Earlier in 2012, hundreds of patients suffering from chronic back pain being treated with steroid injections were shocked to learn that they had contracted a particularly virulent strain of meningitis. The infection was traced back to a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy responsible for custom blending injections that were used by physicians and other practitioners in 14 states around the country. The outbreak has killed almost 40 people and sickened over 500 more. The pharmacy has since been shuttered while an investigation by the Centers for Disease Control, Food and ...

If you are struggling with an oppressive debt load, you may want to consider getting your financial life back on track as a New Year's resolution. This particular resolution is one you can -- and probably should -- tackle immediately in the New Year. There are several advantages to filing for bankruptcy early in 2013. From tax planning to the Fiscal Cliff, many considerations make January an attractive time to plot a way out of debt through bankruptcy. Holiday debt, Fiscal Cliff, tax refund considerations pertinent to bankruptcy filers Many unexpected events can ...

Arlington Heights, Illinois, is changing the way it plows parking lots and other local areas. Under previous standards, workers pushed equal amounts of snow onto each cleared corner of an area. The former method was used to provide more room for parked cars. However, under new policies, workers will pile snow in three corners and avoid areas near stairs. The changes come in response to a 2010 personal injury lawsuit. An Illinois woman and her husband filed suit against the village in Cook County Circuit Court after the woman slipped in a local parking garage. The plaintiffs ...

The invincibility of youth. Many college kids drink alcohol and figure that the bad things that could happen will not happen to them. But a high proportion of alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents involve young drivers, especially males, so the Texas Department of Transportation is targeting college campuses with its dose-of-reality touring campaign "Drink. Drive. Go to Jail." According to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Texas Tech Police Sgt. Michael Macias reported that in Texas just under "14,000 males between ages 18 and 34 were responsible for DWI ...

Domestic abuse is an all-too-common problem in Georgia. Though domestic violence affects both genders, women are much more likely to be victims. According to the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, approximately one out of every four women will be affected by domestic violence at some point during their lives. Domestic abuse is more than just physical attacks. It can take a number of different forms, including the following: - Emotional abuse occurs when abusers call their partners names, are over-controlling, manipulative or humiliating toward their partners ...

Drugged driving is as dangerous as drunk driving, in that the effect of a drug on a driver's brain may impair him or her at a level that makes driving risky and even potentially lethal for him or herself, passengers, those in other vehicles, motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians. A recent example In December, 2012, a Cortland, Ohio, man got five years in prison for his ninth felony conviction for operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, known as an OVI conviction. According to The Vindicator, he also pleaded guilty to the related misdemeanor ...

Your business provides your livelihood and presents your professional image and good reputation to the community. Through your business dealings, people learn about your expertise, ethics, talents, reliability and dedication to quality. In these dealings, you must make important decisions which ultimately affect your business profitability. These decisions are not always easy and sometimes result in disputes or disagreements, whether justified or not. So when serious conflicts arise in your commercial dealings they can threaten the integrity of your entire business operation. ...

Many assume that it is an easy proposition to assign fault after a rear-end crash; however, that is not always the case. In the past, Florida law generally presumed that the rear driver was liable for the causing the crash. A new Florida Supreme Court case opens the door for drivers to argue that the negligence of the lead driver was the actual cause or a contributing factor in a Florida car accident. The case at issue involved a 2005 three-car pileup in South Florida. The plaintiff in the case was driving the last car involved in the pile-up. She argued that the middle ...

With the Great Recession now "officially" behind us, a lot of the public commentary is focused on how Americans' financial situations are slowly, but surely, improving. As nice as it sounds, this isn't the case for everybody. Too many households are still reeling from the economic crisis. This is as true in San Antonio as it is in the rest of the country. In fact, recently released statistics from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas, which encompasses the San Antonio area, show that bankruptcy filings in November 2012 were 16.5 percent ...

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 ...