With the housing-market crash and resulting economic downturn, hundreds of thousands of Americans currently find themselves in significant amounts of debt. To meet the demand for help from struggling consumers, some private companies offer debt management counseling, debt consolidation and debt management plans, also called DMPs. However, such programs and services cannot offer the same benefits as good, old-fashioned bankruptcy. Be sure to look at these programs with careful scrutiny and examine all the facts. Debt management and consolidation DMPs are very popular ...

A prenuptial agreement, also known as a premarital agreement, is a legally binding contract that dictates how a couple's assets will be distributed if their marriage ends in divorce or upon death while married. Many people believe that this legal device is only for the rich. While prenuptial agreements are useful in cases where one spouse has significant assets or property, these days, they are quite common for people with varied financial backgrounds. Specifically, 73 percent of divorce attorneys surveyed in 2010 by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reported ...

For many people, the most difficult aspect of financial hardship is enduring creditor harassment and facing wage garnishment and other harsh consequences of debt collection. While debtors have rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and other laws, debt collectors often abuse those rights by making unauthorized contact or false representations in an attempt to speed up the process. A high profile example of potentially illegal practices recently made headlines in Minnesota when Fairview Health Services was accused of employing harsh tactics to collect ...

Drunk driving is a serious crime in New Jersey. Getting behind the wheel after having one drink too many can bring heavy fines, jail time and months -- or even years -- of suspended driving privileges. The penalties for New Jersey drunk driving offenses may get even stricter soon, if a new bill introduced in the state Assembly moves forward. The bill, which was approved by the Assembly Law and Public Safety committee in late September, seeks to impose new penalties for drunk driving parents or guardians who cause accidents that injure their minor children. If the ...

The United States Supreme Court recently announced it will decide whether the Fourth Amendment allows law enforcement officials to force non-consenting suspects in impaired driving cases to take a blood test without first requesting a warrant. The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects Americans from unlawful searches and seizures. This means that law enforcement cannot search you, your home, or your vehicle, without permission unless they have acquired a probable cause warrant. Different states, different decisions States across the nation ...

Though some workplaces offer disability insurance to their employees, these benefits have gotten a lot less common -- and a lot less robust -- in the economic downturn. In 2002, 59 percent of American companies paid all or part of their employees' long-term disability insurance premiums. By 2009, that number had fallen to 48 percent. As such, many Americans have turned to private disability insurance to supplement or replace employer-sponsored policies. Private disability insurance can be a tremendous asset if an unexpected illness or disability strikes. However, coverage ...

Team Pest USA has upgraded its website with the customer in mind, offering more information about the most important types of pest control in Atlanta, Georgia. With the right tools to handle everything from termites to bed bugs or squirrels and opossums, these Atlanta exterminators know their business. One of the key advantages of the new website is the information that it makes available on everything from Atlanta mosquito control to helping prevent pest problems that begin with your pet. To learn how to spot termite damage before it destroys your house, how to keep ...

Georgia health insurance broker McCart Insurance understands that there are times when using your parents' health insurance can be difficult or embarrassing. For those times, students may wish to consider finding their own affordable health insurance in Georgia. The most common time for students to encounter problems with health insurance in Georgia is when their parents are based in another state. Some insurance companies may not have the preferred providers they require in your college community or some may require students pay for out-of-state visits themselves and ...

Atlanta tree removal company Yellow Ribbon Tree Experts reminds Marietta residents that the company's service area extends to cover the Marietta area. For tree inspections, injections, trimming, or tree removal in Marietta, Yellow Ribbon can help. A leading Marietta tree service company, Yellow Ribbon Tree Experts is licensed by the International Society of Arboriculture. Yellow Ribbon Tree Experts can quickly and safely remove any dead or dying tree, grinding the stump afterwards to leave no unsightly mess on your property. The experts at Yellow Ribbon know that dead ...

Craftmark Solid Surfaces understands that as the weather turns chilly, many of us head indoors. That's when we look around and see that it's time to focus our attention on decorating for fall and winter and making upgrades before holiday guests are knocking at the door. Adding a door wreath of autumn leaves and a pine cone centerpiece on the table can help make your home feel warmer and more inviting for fall, but now is also the time to think about the upgrades you need to make your holiday parties sparkle. Replacing a worn out kitchen counter with a granite kitchen ...

After the ballots are counted and the anticipated Initiative 502 goes into effect December 6th, the criminal justice system will be left to make sense of the law and its complexities. Criminal defense lawyer Steve Graham has written about the law and what it might mean for Washington voters. As with Washington's earlier voter initiative for medical marijuana in 1998, I-502 will leave many questions for the courts to interpret. Lawyers across the state will await the federal government's response to the decriminalization of what the U.S. government still outlaws. Drivers ...

Throughout the Christmas season, Hyde Park will again transform into the festive hotspot, Winter Wonderland. Last year it welcomed over 2 million visitors during its seven week run. Millennium & Copthorne Hotels have hotels near Hyde Park London all conveniently located in central locations, with easy access to Hyde Park and other festive attractions. This year, Winter Wonderland is set to be bigger and better than ever, with attractions including the UK's largest ice rink and Zippos Circus, featuring jugglers, clowns and aerialists. Thrill seekers should visit ...

Essential Patch, a modern holistic medicine company with a philanthropic philosophy, introduces its first collection of all-natural aromatherapy patches. By tapping into the body's natural physiological and psychological responses to aromatic plant extracts, these easy-to-use patches utilize organic, therapeutic grade essential oils to alleviate common maladies and promote overall well being. "Aromatherapy has been providing relief from various ailments for thousands of years, but still, most people find the concept of blending their own essential oils a bit ...

Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS-SOL) — which will be presented at the American Heart Association Annual Meeting in Los Angeles on Nov. 5 and published in the Nov. 7 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) — finds heart disease risk factors are widespread among Hispanic/Latino adults in the United States. Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study — which will be published in the Nov. 7 issue of JAMA— finds black men and women are about twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease (CHD) compared ...

Boulder, CO, USA – Climate change and extreme weather events grab the headlines, but there is another, lesser known, global change underway on land, in the seas, and in the air: acidification. It turns out that combustion of fossil fuels, smelting of ores, mining of coal and metal ores, and application of nitrogen fertilizer to soils are all driving down the pH of the air, water, and the soil at rates far faster than Earth's natural systems can buffer, posing threats to both land and sea life. "It's a bigger picture than most of us know," says Janet Herman of the Department ...

SAN DIEGO – (Monday, November 5, 2012) – Heart disease risk factors are widespread among Hispanic/Latino adults in the United States, with 80 percent of men and 71 percent of women having at least one risk factor for heart disease, according to a San Diego State University study funded by the National Institutes of Health. These percentages are much higher than the general population, where approximately 49 percent of adults have at least one major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Findings from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), ...

If you look old, your heart may feel old, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012. In a new study, those who had three to four aging signs — receding hairline at the temples, baldness at the head's crown, earlobe crease, or yellow fatty deposits around the eyelid (xanthelasmata) — had a 57 percent increased risk for heart attack and a 39 percent increased risk for heart disease. "The visible signs of aging reflect physiologic or biological age, not chronological age, and are independent of chronological age," said ...

Adults 18-24 years old with high blood pressure were 28 percent less likely to be diagnosed during doctor visits than those 60 and older, according to findings presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012. "These young patients come to the clinic and their blood pressure is recorded," said Heather Johnson, M.D., lead researcher of the study. "They have high blood pressure, but there's no documentation of a diagnosis. We wanted to find out why." Researchers examined electronic health records of 13,593 men and women who were at least 18 years ...

No matter what climate you live in, you're more likely to die of heart-related issues in the winter, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012. "This was surprising because climate was thought to be the primary determinant of seasonal variation in death rates," said Bryan Schwartz, M.D., lead author of the study. Researchers at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles analyzed 2005-08 death certificate data from seven U.S. locations with different climates: Los Angeles County, Calif.; Texas; Arizona; Georgia; Washington; ...

Combining cancer medication with a drug for erectile dysfunction and one for heart transplants helped kill cancer cells and protected the heart from damage, in a study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012. For decades, doxorubicin has been a powerful anti-cancer treatment for various human cancers, including breast, ovarian, colon and prostate. But its use has been limited due to harmful, possibly irreversible effects on the heart. In this study, using cell and animal models, researchers found that sildenafil alone or in combination with ...

The 2011 Mineral, Virginia M-5.8 earthquake was felt over an extraordinarily large area. A new study details landslides triggered by the earthquake at distances four times greater and over an area 20 times larger than previously documented for M-5.8 earthquakes worldwide. The study, to be published in the December issue of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA), describes physical confirmation of previous observations that ground shaking from earthquakes in the eastern U.S. travels farther than in the western U.S, a plate-boundary region. U.S. ...

A multi-institutional team of researchers has sequenced the DNA of 6,700 exomes, the portion of the genome that contains protein-coding genes, as part of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI)-funded Exome Sequencing Project, one of the largest medical sequencing studies ever undertaken. Scientists participating in the project initially expected that individual rare variants would have a greater effect on over 80 heart, lung and blood related traits and diseases of high public health significance, said Suzanne M. Leal, Ph.D., professor and director, Center ...

SALT LAKE CITY – Cardiology researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute have found that approximately 75 percent of patients taking two common blood-thinning drugs may be receiving the wrong dosage levels, according to a new study. This could put them at risk for serious problems like uncontrolled bleeding or developing blood clots. Millions of Americans with coronary artery disease take one of the two drugs — clopidogrel (Plavix) and prasugrel (Effient) — to prevent harmful blood clots that can cause a stroke or heart attack. Current guidelines ...

Researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark, have now discovered an important mechanism behind one of our most fundamental lines of immune function. The discovery has been published in the esteemed scientific journal, The Journal of Immunology, where it has been highlighted as a top story. In collaboration with colleagues from USA and Turkey, they have discovered exactly which enzymes collaborate in the first line of the immune defence. Thus, they answer a central question about the so-called complement system, which has been a focal point of the scientific field for the ...

VIDEO: Figaro, a Goffin's Cockatoo, makes and uses a tool. Click here for more information. Goffin's cockatoos are a highly playful and curious Indonesian cockatoo species. Therefore, cognitive biologists are now using them as a model species to investigate intelligent behaviour in birds. Together with researchers from the University of Oxford, Alice Auersperg and Birgit Szabo from the Department of Cognitive Biology at the University of Vienna have made a sensational discovery: ...