronger than ever. In the past five years, Popdose.com has provided analysis on ...

Ventana Research has released its latest benchmark research that details how organizations use and misuse spreadsheets and what they can do to make best use of this indispensable tool. Desktop spreadsheets were designed to be a personal productivity tool and excel in this role. When used in repetitive, collaborative enterprise processes, however, they can become counterproductive. Errors are common especially for a company's most critical data. Time is often wasted as users struggle to find data entry errors, inaccurate formulas and mistakenly hard-coded values. The new ...

Dr. Michael Hess and the team at Hess Orthodontics are pleased to announce they will soon be providing Invisalign and Damon Braces in the Lithia and Fish Hawk, FL areas. Their new, second location will be located off of FishHawk Boulevard, directly across from the FishHawk Sports Complex and Randall Middle School, and is expected to open mid-2013. Hess Orthodontics' second location will provide all of the same outstanding orthodontic care, fantastic customer service, and innovative technology as they currently do in Riverview FL. They will continue to utilize the most ...

The Senior Solutions Management Group (http://www.ssmgrp.com) has recently announced on their blog that they are the ideal and premier 2013 content source for seniors to turn to when they are in the process of looking for a comfortable and affordable senior community to live in. Readers of the assisted living blog will be provided with ample entertainment and senior care information that is especially suited to elderly folk. "We are always striving to be the #1 source of senior care information for the general public to use as guidance in making their important ...

The use of one marketing channel to support of promote another channel (multichannel marketing) is on the rise. Field Marketing firm PerDM are outsourced by UK brands looking to take advantage of the high return on investment (ROI) of face to face acquisitions. The firm state their direct method of marketing is a way to target consumers who would never respond to traditional marketing channels. Multichannel marketing is the process of using many different marketing channels to reach a customer. A marketing channel might include retail store, a web site, a mail order ...