Now that the holiday season has passed and 2013 is officially here, many Texans are trying to make good on their New Year's resolutions to get their finances under control. Unfortunately, for individuals who relied on payday loans, car title loans or other types of storefront lending to finance their holiday spending, this may be easier said than done. Payday loans offer a quick way for borrowers to get access to short-term loans, usually between $400 and $1,000. While these loans may not seem too costly at first, their strict terms and high fees can make them extremely ...

When a couple with children breaks up, the drama doesn't stop once the divorce is finalized. Depending on the age of the children, the parents will have to work together as co-parents for years or even decades. Unsurprisingly, the co-parenting relationship is the source of a lot of stress for many divorced couples in Georgia. After all the acrimony of the divorce, couples often find it hard to work together. At the same time, though, they are conscious of their divorce's impact on their children and want to avoid fighting in front of their kids. Increasingly, these ...

According to the Insurance Information Institute, dog bite claims account for more than a third of all homeowners insurance liability claims. In 2011, insurers paid out approximately $479 million on these claims, an increase of 16 percent from the previous year. When a dog bites someone, it is only fair that the victim receive compensation for his or her injuries. Normally, the dog owner's home insurance policy covers expenses related to bite claims. The costs are not insubstantial: according to the Insurance Information Institute, the average dog bite claim payout in ...

As we begin a new year, many people in Texas and across the country who are struggling to escape increasing debts will make efforts to start fresh in 2013. Many will turn to reputable sources, such as attorneys, to receive advice on the best course of action for their specific situation. Unfortunately, though, many others will see hope in false promises made by debt settlement companies. For these people, although their intention may be to become debt free in 2013, debt settlement scams may actually leave them in a worse position than where they started. The National ...

Most people assume that since the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prevents "unreasonable search and seizure," they are protected against having their person or property searched without a warrant. That assumption is wrong, however, and Washington law enforcement has been heavily relying on a 1971 law designed to ferret out organized criminals to gather evidence about run-of-the-mill defendants. When an Associated Press news story shined light on the practice of "special inquiries," the state's association of prosecuting attorneys decided ...

The fast-paced environment of an emergency room creates situations in which errors are more likely to happen than in the rest of the hospital. Noise, an influx of patients exceeding the hospital's resources, lack of communication and other factors can cause mistakes, including medication errors, treatment errors and discharge errors. Many of these errors are insignificant and go unnoticed, but emergency room errors can have serious repercussions ranging from discomfort to fatality. Hospitals seek to minimize emergency room errors through software advances According ...

The Orlando Sentinel quoted the senior DJJ official about the report that was released. "While these numbers continue to move in the right direction, there is much work to be done to reduce unnecessary arrests in our schools," DJJ Secretary Wansley Walters said in a statement. "Misdemeanors accounted for 67 percent of all school-related arrests and 51 percent of schoolchildren were arrested last year for their first offense. Youth who act up at school should not be referred to DJJ for 'punishment,' forcing them to enter the juvenile justice system needlessly." Though ...

The new version of a federal program called Pay-As-You-Earn may help college students escape crushing student loan debt. A recent Chicago Tribune report described how proposed changes to the program may help make repayment far easier than what is currently available and might ease the burden on many students who took out loans in the past year. The changes do not affect family or private loans, but may prove a major boon for those with federal subsidized or standard federal loans. Details on the Proposed Changes The proposed changes mirror the system currently ...

Nicaragua was recently featured in the World's Top 10 Retirement Havens for 2013, published by the Huffington Post. According to the article, Granada, one of the country's tourism hotspots, was ranked number 8 among the best, the most comfortable, the most affordable, the most convenient, and the most rewarding spots worldwide for retirement in 2013. Kathleen Peddicord, Publisher of Live and Invest Oversees, mentioned that "geographically, Nicaragua is blessed, with two long coastlines and two big lakes, plus volcanoes, highlands, rain forest and rivers", adding ...

Rising Sun Energy Center (Rising Sun), a leading workforce development non-profit based in the San Francisco Bay Area, has been selected as one of only fifteen organizations to be featured in Learning a Living: Radical Innovation in Education for Work. The book, which was recently published and is now available on Amazon.com, addresses a critical issue occurring around the world: the failure of education systems to equip students adequately for today's labor market, and consequently, to become productive members of their communities. Rising Sun was also invited to be ...

If you haven't already implemented a marketing plan for 2013, don't panic - it's never too late to start. Content marketing was the buzz phrase of 2012 and the theory still holds good as we start the new year. Give your customers, existing and potential, something of value. If they find something useful to them on your website, in your blog, or in your email missives, they will think of you as a) an expert in your field and b) someone trustworthy who freely shares useful tips and information. Both can only help your business and your reputation. The majority of marketing ...

Trader Media Group has revised its Top Marques website to support its continued growth, with an all new design, adding a number of new features. Nathan Coe, group director, Auto Trader said: "We are very excited about the re-launch of Top Marques. It is now easier than ever to find your next luxury, performance or classic car from the widest selection of new and used stock in the UK." The ultimate destination for luxury, performance and classic cars, topmarques.co.uk has been redesigned to make it quicker and easier and more enjoyable to use featuring a ...

MAYWOOD, Il. - Among the most feared and devastating strokes are ones caused by blockages in the brain's critical basilar artery system. When not fatal, basilar artery strokes can cause devastating deficits, including head-to-toe paralysis called "locked-in syndrome." However, a minority of patients can have good outcomes, especially with new MRI technologies and time-sensitive treatments. These treatments include the clot-busting drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), and various new-generation neurothrombectomy devices, according to a review article in MedLink Neurology ...

The rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has initiated a quest for alternatives to conventional antibiotics. One potential alternative is PlyC, a potent enzyme that kills the bacteria that causes strep throat and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. PlyC operates by locking onto the surface of a bacteria cell and chewing a hole in the cell wall large enough for the bacteria's inner membrane to protrude from the cell, ultimately causing the cell to burst and die. Research has shown that alternative antimicrobials such as PlyC can effectively kill bacteria. However, fundamental ...

New insights into how a promising HIV vaccine works are provided in a study published by Cell Press January 10th in the journal Immunity. By analyzing the structure of antibody-virus complexes produced in vaccine recipients, the researchers have revealed how the vaccine triggers immune responses that could fight HIV-1 infection. The study could help guide efforts to increase the vaccine's production, which currently is not high enough for clinical use. "This is the first comprehensive study of the repertoire of antibodies that were induced by an HIV vaccine and were ...

A noninvasive, sequencing-based approach for detecting chromosomal abnormalities in the developing fetus is safer and more informative in some cases than traditional methods, according to a study published by Cell Press January 10th in The American Journal of Human Genetics. This method, which analyzes fetal DNA in the mother's blood, could provide women with a cost-effective way to find out whether their unborn baby will have major developmental problems without risking a miscarriage. "Our study is the first to show that almost all the information that is available from ...

Repression of a single protein in ordinary fibroblasts is sufficient to directly convert the cells – abundantly found in connective tissues – into functional neurons. The findings, which could have far-reaching implications for the development of new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, will be published online in advance of the January 17 issue of the journal Cell. In recent years, scientists have dramatically advanced the ability to induce pluripotent stem cells to become almost any type of cell, a major step in ...

Type 1 and type 2 diabetes results when beta cells in the pancreas fail to produce enough insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. One approach to treating diabetes is to stimulate regeneration of new beta cells. There are currently two ways of generating endocrine cells (cell types, such as beta cells, that secrete hormones) from human embryonic stem cells, or hESCs: either generating the cells in vitro in culture or transplanting immature endocrine cell precursors into mice. Researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, collaborating ...

DURHAM, N.C. – Four years ago, a potential HIV vaccine showed promise against the virus that causes AIDS, but it fell short of providing the broad protection necessary to stem the spread of disease. Now researchers -- led by Duke Medicine and including team members from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Military HIV Research Program and the Thailand Ministry of Health -- have gained additional insights into the workings of the vaccine that help explain why it benefited a third of recipients and left ...

Cold Spring Harbor, NY – A team of cancer researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has solved the mystery of how one of the most powerful of the body's natural tumor-suppressing proteins, called Chd5, exerts its beneficial effects. The findings, published online today in the journal Cell Reports, are important because Chd5 engages processes fundamental to cancer prevention. Conversely, when Chd5 is mutated or missing, an important door is opened to cancer initiation. "For this reason, figuring out the mechanics of how Chd5 works to prevent cancer can directly ...

We rely on our visual system more heavily than previously thought in determining the causality of events. A team of researchers has shown that, in making judgments about causality, we don't always need to use cognitive reasoning. In some cases, our visual brain—the brain areas that process what the eyes sense—can make these judgments rapidly and automatically. The study appears in the latest issue of the journal Current Biology. "Our study reveals that causality can be computed at an early level in the visual system," said Martin Rolfs, who conducted much of the research ...

ARLINGTON, VA, January 10, 2013—A study released today from the upcoming issue of the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (JPIDS) found that taking early and repeated white blood cell counts (WBC) is critical in determining whether infants have pertussis and which of those children are at highest risk of death from the disease. In 2010, California reported its highest pertussis rates in 60 years. Murray, et al.'s retrospective study used medical records from five Southern California Pediatric Intensive Care Units between September 2009 and June 2011. ...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Cholera could be contained in Haiti by vaccinating less than half the population, University of Florida researchers suggest in a paper to be published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. The work places UF's Emerging Pathogens Institute in the pro-vaccination camp in an ongoing international debate over how best to contain the two-year-old epidemic that has claimed thousands of lives. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been skeptical about the effectiveness of vaccination against cholera in this setting. It has instead ...

Teenagers with a low muscular strength have a 30% higher risk of committing suicide before the age of 55 years, and a 65% higher risk of developing psychiatric diseases such as depression of schizophrenia. In addition, a low muscular strength during childhood and adolescence is a strong predictor of early death –i.e. before 55 years of age– from cardiovascular disease. A low muscular strength is as powerful a predictor as obesity and high blood pressure. This was the conclusion drawn in a study recently published in the Medical Journal –a world-leading medical journal– ...

Philadelphia, PA, January 10, 2013 – Horrific images from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest notwithstanding, modern electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) remains one of the safest and most effective antidepressant treatments, particularly for patients who do not tolerate antidepressant medications or depression symptoms that have failed to respond to antidepressant medications. Since its introduction in the 1930s, ECT has evolved into a more refined, but more expensive and extensively regulated clinical procedure. Each treatment involves the assembly of a multidisciplinary clinical ...